It’s safe to say that marketing plays an important role in any commerce, healthcare included. It helps business compete for market share by informing consumers of the value they get when they choose one company’s goods, products or services over those of another. It does the same for medicine. It helps any practice, group or institution compete for market share by highlighting the value patients get when they choose one practice over another - a real plus in today’s competitive medical reality.

A good medical marketing campaign will have, at its heart, a valid promise about the outcome received from the services rendered. This can be anything from prompt relief of symptoms and suffering, better cure rates, improved procedures, faster recovery, less pain, faster return to normal activities, enhanced beauty, better mobility and so on. In addition a marketing campaign will be better received by patients and the referral community too when its promise responds to everyday lifestyle concerns. It’s much more effective to make a promise such as “life after heart disease is worthwhile” than it is to promise “we alleviate heart conditions”.

In addition successful medical marketing pays attention to two basic elements. One, the "essential" medical and lifestyle needs of the patient, and two, the "essential" business needs of the practice itself. Improved outcomes in the former lead to improved outcomes in the latter, with more money, more prestige, and more validation, for the doctor.

By Rudy Svezia
president Verex Marketing and DocGrow
Check out the DocGrow Blog.