Today I’ve got a question from Nurse Practitioner Dwayne.  Dwayne asks the best strategies for marketing a specific type of healthcare model to other practitioners and providers. Dwayne has a diabetes clinic.

Here are a few ideas for you and other NPs that you can do right now.  First thing I would suggest that you do is figure out who exactly are the people that you are serving.  You say diabetics.  Is that Type I, type 2, is it adult, is it children, is it adolescents or is it all of the above?  So, once you have that really narrowed down you’ll also know where these people hang out because you’ll want to get your name in front of them.  So, that will be a good thing to do.

Next thing that you’ll want to is go ahead and let the Emergency Rooms know and the Discharge Planners because often times these people show up in the hospital, and they do not have a provider, and they’ll be able to send them your way.

Then I want you to target the primary-care providers.  I would love it if you were in my area and you were taking diabetic patients because right now those that do have a specialty in diabetes—they are not taking new patients because they are all overloaded.

The next thing you want to do is call those offices.  Call the other endocrinology offices and diabetologists and say hey, you’re opening up and that you have openings and you can see patients because most of them are overbooked and they’d be glad to refer people to you so that you can see those patients.

And then the last thing I would do is make sure that you get online.  You want to go to local.google.com and enter in your practice information because what happens is somebody maybe in San Francisco looking up a diabetic specialist in the San Francisco and your name will pop up in Google, and more patients are doing that.  Be sure and do that.  That’s for everybody in any kind of a practice situation.

So, until next time for the next NPBO Minute, you can visit www.NursePractionerBusinessOwner.com or you can visit www.NPBusiness.org and leave a comment in our blog.

Savvy Nurse Practitioners will do well to pay attention to marketing.

But what is it? Marketing is a term that is thrown about rather easily, yet not well understood.  Many of us think of marketing as advertising.  In truth, advertising is only one vehicle of the marketing pie.  Some people use the term marketing to mean the message that you are trying to convey.

The broader definition however, is that marketing is a system that includes various things that you would do to market your business.  In other words marketing is a way for you to get the message out about your product or service to those who are your potential and/or current clients. It is EVERYTHING you do to bring potential patients and clients into your business.

A marketing system needs to have several components to it.

You need to first and foremost identify who is your ideal client or patient.  Who is it that you want to see in your practice more than anybody else?  For example, a women’s healthcare NP will likely say that women are her ideal clients.  It’s a good start, but it’s not specific enough.  So when you think of your ideal client you need to get a picture of them in your head. You need to know where they hang out and most of all, what is their most pressing concern.

With marketing, you need to be aware of your goal.  Is it just to bring in more patients?  Are you looking for a particular patient?  Are you running a particular campaign, for example, back-to-school vaccinations? Knowing your goal will allow you to tailor your campaign to match.

Your marketing needs to include several vehicles in order to get your word out.  For so long many of us have relied merely on the phone book.  Indeed, marketing vehicles will include things such as:

• Advertising: websites, phone book ads, newspapers, brochures, and more
• Public-relations: this will include things that you do to help patients understand your practice.  This can include articles and columns that you may write for the local paper, magazine, or even TV. You can also include in this particular category, listings of nurse practitioners on say insurance websites.  They are letting their clients know who the providers are that are available to them.
• Publicity:  this can be good or bad and including mentions in the press and even word of mouth comments and testimonials.

Marketing  is something that we cannot do you just once a week when we get around to it or when we don’t have enough people coming through our door.  Marketing is something that needs to be engaged in on a daily basis. This is how you keep your funnel full and patients walking through your doors.

Of course, marketing is so much more involved than can be explained in this one tip. Future tips will explore information on how do you pick an ideal client or patient, have a right an ad for the phone book, and what information you should include on your website.

NPBO™ Action Step:

• Write down how you are currently marketing your business?
• Where are the holes in your plan?
• Which of the vehicles stimulated an idea for you?
• How and when will you implement it?

(c) 2009-10 Barbara C. Phillips, NP

Nurse Practitioner Business Owner, hosted “Getting Started in your OWN Practice” teleseminar on Sunday April 25, 2010. There were RECORD numbers of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in attendance.  The questions sent in before and during the event were fantastic. I did not get a chance to answer all the questions, but watch this blog for updates and answers to questions.

If you missed it, you can listen to it here:  www.nursepractitionerbusinessowner.com/startupsystem-replay.html

On this teleseminar, we introduced the NPBO™ Practice Startup System Program which starts Wednesday May 5th. I’m so excited to be actually teaching this course – I’ve had so many requests for something like this, and I believe it will make a huge difference for the NPs that are already participating! You’re invited to check it out, but you’ll want to do so before May 1st at 12 midnight Pacific (hint: the special pricing ends then).

Hope you’ll join us on May 5, 2010!

Visit http://www.nursepractitionerbusinessowner.com/gettingstartedinpracticecall.htm

Have you every wondered what it takes to have your very own, independent Nurse Practitioner practice?

