Internet serves as useful marketing tool, medical practice’s online calling card

Practices serious about marketing themselves on the Internet must think beyond having a Web site.

Issue: September 2006

Marketing your Practice [logo] Orthopedic practices that want to improve how responsive they are should consider using the Internet to reach out to important patients and referrers — their customers.

The Internet can be a powerful communication and marketing medium, according to Chris Ives of Ives Services, in Greenwood Village, Colorado. “It is the dominant source of information for those 30 years old and under.”

Experts agree that to capitalize on the Internet’s power, the best way to start is having a Web site professionally developed for your practice. The site should include all the kinds of information your patients and referral sources want, not what you think they need to know. To save money and time, find that out first by surveying patients and referrers. Once you identify the kind of news and educational material people expect to see at your site, you can incorporate it in an easy-to-use format.

“Web site designs like many practice marketing and communication efforts usually fall short of achieving the optimal results because physicians focus on what they want to communicate instead of designing the site around what referral sources need and how they want to receive it,” said Bill Champion, president of the Orthopaedic Marketing Group, Omaha, Neb.

If used correctly a practice’s Web page in combination with other electronic communication techniques can help the group differentiate itself from its competitors, he said.

Interact with customers

Bill Champion [photo]
Bill Champion

Some of the most effective medical practices’ Web sites include services for patients and referral sources that save them time. Scheduling appointments and getting doses of current prescriptions increased are among the types of online service you might offer customers.

“Orthopedic surgeons have reported a savings of between 7 to 14 minutes per patient after implementing a robust Web site for their practice,” Ives said.

Customers will not only appreciate the convenience, but they will feel like they have a lot better access to you and your practice. And in many ways, they will. Through a truly interactive practice Web site, the practice partners and staff can also learn more about their customers in real-time and more easily respond to their needs.

Educational resource

What is most essential? Beyond communicating orthopedic-specific and patient-specific information, “Web sites need to communicate necessary information about diseases and disorders treated by the physicians and practitioners, provider expertise and contact information,” Ives told Orthopedics Today.

To get patients to make repeat visits to your site, some marketers recommend including tips on prevention, nutrition, exercise, surgery recovery, along side information that is changed and updated regularly.

Be sure to include the basics like contact information and some patient privacy and medical history forms that can be filled out in advance of an office visit.

“Ensure that the most common information patients are looking for is front and center,” Champion said. He suggested surveying the staff to find out the most common questions patients are asking them.

And don’t forget to showcase profiles of the practice’s key players. Nothing ties a customer more to a practice and builds loyalty more than the face/name connection, which can be easily achieved by placing professional photos of clinicians and staff along with information about them at a Web site.

Chris Houchens of Shot Gun Concepts, a marketing consulting firm, urged medical practices to avoid many of the common Web pitfalls. We’ve all seen them. Example: Using the Internet to post an online practice brochure.

“The other issue is the wrong type of content. There’s no need for weather on a medical Web site, but I see it all the time. Same with news headlines. … And weather doesn’t count as fresh content,” he told Orthopedics Today.

Houchens offered advice about selecting domain names, such as registering the domain name and spending the money needed to host your own site. Select an easy-to-remember and easy-to-spell domain name that fits on the business cards.

Whatever you do, make sure it is professional. “I’m not saying you should spend thousands of dollars for a flashy site, but you should make a solid investment in your online presence,” Houchens said. Continually think of ways to use the Internet as a marketing tool to attract new patients and referral sources. It is another great way to show them how you can help them and how much you care.