A blog benefits you in ways your website can’t

 1)     It’s interactive--readers can comment and you can establish a dialogue with your customers. That means it’s two-way conversation, which is critical in today’s market.

2)     It’s immediate--content is published instantly and search engines find it quickly.

3)     Its inherent structure allows you to archive content for interested read-ers to search.

4)     You have increased exposure to search engines, which love the constantly changing content.

5)     You don’t have to be a “techie” to create a blog. The tools are readily available.

6)     You can comment on other people’s blogs and get more exposure for your brand, sending more traffic back to your site.

Seven Business Benefits of a Blog

1. It reinforces the idea that you are an expert in your field.
2. It helps pull a community of like-minded people together.
3. You get useful feedback from people who have bought or might buy your product.
4. It increases the likelihood that the media can find you and write about your products. ZDNet Research reports that 67 percent of journalists use blogs as sources and that 35 percent have their own blogs.
5. It helps develop the brand story so that people can tell others about you and generate further leads.
6. The content is always fresh, so your business demonstrates that you are active and responsive.
7. It generates traffic to your website and any other links you include on your blog.

Contact: Robbie Ho , http://www.medicalmarketing.com.hk/

How to Get Your Patients to Refer in Droves? (Part One)

Here are three remarkably easy-and highly effective-ways to encourage patients to refer family, friends and colleagues to your practice. The cost is almost nothing, so your Return On Investment (ROI) is through the roof.

This is the closest thing you'll find to guarantee success in internal marketing, and with a little practice and persistence, it's almost effortless to generate patient referrals.

The only tough part is making the commitment and doing it.

1. ASK PATIENTS FOR REFERRALS

Yes, you really do have to ask. That's rule one. You look busy to the patient and they don't think to refer. Brochures or signs are passive-helpful as reinforcement tools, but they don't engage or inspire the patient directly.

Far more than half of the doctors we talk to have heard of "asking for referrals," but-here's the tough part-many shy away...embarrassed, uncomfortable, or afraid they'll look needy. In fact, most patients would happily refer and would love to be asked.

Consider the patient's perspective. If they are pleased with your professional services, they are grateful, appreciative and naturally ready to say "thanks" in return. So ask. Not asking is more than an omission, it's a costly mistake and a golden opportunity lost.

Here's how to get beyond the stage fright (or other excuses) and get into the habit.

Doctor Talk. It's best if the doctor does the asking because that's the highest level connecting point for the patient, and the most direct channel for appreciation.

Timing is Important. Pick a moment when you know the patient is happy and when you've achieved great results. (Not when they are in pain from surgery.) Ask a "checking" question or two to make sure they're up on the satisfaction curve: "Did we do a good job for you?" or "Are you looking forward to showing off those new pearly whites at your sister's wedding?" Or when a patient volunteers a compliment: "I'm so glad you took care of that for me!"

Script it. Rehearse it. Keep it short and sincere. With a little preparation, you will not need the script, but it helps you focus your message. One of the best we've heard is to sincerely say to
the individual that you like having them as a patient, and that you would love it if they'd send their friends because you know they'd be great patients too.

Make it a habit. Look for opportunities to ask for referrals and do so often everyday as part of your regular routine. Mark the chart so that you (or your staff) only ask once (otherwise, you may look needy).

http://www.medicalmarketing.com.hk/

Five Tips For Hiring a Professional to Design Your Clinic Brand Identity

Five Tips For Hiring a Professional to Design Your Clinic Brand Identity
1.  Before you speak to any designer, be clear about your target audience and positioning. Your designer will want to know this and if you are confused or unclear, the results will be less than you hoped for. Don’t call designers hoping they will figure it out. You are an expert in your medical business so they can be an expert in theirs. If they are willing to work with a loose description, be wary.

2.  Think about colors and presentation. Do you want your brand to appear very formal? Are you a medical service with professional certifications? Let your designer know. Show them examples of brands you admire.

3.  When you speak with the designer, make sure they have a marketing sense. I’m not saying that they have to be marketing experts, but there are designers out there who care more about the aesthetic appeal of their design than how it fits your business. Don’t be bullied.
5.  Don’t expect good design work to be cheap. Be prepared to spend a reasonable amount. Look at a variety of designers before you finalize your budget. It’s hard to change a clinic brand identity once you create it, so bear that in mind when you are making your choice. If you feel you are compromising, you’ll never be happy.

http://www.medicalmarketing.com.hk/

Chinese mainland to further open medical market to HK, Macao and Taiwan

 

