\n
Some doctors think that \u201cbeing a good doctor\u201d is all that is needed to get patients to come see them.\u00a0That might work over a long period of time, but unless one is in an extremely under served location, that is not likely to be enough.\u00a0Patients and referring physicians have to know of you to\u00a0schedule visits\u00a0or refer patients to you, so some way of getting the word out is essential to having a busy practice.\u00a0Even when one is currently busy, complacency could have negative future consequences.\u00a0Surgeons need a constant flow of new patients to maintain an optimal case load.\u00a0So, if you agree that marketing is important, how do you best go about it?\u00a0Do you do it by giving money to a marketing agency or could you do it by giving of yourself?Neither way is inexpensive since giving of oneself takes time away from family, play, and work.\u00a0On the other hand, when you give of yourself in service, you\u2019re likely to get a lot more back than you invest.<\/p>\n
Current wisdom seems to be that marketing one\u2019s practice is best done through paid ads in newspapers, magazines, radio, television, yellow pages, social media and so on.\u00a0I do not think that that is the best way to get the word out.\u00a0Anyone can say virtually anything in paid ads, so how is the potential patient supposed to know who he or she is really getting in his or her doctor?<\/p>\n
During my over forty years of orthopaedic practice, I had some success with marketing through service and relationships.\u00a0By this I mean giving of one\u2019s time and talents in a variety of ways.\u00a0In every case, I tried to be more than just a member of an organization or cause.\u00a0The more you put in, the more you get back.\u00a0Here are some examples:<\/p>\n
Local Marketing<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n1.\u00a0I was able to become the volunteer team physician for a local university.\u00a0The work was a pleasure and much more extensive than outsiders ever imagined, but when they saw me on the bench at basketball games, many figured that I knew something about sports medicine.\u00a0The same thing works with high schools and community colleges and the need is great.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0The Rotary Club was a great way to meet business leaders around town.\u00a0They tended to call me when they or their families had orthopaedic problems.\u00a0Their employees often asked their bosses who they went to and followed suit.\u00a0Not only that.\u00a0 I enjoyed getting away from the grind and pressure for lunch on a regular basis and befriending a variety of community leaders.\u00a0The Rotary Club is but one of many civic clubs and organizations that bring you considerably more benefit than you take to them.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0Church is a great way to meet people.\u00a0Marketing is clearly not the reason one should join and attend a church, but doing so clearly has earthly benefits.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0Befriending the nurses in the operating room and on the wards can be a huge benefit.\u00a0That is not to mean that one cannot demand excellence, something that you must do.\u00a0All it takes\u00a0is to\u00a0treat them with respect and recognize that they bring significant knowledge to the care of your patients.\u00a0By making them partners, you reward a more positive effort in behalf of your patients and the likelihood that they will both come to see you and send their friends and family, too.\u00a0Non-medical people often ask those in our profession for suggestions as who to see.\u00a0If I want to how skilled a particular surgeon is, I ask an OR nurse.\u00a0If they think you\u2019re a good surgeon and a good person, they are likely to send the people they care about to you.\u00a0If they dislike you, they\u2019ll guide them elsewhere.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0By accepting appointment to the local library board, I had a fulfilling service experience and met an entirely different group of people.\u00a0It doesn\u2019t matter what boards you serve on; it just matters that you serve.<\/p>\n
6.\u00a0By working with the local medical society and ultimately becoming an officer, I met many local physicians whom I probably would have never met.\u00a0It makes a positive difference to physicians to refer their patients to someone they know and feel that they can trust.<\/p>\n
7.\u00a0Writing articles for the local newspaper makes one an instant expert in the eyes of many readers.\u00a0Not only does it serve people by sharing your medical information, but no matter the subject of the article, having published it makes many more people know your name and more likely to call you.\u00a0You can always pay for an ad, but news outlets are often looking for items of interest and happy to accept articles written by doctors.<\/p>\n
8.\u00a0I think that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool you can employ.\u00a0You can\u2019t control it like an ad, of course, but if you consistently treat patients in their best interests and get reasonably good results, you will have unleashed a marketing force that is among the most effective.<\/p>\n
Statewide Marketing<\/strong><\/p>\n1.\u00a0Working with our state orthopaedic society brought significant benefits to my practice.\u00a0When someone from my city was injured elsewhere and the orthopaedist who took care of them in some other city sent them to someone they knew (i.e. me) to complete their treatment or follow-up, it enhanced my reputation at home.\u00a0People talk and tell their friends; and that kind of talk is good.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0Working (fund-raising in my case) with my medical school and residency program enhanced my reputation at home.When there is friendship and mutual respect between you and a professor of orthopaedics who speaks well of you to patients from your home town, they take note, and they tell their friends.<\/p>\n
