Marketing Matters
Marketing is More than Ads
Results require an integrated strategy. Use the "Marketing Triangle" to assess your efforts.

BY BRAD RUDEN, M.B.A.

Many medical practices o make the error of mistaking marketing for just advertising.

The fact is that marketing is much more than just promotion, particularly in a service industry such as medicine. Marketing in medicine encompasses the entire patient flow process, from presentation of services, to the delivery of services and continuing on with the establishment of a long-term relationship with the patient.

A key, and typically overlooked, component of practice survival and growth is an integrated marketing strategy.

To fully understand how an integrated marketing strategy affects a medical practice, we need to define the components of marketing. To do this, we can use a management tool known as the Marketing Triangle. (See accompanying diagram.)

The marketing triangle is a framework made up of three elements: internal marketing, external marketing, and interactive marketing. A review of each of these elements will provide an overall assessment of your marketing efforts:

External marketing. This is the most well-known aspect of marketing: advertising and promotion. When you review your actions in this area, ask yourself:

• Am I delivering an accurate message of our capabilities and services?
• Am I delivering a consistent message across all of our advertising media and promotional material? (e.g., print ads, radio ads, brochures, etc.)
• Is the message reaching the intended patient base?
• Since we last reviewed our marketing plan, have alternative sources of advertising or promotion been introduced into our market?
• Are we now offering new services that we need to promote to our current patient base, or do we need to target a new group of patients?

Internal marketing. Internal marketing is the support the physician and practice management give to their employees, enabling them to carry out the stated external marketing objectives. It's the policies and procedures that empower the staff so they can effectively achieve the marketing objectives of the practice. Some review questions to ask yourself are:

• Are we backing up our marketing promises in our services? If not, should we modify our behavior to fit our message or change our message to fit our behavior?
• Can the staff members achieve our advertised/strategic goals under our current system? If not, what changes are necessary?
• Does the feedback we obtain from our patients indicate that we're meeting our marketing objectives?

Interactive marketing. Interactive marketing is the delivering of the external marketing promise by the physicians and staff to the patient. The important questions here are:

• Is the most qualified person delivering service to the patient in the most cost-efficient manner?
• Are the patients aware of all the services provided by our practice?
• Do the patients indicate that the services provided are adequate, or are other services necessary?

THE BEST RETURN ON YOUR MARKETING DOLLARS

When you use the Marketing Triangle to critically analyze your integrated marketing plan, you should answer the following questions:

• How are we doing on all three sides?
• Are all sides of the triangle well aligned and integrated? They should be.
• Where are our strengths?
• Where are our weaknesses?
• Are there specific challenges or barriers in any of the three areas?

The answers to these questions will indicate where you are now and what you need to improve to position your practice for optimum results with your integrated marketing strategy.

Marketing is far more than just advertising or promotion. It's the entire set of policies and procedures that affect how you provide medical care to your patient base.

An integrated and cohesive marketing plan will address all facets of patient care within your practice and bring you the best return on the marketing dollars that you spend.

Brad Ruden, owner of MedPro Consulting & Marketing Services in Phoenix, Ariz., is a frequent author and lecturer on ophthalmology practice management topics. You can reach him at (602) 274-1668, medpro@uswest.net, or via his Web site at www.medprocms.com.