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Nine Free Ways to Quickly Engage Patients and Build Enduring Loyalty

We begin with a true story...with an object lesson for medical practices, healthcare providers and practice administrators about emotionally engaging (and retaining) new patients. Imagine for a moment that you've moved to a new neighborhood. You have two neighboring families...one on either side of your new home. It quickly becomes apparent to the new residents […]

Meet Two Virtual Nurses - Now Working in Medical Marketing

Is there a future for “virtual nurses” in healthcare? How about your medical practice or hospital? Here are two intriguing examples of emerging technology—both labeled “virtual nurse”—that are being tested in the real world of marketing and healthcare delivery. Both interact with the public, although each virtual nurse has a different assignment. Can you see […]

How the Low-Profile Mandate Committee Influences Your Medical Practice

The opinion/editorial page in every publication draws fewer readers than the front page. Traditionally, the Op-Ed section is less interesting and exciting than the flash of hot news. So, in case you missed Dr. Scott Gottlieb’s opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal about healthcare’s Mandate Committee, it’s well worth two minutes of your time. […]

How We Scientifically Establish Healthcare Marketing Budgets For Hospitals, Healthcare Organizations and Private Practices

Healthcare practitioners and staff ask us about budgeting more than any other single topic. In fact, just this morning a dermatologist asked me how much money he should allocate to market his new dermatology / medi spa practice in Florida. It turns out there are three primary methodologies to establish a marketing budget. 1. How […]

The Science of Case Acceptance: Shaping the New Patient Experience

In our work with medical practices throughout the United States we've observed an interesting phenomenon that healthcare providers and administrators might marvel at seeing for themselves. How would your office staff greet each new patient if they thought the individual might be a "secret shopper?" Would the prospect of staff accountability change the way they […]

The Often-Forgotten Five-Minute Rule for Every Physician Practice

If you live and work with the hints and helps in short maxims, there are dozens of “five-minute rules” to guide you in everything from computer science to digital discourse. Some of these “rules” are informal at best. In computer science, the five-minute random rule says to cache randomly accessed disk pages that are re-used […]

The One Thing That Apple Can't Include Inside the Product Package

If your healthcare marketing materials were as easily created and remarkably beautiful as an Apple product demonstration, you would never need professional design or writing services again. Ever. Apple’s advertising is powerfully compelling. Creative materials—books, photos, videos—appear intuitively simple to do, and some people are mesmerized into believing that do-it-yourself (DIY) is a short cut […]

Physician Salaries Endangered in Some Hospital-Owned Practices

In many hospital-owned practices, physician salaries are endangered when productivity and net collections drop. Sadly, it’s a common and documentable by-product of the ongoing shift from privately owned practices to hospital-owned practices. It turns out that in many instances, if you sell your practice to a hospital, your income may go down. The causes behind […]

Should You Apologize for Marketing Healthcare Services?

Do you need to apologize for marketing your healthcare services? We’d like to hear from you about the controversial questions raised in last week’s USA Today article about some of the marketing methods used in healthcare. (The primary focus of this piece is hospital marketing, but the implications extend to private practices, health systems and providers […]

Reader Success Stories: A Guide to Doctor "Open House" Events

Somewhere-on nearly every healthcare marketing plan-is a line item titled "event." For a medical practice it might be a new office "open house." For hospital marketing, it could be a community involvement or PR project. And for any healthcare provider or doctor marketing professional it is an opportunity to remove the "white coat factor" and […]

Healthcare Branding: That Was Then. This Is Now.

There’s been a dramatic increase in the need for healthcare branding. In fact, we’d have to call it a huge rise in doctor branding, physician branding and hospital branding—all propelled by various factors in the marketplace. Broadly speaking, we’d put the change-agents under the umbrella label of “healthcare reform.” And three of these forces—empowered patients, […]

Demystifying Television Advertising: It May be Within Your Reach After All

How to know if TV fits your local Healthcare Marketing Plan We're glad you're reading this article. TV is often easily dismissed as being either too expensive or too difficult as a media option for doctors. We'll be the first to tell you that television advertising is not right for everyone. Is it complex? Yes. […]

Barrier or Blessing: Should Patients and Providers Use Email for Healthcare Communications?