Five Tips For Hiring a Professional to Design Your Brand website

1. Before you speak to any designer, be clear about your target audience and positioning. Your designer will want to know this and if you are confused or unclear, the results will be less than you hoped for. Don’t call designers hoping they will figure it out. You are an expert in your business so they can be an expert in theirs. If they are willing to work with a loose description, be wary.
2. Think about colors and presentation. Do you want your brand to appear very formal? Are you a medical service with professional certifications and industry awards? Let your designer know. Show them examples of brands you admire.
3. Look at the designer’s online portfolio. If you don’t like what you see, you won’t like your custom design any better.
4. When you speak with the designer, make sure they have a marketing sense. I’m not saying that they have to be marketing experts, but there are designers out there who care more about the aesthetic appeal of their design than how it fits the customer’s business. Don’t be bullied.
5. Don’t expect good design work to be cheap. Be prepared to spend a reasonable amount. Look at a variety of designers before you finalize your budget. It’s hard to change a brand identity once you create it, so bear that in mind when you are making your choice. If you feel you are compromising, you’ll never be happy.

Hong Kong Medical Marketing has the medical marketer and focus on serving Medical professionals, please do not hesitate to contact us at 852-97810042 or sales@medicalmarkeitng.com.hk for any enquires.

Robbie Ho

Marketing Consultant

http://www.medicalmarketing.com.hk/

Search Engine Optimization checklist for medical professional

Medical Marketing in Hong Kong

Some doctors think the word "Marketing" meaning commercialization of the medical practice, is it? From my point of view, medical marketing is to develop and execute a personalized strategy to market the “under-market” medical therapies and surgeries. I believe an effective Medical Marketing can provide an informed choice for appropriate patients and ultimately can benefit to them.


Actually, some doctors have distinct treatment techniques that many patients would like to know! What's the gap between them? Time..... it could be handle by somebody else... who is a specialist that has a capability to understand the treatment techniques and present in laymen sense, that is the origin of medical marketing. 

Clear marketing goals are critical (S.M.A.R.T)

Before you decide to market your practice, you may ask few questions: Where is your marketing position today? What would you like it to be in the future? Would your goals and objectives are to increase the number of service provided, enhance the revenue, expand into new office locally / China, invest in the latest medical technology, add more associates or simply work less and make more money? Anyway, the first step is the same; you must identify and set clear goals.

Experienced marketers employed S.M.A.R.T to set the marketing goals; It stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timeliness.

Specific

Ensure your marketing goals are specific enough. Let’s take an example, your current practice generate 5 million in revenue and setting a goal to make 6 million in revenue!

Measurable

Ensure that your marketing goals are measurable. Similar to the previous example, it can be measure the revenue growth from 5 million to 6 million.

Achievable

Marketing goal should be achievable. For example, if your practice is a mature practice and fall into a competitive market, generating 5 million in revenue and you want to triple the revenue to 15 million within a year, seems it is unlikely be achievable.

Realistic

Marketing goals should be realistic. For example, if you are only willing to invest a small amount of marketing budget, but “want” to double the revenues from 5 million to 10 million within a year, seems it is not realistic!

Timeliness

Ensure the marketing plan is executed in planned timeframe. For example, marketing plan to launch the customer relationship management software on Jun and send out the first E-dm on 6 months later. Never set the marketing goals that are open-ended because you will rarely, if ever, reach them.



Hope the above information helps and useful for you. Please do not hesitate to contact me at mailto:sales@medicalmarketing.com.hk(8529781-0042 for further discussions.


Robbie Ho
Marketing Consultant
http://www.medicalmarketing.com.hk/

How to enhance the exposures of practice website?

Some practices invest significantly in production of practice websites. The production of practice website cost from thousands to tens of thousands to create, test-run, and implement. However, if your website isn’t listed in the first page of search engines, then it is unlikely to reach the majority public and be a wastage in your investment. Reminding that just building a website isn’t enough for medical practices.

Some practice website produce by Hong Kong Medical Marketing (HKMM) has already implemented the web strategy “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)”. Finding and using the right keywords associated with your practice is the first step and it is critical to fresh your content of your practice website consistently, that’s why HKMM provides regular maintenance services to your practice website. You may also consider putting some resources on the Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategy, depending on the specific competition of keywords in the Yahoo / Google search engine. To ensure that you get listed in the first searching page, you may consider doing Pay-Per-Click (PPC) strategy. These are the “sponsored” sites that are listed on the top left and along the right side of given web-search. You pay Yahoo / Google a fee if a prospect clicks through to your practice website. However, you must understand that the highest ranking could go to a competitor if they invest more than you do. Therefore, you need the web-professional to balance your SEO and PPC strategies.

Hope the above information helps and useful for you. Please do not hesitate to call me at (852) 9781-0042 for further discussions.


Robbie Ho

Marketing Consultant