Professional Referral Marketing: Four Cornerstones and Eight Fatal Errors

Don't do what they hate. There's probably no end to the list of possible mistakes, but here's our list of hot buttons that we know from experience will quickly kill a referral pipeline. In random order, here are things that primary care physicians, or referring practices, especially hate (and what you can do to avoid the problem): 

• Having the impression that you are stealing their patient. (The key word is impression.) Simple neglect, oversight or unintentional error or omission can create the feeling that their generous referral has cost them a patient. So always send the patient back–with some deliberate process steps and a bit of ceremony if necessary for notice–to the referring physician.  
• Failing to keep the primary care physician informed. Let the referring practice or business know that the patient has been scheduled, that you appreciate the referral and that you will continue to communicate about what follows. Let them know often with regular progress reports.
• Not seeing referred patients promptly. Referring physicians hate to have their patients' care delayed because the patient can't get in to see you in a timely way. Make a special effort to accommodate the referred patient as soon as possible. And let the referring practice know what transpires.
• Telling the patient that the primary care diagnosis was wrong. Nobody likes to be wrong, especially doctors. And absolutely nobody likes to be told they were wrong. If your specialist treatment plan is different from what the patient or PCP may be expecting, find a smooth-as-silk way to communicate this to both.
• Talking down to the primary care physician (or sounding like it). This is almost as bad as telling them they were wrong. A general practitioner may not know your specialty as well as you do, so take care to communicate peer-to-peer, as colleagues in the care of the patient.
• Referring the patient on to another specialist without consulting the original referring physician. When the best course for the patient is to see a different or second specialist or sub-specialist, consult the primary doc. This courtesy is respectful, avoids the "stolen patient" impression, and covers the "keep them informed" mandate. Good diplomacy has many benefits.
• Being unavailable when treatment is unsuccessful. The specialist who quietly fades away without recommendations on a next course of treatment leaves a bad impression and bolts the door on future recommendations.
• Refusing to take a "lesser" case after taking many good-paying cases. Enough said.

By the way, there's no fanfare when people stop referring. You will not get a telegram or fireworks ending a referral relationship. They just quietly stop referring. You may not even know what happened (or failed to happen). And worse, if a practice stops referring, they probably will NOT tell you, but they may tell their friends. Your reputation is damaged and you may quietly lose other referral sources. 

It is difficult to fix a referral relationship gone sour. Even when the cause was unintentional or an oversight, or a simple error–once stopped, referral channels are likely stopped forever. It is difficult to build the bridge of trust–and once lost, probably impossible to repair. 

For more enquiries, please email us at sales@medicalamrketing.com.hk or call us at 852-25801059 in office hour HKT 10:00 to 14:00 / 15:00-19:00.

www.medicalmarketing.com.hk

Hire us! Why? Because we have …

1.      Solid experience in management of medical-related projects.

2.      Ability to collaborate and work well medical professionals.

3.      Good understanding of usability, conversion funnels, web analytics, web design, and information architecture design.

4.      Good understanding of technical requirements of organic search

5.      Good medical writing skills and HTML skills

6.      Similar approach and philosophy about organic search as yours.

7.      Familiarize with Google’s webmaster guidelines.

If you have interest on the web marketing in Asia, you are also recommended to visit www.asia-web-marketing.com as well.

It's got to be a system / Build relationships

Each time we roll up our sleeves and work with a group of doctors at one of our 2-day marketing meetings, the professional referral marketing strategies and tactics session is one of the most interesting, lively, popular and productive segments. It hits home with a lot of healthcare practices and businesses. 

Our usual "rapid fire" pace kicks up a notch or two when we talk candidly about the interaction–the good, the bad and the otherwise–between and among professional organizations. Marketing to practices that refer or could refer to your practice is of critical concern, especially the specialist who depends on the generalist for referrals. 

With years of experience working with practitioners and staff of all shapes, sizes, locations and temperament, we share a ton of candid and highly effective strategies about what to do and what not to do. But we don't have enough space here to tell all those secrets, so let's look at the foundation of a really good professional referral system–including the fatal mistakes we've seen. 

It's got to be a system. Assuring a regular flow of referrals from other healthcare businesses requires a regular, systematic-even scheduled-amount of time and attention. Success and continuing results come from a habitual process, not a loose collection of occasional and independent tactics.

