Roundtable · Marketing
Marketing That Actually Worked
What marketing initiatives have you run that turned out to be extremely successful?
Practice Mindshare Podcast, Episode 8 ·
None of the marketing in this conversation involved a big budget. Each co-founder found a way to put the practice in front of the right people, usually people already in their database, and let the experience do the selling.
An audiologist, a cosmetic dentist and an optometrist share the one initiative each of them would run again.
“You can generate fifty or sixty thousand dollars on one little event that just costs you lunch, because you called them and personally invited them.”
Dr. Rose markets constantly, even after years in the same community, because regardless of how established you are, you need to stay in front of people. Her most unusual initiative is the lunch-and-listen. The team mines the database for six or seven patients whose hearing aids are four years old, and she personally calls to invite them to a nice restaurant.
The new technology comes to lunch. Patients are fitted with the latest hearing aids at the table and simply experience what has changed, which in hearing care is a lot every three to four years. Then they are scheduled back to the office. Every time, she said, those patients have upgraded. One lunch can generate fifty or sixty thousand dollars, and it cost a meal and a phone call.
“We make it really difficult for people to buy from us. What if I just answered their questions for free?”
Dr. Harris's biggest marketing change was a realization: practices make it really difficult for people to buy from them. Patients have to jump through hoops to get basic questions answered. So he started answering them, in a few minutes, for free, with advice that let people see what was possible before they ever set foot in the practice.
It changed everything, he said, because it is what people want. They want to know whether they can trust you, what their options are, and what it costs. The faster you deliver those answers without hoops, the better the marketing works.
“Show them the type of patients you want to see. A lot of your marketing happens inside the practice.”
Dr. Rhue's rule is to show the patients you want to see. She loves seeing kids, so with permission the practice takes a Polaroid of every child and puts it on a wall. A couple of hundred photos later, everyone who walks past knows the answer to "do you see kids here?" Sixty percent of an optical is frames, so patients know you sell glasses; do they know you treat dry eye, manage glaucoma, or specialize in myopia management? Make it visible.
The other half is mining the database. Pull the patients from the electronic record who slipped through, treat them as second chances, and send them a link to order or book. Whatever channel you use, she said, the only rule is consistency: a quarterly newsletter you actually send beats a weekly one you abandon. Plan the cadence before you go all in.
What the panel agrees on
- Your best prospects are already in your database. Mine it, invite them personally, and let them experience what is new.
- Answer the questions people actually have, quickly and for free. Trust is the marketing.
- Make the services you want to be known for visible inside the practice, not just online.
- Pick a cadence you can sustain. Consistency beats volume.
Independent practices. Stronger together.
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