Amongst the thousands of ways to grow your practice, an important one often overlooked or underrated is the Power of PR.
Public Relations is essentially a matter of communicating the ideal impression of you and your practice to the people you want to come to you for service.
Public Relations delivers ideas, not products or services. You are basically setting the groundwork for people to have a good impression of you and your practice so that it is you they reach for when they need that service.
Getting your message across
With good Public Relations, you can persuade your audience to have a particular set of opinions. For instance, you can convince them that you are safe, fun, family-oriented, down-to-earth, comfortable, high-end, low-end, fast in and out, full service, specific service, eco-friendly, language diversity, and so on.
NOTE: Most healthcare professionals are not permitted to say they are state-of-the art, have the latest equipment, specialize in a particular services (when you don’t have the diploma to say that), and so on per the regulations of your colleges. So, if in doubt call your college.
The question is, how do you DO it?
- Ideas can be communicated through many different channels of communication:
- your patients or clients telling their friends about you,
- TV appearances on various talk shows,
- radio interviews,
- magazine articles (like in Canadian Living, Chatelaine, …)
- your website, internet marketing, Google+, Facebook, other social media,
- community activities (parades, street fairs …),
- volunteer work (millions of opportunities),
- public speaking opportunities, and so on.
These are all roads to put your messages on to reach your potential public in order to convey positive ideas or thoughts about you and your practice.
Keys to Successful PR
Effective PR can communicate a positive impression of your service and your practice. PR can be large scale (as above) or down to the nitty-gritty such as your staff looking very well groomed in their photos on your website (we have seen ones with messy, flyaway hair, crumpled uniforms, etc. that would turn potential public away from your practice). Beautiful photos of your office if it is indeed beautiful, or cozy, or family friendly, will speak volumes to the public.
- Here are some guidelines to use to create effective PR:
- Use a specific message that is uniquely yours and clearly focused.
- Choose your audience. What kind of public do you want to attract?
- Always communicate truthfully. Do not use a fake picture of some handsome dude or dudette and make the public think that is you, because they could be upset when they meet the “real” you.
- Be out front and in the lead on your ideas. The first of anything stays in peoples minds. Number 2 runner up is often forgotten.
The purpose of PR is create a picture in the potential patient or client’s mind that is the ideal they are looking for and to get them to want what you are offering. Once they are in your practice, you can now take care of them.
Reach out with great PR and grow!
For a strategic plan to expand your practice,
Call 416-466-6217 or click here
Creative Commons Attribution: Permission is granted to repost this article in its entirety with credit to The Art Of Management Inc. and a clickable link back to this page.
