Marke&ng Strategies for Academic Audiology Clinics. Increasing pa&ent volume and revenue while maintaining nonprofit ideals and improving training.

Transcription

1 Marke&ng Strategies for Academic Audiology Clinics Increasing pa&ent volume and revenue while maintaining nonprofit ideals and improving training.

2 Consult with Fuel Medical Group as their University Audiology Advisor Consult with Northwestern University on an NIH grant conducted jointly with Mayo Clinic Florida DISCLOSURES

3 If we had more &me: Mission, Value Proposi&on, Ideal Pa&ent, Marke&ng Goals, Markets, Pathways, Culture, Calendar & Budget MARKETING PLAN (Marke'ng University and Other Nonprofit Audiology Clinics in Marke6ng in an Audiology Prac6ce Edited by Brian Taylor, Plural Publishing 2015)

4 Learning Objec&ves Understanding the importance of having a marke&ng strategy How to market the advantages of your nonprofit and university status The four pathways new pa&ents can take from the marketplace to your clinic and which are most important for academic audiology clinics How to accomplish marke&ng with limited resources

5 Calm Before the Storm The academic clinic s emphasis was on training Free clinics were common in academia Training clinic costs were covered by the university There was livle incen&ve to know or engage in best business prac&ces Marke&ng was nonexistent, even frowned upon Student enrollment was determined by faculty and adequacy of available resources

6 Perfect Storm in Academic Audiology Pressure to Cover More Clinic Costs Increased & Stronger Compe&&on Pressure to Increase Student Enrollment TRAINING CLINIC

7 Storm Gear = MARKETING Professional marke&ng will: Increase revenue to cover cost and produce profits Differen&ate your clinic from the compe&&on and make the clinic more compe&&ve and difficult to imitate Increase pa&ent flow to meet growing student enrollment A professional marke&ng plan helps make tough choices about how and where to compete and how to allocate limited resources Demonstrate business skills to university administra&on and build trust with administra&on to win addi&onal resources Marke&ng is the ac&on that will create solu&ons to pressing problems.

8 MARKETING THE ADVANTAGES OF ACADEMIC AUDIOLOGY CLINICS Being nonprofit gives academic audiology clinics an advantage in establishing trust. Being part of the university further establishes trust and promotes confidence in your skills, deep knowledge and state of the art prac&ces and procedures. Market these unique advantages and do not market product and price.

9 NONPROFIT STATUS & TRUST The Decisive Differen&ators CLINIC TYPE REASON FOR BEING OPERATIONS PROFITS MOTAVTION PUBLIC VIEWPOINT FOR- PROFIT PROFIT PATIENT CARE TO OWNERS MONEY SUSPICION NONPROFIT PATIENT CARE PATIENT CARE SERVING MORE PATIENTS PATIENT CARE TRUST Trust is the most significant differen&ator between nonprofit academic clinics and their compe&&on.

10 TRUST: The Elixir of effec&ve long- term rela&onships For seniors trustworthiness is the primary factor in choosing their hearing healthcare clinic. Trust is much easier to establish between a pa&ent and a nonprofit clinic versus a for- profit clinic. A higher trust factor and your university affilia&on also gives academic nonprofit clinics an advantage in forming rela&ons with professional referral sources. Building and maintaining trust is the academic nonprofit clinic s greatest advantage and should be the core of its brand, value proposi&on, marke&ng and clinical prac&ce.

11 SUCCESSFUL MARKETING DEPENDS ON POTENTIAL PATIENTS RECEIVING A CONSISTENT MESSAGE FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES Retail Third Party Referrals Grassroots Digital STRATEGY: Consider those sources and how they should be priori&zed

12 Retail Choose Wisely Spend Carefully SUMMARY No Manufacturer Sponsored Retail Marke&ng No Magazines No Direct Mail No Radio except Public Radio and University and use them sparingly. Know the demographics. Newspapers Target demographic and use inserts. Do not market price or devices. Use to differen&ate your clinic and educate. Use Call Source to track ROI.

13 Pa&ent Referrals A=empt to help people with hearing difficul'es seek clinic services earlier by friend, family, and colleague referrals. Educate pa&ents about the benefits of early detec&on Need a systema&c plan that involves all clinic personnel and tracks how successful each audiologists is and monitors the role of front desk staff. If you feel you must give a monetary referral reward then give it to the new pa&ent not the referring pa&ent. Use professional materials to explain and facilitate the plan Send thank you card to referring pa&ent.