There’s a lively discussion among doctors and healthcare providers about communicating with patients via email. We’re not talking about the use of occasional and informative broadcast “eNewsletters” (a common healthcare marketing tool) that are sent from a practice or hospital to a list of opt-in patients. This is the arguable notion that a one-to-one email […]

The FDA’s Brief (but First-Ever) Social Media Guidance for Healthcare Marketing

It’s entirely possible that you missed the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) officiously titled draft guidelines about social media marketing and communications: Guidance for Industry: Responding to Unsolicited Requests for Off-Label Information About Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices. Please stick with us for a minute on this one. This topic isn’t just for pharmaceutical and […]

Time to Seriously Rethink Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy?

There were two red-flag stories in the news last week. Neither item is a surprise, but they signal disturbing trends for healthcare marketing thought leaders. The headlines say: 1 in 5 Older Americans Cutting Back on Health Care to Save Money - Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) Spending growth on physician services sinks to record low - […]

7 Insightful Tips for Better Healthcare Marketing Direct Response Results

Quick-check questions that reveal make-it or break-it problems before launch The difference between big-time winning vs. downright disaster in healthcare direct response depends on a million variables. A single, simple oversight can cost you the ballgame. Ask yourself these seven questions to find and fix fundamental problems before you rollout any direct response program.

7 Signs Your Healthcare Website Didn't Show Up for Work Today

A first-time visitor to your healthcare website knows very little about you. And what they find—or don't find—will be their "first impression" of you and your brand. The problem is that many are either out of date or out of touch, and the patient experience never has a chance. The first impression is also the […]

Two New Online Sites Worth Watching for Healthcare Marketing Potential

In the time it takes to read this post, a handful of new concept, Internet startups will launch with as much splash as they can muster. And, in the same brief amount of time, last week’s crop of “latest-and-greatest” social media, Facebook-clones and “community” sites will have vaporized. We don’t know if the lifecycle of […]

Break the 21-Minute Patient Wait Barrier to Improve Patient Satisfaction in Doctor Marketing

As medical practice marketing professionals well understand, the measure of patient satisfaction—or the lack of it—sometimes has little or nothing to do with a physician’s medical expertise. For some patients, the length of the “door-to-doctor” waiting time is a primary distinction between satisfaction and marching over to the competition. Individual provider offices—general practitioners and specialists […]

Texas Board Examines Dental Advertising on Groupon and other “Deal-A-Day” Sites

The Texas State Board of Dental Examiners is considering how the concept of online healthcare deals and discounts may or may not fit into its advertising and marketing rules for professional practice advertising. There was a small but important news item that touched on this. It's worth reading…and watching where it may lead. In the […]

The Curious Origin of Unwanted Email: Keeping Medical Marketing in the Safe Zone

Broadcast emails and e-newsletters can be useful tools in medical practice marketing as long as you stay on the safe side of anti-spam regulations. And that's easier than it looks. You may be surprised to learn that "spam" has a curious and slightly amusing history. As one source has it, S.P.A.M. is an abbreviation for […]

two business men a business woman and a doctor working and talking in modern office

Healthcare Marketing in Transition: The Increasing Value of Physician Liaisons

A significant sign of the turbulent changes in healthcare delivery systems—and medical marketing—is the fact that 30,000 drug and medical device representatives were laid off in the last 5 years. But as startling (and devastating) as that is for individuals on the pharma side, the same systemic storm has delivered something of a silver lining. […]

Share Your Open House Success Formula: Unique Healthcare Marketing Ideas Wanted

Do you have an idea for a successful open house? Please tell us about it. All too often we bump into a medical practice or hospital doing an “open house” or something similar. So far, so good…a community and patient involvement special event can be a useful doctor marketing tool. The problem is that simply […]

Healthcare is Failing: The Emerging Role for Medical Practice Marketing

This is a brief post and a brief video about a not-so-brief topic. We see an emerging role for healthcare communicators in this. And if you invest two minutes and 41 seconds, this short video might be the most unique, creative and thoughtful healthcare marketing idea you’ve seen lately. On one hand, there’s the trend […]

DOs and DON'Ts of Creating a Marketing-Smart (new) Name

Sooner or later every healthcare provider will need to name, or rename, his or her professional practice. And for most, it will be sooner, given the upheaval in contemporary health delivery systems. Healthcare reform and the tough economic climate have propelled many of these changes, with more to come. Medical practices and solo physician providers […]

