Perhaps you don’t have all the patients you can handle and would like to increase your patient base. In this case, it may be time to implement a new marketing strategy for your practice. There are any number of choices when deciding upon the specific tactics you will use, from internet marketing to more traditional channels like radio, print, etc.
The important thing for you is that you begin right away, so you've made your decision and will be starting your marketing campaign. Do you know how to tell if it’s paying off? Effective tracking of the techniques used along with the results gained is required in order to know if your marketing investment is worth it. This is often easier said than done, as effective tracking can be difficult to implement.
Ask Your Patients
One of the best ways to track the effectiveness of your marketing is simply by asking your patients, “How did you hear about us?” When questioning patients about how they heard about your practice, dig deep enough to find out specifically which marketing channels are working. Then you can adjust your marketing investments appropriately. It is important to get as much information as possible. If a patient says they heard about your practice from the web, find out if it was from an internet search, or if it was because a friend referred them there. It’s also possible they went to the website after hearing a radio ad. If it was from an internet search, what did they search for specifically?
Give It Time
When beginning a marketing campaign, it is also important to give it time to work. Don’t be discouraged if your practice doesn’t see immediate results, or if the results are less than expected. Depending on the marketing channel you’ve chosen, it could take more than a few months. Radio ads and billboards may lead to some quick returns, but in most cases, they need to run for long periods of time in order to build familiarity and be seen or heard at the time a prospective patient needs them. To help alleviate this, any marketing technique should be one piece of a multi-faceted and larger marketing strategy.
Return On Marketing Investment (ROMI)
When making adjustments to your marketing strategy, make one change at a time if possible to narrow down the change in business to that marketing tactic. If you can attribute an increase in your practice’s revenue to specific marketing investments, you can actually calculate a return on your investment. Known as return on marketing investment (ROMI), it is equal to the incremental increase in revenue minus marketing investment, divided by your marketing investment. If the number is positive, your marketing investment is effective.
The good news is that almost any type of marketing will bring in new business, whether you measure it or not. But to most effectively allocate your hard earned cash where it will work the hardest for you, be sure to track the effectiveness of your marketing. If you're OK with being a bit less analytical and exact, it can be accomplished by simply talking to your patients. The important thing is to begin today.