Build relationships. Professional referrals are based squarely on sound relationships. Doctors and their staff refer to people they like, trust, feel are competent and believe are successful. As we all know, personal relationships require time and attention to maintain and grow. So...take care of the people who take care of you. That rule is a two-way street. 

For more enquiries, please email us at sales@medicalamrketing.com.hk or call us at 852-25801059 in office hour HKT 10:00 to 14:00 / 15:00-19:00.

www.medicalmarketing.com.hk

Hire us! Why? Because we have …

1.      Solid experience in management of medical-related projects.

2.      Ability to collaborate and work well medical professionals.

3.      Good understanding of usability, conversion funnels, web analytics, web design, and information architecture design.

4.      Good understanding of technical requirements of organic search

5.      Good medical writing skills and HTML skills

6.      Similar approach and philosophy about organic search as yours.

7.      Familiarize with Google’s webmaster guidelines.

If you have interest on the web marketing in Asia, you are also recommended to visit www.asia-web-marketing.com as well.

Doctor Marketing Secrets When the Economic News is Soft

The truth is that everyone's situation is different, and we can't guide you about broad economic affairs in the nation. But we do know that when economic anxiety goes up, some professional organizations think it's a signal to pull down the marketing flag and quickly head for the sidelines. 

What's not well known is that your marketing-savvy competitors actually want you to be scared off the field. The better course (although counterintuitive) is to stay in the game.

It's the secret that successful healthcare businesses don't want you to know. Here's why... The most productive and cost-effective marketing opportunity is when there's little or no competition. And when some organizations duck-and-cover at the sound of uncomfortable economic news, it opens the playing field for the smart marketers. It's a rich opening to reach and attract the patients who are still seeking healthcare services, to protect your patient base and to build a larger market share overall. 

Healthcare needs are not economy-driven. The demand for healthcare services is based mainly on personal need, and regardless of the economy there are always people who require your services. This market exists even if the road is "bumpy" for some, and it's a good time to be delivering value in the community.

Understand what's real, what's local and what's drama. Believe it or not, some news media can be overly general and slightly sensational. Pause for a reality check and understand how news about the economy is actually impacting your community (or not). Some segments of the community might have a greater degree of need at this time. Other segments may be unaffected altogether.  

Marketing is communicating with the community. The healthcare business that abruptly silences its voice is totally and suddenly invisible to people in need—and that may seem like a disappearing act to others. Marketing works best with consistency and reliability.

Be alert to new opportunity. Economic change can also mean social change. Some people might be relocating—so look at your marketing by geography. Or some procedures or services may be in greater demand, so consider marketing messages that adjust your patient mix. When it's appropriate, target the specific audience where and when you can answer the greatest or strongest need with your services.

Have and use your marketing plan. If you don't have a marketing plan, let's talk about creating one for you. If you have a plan, we can guide you on how adjustments can boost the results. In good times or otherwise—the purpose of a marketing plan is to generate the maximum, cost-effective bottom-line results and Return-on-Investment. A hard-working marketing plan is your most valuable defense if economic times are soft.

For more enquiries, please email us at sales@medicalamrketing.com.hk or call us at 852-25801059 in office hour HKT 10:00 to 14:00 / 15:00-19:00.

www.medicalmarketing.com.hk

Hire us! Why? Because we have …

1.      Solid experience in management of medical-related projects.

2.      Ability to collaborate and work well medical professionals.

3.      Good understanding of usability, conversion funnels, web analytics, web design, and information architecture design.

4.      Good understanding of technical requirements of organic search

5.      Good medical writing skills and HTML skills

6.      Similar approach and philosophy about organic search as yours.

7.      Familiarize with Google’s webmaster guidelines.

If you have interest on the web marketing in Asia, you are also recommended to visit www.asia-web-marketing.com as well.

Some statistics related to web marketing in Asia

 

88% of online search dollars are spent on paid search results, even though 85% of searchers click on organic results.

Many marketers spend money on online advertising, particularly paid search, but none of them started to take advantage of the 85% of clicks that organic search produces.

63% of search related purchases occur offline and for some categories, this number is higher.

In a webvisible / Nielson study, 82% of respondents said that they’ve used the internet to find the local business. 80% say they’ve researched a product / service online before buying it locally.

Only 44% of small business even have a web site and your website need to be visible in search engines whether you sell online or not.