Compelling Clinical Cases Boost Reputation and Professional Referrals in Medical Practice Marketing

Here’s a real-world marketing case study about…using clinical case studies. Cindy Gall sends us this medical practice marketing success story about how the Central Texas Spine Institute (Austin) is effectively using physician-to-physician clinical case examples. Cindy writes, “I attended a Healthcare Success seminar in September of 2010. Lonnie Hirsch recommended using case studies as a […]

Doctor Marketing Tip: Your Disappearing Patients and How to Reach Them

The recent report from accounting firm PwC—Top Health Industry Issues of 2012—is near the top of our recommended reading list for marketing savvy physicians and healthcare marketing professionals. Thought leaders—providers, group practices and hospitals—will want to take note of two interconnected findings that jump out of the data. First, there’s the problem of the “disappearing […]

Your eNewsletter Stinks: Tips to Improve Your Medical Practice Marketing

Talk about a compelling subject line. It’s hard to resist opening and reading an email, e-newsletter or news article with a provocative hook to turn your head. It worked with us recently, and having an attention-getting headline is the first tip for improving your healthcare marketing communications. Here are a few more ideas for better […]

Using the Six Principles of Persuasion in Healthcare Marketing

Some health care advertising agencies would have you believe that trendy and award-winning creative materials, intricate and expensive media plans, and enormous medical advertising budgets are what it takes to win the hearts and minds of new patients. In fact there's more science and psychology at work in the business of influencing human behavior than […]

Physician Advertising Mistake #11: Not Knowing How to Evaluate Creative Materials

One of the great rewards of working with doctors and healthcare executives for over two decades is that we have a treasure chest of experience that we share with clients. We’ve seen first hand those things that are most effective in marketing a practice, hospital and organization. We love success stories in medical marketing and […]

Hello Hulu: Affordable Local Audience Targeting Option for Healthcare Advertising

Years ago, the term “convergence” implied wonderful advances yet-to-come in technology. (Healthcare marketing professionals take note: advances lead to advertising opportunities.) “Someday” your cellular phone would also take pictures (who could possibly need that?), and you’ll be watching television programs on a laptop (isn’t that called a TV set?). In fact, that was a number […]

Sage Advice: Medical Advertising Agency Words of Wisdom

In the healthcare advertising agency industry, we’ve found that clients who are open to advice and guidance are those individuals who understand that there is a best practices approach to doctor marketing and advertising. Sometimes wisdom comes from making mistakes, but the wiser approach is to listen to and learn from the experience of others. […]

Medical Marketing's Year of the Video - Creative Examples You'll Want to Use

This year promises to be healthcare marketing's Year of the Video. Once an emerging trend, online video has already reached mainstream status. And as we look ahead, medical practices, dental offices, hospitals and other healthcare providers will be deploying new and creative uses of video. (We've included some exceptional examples below as new ideas you […]

Are Physician Liaison Programs a No-Win, Zero-Sum Marketing Game?

We’d like to hear from our readers about a quote from a USA Today story. (We suspect that more than a few people will have a reply…perhaps a passionate reply.) The subject matter is physician liaison work and the context is primarily about hospital-physician relations. More broadly however, the subject is physician referral marketing in […]

The Absurdly Simple Key to Patient Satisfaction that Everyone Forgets

Perhaps there is a tendency to take patient satisfaction for granted. It’s the part of doctor marketing that everyone does and, really now…there’s nothing to it. No big deal. Patient presents with symptom…diagnosis confirms…treatment follows…everyone’s happy. Right? Maybe not. Sound clinical care can resolve the medical problem, but the patient may still have a sense […]

A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish

Are you marketing or just wishing something will happen? Simply having a goal in mind does not achieve success. A goal without a plan is just a wish...and daydreams alone seldom produce results. To move beyond wishful thinking-and produce tangible results-requires specific goals and a well-crafted marketing action plan.

