Using multiple marketing channels to reach a patient
As we mentioned before, it’s better to get very effective at using one or two channels of communication than it is to risk doing a poor job of using all of them at once.
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Marketing Best Practices
Marketing | 7 micro-guides | Read time: 3 minutes
Now that you know the basic concepts associated with marketing, let’s talk about how to put them to use. Effective marketing is about knowing which channels to focus on, and when, to get your message to the right audience. Here’s how.
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Marketing Best Practices
Less is more
When you’re first starting out, you’ll want to pick one or two channels to focus on. Marketing can help you stand out from others. Over time, you’ll develop expertise and create a niche for yourself. Once you have mastered a couple of channels, you can slowly start to expand the number of channels you use.
Focus on value
Whichever channel you use, be sure your marketing adds value to your audience. We’re inundated with marketing messages all the time. But if you’re giving your prospective and existing patients content that helps them live healthier and happier lives, they are more likely to not only connect with what you’re sending but also actively seek it out.
Practice these tenets of effective marketing:
Timeliness—Send materials when they are timely. For example, send reminders for your female patients to get their annual mammogram in time for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Relevance—Be sure what you are sending is relevant to your audience. You wouldn’t want to send information about the shingles vaccine to patients who are younger than 60 and, therefore, ineligible.
Transparency—Be open and honest. Sometimes, you won’t know an answer. That’s OK. Let your patients know when you expect to have an answer and what your plan moving forward will be.
Fidelity—You’ll want to be a reliable resource for your patients. If you share information from another source, be sure it is from a credible entity with verifiable facts such as the Department of Health and Human Services or the CDC.
Clarity—You want to communicate in ways that are easy for patients to understand. This means speaking and writing in plain language. Not everyone knows healthcare jargon. It could also mean communicating in your prospective or existing patient’s preferred language, which might not be English.
Bedside Manner—Think about what it’s like to be a patient, and imagine what they want to hear and how. You could even try imagining a specific patient to make this exercise easier. What would make that patient’s life easier? Connecting to patients with compassion and understanding can have a tremendous impact.