#AskMariaTodd: How can I promote my new concierge medicine practice?

Dear Maria,

I recently launched a new concierge medical practice.  I set up everything myself and got a few members, but not enough to sustain the business and cover my overheads. I tried getting contracts with managed care plans in the area, but they refuse to contract with me because they say that our membership fees are a sophisticated disguise for balance billing their members for amenities they already pay for.

What can I do to promote my practice?  If I cannot get the membership up to 300 members in the next 4 months, I am going to be teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.

My response to this desperate doctor was not what he expected.  I asked him to send me the following documents:

1.  A signed fee agreement and advance retainer deposit. I wasn't going to take this project on "at risk" -- especially when I've been forewarned that he is on the verge of bankruptcy. The deposit is critical because if he pays me in arrears, the bankruptcy trustee can ask for all the money he paid me back to redistribute it to other creditors. 

2. His competitive market analysis. Why did he locate the practice where it is situated? How did he determine that where he established the practice was the right market to do so?  With whom does he compete? What was the compelling market need that his new practice solved, and for whom?

3. His marketing plan.  Was it complete and actionable? I need to see his thinking and the roadmap he designed. If he didn't create a marketing plan how did he expect to grow the business?  Why did he start a business without a marketing plan? Was it ignorance? ego? or some other reason that he thought a business could be launched without aggressive branding, marketing, and promotion and someone who would take charge of the execution of it all?

4. His website site plan and tactical plan and Google Analytics reports for the past 4-6 months. What pages are on his website and what is the objective of each page? What are the traffic metrics? How does he place in SER (ranking)? Do the pages engage his website visitors? How is this currently measured? What do the Google Analytics KPIs indicate?

5. His branding plan. What constitutes his professional brand? How is he positioned in the market? What is his value proposition? How did he set his brand characteristic? His message? Who is his target audience? What problem does he solve for them? What are their substitution options? What one word does he own in the hearts and minds of his brand followers and loyals? Are there brand followers and loyals? If so, how many and what or whom do they influence?  What is he known for? Why would people choose his brand over all others available and priced about the same?

6. His preferences for a promotional program. Does he want to speak in public? If yes, about what topics? Does he want to write a blog or publish an emailed newsletter? How often?  Does he want media attention? What are his talking points he wants to promote and how do they align with journalists' story assignments or current events in the marketplace?  How much time does he have to allocate to speaking dates and writing or interviews?  What is his budget for professional assistance with this? How much is he willing to do himself? What does the target outcome look like?

7. His social media channel distribution. I need a list of every social media outlet where he is listed and or rated with stars or other metrics. I need to review the feedback scores, if any.  Is he using social media marketing properly? Does he thank positive reviewers? Does he answer negative reviews, if any? If so, how?  Does he know how to use Facebook and Twitter for business? What does he post on these channels? Are his posts engaging or just posts? Is he writing original copy or merely curating other's posts? How many followers does he have and what are they looking for when they follow him? 

Last year, unpaid impressions on Facebook dropped by more than 35% for brands in the first quarter alone, and it’s estimated that unpaid posts reach fewer than 2% of company Page fans. This trend can be seen across other platforms, including Instagram and LinkedIn. Even Twitter, the last major bastion of unpaid reach, recently made changes to its Timeline that are expected to ultimately prioritize paid posts.

What that means is that if he wants to reach audiences on social networks these days he will have to pay. While that may sound like a huge negative,  in exchange, the platforms are giving marketers unprecedented access to extremely powerful targeting tools. This ability to reach hyper-specific groups lets him invest in engaging the right people, rather than trying to build up a broad, unstable base of countable "likes".  But without money to spend on this approach, social media marketing optimized to its best use is not a possibility for him.  One doesn't just pay to be present, one pays to engage people and visitors and followers and have them follow some call to action. At this point, I cannot determine what that CTA will be and what good it will do him in terms of revenue for low hanging fruit.

If you are in a similar position but would not have any of these things to send me, you are in a tough situation. All these things I've listed should have been part of the pre-launch startup activities and actions.  

There's no way, save a miracle, that he can reach the target goal he has of 300 patients in the next 4 months.

That's not only unreasonable, most concierge physicians take 3-5 years to get to that level. That's if they are transitioning from a practice where they had 3500-4500 patients.  His not does not inform me if this is: a) his first job post-residency, or b) if he just left an established practice where he was employed by someone else, or c) if he transitioned a practice he owned.  I've all but ruled out the latter two because he has no managed care contracts in his portfolio. Had he been credentialed through someone else's practice he might have a chance to get contracts on his own at a new solo venture.  

