Marketing

My Winning Marketing Strategy–Play-by-Play for a New Practice

By Ally Stoeger, OD

One of the daunting challenges to opening a new practice is attracting patients. Merely being listed on vision or medical insurance panels is no longer enough. Here’s a play-by- play of recent events that demonstrate the connectivity between traditional and web marketing as I opened my new practice in Gainesville, Va.

–When searching for a practice location, I checked on Craig’s List for medical office space sublets.

–A space that interested me was listed by realtor Peggy Duffy. The advertised space was not right for me, but I liked Peggy and ultimately she found new office space for me.

–Peggy recommended I meet with local banker Amelia Stansell of BB&T because Amelia was very tuned in to the local business community. AmeIia knew I write a blog so she suggested I might like to attend the newly formed Piedmont Bloggers Meet Up Group.

–The organizer of the Piedmont Blogger Group, Jamie Gorman, works closely with the Chamber of Commerce, so that made it easy for me to join the Chamber. Jamie also owns Sigma College of Small Business, Inc. (www.SigmaBizLearning.com), so I took advantage of some of the services and classes he offers on social media marketing. Jamie assisted me with setting up my Facebook page at facebook.com/gheyedr.

Ally Stoeger, OD, and sunglasses cookies at her new practice, GH Eye’s, open house event.

–I decided to go ahead with a ribbon-cutting event sponsored by the Prince William Chamber of Commerce. To advertise the event I sent out 2,500 postcards to the local community. I worked with a member of the Piedmont Bloggers, Pat Ennis, to put together attractive postcards.

–At one of the Piedmont Blogger Group Meet Ups I sat next to Jessica Firestone, who owns J & J Bake Shop. I thought it would be great to have cookies baked by Jessica at the Open House Event. Jessica came up with the idea of sunglasses cookies.

–The Chamber assisted in advertising the ribbon cutting / open house via local press releases.

–Since I was still very busy with the new office build-out, I hired Johanna Gossams of Simplicity Events to plan the ribbon cutting/open house event. I don’t know how I could have done it without her! In addition to planning the event, Johanna was able to arrange for us to have a table to promote the open house at the sports club down the street. Johanna also invited a friend, Stacy Shaw, who writes for Bristow Beat–a community news web site in a nearby town.

–The sunglasses cookies were a huge hit!

–The open house event resulted in about 10 immediate appointments and several more that trickled in over the next few weeks.

–Jessica (the baker) and I both posted the sunglasses cookies photo on Facebook

–Jessica’s daughter is Facebook friends with the daughter of a family I had examined when I worked in a previous practice that is located about 20 miles away. The daughter recognized me and now that her family lives nearby, they were happy to become my patients again.

–Stacy Shaw, the writer for Bristow Beat, interviewed me and wrote an article about my new practice. That web-based article resulted in a few new patients.

Facebook and the Bristow Beat web article resulted in patients making appointments in my new office. But, in both cases, the web social media activity was triggered by live networking with individuals who belonged to the local business community. Not only did I network with individuals in the local business community, but whenever possible, I also used their services. That created a chain of events that helped launch my new practice. And along the way, I met some fantastic people!

Combining personal networking with web/social media marketing is a powerful combination. You never really know ahead of time where the connections will be and where the paths will cross. But they will.

Ally Stoeger, OD, was a founding and managing partner of a multi-doctor practice and has recently opened a new practice in Gainesville, Va. Contact: ally@realpracticetoday.com. You also can follow Dr. Stoeger on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/gheyedr.

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