Attracting new patients to your practice is likely one of your primary goals. At the same time, not all patients bring in the same amount of value– some will come in once to take advantage of a discount or promotional deal, while others will become long-term patients.
When you want to grow your practice sustainably, targeting high-value patients is key.
What exactly is a high-value patient, though? How do you reach them, and how do you convince them to book their first appointment?
Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about creating a compelling marketing campaign that brings in more high-value patients to your private practice.
What Is a High-Value Patient?
When you’re providing healthcare to individuals, it can feel strange to think of some patients as “high-value.” However, it’s important to understand that the financial value of a patient is only one aspect of what it means for an individual to provide a great deal of value to your practice.
Here are some of the different ways you can measure the value of your patients, with high-value patients being key to your practice thriving and growing over time.
Financial Value
Some individuals require more medical treatment than others or are more actively engaged in seeking preventative care.
By attracting these patients through deliberate marketing practices, you can help ensure that your practice is able to sustain itself financially and continue providing care to your community.
Referral Potential
Another aspect of a high-value patient is that they are more likely than others to refer family members or friends to your practice. They appreciate the work you do and are eager to let other people know about the care you provide.
This can be a great way to attract new patients and grow your practice over time.
Long-Term Engagement
High-value patients are also much more likely to engage with your practice over a long period of time.
Not only do they contribute to the ongoing revenue stream of your practice, but they also act as a loyal patient and advocate for your brand.
Preventative Care
Some individuals are much more inclined to seek preventative care than others. For instance, some people might be eager to come in for regular checkups and screenings, while others tend to skip this type of appointment when they can.
High-value patients prioritize their health and see preventative care as central to this equation.
Patient Satisfaction
Finally, another important component of high-value patients is that they have had positive experiences with your staff and services.
This makes them much more likely to refer your practice to other people and return for care in the future.
How to Attract High-Value Patients to Your Private Practice
Now that we have a clearer sense of what a high-value patient is, it’s time to look at how you can attract them to your practice. By identifying your target market, understanding where they spend their time, and tailoring your marketing campaign to suit them, you can set yourself up for success.
Understand Who Your Ideal Patient Is
The first and perhaps most important step in the process of attracting high-value patients is understanding who exactly you’re trying to bring into your practice. Creating an ideal patient profile can help you identify the specific demographic that you want to target as a part of your marketing practices.
Which patients do you see that bring in the most value, financially and otherwise? How old are they, how much money do they make, where do they live, and what are their interests? The more specific you can get when outlining your ideal patient, the better able you’ll be to successfully market to them.
Develop the Right Marketing Messages
Once you know who you’re marketing to, it’s time to start thinking about how you want to communicate your offerings to your target demographic.
There are many components to a strong marketing campaign– you’ll want to communicate the treatments you offer and the results patients can expect, the environment and atmosphere of your practice, and your brand’s mission. It can be tempting to simply make a laundry list of services when spreading the word about your practice, but the truth is that there is a strong emotional component to effective marketing.
Rather than getting into the nitty gritty details of the services you can provide, your practice can benefit from focusing on the positive results that patients can expect when they utilize your services.
It’s also important to make sure that you have consistency across all of your marketing materials. This relates to the aesthetics– your logo, color scheme, font, etc.– and the actual message you’re sending to potential patients.
Give Your Website a Facelift
Has your website seen better days? In our modern age, you simply can’t get away with slacking in relation to your online presence. Most people will head right to their computer or phone when searching for a new healthcare provider, and the state and style of your website can have a big impact on whether they choose to book an appointment with you.
It is worth investing time and energy into making your website an appealing, attractive, and informative center for all of your online activities. You’ll also want to make sure that your site is mobile-friendly, as many people simply use their phones for simple Google searches rather than sitting down at their computers.
Your website should be completely free of technical glitches, dead links, 404 errors, and other things that make your practice look unprofessional. You don’t want to hinder your prospective patient’s ability to choose you over the competition and make the decision to book an appointment.
In addition to your site being attractive, intuitive, and free of errors, it’s also important to incorporate SEO best practices into your site. Through SEO techniques, you can help your site rank more highly on search results and increase traffic.
Create Informational and Educational Content
Starting a blog can be a powerful way to bring more traffic to your site and position yourself as an authority in your field. When you publish regular blogs, you can take the opportunity to answer common questions, showcase your expertise, share helpful information, and much more. At the same time, you can incorporate more SEO and local SEO keywords that help bring more people to your site.
