Practice marketing: definition, meaning & conditions
Practice marketing: definition, meaning & requirementsOn this page we would like to clarify the most important questions about the term practice marketing. The following points will be considered in more detail:
What is practice marketing?
Why is practice marketing important?
What belongs to practice marketing
What is allowed?
Practice marketing definition – What is practice marketing?
The first impression counts! Whereas a brief entry in the Yellow Pages used to suffice in the past, patients now use various online and offline channels to search for the right doctor’s or therapy practice. Particularly in metropolitan areas, where the density of resident physicians is far greater than in the countryside and the medical competition really increases the business and thus the pressure among the practices, patients are spoiled for choice and define their own criteria for their decision. In order to stand out from the competition, especially when it comes to acquiring patients who are willing to pay, sustainable and targeted practice marketing therefore plays an even more important role.
Important keywords: practice marketing for doctors, practice marketing for dentists, practice marketing for therapists, practice marketing for alternative practitioners, clinic marketing, pharmaceutical marketing
What is practice marketing?
Practice marketing includes the orientation of various marketing activities from online and offline to the needs, requirements and taking into account the regulations of the health sector.
The target group of practice marketing are doctors, dentists, therapists, health professionals, medical institutions and facilities as well as clinics and veterinarians.
Practice Marketing Importance – Why is practice marketing important?
Patient communication:
The “informed patient” takes the doctor’s research into his or her own hands and literally sucks up information about disease patterns and/or treatment and therapy options, or does so from the Internet. On the one hand, it is important that your practice website can be found under defined search terms in the major search engines. In addition, your website should be modern and important! responsive (responsive website: correct displayability of the website on all end devices) and offer the reader *in qualitatively well prepared and always current content. On the practice website, the patient can find out about your services, treatment processes, costs, etc. before the actual treatment, find out current office hours and closing times, and find out about the practice team in advance. This creates transparency, trust and long-term patient relationships.
Patient Acquisition & Retention:
Long-term patient retention and patient acquisition / patient acquisition is arguably the primary goal of practice marketing. However, not only the pure acquisition of new patients for the practice plays a role – after all, the “right” patient should be won for the “right” or well-paid service. Targeted marketing measures should be an answer here.
Competitive advantages:
Since the ban on advertising by doctors has been relaxed, the search behavior of patients has changed, as much more information about practices, doctors and therapists is now available on the Internet, and the competitive pressure between doctors and practices has increased significantly. The medical practice cannot be found on Google? You can quickly lose touch with new and solvent patients. Increasingly, patients see themselves as customers with individual needs who want to be met by you, for example. with a good website presence, the simplicity of booking doctor’s appointments online via the practice website or the interesting social media posts around your practice. And one thing is quite certain – when it comes to the topic of practice marketing, the competition certainly does not sleep and likes to exploit the possible potential. So YOU stay in the fast lane!
Branding:
The word “brand” is usually associated with big fashion designers or food manufacturers, but even the dentist on Berlin’s KuDamm or in the Mecklenburg countryside can become an established and sustainable brand and take advantage of the benefits of a brand – for example. the possibility of positioning and differentiation from the competition, the creation of a quality characteristic and brand loyalty.
The basis for establishing a brand is an unmistakable and coordinated corporate design (practice logo, house colors and house fonts), i.e. a uniform appearance that recurs on print materials as well as on the practice website and other online media, because the entire communication concept of a medical facility (web content, social media, PR, etc.) is brand-building!
Facts & figures – Why invest in practice marketing?
%
… of Germans look for their doctor online.1
%
… of German Internet users would book their doctor’s appointments online.2
%
%
… of patients who have already used a video consultation would do so again.4
Sources
1 Marktforschungsinstitut Research Now im Auftrag von jameda GmbH: “Arztsuche im Internet: Patienten wünschen sich mehr Transparenz über die Expertise von Ärzten”, Link: https://bit.ly/3B6vERY (abgerufen am 21.10.2021).
2 Marktforschungsinstitut Research Now im Auftrag von jameda GmbH: “Patienten möchten Arzttermine online buchen”, unter: https://bit.ly/3poaSel(abgerufen am 21.10.2021).
3 IGES Institut: “Informierte Arztsuche – Projektergebnisse”, unter: https://bit.ly/3G8OwDt; Seite 14 (abgerufen am 21.10.2021).
4 Marktforschungsinstitut Dynata im Auftrag von jameda GmbH: “Covid-19 beschleunigt Telemedizin: Patienten wünschen mehr Videosprechstunden”, unter: https://bit.ly/3poaSel (abgerufen am 22.10.2021).
Practice marketing measures – What belongs to practice marketing?
Practice marketing is an interplay of various marketing measures, the so-called marketing mix. This includes both offline and online measures. All measures are subject to the defined and sustainably oriented goals of the marketing strategy. Both the marketing strategy and the associated marketing measures must be developed individually for each practice, as they depend on various criteria: Medical specialty and service portfolio, practice situation and resource availability (e.g. staff), target group, local conditions and competitive situation. As a full-service agency, we would be happy to support you in developing your marketing strategy and advise you on which practice marketing measures might be suitable for your medical facility.
Practice marketing basics:
Doctor logo & corporate design
Doctor business card
Practice sign
Doctor's stamp
Print equipment e.g. brochures & flyers medical practice
Practice website
Practice photos
Advanced practice marketing:
Online appointment booking on the website
Google ranking & Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Doctor rating portal & patient review
Social media marketing
Online advertising e.g. Google ads
Online PR
Videos e.g. waiting room TV, image film
Practice marketing – What is allowed?
A well thought-out and holistic practice marketing for doctors, dentists and therapists creates clear advantages for you and your medical facility. In order to be able to exploit these, however, the legal challenges must always be taken into account. Although the legal regulations were considerably relaxed some time ago, advertising for doctors and therapists is still subject to the basic principles of medical law, medical professional regulations, medical fee regulations, the law on advertising for therapeutic products and the law against unfair competition. In addition to the amendments and current court rulings, the federal state-specific regulations must always be observed.
The praxivisio team will help you to keep track of all these legal frameworks. We are aware of the special features and challenges of the health sector and, as a full-service agency for practice marketing, we have specialised in your needs. Please do not hesitate to contact us!
Let’s take off together!
Do you have questions about our services, want to book one of our packages, or would you prefer to launch your practice marketing concept directly with us? Feel free to contact us. Then please feel free to contact us.