Since posting Part 1 on a Real Live Marketing Plan last month, I had the fantastic opportunity to speak at a leadership conference during which the audience and I made an exciting discovery together. It was a simple discovery, but not a small one, and one I’d characterize as a team-changing epiphany.
And that was that leadership, much like our marketing subject here, is often mistaken as having to do with authority or title (as in “the boss”). It was fantastic to experience us all realizing together that leadership is simply positively influencing our teammates’ thinking, not a matter of who’s in charge.
It struck me as we experienced our leadership epiphany that marketing is very similarly misunderstood. I observe that many colleagues believe they are not “marketers,” when in reality, based on our working definition of marketing in Part 1 (anything you do to cause and sustain value), they are marketing in literally every patient interaction. They just don’t realize it.
It is thus quite rare to see a healthcare practice owner undertake writing a marketing plan. That’s assumed to be something reserved for “marketers,” not unlike leadership is something reserved for “leaders,” (and with that thinking escapes so much potential growth). In reality, the marketing plan is simply putting the pen or keyboard to our growth ideas/initiatives, most of which likely are or have been in mind already, so we can bring them collectively to FINISH.
This epiphany in mind, let’s pick up where we left off last month having covered the first three sections of the marketing plan -- Practice Vision, Marketing Objectives and Marketing Strategies – and move into the workhorse section, which are the specific Tactics to make it happen.
SECTION 4: MARKETING TACTICS
In quick review, we did an example Marketing Objective in Part 1 with these corresponding Strategies:
Objective: Double our Vision Therapy Revenues in the next calendar year.
Strategies:
1. Sub-Brand our Vision Therapy Practice to be its own entity within the practice.
2. Form and recommend our LOOK and SEE No-Obligation Vision Therapy Work-Up to all appropriate candidates/families.
3. Create and Send our LOOK and SEE Vision Therapy Program Brochure (including the No-Obligation Patient Work-Up/Appointment) to area healthcare professionals and other appropriate gatekeepers.
4. Plan, produce and run a vision therapy radio education campaign targeted to likely candidates, area eye care practices and healthcare gatekeepers.
Most marketing objectives are simply indications of specific growth we desire in practice production, patient base, scope of care, provider team, etc. Our vision therapy objective in Part 1 is one such example, after which we listed a few strategies to power it, and now we detail our intended specific tactics to drive those strategies. So, let’s continue our example from part one with a few tactics.
OBJECTIVE: Double our Vision Therapy Revenues in the Next Calendar Year.
Strategies and Tactics:
1. Sub-Brand our Vision Therapy Practice to be its Own Entity within the Practice.
1) Develop a Separate VT Practice Entity/Name as a sub-brand of the overall practice that is separate, distinct and indicative of our VT focuses of children’s vision development, sports vision performance and vision rehabilitation. (finalize new entity name by January 10)
2) Develop a Corresponding VT Positioning Phrase/Slogan to further indicate and distinguish our specific VT services to patients, potential patients and area healthcare providers and gatekeepers. (complete by January 15
3) Create an Effective Graphic Image/Layout (logo) effectively visually displaying this entity/positioning phrase to complete the new VT Brand. (complete by February 1)
4) Revise Practice External Building and Door Signage to display new VT entity/brand alongside the existing practice signage. (choose sign company by February 1, finalize designs by February 10, complete signage by March 15)
5) Add New VT Entity/Brand to Practice Website. (live on website by February 15)
6) Add New VT Entity/Brand to current Practice Marketing Collateral (letterhead, business cards, electronic/email signatures, brochures, etc. (all completed by February 15)
7) Create New/Additional VT Entity/Brand Social Media Accounts. (live by February 20)
2. Form and Recommend our LOOK and SEE No-Obligation Vision Therapy Work-Up/Appointment to all appropriate candidates/families.
1) Form LOOK and SEE Patient Work-Up to include (x, y and z procedures) as a 20-minute patient appointment. (work-up specifics finalized by January 15)
2) Recommend LOOK and SEE No Obligation Work-Up Appointment to all vision therapy candidates/families whenever appropriate. Script this for all team members. (commence scheduling immediately as appointment times are available)
3) Schedule LOOK and SEE Work-Up Appointments with Dr. Parker two Thursday mornings per month. (commence scheduling immediately as time is available and block out these Thursday mornings from March 1 forward)
4) Create LOOK and SEE Vision Therapy Program Brochure (including the No Obligation Patient Work-Up/Appointment) be provided to all candidates along with recommendation.
5) Report Weekly at Team Metrics Reviews on Number of LOOK and SEE Patient Work-Up ppointments made and kept for the period.
3. Send our LOOK and SEE Vision Therapy Program Brochure (including No-Obligation Patient Work-Up/Appointment) with cover letter to all area healthcare professionals, schools/learning centers, coaches and other appropriate gatekeepers.
1) List specific tactics/times accordingly
These examples considered, we see a marketing plan is nothing more than a written strategic plan reducing to writing our desired objects (remembering we’re fifty times more likely to accomplish an objective if we write it down!) and our intended initiatives to power them. And like our first budget project, employee manual and other such endeavors, the beauty is when we’ve done this once, the real work is done for all subsequent versions by simply tweaking the document (under the leadership of the practice Marketing Coordinator, of course) to reflect our growth objectives in that time. And we continue perfecting the master marketing plan with each successive version.
Well colleagues, that’s a wrap on creating a real-live marketing plan. It really is that simple, as our planned initiative examples here show, and I say no time like the present, no matter how short/simple our draft one ends up being!