5 More Free Ways to Squeeze More Juice From Your Doctor Marketing Plan

[Another in our series of posts about free, low-cost, affordable and effective tactics to make your medical marketing sizzle without breaking the bank.]

Genuine business growth is the product of a well-designed marketing plan and budget. But there are serious ways to drive more “umphff” to your efforts without adding serious bucks to the budget.

Gone are the mythical days when simply being a “good doctor” was enough to assure success. The sobering reality is that doctors must market their services—consistently and professionally—in order to attract new patients, enhance their reputation and grow their bottom line.

So, if you’re looking for a magic bullet, it’s not here. The “good doctor” thing is a myth. But if you want to squeeze more business development juice from your current efforts, here are a few free or low-cost ideas and resources that can enhance your results.

For starters: If you missed it, last month we offered up a few free healthcare marketing strategies that actually energize results. In random order, consider these ideas to move from good to great:

• Create the world’s shortest marketing survey for patient insight. It only takes one, four-word question to engage patients and inspire near-real-time feedback. Click through to this article about how it’s done at virtually no cost.

• Generate publicity around healthcare in the news. The rollout of healthcare reform is raising public awareness about healthy living and other medical matters. Getting free press coverage is a bit of an art, but the first three steps are provided in this article.

• A warm “welcome letter” amazes new patients and win lasting friends. Any healthcare provider can do this, but almost no one takes advantage of the high-impact value of a small investment in patient satisfaction and relationship building. See this post for “how-to” info.

• Use the government’s data bank to refine your audience demographics. The census bureau has put a new face on its American FactFinder resource. Here’s how to unlock this Fort Knox of marketing data. It’s free of course.

• Track your online professional reputation. Google is the big-gorilla of all Internet search stuff, and they are instantly prepared to notify you when personal data appears on the web. The Me on the Web service is a powerful free tool to help you manage your public presence and reputation.

And for even more No-Cost Healthcare Marketing Resources and Tools to Help You, click through to this additional page of free articles, programs and materials.