After being in the healthcare industry for the 25 years of my career, I am still amazed at the general lack of awareness of the function of marketing. I often hear the words PR, advertising, or promotion used in the place of strategy, targets, metrics, or planning. And, when will people stop ordering their managers to take out an ad? Or is wasting money unimportant?
I need to get this off my chest. Marketing is a specialty of business development. It is as specialized as, say, invasive versus interventional cardiology. It needs to be approached methodically and yes, strategically. It is through the strategic plan of the business that the marketing foundation originates. It is through the strategic marketing plan that the actual statistics, data, goals, and target markets are determined. It is here that these goals are aligned with the overall goals of the business.
Let me deviate from marketing for a moment and talk about strategy. Developing marketing initiatives is fun, but delving into the world of strategic thinking is where the real fun begins. Being a strategic thinker involves having no fear of the obstacles, challenges and competition that are staring you square in the face. It requires a firm upper lip and the ability to look beyond those hurdles and instead identify the opportunities for your practice.
How do you, as a physician or practice administrator, take the business of caring for sick people and apply strategy to it? Actually, it really isn’t that difficult. Caring for people, talking with them, laying hands on them and advising them are part of the service that you provide in your business. By identifying those exact parts of your practice, and the roles of the different types of staff in your practice, you will begin the process of strategic thinking. The planning will come naturally as you identify ways to improve service, increase revenue or cash flow or recruit the best and brightest staff. A word of caution when starting down the strategic thinking path; do not do it without some type of market research. Applying your own opinion as to how well patients are treated, how family members are involved, or even the volume of the music in your office, is like asking your staff if they like you or not. The answers may or may not be real.
Key questions to ask the next time you want to approve that advertising or marketing campaign:
- Is advertising actually part of our strategic marketing plan?
- Is our business plan up to date? Are we referring to it to tackle the big decisions for the near future? When is the last time we held a strategic planning session?
- Have we developed a marketing plan from identified business strategies?
- Does our staff understand the direction in which we would like to take the organization? Do they know the expectations and their roles?
- Is our organizational infrastructure ready to handle a new marketing campaign?
I could go on and on about strategic planning and business development, but that will have to wait until the next article. I hope these few words cause you to ponder the big picture of practice management and future business growth.