Your Marketing Budget: Cut Without Consequences

Keep marketing simple and cheap with these reality-tested techniques.

BY RENÉ LUTHE, SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Legendary retailer John Wanamaker, who pioneered the department store concept in the 19th century, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” As a result, he overspent on marketing even though he sensed some of that investment would never pay off.

More than a century later, ophthalmologists might agree that Wanamaker's conundrum is still a thorn in the side of any business owner. Those in the trenches know that marketing your practice is certainly necessary, but claim that practices can do this for a lot less than they think — and without professional help. The “hard” (and expensive) sell is most definitely out, according to those experienced in growing an eyecare practice.

“I don't know if I would go to a heart surgeon or a brain surgeon if I heard his commercial on the radio or TV every morning,” says Uday Devgan, MD, of Los Angeles. “I would rather do a little more research than select my surgeon by who buys the most radio advertising or TV time.” Add to that the consideration that cataract or refractive surgery is arguably one of the most important surgeries of a patient's life, and he believes other approaches are more effective.

In this article, Dr. Devgan and other practice veterans share their tips on how to seize control of your marketing plan and bring patients in for less.

Goal-tending

What is wrong with many practices' approaches to marketing, according to Ray Mays, practice administrator at Eye Centers of Tennessee, in Crossville, is that many fail to distinguish marketing from advertising.

“Marketing to me is the education process,” he explains. “Advertising is saying, hey, come get an eye exam for $1.” Good patient education is what will keep patients coming to your practice, whether you are offering a “deal” on a service that month or not.

Another critical mistake, according to Mr. Mays, is that marketing efforts often lack an overall strategic goal. Those who run practices need to ask themselves what, specifically, they would like to accomplish from each effort.

“To me, the obvious goal is to acquire a customer; in the ophthalmology business, it's called a patient, but let's be honest, what they are is a customer,” Mr. Mays says.

Once a new patient walks through a practice's door, that's when staff must begin educating the patient about the range of services the practice offers. The doctor can explain to the patient the changes he can expect his eyes to undergo over the years, and what services and procedures the doctor can offer to help at that time. Should a staff member notice that a patient seems to be having difficulty hearing, Mr. Mays suggests letting the patient know that the practice offers a free hearing test. “Tell them that the test only takes 10 minutes; do they have time to stop in after their eye appointment?” Even if the patient is not interested in the service at that time, she is now aware that the practice offers it, Mr. Mays points out.

Why Should It Cost You?

The cost of obtaining and educating new patients should not require an enormous marketing budget, these veterans agree.

“It all boils down to what it costs you to acquire a new patient,” Mr. Mays say. “So whatever you spent on advertising last year divided by how many new patients you have. That's your cost of acquisition.”

Broken down that way, he believes that many of the marketing strategies recommended by “experts,” such as hosting seminars, end up showing a high price for a meager return.

“I like starting with free,” Mr. Mays say. “What can we do for free?”

One of the favorite free marketing strategies of Eye Centers of Tennessee is simply giving patients a few of the doctor's business cards and asking them to refer the practice to friends. “That doesn't cost anything but what the cards cost,” Mr. Mays notes. He believes that a simple, personal touch is effective. “People are just bombarded with so many messages and junk e-mail, and none of that stuff works.”

Be sure to use the time they are in your office to educate them about what you can do for them. Manufacturer-provided signs should inform them if you offer cosmetic procedures and products such as Botox treatments or Latisse. In the 20 minutes it takes for patients to dilate, Mr. Mays points out, they have nothing to do but notice the materials you have placed in the dilating area.

Not that practices should ever try to sell their patients things they don't need, cautions Mr. Mays. “You want to sell people what they want.”

Another cheap, effective marketing strategy is simply thinking long term, according to Mr. Mays. Should a new, 30-year-old patient walk through your door, consider that in about 35 more years, that patient will need cataract surgery, and cultivate that patient accordingly. Begin educating the patient, a little at a time, about the changes they can expect their eyes to go through over the coming years, and the technologies you have to help them maintain good vision. “Ideally, you would spend zero marketing dollars every year that way,” Mr. Mays points out.

Another reason Mr. Mays likes to keep strategies simple and cheap is that he is skeptical as to how much things like training office staff to turn questions into leads for surgical candidates can do to turn staff into effective marketers. “To get that 19-year-old, $8-an-hour girl at the front desk to do that over and over and educate her, that's a big old statement,” he says. “And that's not how the real world works.”

If “free” marketing strategies sound too simple to work, demographics offer sound reasons for practices to think they can be reluctant about parting with their money when it comes to marketing. As Larry Patterson, MD, medical director of Eye Centers of Tennessee, points out, there will soon be far more patients than doctors can handle.

“Over the next 10 years there will no increase in the supply of doctors, but there will be a massive increase in seniors,” he explains. Given this reality, he says that big marketing budgets seem unnecessary, unless the practice specializes in elective procedures. “Our biggest challenge in the next few years is going to be, how do we see all these patients,” he says.

Media, Old and New

Media has long been used in marketing, of course, but these experts caution that media is a more effective tool if one moves with the times. And while using it may not be free, it can be a low-cost method of getting the attention of prospective patients. Dr. Devgan has enthusiastically embraced so-called “new media.” He uses the social networking site Facebook, as well as YouTube and the relatively old-fashioned Web site.

