An effective direct-to-patient marketing strategy stems from an understanding of three key factors: a surgery center's strengths, the surrounding patient market, and the tools a center can use to market to them, according to Scott Christiansen, CEO of CORE Medical Marketing, which specializes in patient acquisition marketing services for healthcare providers.
Mr. Christiansen provides five key points for surgery centers to know as they pursue a direct-to-patient marketing campaign.
1. Identify and leverage the surgery center's strengths. Before honing in on a direct-to-patient marketing strategy, a surgery center should pinpoint its particular benefits to emphasize to potential patients. Specialties, staff qualifications, technology and quality outcomes should all be taken into account when determining the center's strengths, says Mr. Christiansen.
Surgery centers should also be aware of the qualities of competing centers, perhaps avoiding an emphasis on a particular asset in which a nearby center also excels. "It might not make sense to market a facility's two neurosurgeons if the competition boasts an award-winning neuro center of excellence," he says.
When narrowing down its core marketable strengths, a center should also consider the demographics of the community — income level, gender, age — to ensure that the center's target strengths will be relevant and appealing to potential patients.
2. Focus your media buy. Unlike hospitals, surgery centers typically aren't targeting a broad range of patient needs. Centers should instead identify a narrower patient market to pursue through local media outlets and advertising, says Mr. Christiansen.
If a surgery center would like to target a particular age group, for example, it would need to determine where in the community that group lives and which media outlets they consume. Even a center on a limited marketing budget can consider billboards, print publications, TV and radio, says Mr. Christiansen. A center can distribute its budget to the advertising departments of local media outlets, for example, and compare each outlet's proposals to determine the most cost-effective route for marketing.
"What I hear from smaller facilities is, 'I can't compete with a hospital's marketing budget.' But you don't have to, because you're not trying to be everything to everyone," says Mr. Christiansen. "You have to figure out what is it that you can win, because you know you're really good at what you do."
3. Find out what's important to patients — and focus on it. Surgery centers may be tempted to make awards and accolades a focus of their advertisements, but patients typically prefer to see what a center can offer from a more practical standpoint. To hone in on the particular aspects of the center that existing patients find most appealing, says Mr. Christiansen, it's important to engage them in conversation about how they perceive their healthcare choices and what it would take to make them switch providers.
"People do surveys with patients, and surveys are valuable, but you don't have much of a chance of uncovering that all-important takeaway from a survey," he says. "Talk to people, get them in conversation if you really want to know the truth."
Surgery centers should also bear in mind that patients often don't understand the significance of medical awards to the same extent that other physicians and surgery centers would, which doesn't make them an ideal strategy for direct-to-patient marketing.
"Patients don’t know what the Summit Award or APEX Award means," says Mr. Christiansen. "Surgery centers have to remember that they're marketing to patients, and that starts with acknowledging that patients are doing their own research. You have to know what they're doing, and you have to know what your presence is at each step of the way."
4. Maintain an up-to-date, user-friendly website. Patient research often starts with an internet search, which is why surgery center websites must be detailed, credible and well-maintained, says Mr. Christiansen. A website that is neglected or sparse, offering little more than an address and contact information, is wasting a key opportunity to attract patients to the center.
"Once they're at the website, your job is to convert them into a patient," says Mr. Christiansen. "They need to know what makes you better than the competition. They want a way to communicate with you, schedule an appointment and ask a question. They want pictures of doctors, to see where they went to medical school and what procedures they do."
Even on a limited marketing budget, surgery centers can impact their online visibility with patients by providing information on commonly-used patient review sites and online search directories, including Yelp and Google Maps, says Mr. Christiansen.
5. Choose a marketing firm based on specialty, not location. Surgery centers interested in hiring a marketing firm should focus primarily on the firm's specialty qualifications when making a decision. A firm located in the same town may offer more generalized branding services, for example, but it likely won't have experience in implementing direct-to-patient marketing strategies and driving business to surgery centers.
"If you go with a local marketing firm, you risk spending all of your budget on branding, and there's no budget left over for more proactive patient acquisition and physician referral tactics," says Mr. Christiansen. "In today's world, you need a specialist who knows the business of marketing and the business of medicine."
