Why marketing doesn’t always work

We often hear elective surgery practices say that they’ve tried marketing in the past, but it doesn’t work.  Well, that IS true, if you’re not sending the right message to the right audience at the right time.

First off, you need to determine who your target audience is.

• Who is the perfect patient for your services?
• What age range are they?
• Where do they educate themselves?
• What social channels are they on?
• What core values are important to them in order to purchase from a company?

Once you have your audience and the marketing mediums down, determine the messaging and the time to place.

Your messaging and graphics need to be creative, as well, in order to stand out from your competition.  Consider the type of marketing medium that the message is going in and who the target audience is before you build your messaging.  Your messaging/graphics are going to change based on the target audience.  It’s not a one-size-fits-all mentality.

Your practice should have marketing messages all year but did you know that you should allocate more marketing dollars to certain months?  If you think about it, you probably can tell which months are your bigger months of the year.  That’s not because you change your marketing, it is the nature of people and their buying cycle.  Look at your highs and lows over the year.  You can easily do this by pulling your surgical numbers over the past 12 months to see which months are bigger than others.

Additionally, don’t be afraid to trash your marketing campaign if it isn’t working.  Always track your marketing efforts and have a Plan B in case the results are pulling the way you felt they would.

You can’t rely solely on “word-of-mouth” advertising.  It will only get your practice so far.

Not sure where to start?  Contact Brandi Musgrave to have a Strategic Marketing Plan put together for your practice.  Each plan is customized to the budget and needs of the practice.  Schedule your meeting online today.