Who Cares What Sally Says?
Welcome to my healthcare marketing blog! Thank you so much for visiting. I value your time highly, and will strive to make this worthwhile to you and your practice. What I hope to provide is insight into the practical elements of marketing your private practice. But why should you listen to me?
I’m a layperson who’s spent over twenty-five years in marketing and business management. I started my own agency in 2004 and my business has gravitated toward a healthcare focus. For one thing, it’s way more interesting than selling cars or hamburgers. And for another, I have deep respect and admiration for the many dedicated, caring healthcare professionals I’ve met along the way. The United States has the best healthcare in the world because it has the best healthcare providers and I’d like to do my part to keep it that way.
So in this blog I will share my experience and opinions on what will work for private practices. Not because I don’t work with large organizations, because I certainly do. I look forward to more, and they may certainly be worthy of my blog time in the future. They do a terrific job, not only in marketing, but in providing much-needed services to a large portion of our population.
But I believe in private practice as an important element of our fabulous healthcare system, and I know that it is tougher than it’s ever been before to stay in private practice. I can’t help you with declining reimbursements, increased regulation or rising medical supply costs. I can help you with competing for the dollars that are there and to make best use of your time and dollar investments in marketing your practice.
I know you’re not in it for the money, and that your satisfaction comes from providing great care to your patients. As a practice owner you’ve also signed up for all that goes along with operating a business. Keeping that business profitable is required for you to continue offering that great care. In addition to being smart, caring and hardworking, most healthcare professionals I’ve worked with are also extremely stubborn. That is great for seeing things through and riding out the rough spots that come with every business. That can be not so great for adapting to needed change. If you’re reading this, you’ve decided to use your stubbornness to grow your practice, not to ignore the changes until they put you under.
Do not let marketing be the first thing you cut when things get tighter. That is equivalent to cutting gasoline from your monthly budget when you need a car to get to work. Yeah, you’ll save a few bucks, but you’ll lose your job! Marketing tends to be intimidating for a lot of private practice owners and managers. But that’s a bad reason to ignore it. I honestly believe that if you implement and adhere to good marketing practices, you will be doing the most important thing that you can to not only survive, but to thrive in your practice. And this blog is free, so enjoy.