Hitwise reported that paid search engine traffic to websites was down to 26%, yet organic search traffic was up.

iCrossing study found that when a brand appears in both the organic and paid results, the searcher clicked on that brand 92% of the time compared to 60% of clicks when appear in one location only.

Advertising death spiral – consumers filter out advertising because it’s not relevant to their current task. In turn, advertisers get louder, causing consumers to filter more and advertisers to yell even louder.

Study focused on differences in how men and women search found that “on average, men make decisions quicker, spend less time on sites, are more likely to have pre-established “favored” vendor sites that they use in the search process and show less resistance to sponsored listings. Women tended to be more deliberate in reading search results, spend more time with their searches and spend more time on sites before making decisions. 

For more enquiries, please email us at sales@medicalamrketing.com.hk or call us at 852-25801059 in office hour HKT 10:00 to 14:00 / 15:00-19:00.

www. medicalmarketing.com.hk

Hire us! Why? Because we have …

1.      Solid experience in management of medical-related projects.

2.      Ability to collaborate and work well medical professionals.

3.      Good understanding of usability, conversion funnels, web analytics, web design, and information architecture design.

4.      Good understanding of technical requirements of organic search

5.      Good medical writing skills and HTML skills

6.      Similar approach and philosophy about organic search as yours.

7.      Familiarize with Google’s webmaster guidelines.

If you have interest on the web marketing in Asia, you are also recommended to visit www. asia-web-marketing.com as well.

Working smarter is the key to building your practice cost effectively

Step back for a moment and think about why you chose your healthcare profession and formed your own practice. As a medical professional, you’ve spent years training and honing your skills in your specific specialty. You focus on being the best you can be and learning from each patient to give all of your patients the best care you can provide. Why then, when it comes to marketing your practice, do you try to take on this specialized task alone? Your strengths are in healing and are valued in the medical field. Well, there are also professionals who specialize in specific medical marketing niches that you can tap into so you don’t work harder or longer hours to try to build your practice.

If you’d like to work smarter, instead of harder, to build your practice or if you want more insight into all of the different areas a healthcare marketing specialist could help you.

The most successful practices do what they do best – treating patients. No one would have surgery performed by a web designer, so why should a well trained and specialized doctor think they could develop a website as well as a professional web designer who builds them every day? Did you or a staff member create your marketing materials? If so, the chances are that they are not as high quality and will not have the same kind of returns that hiring a professional would have.

Take your web site, for example. A specialized web professional would know that not only does your website need to be visually appealing and user friendly, it needs to be search engine optimized. They’ll know how to identify the most common keywords specific to your practice that prospective patients are using so you can compete for Google placement. They know what Google looks for, what tends to work best and how to test for your specific specialty to make sure that you continually get a high return on your web marketing investment.

Successful medical practices work smarter by hiring professionals to develop their brand and to create all of the necessary marketing communication tools to make them stand out in their patients mind and their referral sources. This allows them to focus on treating their patients. Marketing specialists can also assist in training staff on the proper marketing techniques and essentials for effective tracking and compliance to Code of practice.

For more enquiries, please call us at 852-25801058 for more information.

www.medicalmarketing.com.hk

How You Can Use “Word of Mouth” Apply to Medical Marketing

Use word of mouth marketing to make your clinic more profitable, how to spend less on marketing, and how to make your patients happier. It cannot be denied that the world's most respected and profitable companies get their best customers for free through the power of word of mouth.
Five essential steps that make word of mouth work and everything you need to get started using them. Understand the real purpose of blogs, communities, viral email, evangelists, and buzz-when to use them and how simple it is to make them work.
Understand why everyone is talking about a certain restaurant, car, band, or dry cleaner-and why other businesses and products are ignored. Discover why some products become huge successes without a penny of promotion-and why some multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns fail to get noticed.

Five T's in Action

• Talkers: Who Will Tell Their Friends About You?
• Topics: What Will They Talk About
• Tools: How Can You Help the Message Travel?
• Taking Part: When Should You Join the Conversation?
• Tracking: What Are People Saying About You?

Word of mouth marketing isn't deception. It's the opposite.
Open your eyes to a new way of doing business. You'll see that honest marketing makes more money, because customers who trust you will talk about you. Learn how to be the remarkable clinic that people want to share with their friends.  

For more enquiries, please call us at 852-25801058 for more information.

www.medicalmarketing.com.hk