The Paradox of Disappearing Patients

The surprising reason why patients leave and the impact to your bottom line. Most say nothing at all...they just don't return. Patient satisfaction is the cornerstone of patient retention. It's difficult to detect, but It is a perception of indifference that causes most people to quit coming back. And the financial loss to your business […]

It's the Top of the 12th: Time to Check Your Hospital’s Box Score

Everyone in healthcare and hospital marketing likes business performance metrics. (Well, nearly everyone.) The benchmark or progress numbers that quantify exactly how we’re doing. It’s how marketing people (and the boss) keep score. Metrics tell us if a project is meeting its goals, or if an advertising campaign is producing results, and sometimes how we […]

Symptom-Targeting and Other Healthcare Marketing Trends for 2012 Watch List

With the approaching New Year, we like to look ahead for emerging trends in healthcare delivery and medical marketing. On our “new technology” list, there are three concepts (among many) that we’ll be watching closely in 2012. Marketing savvy doctors, administrators, dentists, hospital marketing and advertising professionals might want to keep these topics on your […]

Big Improvements Can Come in Small Packages: a Hospital Marketing Case Example

A guest post by Randall S. Barton, PhD, Managing Partner, Ideopolis LLC We recently read a great article on the Healthcare Success site titled "Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition”—a Surprising Lesson for Doctor Marketing. It prompted us to write about a prevalent misconception in the medical industry today…that meaningful improvements must be big. In reality, […]

Legally Dumb: Should a Doctor or Dentist Sue a Patient for Bad-Mouth Comments?

If a professional reputation is to be protected at all costs, should a healthcare provider file a lawsuit against a patient for a negative online review? From time to time we see news items about doctors or dentists who threaten legal action against patients. But suing a patient for a negative comment (or comments) is […]

Where to Find an Army of Reps to Deliver Doctor Referrals

Not so long ago, only a few hospitals and medical practices had some sort of “ambassador” on their staff. But as healthcare marketing and delivery systems have changed in recent years, this occasional and sometimes informal position has evolved significantly. Practices, hospitals and health systems large and small have hired physician liaisons for the primary […]

Closing the Action Gap: Physician and Hospital Advertising Needs a Forceful Message

It’s no wonder that many physicians are frustrated with a lack of patient compliance and continued unhealthy lifestyles. Healthcare providers now have to contend with an “action gap,” and we’d like to hear your suggestions. How can healthcare marketing and advertising close the “action gap?” Here’s the problem. There's another survey out that confirms that […]

Case Study: The “Anti-Sales Philosophy” Doubles Physician Advertising Effectiveness

There’s nothing like a real-life success story to illustrate the bottom-line, dollars-and-cents value of a medical practice marketing principle. In this case, a physician group specialty practice more than doubled its new patient revenue by training the staff to properly answer the phone and book appointments.

So you want more educated, upscale patients? Then act like it.

It shocks me how many doctors say they want "first class" patients, but then treat these same patients (paying customers) like second class citizens. The following cautionary tale illustrates my point well.

The Good and the Bad: Medical Practice Marketing Gift Advice from Our Readers

As everyone with a holiday shopping list knows, “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” have propelled the season into high gear…including the search for the perfect gift idea for one healthcare practice or hospital to give to a physician’s office. Our earlier post, Whacky or Wonderful? Making Gift-Giving Memorable in Medical Practice Marketing, challenged medical practice […]

Healthcare Publicity: Winning Techniques and Fatal Pitfalls to Your Free Press

More Inside Tips, Dos and Don'ts to Reach Patients Through the Media EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a follow up article to Healthcare Publicity: The First Three Steps To Getting Free Press Coverage Our previous article about medical publicity and public relations got you started with the first three steps to discovering short-term healthcare practice publicity […]

Healthcare Publicity: The First Three Steps to Getting Free Press Coverage

Get Free Healthcare Practice Publicity by Giving Local Media What They Want Ever wonder what the difference is between advertising and publicity? Simply put, publicity is free. Advertising costs money. In other words, if a newspaper writes a news article about you (but doesn't charge you), that's publicity. If the newspaper charges you for the […]

Physician Marketing Tools Have Changed, But Relationship Building Remains the Goal

by Healthcare Success Co-Founder Lonnie Hirsch Just recently, we happened to spot a thoughtful article about how small business needs to embrace new marketing methods to better cope with the nation’s tough economic climate. It turns out that the article was nearly two years old (an “eon” in marketing time), but small business is still […]

Things Your Administration Does That Might Drive Away Patients

At a recent seminar, some of our attendees joined us in a rant about the pitiful customer service endemic at so many hospitals and practices. Some examples: 1. One surgeon shared a story about the time he "went home for Christmas," but ended up accompanying his very ill and nervous mother to the ER. A […]

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