There are literally hundreds of marketing ideas that work to attract new patients into your practice. Marketing is a key component of every practice if you want to keep growing and not stagnate or deteriorate. Simply relying on referrals from your existing patients (i.e. Word of Mouth) is old school and you will rarely find any practices growing suitably by that method of marketing alone.
In today’s world of multi-media, and with more businesses than ever utilizing them, you must tap into some of these avenues for your practice, whether digital or traditional, or find yourself pining for more new patients while they are rushing by your practice to the one that is most “visible” and “out-there” (marketing-wise).
How would you like a new, simple method of getting cross referrals from other healthcare professionals? It is a cross between digital and word of mouth, and is completely free:
Right in Your Neighborhood
Unless you are way out in the middle of nowhere (which could be extremely limiting in terms of numbers of patients available), there will be other healthcare professionals in your area, right? And, if you have been reading our weekly articles, you may have read the one about doing monthly email newsletters to your patients or clients of record, or maybe started doing one on your own.
These are easy to do and must not be long dissertations that will bore your patients or clients to death. Short, easy to read suggestions and “Did you know…” type information, plus a monthly guessing game contest or a photography contest with the winner published each month and a prize (so people want to open the email and see who won), can improve patient or client loyalty.
Take it to the Next Level
What if you asked the other healthcare providers (not the same profession as you) to write a very short 2-paragraph article that would be apropos to your clientele for inclusion in your newsletter with their name, profession, and address included? In turn, you would write something for that person’s practice newsletter and it would go out to all their patients or clients of record.
This will work for Dentists, Chiropractors, Veterinarians, Optometrists, Denturists, Physiotherapists, Chiropodists/Podiatrists, or any practitioner who wants more new patients. The deal has to be two-sided though. And you must have respect for the other provider.
Cross-marketing to each other’s client bases is like a warm referral, and since most of you have thousands of patients of record, what a great way to help each other expand! FREE!
Have fun trying this out!
