As you prepare to bid goodbye to 2018, I want to say THANK YOU for everything you do. I hope you have a great new year in 2019!
A lot has changed in 2018.
The real impact of these changes will be felt in 2019.
In fact, here are some of my predictions for 2019:
Patient segmentation will be the new mantra for practice growth:
The ability to segment patients using certain characteristics such as make and model of the car they drive, financial goals at retirement and type of occupation will help practices create targeted marketing campaigns. Imagine if you could send a specific message to a patient who was particularly interested in exactly what you had to offer. The result is lower cost of marketing and higher rate of return.
Practices that identify and serve ‘progressive patient aspirations’ will beat the competition:
Every practice provides physical therapy. However, patients don’t call us because they need physical therapy, they want to feel better and get relief from pain. Understanding the long-term aspirations of the patient and structuring your message should be your number one goal in 2017. There are times when we spend weeks brainstorming this with clients because it is THAT important. re-engineering your marketing is important if you want to set yourself apart.
Practices that collect and use several ‘touch points’ for patient communication will get more referrals:
Patients can be contacted by phone, SMS, email and regular mail. Take advantage of SEVERAL different methods of communication to reach patients. Don’t rely on one. If a patient misses your message via email, they might get it via text or voicemail or regular mail.
Horizontal referral service diversification will allow practices to survive most challenges:
The days of depending on one or two referral sources for a lions share of your patients are numbered. Think of ‘horizontal diversification’. Having several different physicians as referral sources is an example of ‘vertical diversification’ amongst physicians – you stack up more physicians referring to you. You need to go a step further and have
– different physicians of different specialties
– different local businesses
– several patients
– various companies and corporations…
becoming your referral sources. You have to network, network, network to achieve this.
Reverse engineering all your marketing efforts will always results in positive ROI:
If you are going to spend money on marketing, ask yourself some key questions:
“How much am I going to spend?”
“How much am I going to get back?”
“How can I track results?”
and this will answer the question…
“Should I do this again”
In a nutshell, your practice will need the following in 2017:
– Clarity about, and reinforcement of foundations for success
– ROI based marketing methods (In fact, you should have all your marketing campaigns planned out for the next 12 months)
– Reliable technology and automation of systems
– Money management to grow your practice
With the right planning, the future is ours. Let’s seize it while serving our patients, improving staff satisfaction and driving up profits in the process.
I promise to get you closer to that goal in 2019.
I hope you have a fantastic new year!
