When to Plan Your Practice’s Marketing
The best time to develop an agreed-upon strategic marketing plan and begin executing it was 12 months ago—12 months before you needed it.
Most practices engage in strategic marketing when their backs are to the wall: their competition has been gaining ground with no response, a new surgeon is arriving in the market, volumes are dropping, or the hospital has just announced new orthopaedic providers.
In other words, a challenge arises, a certain level of panic sets in, and the practice reaches out for help addressing the issue. For some, this includes buying prepackaged opportunities or advertisements, maybe even hiring a local, generalized advertising firm for an awareness strategy. What happens next is predictable: a lot of activity, significant spending, and little, if any, real results. The only thing that makes this situation worse is hiring a full-time employee to help you coordinate all this activity. This might go on for six months to a year or more until you and your partners understandably chalk the whole blunder up to experience and move on, committed never to go down that road again. And you shouldn’t. But most practices inevitably will because, as issues come up, doing nothing is not an option—you will feel as if you must be doing something.
Practices that operate from an ongoing plan with established metrics are at a significant advantage. They are less threatened by changes in their market, they understand the ebbs and flows of their practice, and their resources and efforts are focused on producing the right results with less money. More importantly, they have a plan and are well-positioned to execute it effectively.
Even though the best strategic plan is the one you agreed to 12 months ago, the best decision you made was the one that initiated the plan in the first place.
When you’re ready to get serious and start this next year off with the right plan, schedule a discussion with Venel and learn more about our research-based approach to marketing orthopaedics.
About Venel
Venel provides business-minded orthopaedic practices with unmatched business development and marketing expertise. Venel provides each exclusive market client with an annual documented return on investment, orthopaedic-specific innovations, and a clear, competitive advantage. Venel is also the only full-service marketing firm to be an American Association of Orthopaedic Executives Peer Reviewed partner. Since 1989, Venel has been solely dedicated to the marketing, promotion, and communication of orthopaedic practices and their surgeons.
To learn more about Venel's research-based marketing approach, watch this video on our website.
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