Making personal marketing connections for patient retention, new patients

Including a survey as part of your personal marketing plan is a great way to get one-on-one feedback and to show patients that you cater to their needs

Making personal marketing connections with prospective patients can be one of the most challenging parts of marketing your practice. Positioning yourself as not just caring and trustworthy, but as somebody with a personal interest in the wellbeing of your patients, often takes time and effort.

However, the results can be rewarding and fruitful over the long run. Patients that feel a personal connection to you will not only remain loyal, but are likely to make referrals to their family members and friends. This will net you even more new patients than simply via word of mouth. But how do you make those personal marketing connections, and can they be incorporated into your existing marketing plan?

No two patients are alike

Would you treat pediatric patients the same way as you would geriatric ones? Of course not. So why would you market to all your patients in the same way?

It’s all too easy to take a one-size-fits-all approach to your marketing plan. However, the danger with this approach is that it will likely feel cold, uncaring, and impersonal. Instead, you need to focus on marketing to your patients as individuals, with their own unique needs and goals from chiropractic care.

Some ways in which you can do this might include orthotics based on specific patient needs, such as inserts for athletes or those with specific medical conditions (such as arthritis or plantar fasciitis). You might also consider offering other customizable items, such as supplements or pillows.

Be a trusted online source of health care information

The number of Americans turning to the internet for health information has been steadily rising. In fact, as many as eight in 10 people reported accessing online health care information at least once during the previous year.

What should this mean to you in terms of making your personal marketing more relatable for your patients? You should focus, not just on having an online presence on a number of social medial platforms, but also on being a trusted source of online information for prospective and current patients to have their questions answered. The content you provide on your social media should include links to credible research. This will make you stand out as a health care provider who cares about the health and wellbeing of your patients.

Survey the territory for personal marketing connection possibilities

One of the best ways to make your patients feel as though you have a personal investment in their wellbeing is to ask them what they want from both you and your practice.

Including a survey as part of your personal marketing plan is a great way to get one-on-one feedback as to where you need to improve, areas where you already excel, and maybe some ideas that had not yet occurred to you. In addition, your patients will see that you actually do listen to them when they see the changes that you make, based upon their survey responses.

Fortunately, there are several good template sites, such as Survey Monkey, that make it easy to set up your survey and email it out to your patients.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember about trying to make personal connections in marketing is that your patients can sense if you are not sincere in your desire to reach out to them. Worse yet, a lack of sincerity can often remind patients of their attempts to seek help from the standard health care system. Instead, your biggest selling point should be that you are the exact opposite of that system. The best way to work that selling point into your marketing plan is to take the extra effort to make those personal connections.