Since 2006, I have received questions from Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants on this very topic. For example:  How do I start my own practice? How do I get patients into my practice? How do I find a collaborating physician? How do I get paid? These are just a few of the many questions that I receive in my in-box, voice mail or snail mail box on a weekly basis – and it’s impossible to answer each and every one of them individually.

So on Sunday April 25th, I’m going to attempt to answer as many questions as I possibly can on this topic while I take you step by step on what you need to do in order to start your own practice.  We’ll talk about doing an analysis, credentialing, getting paid, marketing, operations and more!

Want to know more about this no-charge teleseminar? Watch the video and then sign up.

I read “Getting Listed in Google Maps Even More Important” over at Duct Tape Marketing (DTM) and immediately saw the potential for Nurse Practitioner based businesses.  I’ve already advocated getting yourself listed in the local searches through Google, but this new search takes it to a new level.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Sign up for a Google Account (there is more to this than just a local listing..trust me on this)
2. Visit Google Local Business Center
3. DTM advocates that you enhance your profile by adding lots of descriptions, images and videos
4. Optimize your web site for the local searches. Use local terms, links, suburb names etc. Add you business address and phone number on every page.
5. Have people review your profile. This is important. People want to know what others think (ie, word-of-mouth). Ask you “raving fans” to comment on you listing.

Remember, always keep track of where your patients come from. I”ll bet you lunch that over time, you’ll see more and more new clients coming your way. Afterall, not everyone is doing this!

Let us know how this works for you.

On a daily basis, Nurse Practitioners who are business and practice owners are looking for ways to market their business. Marketing, bringing new clients/patients through your doors is the lifeblood of any business. Without it, you have no business. This has been a frequent topic of our  Business Tips.

There are many ways to market oneself.  Philippa Kennealy, MD of The Entrepreneurial MD, whose information is directed toward the physician, is equally applicable to Nurse Practitioners.  Her article, with permission, is presented below. Read it, take action, and share your results.
———
10 Ways to Position Yourself as an Authority

To most physicians, marketing comprises an ad in a magazine or the newspaper, a booth at the local healthcare and a glossy brochure.

It’s no wonder they tell me that marketing is expensive!

The really good news is that the costs of creating awareness about your practice or business are almost negligible with the advent of the Internet and the gazillion fun tools that are now available to experiment with.

Which makes it possible to continue marketing even in an economic downturn.

The principle I want to remind you of is that you do not have to sell to market effectively.

If you are like me, the thought of pushing a program or product onto a reluctant buyer makes me squirm. It’s just not natural for physicians to act as aggressive salespeople.

However, we are excellent educators and this is where we have an innate advantage.

What if you were to throw out the idea of selling, and replace it instead with a concerted effort to position yourself as a helpful and resourceful Authority?

Let me remind you too that you are all authorities in your fields. Agreed? In which case, the next step is to decide how to convey your authority and expertise.

Here are 10 ways to do that, and I recommend you select those that match your interests and talents.

1. Speaking presentations.
   Public speaking is a very effective activity for getting in front of your target market and communicating your marketing message. The trick is to avoid being pompous or pedantic, and instead enliven your presentations with stories and anecdotes.
2. Written articles.
   Whether this is an article for a peer-reviewed publication, a throwaway journal or magazine or an online e-zine directory such as e-zinearticles.com, getting published is a great way to build your credibility. Remember to include a byline with your name and website address or phone number at the end of the article for readers to contact you.
3. Newsletter.
   If you have a list of subscribers or clients, reach out and communicate with them on a regular basis. Share your knowledge – let them experience your expertise. The almost no-cost way to do this is electronically via e-mail, so be sure to collect e-mail addresses, along with permission to communicate.
4. Blog.
   A blog has to be one of the most extraordinary inventions in the last 10 years as, not only does it permit you to communicate your expertise, but it also helps you to be found in the search engines. For the latter, you need to include the words and phrases that your target market would use to seek out services like yours. Obviously it helps if you enjoy writing, although you don’t have to be an up-and-coming novelist to succeed. You could simply find articles and items of interest to your target market and link to them in one or two short paragraphs. Highly recommended!
5. Adding your comments to other people’s blogs.
   If you’re not inclined to write your own blog but have an authoritative and helpful opinion, it’s smart to share your thoughts and resources with others by commenting on blog posts, especially on the popular blog sites that you know your target market is reading. Each time you comment, make sure you enter your website URL in the appropriate field as this will encourage others to check you out. Do this often enough and you can build substantial goodwill, and traffic to your website. I’m always thrilled when someone takes the time to comment on my blog posts!
6. LinkedIn.
   LinkedIn has become a remarkably powerful tool for networking and establishing expertise. It takes nothing more than thoughtfulness and a willingness to spend a little time being a resource to others in the LinkedIn Answers section. Here’s a blog post that I hope you find useful for making the most of LinkedIn (it saves me having to repeat myself):  How entrepreneurial physicians get answers to burning questions
7. Facebook.
   Facebook is no longer the hangout for bored adolescents! It is becoming a dominant social networking platform for professionals by allowing you to build a profile of you and your business (you may even think of this as a free way to build a website!). I recommend staying away from posting your bachelor party or bikini bathing photos and keep your site looking both professional and personable. Your Facebook page may be your prospective client’s first impression of you!
8. Twitter.
   This micro-blogging platform is skyrocketing as a business tool – good for networking, sharing resources, building relationships and making requests. To add value to the conversation, stay away from sharing what you are making for dinner and instead offer thoughts, ideas, intelligent questions, and links to resources to your followers. Twitter is becoming an extraordinary platform for sharing expertise, without having to be a pushy salesperson (in fact the latter are quickly “unfollowed”).
9. Public Relations.
   Hiring a publicist can be a very costly and often unguaranteed experience. However, with platforms like Twitter where you can “follow” the numerous journalists who are busy tweeting, or LinkedIn where many have chosen to hang a shingle, it is easy to become your own PR person. It’s said that most journalists turn to the blogosphere first when seeking experts to quote in their articles. I have been contacted by three journalists in the last week for interviews for their various publications, so there must be something to this!
10. Create your own social network.
    One of the neatest tools I recently discovered was Ning at www.ning.com. At Ning you can build your own private social network (like a mini Facebook) dedicated to your “tribe” (Seth Godin’s great term for you and your target market). This platform permits you and your members to add people as friends, post upcoming events (such as your diabetes group class on foot care, or your teleclass on natural birthing!) and add blog posts. Check us out at www.entrepreneurialmd.ning.com and imagine the possibilities for your business.