14 Physician Referrals Understand that physicians want to refer pa'ents where they will get the best treatment and not be sold something they do not need and this is what you are offering them. Requires an established physician marke&ng plan, a person responsible for implemen&ng the plan, and constant communica&ons with physician prac&ces. Ac&vely seek partnerships with local PCPs and other local physicians around the triple threat of Physician/Pa&ent miscommunica&on resul&ng from hearing loss Serious consequences of untreated age related hearing loss Comorbid condi&ons associated with hearing loss

15 Physician Referrals Expensive, start small with clinicians contac&ng local medical prac&ces serving the same market niche Use demographic analysis to see density of local physicians Build a library of peer review ar&cles stressing the importance of early treatment and the nega&ve consequences of no or delayed treatment. Distribute ar&cles along with marke&ng materials on a regular basis to local medical prac&ces. Use lunch and learns to educate the staff as well as physicians Be aware of who will be most important in making the referrals educate and facilitate them and win them over. A physician referral program requires constant care and feeding of those from whom you want referrals. Track referrals!

16 GRASSROOTS Consistent with a nonprofit image and increases visibility but not a dependable source of pa&ents Good for long- term public educa&on and student experience By being helpful you can build trust in the nonprofit community Integrate with Pillar of Community strategy Focus on health- related events that include your market niche Support the local HLAA chapter or similar groups. Choose grassroots events carefully and par&cipate selec&vely.

17 Pa&ent s Path to the Clinic Tradi6onal MARKETING Referrals & Adver&sements Phone number & Address New World of Audiology MARKETING Referrals & Adver&sements Phone #, Address, Website URL, E- mail RECEPTIONIST CLINIC VISIT Phone Call & Conversion to an Appointment Appointment Pa&ent Sa&sfac&on WEBSITE RECEPTIONIST CLINIC VISIT Discover about Clinic Personnel & Services Educate Themselves & Compare Providers Phone Call & Convert to Appointment E- mail & Convert to Appointment Appointment Pa&ent Sa&sfac&on In our new world of audiology, before calling for an appointment, a growing number of people will check your website and that is where their first impression will be made.

18 Website Majority of people search for healthcare informa&on online SEO,PPC ads, and remarke&ng will improve the chances of people finding your site Website must be professional and consistent with you marke&ng, branding and pa&ent care Explain services you provide, your value proposi&on, loca&on, hours of opera&on and photos and short bios of clinicians Pa&ents expect university websites to have educa&onal materials easily available

19 Shik the Cost, Use University Resources, Involve Students, Track ROI ACCOMPLISHING MARKETING WITH LIMITED RESOURCES

20 Shik the cost by using Fuel Medical Group Fuel Medical Group will help you manage the clinic and provide many marke&ng skills such as designing of marke&ng and pa&ent and physician educa&onal materials at no cost. Fuel has its own in- house team of designers, content editors and writers, coders, and business managers to team with you to meet your goals. Fuel will team with you to create your marke&ng plan: mission, value proposi&on, marke&ng goals, ideal customer, markets, marke&ng calendar and marke&ng budget. Fuel will assist you in monitoring your clinic KPIs and marke&ng ROI and suggest innova&ve improvements based on them

21 Use University Resources - PR Because of Town/Gown issue universi&es may like to publicize the good they are doing in the community like your clinical services, public lectures, and grassroots events. Make friends with the PR folks & align clinic and university community service strategies. Educate the PR folks about how people will benefit from your services, outreach and educa&onal events.

22 Use University Resources - HR Work with your HR department to make your clinical services bever know to faculty and staff and their families. Offer special considera&ons for university faculty, staff, and their families to gain HR support and publicity. Work with HR to create a hearing benefit plan for employees. A plan where university hearing healthcare services are provided in your clinic. If a lot of alumni reside in the community a similar approach can be used for them.

23 Use University Resources Business School Create a rela&onship with the business school. Business schools oken provide their communi&es with free experienced teams of experts to tackle nonprofit business development projects. These collabora&ve projects: Bolster the university & business school s community reputa&on Provide a challenging experience for business students Meet millennial B students need for social ac&on and involvement Allow the audiology clinic to do market research, diversify revenue streams and other projects without cost and with minimum &me commitment. Build your reputa&on upstream as being business savvy

24 Use University Resources Involve Students Marke&ng is no longer op&onal for audiology clinics, yet livle is being done to train students about clinic marke&ng. Involving students in your marke&ng efforts will create more people working on the marke&ng effort and give hands- on training to the students. Students can: Be part of the physician liaison program Par&cipate in clinic projects with the business school students Par&cipate in business conference calls and mee&ngs with Fuel Conduct capstone projects focused on needed market research, analysis of the research results, development of a plan of ac&on and its implementa&on.

25 Control cost Using Limited Resources Use Call Source to monitor marke&ng success Constantly monitor ROI for marke&ng projects and make adjustments accordingly Work smarter Establish a marke&ng culture to make marke&ng most effec&ve Marke&ng is everybody s business

26 Con&nue this discussion at the Fuel Medical Booth in the Exhibit Area. Contact me at donald- Con&nue studies on your own using: Marke'ng University and Other Nonprofit Audiology Clinics in Marke6ng in an Audiology Prac6ce Edited by Brian Taylor, Plural Publishing 2015 THANK YOU