Clinic Marketing – No such thing as new patient tap, clinic water pump insight.

One of our IDD Therapy Spine Centres called today to ask us to arrange for some new adverts in his local paper to promote the clinic.

The reason being there was a bit of lull in new patients starting treatment so he wanted to engage in some marketing activity.

This happens with all clinics and all businesses at some stage and is part of the ups and downs of being in private business!

But it illustrates an important point about marketing a clinic ,or any business for that matter.

The fact is there isn’t a tap you can simply turn on or off when you need new patients. There will always be a slight lag between activity implementation and the arrival of people needing your services.

The keyword to every successful clinic and business is consistency.

Using the water analogy and a metaphor from the legendary Zig Ziglar, keeping a flow of new patients is like pumping an old fashioned water pump.

You work hard and pump like crazy to bring the water up to the surface, then once the water starts to flow, you just need to keep pumping gently to ensure a steady flow.

BUT, if you stop pumping, the water drops back off and then you need to work really hard starting all over again to get it going.

So, however small the steps you take, taking the steps of implementing a strategy each day, week or month are key to ensuring a steady flow of new patients.

That starts with a goal, then a plan to get there and then the consistent implementation of the action steps to get there.

Now, one can argue that there are ways to get customers instantly.  e,g google adwords is an instant way to reach out to patients.  But, it is easy to blow your money on adwords so I would say that whilst it is a way to instantly get new patients, it does require some practice.

We could all be more consistent.

If you have a lot of patients, you may think that you don’t need to market your business for new patients.  That is particularly the case with established businesses who have enough business to be comfortable through word of mouth.

But how many times have you been so busy you were turning people away.  And if you are in that position, why not consider a satellite clinic so you can help even more people?

Consistency, consistency is the name of the game.

Expect to make mistakes along the way but that is part of the process.  Take anything which requires skill and know that the skills were only acquired by learning through mistakes.

If you need some new ideas for your clinic marketing, then get a free CD and some materials from leading international clinic coach Paul Wright to set you on the way, CLICK HERE

Author: Stephen Small
www.steadfastclinics.co.uk