The above activities will only get more people in your door.Once they get there, it\u2019s up to you to properly take care of them, and that includes way more than surgical competence.\u00a0Application of the four \u201cA\u2019s\u201d (ability, affability, affordability, and availability) is critical.That applies to their entire experience in your office and the surgery center or hospital.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0Patients generally have no good idea as to an individual surgeon\u2019s abilities.\u00a0They have powerful perceptions, but they are not likely based on objective data.\u00a0If you consistently treat patients in their best interests and with respect, they will keep coming back.\u00a0First, of course, you have to get them to come see you at your office.<\/p>\n
So, if you\u2019d like to increase your patient load without spending more money, you might just try marketing through service and relationships.\u00a0Not only is your practice likely to benefit, but the personal benefits of gratification and personal growth that incur from altruism beyond your daily medical practice\u00a0may pleasantly surprise you.<\/p>\n
Dr.\u00a0Hundley is a retired orthopaedic surgeon with forty years of experience.He is the president and a founder of\u00a0<\/em>OrthopaedicList.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by James D. Hundley, MD Saturday, October 24th, 2009 Some doctors think that \u201cbeing a good doctor\u201d is all that is needed to get patients to come see them.\u00a0That might work over a long period of time, but unless one is in an extremely under served location, that is not likely to be enough.\u00a0Patients and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by James D. Hundley, MD Saturday, October 24th, 2009 Some doctors think that \u201cbeing a good doctor\u201d is all that is needed to get patients to come see them.\u00a0That might work over a long period of time, but unless one is in an extremely under served location, that is not likely to be enough.\u00a0Patients and […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-05T11:26:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-05T11:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Hundley, MD\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Hundley, MD\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/\",\"name\":\"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-05T11:26:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-05T11:28:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/87a719b32f490b91a2f4a6a44d4d6752\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog\",\"description\":\"News About Orthopaedic Surgery and Orthopaedic Products and Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/87a719b32f490b91a2f4a6a44d4d6752\",\"name\":\"James Hundley, MD\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/210425b5d38259409c4acb9bbb1e31bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/210425b5d38259409c4acb9bbb1e31bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"James Hundley, MD\"},\"description\":\"Dr. Hundley is a retired orthopaedic surgeon and the originator and co-founder of OrthopaedicLIST.com, a resource website for orthopaedic surgeons and related professionals.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/author\/hundleysr\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog","og_description":"by James D. Hundley, MD Saturday, October 24th, 2009 Some doctors think that \u201cbeing a good doctor\u201d is all that is needed to get patients to come see them.\u00a0That might work over a long period of time, but unless one is in an extremely under served location, that is not likely to be enough.\u00a0Patients and […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/","og_site_name":"OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog","article_published_time":"2016-09-05T11:26:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-05T11:28:07+00:00","author":"James Hundley, MD","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"James Hundley, MD","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/","name":"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service - OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-09-05T11:26:27+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-05T11:28:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/87a719b32f490b91a2f4a6a44d4d6752"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/the-synergistic-effects-of-marketing-through-service\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Synergistic Effects of Marketing through Service"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/","name":"OrthopaedicLIST.com Blog","description":"News About Orthopaedic Surgery and Orthopaedic Products and Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/87a719b32f490b91a2f4a6a44d4d6752","name":"James Hundley, MD","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/210425b5d38259409c4acb9bbb1e31bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/210425b5d38259409c4acb9bbb1e31bf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"James Hundley, MD"},"description":"Dr. Hundley is a retired orthopaedic surgeon and the originator and co-founder of OrthopaedicLIST.com, a resource website for orthopaedic surgeons and related professionals.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/author\/hundleysr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orthopaediclist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}