When you create a blog on your site, you offer something valuable to potential patients. This is a powerful marketing tool, helping to build trust between you and individuals who might be interested in your services down the road.
Target the Right Channels
As a part of creating your ideal patient profile, you will want to determine where your target demographic spends their time online and offline.
Which social media sites do they use? What newspapers, if any, do they read? Which TV channels do they watch? What do they do with their free time?
Depending on the answers to these questions, you can tailor your efforts to ensure that your marketing message reaches your intended audience.
For example, if your ideal patient is a person between 55 and 65 with an income of $100,000 or more per year, you’ll want to do your research and determine which online and offline channels this group of people is most likely to use. While you probably won’t find many on TikTok, advertising through Facebook or traditional media could be a great way to reach them.
Running a business and providing the highest quality care to your patients is a lot to ask from one person. It’s no surprise that so many doctors have been reporting experiencing burnout– being a physician in the modern day can be stressful and overwhelming. Make sure you check out our tips and healthy habits to practice specifically geared toward physicians.
Utilize Email Marketing
Email marketing is a cost-effective way to reach out to new and existing clients. You can customize and personalize these messages to help them have more impact.
Your email messages can be sent to your entire mailing list, sharing links to blog articles, social media accounts, promotions you’re running, and much more.
Manage Your Online Reputation
What do you normally do when you’re looking for a new restaurant or a business in your community? If you’re like a lot of people, you probably head online and start reading through the reviews that other customers have left.
The same process is applicable to the world of medical care. When someone is looking for treatment or a medical professional to receive services from, they want to know whether other patients have had a good experience or if they should look for help elsewhere.
Since it is so common for individuals to read reviews when looking for a new physician, encouraging online reviews is one of the best and most efficient ways to grow your practice.
Encourage your existing patients to write online reviews to share feedback about their experience. You could even offer discounts for people who leave reviews online.
You might encourage people in person to leave reviews or send an automated follow-up email that provides a link through which they can leave a review.
Furthermore, you can ask for patient testimonials from your most satisfied patients. With their permission, you can post these to your website to help show prospective patients what makes your practice different from the competition.
Of course, there’s a good chance you’ll find that patients leave negative reviews from time to time. If the site they used to leave a review allows you to respond, it’s essential to reply in a professional and constructive way. When other potential patients see that you are prompt in responding to all feedback– even complaints– they will be much more likely to see you as a trustworthy and reliable medical provider.
Get Listed on Online Directories
Your visibility online can be improved by making sure your practice appears on as many sites as possible with the correct contact information.
There are a number of review sites you’ll want to make sure you’re listed on and monitor, including Google, Yelp, WebMD, ZocDocs, Healthgrades, and RateMDS. Depending on your specialty, there are likely other more specific directories that you could benefit from appearing on.
Update Your Google Business Profile
Speaking of online directories, perhaps the most important place to have your practice listed is your Google Business Profile. Formerly known as Google My Business, claiming your listing is free and easy.
Make sure you complete your profile with as much information as possible and double-check to make sure there aren’t any inconsistencies in how your contact information is listed when compared to other places online, like your website.
Nurture Your Existing Relationships With High-Value Patients
When you’re working to grow your practice, it’s easy to fixate on getting new patients at the expense of your existing patients. It’s just as important to maintain good relationships with the patients you already have as it is to bring in new people to your practice.
You can set up a system that helps you keep in touch with past and current patients. Even a few small gestures can convince someone who otherwise wouldn’t have returned to book another appointment. For example, you might send out automated reminder emails when a patient hasn’t been in for a specific period of time or offer special deals to recurring patients.
Are You Eager to Grow Your Private Practice?
When you went to medical school and residency, you gained tons of valuable skills that allow you to provide your patients with the highest quality care. At the same time, your education likely didn’t provide any training when it comes to actually running a business in the real world.
If you’re running a private practice and you’re eager to grow your business to six and seven figures without compromising the quality of care you’re providing, you’re in the right place. I started the EntreMD Business School to help eager physicians who are committed to next-level success.
Are you already making at least $100k in yearly revenue but are motivated to scale to seven figures in just one year? If so, you might be a great candidate for my one-on-one consulting services. To learn more, contact me today.