Philippa Kennealy MD MPH CPCC PCC is President of The Entrepreneurial MD. As a coach with ICF-Certification and a Certified Physician Development Coach, she works with physicians who are striving to become entrepreneurs and build their own successful businesses or thriving practices.  You can learn more about her and her programs at www.EntrepreneurialMD.com.

A question frequently asked is “How to market my business so people will find me?”

There are several strategies a Nurse Practitioner can do to market his or her practice.  These will work in nearly all situations. Focus on one and then move on to the next. Remember, your marketing plan will incorporate several strategies.

Speaking at community locations.  This will work particularly well if you are in a new practice or you offer a new service.  Consider speaking for various community service centers, churches, local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary clubs, and local radio shows. Don’t forget that many of the larger businesses, schools and universities may be looking for speakers as well.

Writing.  One of the things that you can do this utilize social media today.  Many of our patients and clients will be located in places such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets.  Writing a blog is a good way to be found as well.  You can often write on topics that are specific to your particular practice or business as well as your location.  Make sure that this link can be found in your practice website.

Consider writing for your local newspaper.  Do they have a health column?  Can you answer letters to the editor?  Can you get a link from your local newspaper, or other local websites?

In terms of your website, make sure that your practice is listed in the local directories such as Google local as well as your business cards and around the office. There is no cost for this type of service.

Print advertising.  While advertising in the newspaper is often one of the first things that we think of, you might get a better return on investment by advertising in local/community papers.  In addition, consider publications such as the church bulletin, the local senior center newsletter, and even local high school newspapers.

Word-of-mouth.  This is by far the best marketing, hands down.  Nothing beats word-of-mouth.  Let your current patients/clients know that you are looking to expand your business. If they have friends or family members that aren’t looking for provider, asked them to make the referral.  Make sure that they have your business cards or brochures available to them.

While you may be a Nurse Practitioner, as a business owner you are true most important job is marketing.  If you do not have patience/clients coming into your business, you have no business.  Some marketing is something you need to take seriously, and need to come up with a marketing plan to execute on a continuous basis.

If you have further suggestions, tips, or strategies that you use for marketing please be sure to share them below.

New and seasoned Nurse Practitioner practice owners find themselves asking about marketing.

There are many ways to market a practice. You may be in the phone book (or not, watch for another post on this problem), write an article in the local newspaper or have a flyer up at the senior center. Many of us get referrals from insurance companies, from other providers offices and the emergency room.

But one thing that is missing in most practices and businesses is a web site.

I’m in a rural area and didn’t really think that my homemade website would make a difference. But I’m amazed at how many local folks find me, and learn about our office before they even call for an appointment.

With a website, you have the opportunity to talk to the many people who are confused and trying to find a provider they can work with. This is an ideal platform for you to talk with your potential patients.

So what can you have on your website?

• Q&A about common health questions
• Information about current health concerns in your community or issues that are currently in the news.
• Frequently answered questions.
• Various patient education, links, tools, diary’s
• New patient information
• Your practice philosophy
• Stuff about you and your staff

Remember…you will want to make sure you are speaking to your ideal client/patient. Connect with them. Invite them to your office.

So tell us, do you have a practice website? How is it working for your?

Nurse Practitioners who want to get started in business, with low overhead would do well to look at this business model. Listen in: