Branding

The concept of branding is fairly new to the medical profession. Branding, applied to the physician’s office, is the process involved in creating a unique concept or image that customers think of in association with the practice. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers. This can be accomplished using a name, logo, tagline, catch-phrase, symbol, or design that makes your organization distinct and unique among others. A brand is a valuable element in a marketing campaign. The art of creating and maintaining a brand in the marketplace is called brand management. Global brands include Facebook, Apple, FedEx, and MasterCard; people all over the world recognize those brands. A local brand is one that is marketed in a small geographic area; for example, the Baylor Health Care System in Texas uses a distinct blue color on its Web sites, and its logo includes a flame symbol, easily identifying any Baylor facility throughout the area.

The market climate has shifted to a highly competitive environment, and many physicians are forced to market their practice to gain any part of the local market share. Without a reasonably full schedule of patients, the physician cannot cover the costs of running the practice, and the business may not survive. The medical assistant can play a role in practice branding by following office procedures, treating patients with excellent customer service skills, and keeping a positive, enthusiastic attitude during every workday and with every patient.

Suggestion boxes are a great way to solicit patient input. Ask patients for ideas about how the clinic could operate more smoothly and what additional services they would like to see introduced. Check the suggestion box frequently. If the patient leaves his or her name on the suggestion form, a good customer service tactic is to reward the patient for the suggestion. Mail the individual a coupon for a free lunch at a local restaurant or a free car wash at a local detailing shop. Involving other businesses in marketing efforts helps both attract new customers. Businesses in a central location, such as a strip mall, can work together to refer customers to each other.

Ethics, Marketing, and Public Relations

Not many years ago, advertising about the physician and his services was considered completely unethical. However, today’s healthcare industry is highly competitive, and advertising is no longer considered unethical. Because competition for patients is so great, medical assistants who work in physicians’ offices must use some marketing techniques to get new patients and keep the ones already coming to the clinic. This practice may not seem “right” to some employees, but the healthcare industry has changed over the past few decades, and physicians must invite change to be competitive. After all, the medical office is still a business. The goal of any business is to make money so that the owners can pay business costs and make a reasonable profit and employees can earn a healthy wage with which to support their own families.

Developing a Plan for Marketing

Assessment is the phase of planning in which the problem or goals are reviewed. This is another excellent time for brainstorming. Research allows the physician or office manager to investigate the needs of the target market and then decide what the medical office can do to meet those needs. Planning of the concept follows, and once a firm plan is in place, it is executed, or carried out. Afterward, the participants evaluate what went well and what problems occurred so that future efforts will be even more successful.

Try this simple assessment tool, which will help clarify the patient population: Keep a log of all patients for a specific period; include the reason for the visit; the patient’s age, ZIP code, gender, and marital status; and the number and ages of children. These simple demographics can provide a great base picture of the types of individuals using the physician’s services.

Tapping into Free Community Resources

By becoming a member of various civic organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, the practice will receive notice of upcoming events and should plan to participate in them regularly. The more the public sees the physician in the community, the more likely this will affect the growth of the practice. Many good promotional activities are relatively free to the physician. Some newspapers offer an advice column in which different types of professionals give general medical advice to those who write in with questions. Physicians volunteer to answer these questions in print, and in return the office address, the office telephone number, and often the physicians’ pictures are featured. This is an excellent way to generate patient calls and inform the public about the specialties and types of cases the physician handles.

Getting involved in the local community is another way to promote a medical practice. Some physicians sponsor Little League football teams, baseball teams, or bowling leagues. Sometimes entire staffs participate in charity events and marathons, wearing T-shirts with the clinic name printed on the back.

The physician or staff may have specific charities they support annually, or they may participate in United Way activities, which distribute funds to many different types of worthy organizations through payroll deductions. Some medical facilities have volunteer programs in which employees receive recognition for participation in various activities. A good example is blood donations. Many blood centers offer pins and recognition certificates for the number of pints of blood volunteers donate. The office staff may set a goal to reach a certain number of donated pints in a year, and as recognition certificates are collected, the staff may want to display them in a prominent place in the office. This is an indication to patients that the staff is concerned about the community and is volunteer minded. From a public relations standpoint, this is valuable to the medical office, because patients tend to expect medical professionals to be volunteer oriented.

Health fairs are a great way to promote the services offered by the clinic, resulting in name recognition and increasing public visibility. Some health fairs are huge, highly publicized events, whereas others are small, often held at a local shopping mall or grocery store. All these events could be worthy projects for the physician and the medical office.

Advertising Plans and Agencies

Most physicians’ offices do not use advertising agencies to promote their practices, but occasionally an agency might be useful. If the practice schedules or sponsors a very special event that needs extensive planning, a public relations firm or advertising agency might be consulted. Unfortunately, the cost of these groups usually is high and beyond the reach of sole practitioners or small group practices. However, the money may be well spent if the event is critical and attendance is important to its success.

There is a difference between advertising and public relations. Advertising involves creating or changing attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions by influencing people with purchased broadcast time, print space, or other forms of written and visual media. Broadcast time could take the form of television commercials, radio broadcasts, or audiovisual aids. Print could be in a newspaper, magazine, or trade journal, and written and visual media may be a flier, brochure, or billboard. Public relations is a similar field but relies more on news broadcasts or reports, magazine or newspaper articles, and radio reports to reach the audience. Most public relations efforts are free, but often it is difficult to get others interested enough in the activities the medical office is planning to warrant coverage.

Communication as a Marketing Tool

Many medical offices use communications tools to market the practice and improve customer service. Sending out a monthly newsletter by mail or electronically provides health information and news about upcoming events. The newsletter can be personalized for the office and might even include news about patients and the medical staff, as long as permission is obtained.

Sending birthday cards is an excellent public relations tool. Some offices sign the greetings at staff meetings, and they are placed in a tickler file for the proper mailing date. Consider sending holiday greetings to wish patients well.

Automated call distribution is becoming a popular means of communicating with large numbers of people. A computer dials multiple numbers at the same time and plays a recorded message, which can be the actual physician with news about a new procedure or new associate joining the practice. Although many people block such calls to their homes and an equal number hang up, the success rate for automatic call distribution is actually quite good. Many individuals listen and respond to the calls, especially if they come from someone they know and the information is important. For instance, if a medical clinic were planning to move to another part of the city, a program could be initiated to notify all patients with telephone numbers that the office will be moving after a certain date. The message could include the address of the new location and even prompt patients to “press 1” if they need to schedule an appointment. The same principle could be applied to news about an upcoming health fair, a special seminar about a certain illness, or even an article that will be in the Sunday paper about the clinic.

Promoting a New Practice

Most physicians who open a new practice place an ad in local newspapers to announce the event. Usually a picture of the physician is included, and a map to the exact location may be available on the ad. Some physicians purchase clinics from others who are moving or retiring, but many open a freestanding clinic in a new building, and the word about the new facility must be spread for the business to be a success.

Providing business cards for all employees is a good way to increase public knowledge about the facility. Some offices offer incentives for patient referrals from the staff or other patients, but the physician must ensure that no state statutes or ethical standards prohibit this practice. The incentive could be a simple coffee cup with the clinic’s logo on it or a book about a healthcare issue. Recognition is the important factor where referrals are concerned. A thank you card is the minimal acceptable “thanks” for patient referrals.

Some physicians hold an open house when the new facility opens. Often, those individuals who assisted with the business from its inception attend the open house to lend support to the owners. Bankers, attorneys, accountants, and other physicians often show their support by attending the open house. Place pictures from this event on the facility’s Web site, in the local newspaper, or in the monthly newsletter. Choose an employee who is a proficient writer and assign him or her the task of writing and sending press releases to media outlets when the physician or practice is involved with a newsworthy event.

Developing and Giving Presentations