What Can Football Teach Us About Surgery Center Management? 3 Essentials for ASC Improvement From Joe Zasa
Ideas for Enhancing Revenue at Surgery Centers
1. Identify and leverage the surgery center's strengths. Before honing in on a direct-to-patient marketing strategy, a surgery center should pinpoint its particular benefits to emphasize to potential patients. Specialties, staff qualifications, technology and quality outcomes should all be taken into account when determining the center's strengths, says Mr. Christiansen.
Surgery centers should also be aware of the qualities of competing centers, perhaps avoiding an emphasis on a particular asset in which a nearby center also excels. "It might not make sense to market a facility's two neurosurgeons if the competition boasts an award-winning neuro center of excellence," he says.
When narrowing down its core marketable strengths, a center should also consider the demographics of the community — income level, gender, age — to ensure that the center's target strengths will be relevant and appealing to potential patients.
2. Focus your media buy. Unlike hospitals, surgery centers typically aren't targeting a broad range of patient needs. Centers should instead identify a narrower patient market to pursue through local media outlets and advertising, says Mr. Christiansen.
If a surgery center would like to target a particular age group, for example, it would need to determine where in the community that group lives and which media outlets they consume. Even a center on a limited marketing budget can consider billboards, print publications, TV and radio, says Mr. Christiansen. A center can distribute its budget to the advertising departments of local media outlets, for example, and compare each outlet's proposals to determine the most cost-effective route for marketing.
"What I hear from smaller facilities is, 'I can't compete with a hospital's marketing budget.' But you don't have to, because you're not trying to be everything to everyone," says Mr. Christiansen. "You have to figure out what is it that you can win, because you know you're really good at what you do."
3. Find out what's important to patients — and focus on it. Surgery centers may be tempted to make awards and accolades a focus of their advertisements, but patients typically prefer to see what a center can offer from a more practical standpoint. To hone in on the particular aspects of the center that existing patients find most appealing, says Mr. Christiansen, it's important to engage them in conversation about how they perceive their healthcare choices and what it would take to make them switch providers.
"People do surveys with patients, and surveys are valuable, but you don't have much of a chance of uncovering that all-important takeaway from a survey," he says. "Talk to people, get them in conversation if you really want to know the truth."
Surgery centers should also bear in mind that patients often don't understand the significance of medical awards to the same extent that other physicians and surgery centers would, which doesn't make them an ideal strategy for direct-to-patient marketing.
"Patients don’t know what the Summit Award or APEX Award means," says Mr. Christiansen. "Surgery centers have to remember that they're marketing to patients, and that starts with acknowledging that patients are doing their own research. You have to know what they're doing, and you have to know what your presence is at each step of the way."
4. Maintain an up-to-date, user-friendly website. Patient research often starts with an internet search, which is why surgery center websites must be detailed, credible and well-maintained, says Mr. Christiansen. A website that is neglected or sparse, offering little more than an address and contact information, is wasting a key opportunity to attract patients to the center.
"Once they're at the website, your job is to convert them into a patient," says Mr. Christiansen. "They need to know what makes you better than the competition. They want a way to communicate with you, schedule an appointment and ask a question. They want pictures of doctors, to see where they went to medical school and what procedures they do."
Even on a limited marketing budget, surgery centers can impact their online visibility with patients by providing information on commonly-used patient review sites and online search directories, including Yelp and Google Maps, says Mr. Christiansen.
5. Choose a marketing firm based on specialty, not location. Surgery centers interested in hiring a marketing firm should focus primarily on the firm's specialty qualifications when making a decision. A firm located in the same town may offer more generalized branding services, for example, but it likely won't have experience in implementing direct-to-patient marketing strategies and driving business to surgery centers.
"If you go with a local marketing firm, you risk spending all of your budget on branding, and there's no budget left over for more proactive patient acquisition and physician referral tactics," says Mr. Christiansen. "In today's world, you need a specialist who knows the business of marketing and the business of medicine."
Related Articles on ASC Turnarounds:
Chuck Lauer: 10 Factors in Creating a Positive Work EnvironmentWhat Can Football Teach Us About Surgery Center Management? 3 Essentials for ASC Improvement From Joe Zasa
Ideas for Enhancing Revenue at Surgery Centers