|
Takeaway message: if your urgent care center's marketing message still uses language and images that target other physicians instead of the healthcare consumers who are your center’s source of business, it's a mistake that could
cost your center's success. Continue reading to see what caused one practice manager to write, “Last month we had 597 new patients and saw a total of 1,600 patients. This is unheard of for us ...”
********
Healthcare delivery through urgent care centers is a medical niche still in its infancy. Because this new delivery method is built on the awareness of consumer choice, there’s a strong emphasis on customer service.
With healthcare consumers as the new focus, traditional medical and healthcare marketing strategy no longer works. Here’s why ...
- Until recently, mainstream healthcare delivery has been
through hospital and freestanding emergency departments, associated clinics and independent private specialty practices
of one or more physicians.
- Both clinic and independent physicians depend heavily on referrals from other doctors for new business. So, of course ...
When this is your business model, targeting other doctors with your marketing makes good sense. It’s no wonder that traditional medical marketing has the look and language you’re so accustomed to:
- Print and Internet marketing—using graphics of doctors in
white coats or in scrubs and white masks—has the power
to attract other doctors because it gives them images
with which they identify.
- Display ads with an alphabet soup of designations following
a physician’s name … and Web site About-Us pages with
long lists of degrees, certifications and areas of research or study … have the power to develop other doctors’ interest because this information is meaningful to doctors.
But rare is the urgent care center that's successful because of referrals from other physicians.
In fact, in today’s highly competitive medical environment, other doctors most likely view your center as competition, no matter how much your services may be needed in the community.
So, if your urgent care center's marketing message still uses language and images targeting other physicians instead of the healthcare consumers who are your center’s source of business, it's a mistake that could cost your center's success.
The Formula for Success
While it's true a number of elements make up the formula for your center's success, high on the list must be marketing that has the power to attract and then persuade healthcare consumers to choose your urgent care center as the one for them, long before they ever need your services.
Let's face it: without enough healthcare consumers—whether members of the general public or corporate human resource directors—choosing your center, none of the other elements of success will ever come into play.
How to market to healthcare consumers is not rocket science. It does require, however, a change in your marketing mindset … a change that may be difficult for you for two reasons:
- First, you may be uncomfortable with the very idea of marketing your urgent care practice. After all, medical advertising has been legal for a mere 30 years. But the trend
is toward more marketing and advertising, even by high-end practices and our nation’s most prestigious institutions. Plus, you may not have considered the consequences of not marketing your practice: patients who need and want your services will be denied the information needed to access your “brand” of healthcare—friendly, compassionate, courteous, convenient, top-quality, professional care.
- And second, changing your marketing mindset may be
difficult for you for the same reason that also makes you
a good physician: your analytical and scientific thinking.
Basic to this new marketing mindset is an understanding and acceptance of how consumers make decisions to buy. And if you're like most medical professionals, you probably think the best way to influence a consumer's decision-making is to present all of the facts …
But consumer research shows consumers make buying decisions based on emotion—so unlike the way you make medical decisions. Only later do consumers use their logic to process the facts … and then, it's done simply to justify their emotionally based decisions.
So, what’s an urgent care physician—accustomed
to marketing to like-minded doctors—to do?
This is where I can help. Hello, my name is Kay Steele Faulk. I’m a specialist in business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing and a copywriter known for writing copy that attracts attention and makes an emotional connection by speaking to the prospect’s heart.
In the 21st Century marketplace—with all the changes brought about by social media—it's time to forget mindshare and market- share. More than ever, effective marketing—marketing that gets results—is about gaining “heartshare.” When you have a greater heartshare in your marketplace, both mindshare and marketshare will follow. But …
As the urgent care marketplace grows more crowded every day … with walk-in services provided by the likes of CVS and Walgreen adding to the competition, you may wonder …
How Can Your Urgent Care Center
Gain Heartshare in YOUR Marketplace?
To make this happen for you, I’ve created a series of display advertisements—a complete ready-to-go print campaign for newspaper or magazine—that connects emotionally with prospective patients. Each customizable ad is patient centered and brands your urgent care center as the one providing "Urgent Care with Heart™."
The ads feature your various services—treatment for lacerations, fractures and acute illnesses, after-hours care and occupational, sports and walk-in medical services—but they do it from the patient's point of view, ethically and professionally addressing patients’ needs, wants, worries and fears.
These heart-to-heart messages have the power to motivate prospective patients to choose your center as the urgent care center for them, long before they ever need your services.
But Don’t Take my Word for It.
Listen to this Practice Manager ...
November 2008:
“Hello, Kay. I just want you to know the response to your ads
has been overwhelming.”
February 2009:
“Because of your flu-shot ads, we’ve had
the best flu-shot season ever.”
April 2009:
“Last month we had 597 new patients
and saw a total of 1,600 patients.
This is unheard of for us, and we know it’s
because of your ads. They are the only advertising we do.”
But is this the right marketing for you?
To help you decide if the Urgent Care with Heart™ campaign is right for your urgent care center, I’m offering three sample ads from the series for your review. Click here to provide me with your name, the name of your urgent care center, email address, city and state. I’ll send you the download link. (Please be assured I hate spam as much as you and will not share your email address with anyone.)
Or if you’d like to discuss your current marketing needs, feel free to email or call me at 870-265-9897 at your convenience. There’s no obligation or fee to see if I can help.
Availability
Exclusive rights to the Urgent Care with Heart™ print campaign are available on a first come, first served basis to ONE urgent care center per geographic area. For pricing information and to see if your market is available, please call 870-265-9897.
A final note ...
The Journal of Urgent Care Medicine reports 92% of respondents to a 2007 survey said they “would like providers to be more proactive in providing emotional support.” And 99% believe that “emotional support can have a positive effect on outcomes.” Now, you and I both know there is no substitute for competent clinical care. But with healthcare consumers giving this much importance to compassion and empathy in their healthcare experiences, doesn’t it just make good business sense to market and advertise your urgent care center as the one that provides “Urgent Care with Heart”?
So I ask you to consider the lifetime value of each new patient who chooses your urgent care practice, and then email or call me at 870-265-9897 to request your review samples. There’s no obligation or fee to see if this marketing is right for you.
Writing for your success,
Kay Steele Faulk
The Healthcare Copywriter
P.S. Don’t let a competitor beat you to acquiring this reputation-enhancing brand image. Exclusive rights to the Urgent Care with Heart™ print campaign are available to ONE urgent care center per geographic area. When you click here to request your samples, you’ll be on your way to distinguishing yourself from all other practices in your area’s urgent care marketplace.
|
