Individual Vs. Group Orthopaedic Marketing
When doctors practice in a group setting, it has its advantages, and with those advantages, there are inherent challenges. Group decision-making leverages the strength of all partners and supports the organization, knowing some decisions can come at the expense and interest of any one individual doctor.
The size of group practices nationwide continues to grow for both economic and strategic reasons, and whether organically or through divisional merger, marketing strategy has become more complex and often more controversial. What causes most issues is when the approved marketing strategy represents a shared vision of the majority yet is perceived as stifling for select doctors who have unique objectives and different ambitions. Everyone supports growth, but when individual tactics are curtailed to maintain political tranquility, or when individual providers' actions fall out of favor with the group, friction and frustration inevitably set in.
Your practice’s overall marketing strategy is composed of numerous decisions that come with corresponding trade-offs. This doesn’t mean objectives of individual doctors are unachievable; it just may require following a few guidelines to moderate growth while avoiding internal strife. This is not a new issue nor is it easily solved, but the following preliminary guidelines will offer the opportunity to discuss “what individual doctors can do” instead of “what the executive committee has deemed unacceptable.”
Notification: Any promotional activity on behalf of an individual doctor should require prior notice to the practice regardless of whether or not there is a cost and regardless of who is paying for it. This step reinforces open transparency and maintains trust between partners. Most marketing communication issues are not derived from acts of practice defiance but from recurring surprises. Additionally, even if an individual doctor is the only hand surgeon or solely represents any single subspecialty, notification should always be required. There are often pitfalls and opportunities that can be avoided and leveraged respectfully.
Practice Representation: Any and all tactics by individual doctors should identify the practice name and either the practice website address or the individual doctor's website bio within the practice’s website. If all doctors take this approach, market leverage can be achieved without causing mistrust or conflict.
Brand Standards: If and when possible, practice brand standards should be followed and adhered to. Consistency in the look and feel of your materials and messaging builds familiarity of your practice brand and, if done correctly, can build market preference over time. Often when individual providers start marketing independent of the practice, confusion sets in for patients looking for care. Examples include different phone numbers, different websites, and usage of social media outlets. Again, all doctors adhering to this guideline of supporting brand standards leverages your brand for the benefit of all partners.
Defined & Limited Target Audiences: Any individual effort or tactic should be focused on a small and targeted audience within the reasonable scope of the doctor. Mass market, broadcast mediums, broad advertising, or market-wide tactics are better suited for group or subspecialty promotion. Sports medicine doctors promoting within the schools and organizations in which they serve is a good example of a defined and limited audience, versus promoting their individual practice to the entire market via the newspaper.
Social Media: Some doctors are taking to social media in an effort to establish a “thought leader” position online. This approach takes time and dedication to create content, manage audiences, and coordinate engagement, but social media is structured to provide opinions, some of which may not be appropriate when representing a group of doctors. This is not a recommendation to avoid thought leadership, but a caution to limit the content and responses to a selective range and number of topics.
Responsibility of Costs: Good planning on behalf of the practice should take into account the needs of individual doctors, but where individual ambitions have not been approved by the group, costs associated with those ambitions need to fall on the individual doctor. Additionally, any and all actions on behalf of individual doctors should not impact the costs of the other doctors in the group. This issue is becoming more and more prevalent where individual doctors' online efforts are negatively impacting costs and results of the overall group.
In summary, when it comes to the marketing and promotion of an orthopaedic practice, you should be looking to leverage the efforts of the group while allowing for moderated freedom of the individual doctor willing to exert time, energy, and effort to further his or her practice. We believe individual efforts should be supported and encouraged as long as those efforts neither hinder nor conflict with the overall practice or its providers. It is in the “doing” that makes things happen and builds your brand in the market.
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