What does 'marketing' really mean!?  Talk to three people and they each give you a different answer.  I Googled the definition of marketing and found an article that proudly (?) listed 72 different definitions of marketing.  Not only is that confusing, but it's pretty scary to think that nobody even agrees on the definition, much less how to actually do marketing!

Here's a simple solution to the problem.  No practice really wants 'marketing' ... that's what we refer to as 'input', something you do.  What's the 'output'?  The result?  New patients!  Don't let any marketer confuse you with input ... if you don't get the output you want, which is new patients, then the input isn't helping you.  So, from now, we're going to call marketing what it really is:  New Patient Marketing.

All these marketing services are confusing me!  How do I choose one?

When it comes to new patient marketing, the biggest challenge that a practice faces is deciding what service will meet its’ needs.  It seems like every company has a different set of services with different features, different pricing ... and, oh, how confusing it can be!   How do you choose!?

What type of new patient marketing service is right for your practice?

That's the question most people ask, but it's a flawed question. Your new patient marketing needs shouldn't be governed by what service you have to choose from and how well you think it's going to serve you.  Your new patient marketing needs are just that ... YOUR NEEDS!

Think about it... a startup practice has different new patient marketing needs than a growing 8 year old practice, who has different needs than a practice that just brought on a second doctor vs. a 20 year old practice that just opened it's third location.  Your stage determines what new patient marketing you need.

Specifically, your new patient marketing goals and strategy are dependent on factors such as the:

• Number of doctors
• Number of locations
• Practice's revenue
• Population size being served and
• Years that the practice has been in business.   

Based on where your practice falls in its’ life cycle, there is a specific marketing strategy that will work best to achieve your goals.

In the next three articles, we'll look at three broad stages of practice growth and the marketing that a practice needs at that stage.

Questions? Contact Daniel by email at Daniel@eyecarepro.net or phone (412) 532-6542.