If he doesn't have the documents to send me, I am certain that I cannot take him on as a client.

This is because he can't afford the right help to adequately fill the gaps of what's missing. If I take his money and try to do it within the budget he can spend, knowing I won't get the results he needs, that's pretty unethical, it will be like pushing more dirt on top of him in the already huge hole he's dug.

Chances are good that he has no defined "product" - just a practice location, his skills, and a contract for a membership fee.

If that's the case, what is there to promote? Appointments? That's not very compelling or distinguished.  If someone wanted to buy a "gift card" for a membership in his practice, what would they explain to the recipient that they bought for them?  

A Product Strategy

Think of the concierge medical membership product along this parallel: If I buy you a gift card for PF Changs, I can tell you that if you go there, with the amount I purchased in the value of the gift card, you can get an appetizer, an entree, a dessert and a beverage for two people - all prepaid.  But what if I buy you a gift card for PF Changs and there is no restaurant within a convenient distance from you? What if you don't like PF Changs brand or the food they serve?  What is the value - to you - of the gift card I purchased for your benefit?

How will patients define the value of the membership you sell? What is it that you want me to promote? You personally as a doctor? Why? What is going to be so special about you that the market will care? If you can't articulate that, how can anyone else do it for you? What is unique about your practice? How will people benefit from buying one? What if they don't like it? Can they get their money back? 

I’m afraid we’ve come to the end of my post, folks.  I enjoy teaching and demystifying topics like healthcare marketing and social selling in all of its forms.  As a teacher, I enjoy the personally gratifying opportunity to share lessons learned across more than 30 years of work as a consultant and strategist and innovator in healthcare around the world.  When I share these insights, stories and lessons learned, my object is to save people time, setbacks, and avoid costly mistakes and oversights that are commonly encountered in trial and error that you endure on your own. Sharing gives me pleasure and for that I thank you for the opportunity and your interest in following me, here on LinkedIn.

For now, I recommend you take one or two points from what you just read and try to apply or assimilate them right now. When you put these tools, tips and techniques into practice, you will meet your business objectives easier and with sustained success.  As a backup, always take comfort in knowing that you can call on me for clarification or to advise you anytime.

Thank you so much for reading my article today. I hope you will share it with your colleagues and on your professional networking sites and outlets. It truly does mean a lot to me when you tell me where you shared it and how you benefited from what I wrote.  I hope very much that you achieve the success you crave in your business and your career.

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Do you have a question to AskMariaTodd™ ?  Get in touch with Maria Todd by calling +1.800.727.4160 or sending me an email at mtodd(at)mercuryadvisorygroup(dot)com.

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About Maria Todd

Denver-based consultant, award-winning speaker, trainer and author, Maria Todd, brings you her best insights and strategies from working on various healthcare, concierge medicine and international development projects in the USA, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Central America for over 30 years.

As part of her professional work as a consultant, speaker and author, Maria Todd travels a great deal all over the country . Wherever she is, she encounters the latest and greatest examples of private practice operations and management, exemplary clinics, healthcare practitioners, and meets with many government officials and investors.

She identifies rising trends and really amazing ideas as well as some things that are pretty bad, where an opportunity to do something great was missed. Maria writes, speaks, and consults internationally about her experiences and professional activities with the good and the bad in healthcare and health and wellness and provides insights regarding what stakeholders, investors and government authorities might learn from these examples.  

Maria Todd consults to healthcare executives, physicians, dentists, and other practitioners, retailers, investors, and entrepreneurs through Mercury Advisory Group.  She also provides a fair amount of consultation for investment firms and market analysts through GIZ, GLG, PWC, Third Bridge, Maven, and other consulting firms.  

She is a member of the Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD).   SHSMD members represent healthcare-specific disciplines such as marketing, communications, public relations, strategic planning, business development, physician relations, sales, and government and public affairs.

Learn more about Maria's work as a strategist and innovator in the world of health and wellness tourism business development at her websites,

MariaTodd.com
Mercury Advisory Group

 and be sure to connect with her on LinkedIn and leading social media networks including, but not limited to: Twitter, Facebook, Quora, Google+, Tumblr,  LinkedIn and via her newsletters.