Want to attract new patients to your medical practice? There are literally dozens of things you could do. But what will provide you with the fastest results?
Here are 5 tried and true ways to attract more patients quickly and efficiently.
Be Where Your Patients Are
72% of patients use the internet to research health information and to find a new physician. Will they find you there? Go to Google, Bing or Yahoo! and see what comes up for your practice and more importantly, search the terms or words a patient might use to find a new physician. Do you show up on page one? If not, this is an area to focus on to improve and grow your practice.
Improving your website, the content on your website, business listings and social media all play important roles in how and where you will show up.
Contact us to provide a free evaluation of your online presence.
Check and Update Your Business Listings
98% of medical practices have errors in their business listings. Wrong phone numbers, incorrect or incomplete addresses, old office locations or missing information about the practice. Google your medical practice name or physician names and see what is presented on the first 5 pages of Google. Be sure to correct any errors you find by claiming your listings and adding photos and details about your practice to improve your online search rankings and SEO.
You can also deploy a software solution like the one from Reputation Health to do this for you automatically.
Check Your Online Reviews
Online reviews are considered more credible and more important than ever. Review sites have gotten better at weeding out fake reviews with on average over 80% of reviews being accurate. Plus about 70% of reviews are positive so it’s not all bad. But a few negative reviews can have an immediate impact to your practice. Reviews also provide you with invaluable input and insight into areas of your practice that need improvement.
So can you respond to online reviews? Yes you can respond and more importantly, you should. Responding to a review isn’t breaking HIPAA but you also have to know how to best respond and what to say and not say for privacy and service reasons.
Have a Mobile Friendly Website
We all use our smart phones more and more to research things online. Patients looking for a medical practice are no different. Today’s websites are actually designed with that in mind using what is called a responsive design to adjust to different devices like a mobile phone, tablet or iPad or a computer. A mobile version of your web site is just a few hundred dollars if your website is not currently mobile friendly and the investment is well worth it.
Not sure if your website is mobile friendly? Pull up your website on your phone and see how easy it is to navigate. If it’s mobile friendly, you can probably tell right away since it will be easy to read and navigate. Still not sure,
contact us and we’ll let you know.
Embrace Social Media
There was a time when having social media sites like Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare and didn’t provide an ROI. But times have changed. Having a presence on social media now is part of providing great service to your patients and also is quite effective in attracting new patients. But you can’t just have an “If I build it, they will come attitude.” Research how to implement a strategy and assign someone to manage it at your practice. Or hire a reputable firm who has experience in the healthcare space to develop a social media plan that you can manage or they manage for you.
Want to know more about how social media can benefit your practice? Set up a free consultation today.
Improve Your Customer Service
All the marketing in the world won’t overcome bad customer service. Happy patients will tell others via social media or in person and will become ambassadors of your practice. Look for ways to improve service within your practice at every patient touch point.
The most common complaints patients have are wait times, unfriendly front office staff, old or antiquated business processes, lack of technology and lack of clear and concise communication. How is your practice doing in providing a great patient experience? How are your competitors doing?
Talk to your staff about how service can improved in your practice. They are usually the ones that hear the complaints or see where there is room for improvement. Survey your customers, read and monitor online reviews, have someone review all of your processes and implement changes whenever possible.
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I hope this information was helpful to you. The team at Reputation Health is here to assist you with any questions you may have. Reputation Health is endorsed and recommended by various medical associations throughout the United States.
Michael Vanderslice is an online reputation expert and has experience working in the healthcare and service fields. Contact Michael.
98% of medical practices have errors in their business listings. Wrong phone numbers, incorrect or incomplete addresses, old office locations or missing information about the practice. Google your medical practice name or physician names and see what is presented on the first 5 pages of Google. Be sure to correct any errors you find by claiming your listings and adding photos and details about your practice to improve your online search rankings and SEO.
You can also deploy a software solution like the one from Reputation Health to do this for you automatically.
There was a time when having social media sites like Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Foursquare and didn’t provide an ROI. But times have changed. Having a presence on social media now is part of providing great service to your patients and also is quite effective in attracting new patients. But you can’t just have an “If I build it, they will come attitude.” Research how to implement a strategy and assign someone to manage it at your practice. Or hire a reputable firm who has experience in the healthcare space to develop a social media plan that you can manage or they manage for you.
Want to know more about how social media can benefit your practice? Set up a free consultation today.