Dr. Devgan says he does not use his Facebook page for vigorous promotion of his practice, but simply to have a presence on a site that is very popular with patients. He says he makes it a practice to “friend” any patient or colleague who requests it, though he does exercise some caution. “I don't put my personal stuff on Facebook — you won't find a picture of my kids or my pet, but I've got my normal head-shot and my practice information and a few things about me as a person.”

The result, he says, is 500 Facebook friends, about 100 of whom are patients. “People want to know their doctor. You're more of a person to your patients this way.”

Dr. Devgan has also been quick to take advantage of YouTube. “If you go to my channel on YouTube.com, www.youtube.com/ceiol, you will see that I have about 40 videos up, and the total number of views on my channel is more than 150,000.” (Note that “CEIOL” stands for Cataract Extraction Intraocular Lens.)

When it comes to Web sites, Dr. Devgan believes that having a presence on the Internet is worthwhile, considering that so many patients use it to conduct research on medical care. Currently in the middle of revamping his own site, Dr. Devgan says that the new version will be “chock full of actually useful information.” And it is information he has already composed in articles he has had published, as well as blog entries, so he has not had to pay for material.

For practice owners who are not so technologically savvy, don't despair. Mr. Mays contends that while Web sites have their place, big bucks and razzle-dazzle are not required to make them helpful marketing tools.

“Give me your lean, mean Web site that has the bare information,” he says. He sees it as a time-saving device once the prospective patient is interested in a service. Here they should be able to read about procedures the practices offer and also complete patient information forms. “That way, you don't have to say, ‘Let me get something in the mail to you,’ which will take four or five days,” Mr. Mays explains.

That time-savings is especially important regarding elective procedures, Mr. Mays says, because these patients have essentially already made their minds up and want to be seen the next day.

As for traditional media, such as radio and print ads, Mr. Mays feels that their day is past. He characterizes radio as a dying medium. “Maybe once a year I'll do something and run it for a week; we'll do something crazy, like $20 eye exams, or whatever — we don't even get a phone call. People are tuning that stuff out.”

Dr. Devgan concurs. “I don't see patients coming in saying, ‘I heard on the radio that you do cataracts.’”

Regarding newspapers, Mr. Mays finds that people are not tuning them out so much as not even picking them up anymore. “Our local newspaper is like every other newspaper in the country: Their subscriptions are down, I think, 40% even over last year.”

The kind of “old media” that Mr. Mays does still find valuable is direct mail. He says that his practice relies on that almost exclusively. “Because people are still checking their mail, though I don't think that will last for long.”

The key to making mailings effective, he says, is to test the message thoroughly before sending it to your patients.

“You've got to test the price, you've got to test the headline, the offer, how you phrase it, what days you will make the offer — all that has to be tested.” When you discover what gets the best response, mail that version to your patient base.

The practice will print 100 postcards that phrase the message one way, another 100 that phrase it a second way, and still another 100 that phrase it a third way. Whichever one “pulls” best wins. Strategies like this have helped the practice obtain new patients for a price that Mr. Mays can live with. “We've gone from spending $1,000 to acquire a new patient to spending about $20,” he says.

The Best Marketing of All

Once you've got a patient, take care of him or her, Mr. Mays advises. “It doesn't take any marketing to get a patient to come back to you; it takes a bit of effort.”

This effort includes simple but sometimes-overlooked things such as calling patients to remind them of upcoming appointments.

It also includes showing patients that you appreciate their patronage. Dr. Patterson says that when he gives patients his cards and asks them to refer him to friends, he couches his request in a way that shows he does not take his patients for granted.

“By and large, once you've got an established practice, your growth is through patient referrals. The late Bill Borover, an optician who became a consultant, had given me this advice. He said, if you want to grow your practice, every time you finish an eye exam, hand the patient three of your business cards and say, ‘If you're not happy with your eye exam today, let me know, please. If you have been happy, here are three cards; if you don't mind, if you have any friends or family members who you think would benefit from seeing us, we would really be honored by your referral.’ Simple as that.”

Dr. Devgan also places great faith in treating patients so well that they gladly refer their doctor to friends and family. “They'll trust their friends more so than they will a newspaper or radio ad,” he points out. “And the best part of word-of-mouth is that it basically costs nothing.”

He strives to give his patients the experience he would want as a patient, and for him that entails providing his cell phone number and e-mail address.

“I tell them, ‘We've covered a lot of information in today's conversation, but if you're like me, 10 minutes after you leave my office, you're going to think of another question. No problem, think of as many questions as you want and just e-mail them to me later.’” He makes a point of answering them himself. Dr. Devgan concedes that this level of TLC doesn't come cheap. “While some may perceive me as expensive, I'm giving patients world-class surgery and a world-class patient experience. With that in mind, it is a bargain.”

Whereas most other surgeons don't offer their e-mail addresses, or if they do, have a staff member handle the replies when they can, Dr. Devgan makes a point of replying himself — and on the same day.

Back to Basics

So while practices may need experts to help them navigate Medicare changes, health insurance reform and taxes, marketing is something they may be able to handle quite well themselves — and without spending exorbitant sums or attempting to execute sophisticated strategies.

Focus on educating your patients and being their physician rather than merely their healthcare provider. “Create such a pleasant atmosphere that when people leave, not only will they return, they'll also tell their friends about the practice. That's the cheapest advertising. Until you've maxed out on that, I don't know that it makes sense to be spending a lot of money outside,” Dr. Patterson says. OM