Your Practice Message

I’ve talked a lot about marketing your practice in the last month – making sure to over promise and over deliver by capitalizing on your practice’s strengths; the importance of integrating logos in your marketing media; and how first impressions count. Now it’s time to talk about your practice message.

Jeremy Bullmore, author of Apples, Insights and Mad Inventors: An Entertaining Analysis of Modern Marketing once said, “Consumers build an image [of a brand] as birds build nests. From the scraps and straws they chance upon.” I say don’t make your patients scrap around for information about your practice, instead develop a message and hand them the nest.

Your practice message is about making that first impression. It will be one of the first selling points of your practice to prospective patients and clients. And if they like your message, they are likely to look further into what you have to offer as a practice.

As you start to develop your message, ask yourself these three questions:     

1. Who are my target patients and clients?

2. What makes my practice unique to these target patients/clients?

Evaluate your practice’s strengths that you came up with in a previous post. These strengths are the foundation of what makes your practice unique.

3. What channels will I use to get my message out?

You can use various media channels to get your message out. Using visual channels, such as postcards, business cards, print advertising and signs will ensure customers see firsthand what your practice has to offer. You will want to make sure to integrate your logo into all of your visual messaging. You can also use the verbal approach. Talk to your patients and clients during their next visit. Reiterate your message by acting on your message – give them the great service you are advertising. The verbal approach also means coming up with slogans or taglines.