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Forget Millennial Marketing, Focus on People Marketing for Elective Surgery

For the past few years, there has been incredible hype surrounding the right strategies to use when marketing to millennials. Here are just a few of the rules you may have incorporated into your elective surgery marketing to reach this segment:

  • Using social media to communicate your message
  • Promoting your practice as morally and environmentally sound (supporting charitable causes, reducing your carbon footprint, etc.)
  • Making sure your website is easily found on search engines and designed in a way to be easily read on mobile devices
  • Encouraging your patients to share their stories with others online to boost online reviews
  • Providing information on how to make your procedures more affordable to limited budgets
  • Using benefit-touting verbiage when marketing your procedures
  • Incorporating more short, informational and entertaining videos to your online presence

Now, if your age falls outside the millennial age-range, read the above list again. Don’t these strategies apply to almost any generation?

Age is Just a Number

By focusing on millennial marketing, we may have forgotten that age is just a number. Regardless of people’s ages and how they spend their days (traveling the world…partying late night with friends…running the PTA…carpooling kids to-and-fro…enjoying quiet moments with a good book), deep down, most people are looking for the same things. They want honesty, genuine discussions, transparency and quick information from the businesses they support – and even the medical practices they choose.

Technology for the Ages

It is true that technology has changed the way we approach elective surgery marketing. The millennial generation embraces technology and expects certain methods of communication. However, people in generation X and even baby boomers are not that far behind. The methods we use to reach millennials can be honed to communicate with people of all ages – even the upcoming generation Z group.

Honest Messages

As for your messaging, people of all ages recognize when an elective surgery practice is spewing platitudes, coming off as arrogant or using bait-and-switch tactics to get them in the door. None of these approaches instill trust in your doctors or your practice as a whole. In fact, according to a McCann survey, 42% of Americans find brands and companies less truthful today than 20 years ago. However, true stories from past patients will speak volumes about the overall patient experience your practice provides, the effectiveness of your procedures, the bedside manner of your doctors and much more.

Elective Surgery Obstacles Know No Age Limit

In elective surgery, there are certain obstacles that almost every person must overcome in order to complete their buying cycle: fear, cost and outcomes.

  • Fear of pain, long recovery times, infections or something else going wrong
  • Worry that the procedure is too expensive and not worth the investment
  • Concern that the surgical outcome won’t live up to the expectations – or make their situation worse

By speaking directly to those obstacles right in your marketing – to any age – you will have a better chance of gaining a new patient. These obstacles can also be addressed during consultations and in drip marketing campaigns. Keep in mind that the buying cycle for elective surgery can be quite lengthy so spending time to hone these relationships will be worth it in the long run.

The bottom line? Take a step back from millennial marketing and focus on people marketing. As Morrissey sang,

“Set me aside, you’ll find
People are the same everywhere
Hoist me from the herd and
People are the same everywhere…”

The elective surgery marketing experts at Fast Track Marketing can help you implement proven marketing strategies to grow your practice – with people of all ages. Contact Brandi Musgrave at 303-731-2634 or brandi@fast-trackmarketing.com to start the conversation.