The way practitioners have been taught to build a business is radically outdated and ineffective. It leaves well-meaning clinicians broke, tired, and disappointed. So what is the best way to build your practice today? Join host E Brian Johnson and Dr Meghan Walker, the host of The Entrepology Podcast, and learn how savvy practitioners are bringing new patients to their door - both in-person and online.
The Savvy Practitioner gives you the tools that you need to grow your practice. The series will teach you how to develop your niche, showcase your unique offering, leverage your time more profitably and deliver on your ultimate goal of maximizing your impact - and your income.
Key Takeaways
One-Size-Fits-All Is Over
Practitioners are taught that we have one primary offering, which is to see patients one-on-one in the office. This does not acknowledge that our patients today are in different states of “readiness”. Their needs are different. One patient may require an in-depth consultation and a series of tests. And yet another patient may only require some basic information or a recommendation. The traditional one-size-fits-all approach Is a hangover from traditional medicine. It serves neither the patient nor the practitioner.
The same is true for our marketing. The one-size-fits-all marketing approach misses a huge opportunity for the practitioner to engage with the patient “where they are at”. Your marketing needs to be designed around what stage of readiness your prospective patients are at.
Measuring Results
It's ironic that practitioners would not think of treating patients without running tests to ascertain their progress towards health. And yet so few practitioners are running any kind of tests on the success of their marketing efforts or community outreach. If you are looking at the stack of business cards, brochures, and postcards, you should take a clear-eyed look at what impact each of those pieces has had on your business. How many clients have you brought in the door with your business cards? How many clients have walked in with a postcard? While there are challenges with digital marketing, one of its key benefits is it allows us to track how effective we are and what our marketing return-on-investment is.
New Realities Call for New Tactics
Today your practice is not just building, it is also a website. The function of your website is to persuade new patients that you are the right practitioner for their needs. To do that your website must effectively communicate your expertise as a practitioner - and who you are as a person. Your website must engage with the new patient at whatever stage of readiness they are at. If they are simply seeking some basic information, make it easy to find it on your website. If they are ready to engage with you with a more meaningful interaction, ask for their email address in exchange for rich content - like videos, quizzes or downloadables. Giving you their email address is an invitation for you to start a relationship with them.
One-On-One & Group Sessions
For those patients who are ready to see you in person, you must make it easy for them to book an appointment online for a telehealth call or a one-on-one consultation. And because not everyone can afford a one-on-one consultation, make sure to give them the opportunity to join a group session at a reduced rate.
Traffic
Before you engage and convert a prospect into a client, you have to get them to your website. That is what we call “traffic”. There are three categories of traffic each requiring different kinds of tactics.
Social media: Social media is free, but it’s also time-consuming and is usually a long play. Don’t expect results quickly. However, with all of us on our phones so much, you ignore it at your peril.
Paid traffic: These are Google ads and Facebook ads. Google ads target people who are intentionally searching for your services. Again, this highlights the importance of having a niche. Facebook ads are a good way to connect with your ideal client avatar and perfect your messaging.
There's a cost of acquiring a new client. It's either your time or it's your money. Depending on what you have more of, it’s probably best to partner with an expert to execute your paid ads strategy.
Affiliate traffic
Think of this as “collaborative” traffic. This lends you a unique opportunity to jump on to other people's complementary platforms. For example, if you are treating infertility and you've got a friend who's a pelvic floor physiotherapist, it makes for a perfect collaboration. You access her audience and in exchange, she can access your audience. It’s a beautiful opportunity to start to work synergistically to immediately expand the breadth of your business.
Reviews
Reviews are important! Add a request for reviews at the bottom of your email. Your patients will be happy to support your effort with positive reviews. If you receive a negative review, reach out to your community and ask them to jump on the platform and bury the negative review with positive reviews. You cannot edit the negative review, nor is it ethical to do so, however, you can push the negative review down the page by requesting positive reviews from your supporters.
Email
Email is still a thing! Email is the perfect vehicle for nurturing your relationship with your prospective patient. Nobody wants to read a downloadable PDF or an ultra-long email. What works best are newsletters of two or three short stories. Make sure your personality comes out. Make sure you are speaking to your niche! Find a tempo and a cadence to the delivery of those emails. Make them highly relevant to your audience and highly relevant does not mean long.
Webinars & Discovery Calls
Once people have started to interact with you on social or through your website, you need to nurture the relationship. You do that by providing value. Webinars are great because they give you an opportunity to share what it is you are passionate about. It’s also an opportunity for people to get to know YOU! Hear your voice, feel your passion and see your smile.
Delivering a webinar or delivering a talk is a fantastic conversion tool. Once you have someone on a webinar, you can then move them to a conversation. Invite them to book a discovery call within your practice. It is a really nice stepping stone to moving people into your practice and facilitating trust.
Key Quotes
“Your wall in social media is not for sales. If we're talking about something like Instagram, your wall is for you to display what you are about. It's for you to share who you are and to share your core messaging and deliver core value.” Dr Meghan Walker
“Understanding the demographics and psychographics of your patients will absolutely inform the language that you use in your marketing. This in turn will inform the level of trust that your audience has in you. The more you understand who your patients are, the easier it is going to be to speak to them. So I really encourage you to immerse yourself in the lives of your potential patients. I want you to think like you are an advocate for these individuals. You should be in five or six Facebook groups for people with their condition. Not because you're soliciting clients, because you're listening to them. You really have to understand the lifestyle and influences of these individuals and the language that they are using. This is why Facebook groups are a primary resource to go and listen in on the conversations of your ideal clients”. Dr Meghan Walker
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The opinions expressed in this Nutramedica program are those of the guests and contributors. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Nutritional Fundamentals For Health Inc.
This video is intended for licensed or registered health professionals and students of health professions only. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Information contained in these programs is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
