The new patient pipeline is vital to any medical practice’s success. But to attract those crucial new patients, your practice has to stand out from the rest. Here’s how to ensure that you’re putting your best foot forward when it comes to new patient acquisition.
Make Your Medical Practice Visible
Visibility is everything, so make sure you’re easily found both online and off. You can boost your practice’s profile to new patients by implementing the following:
- Updating your website. Create a mobile-friendly professional website aligned with current SEO and user accessibility best practices. Highlight your personnel, services, expertise, board certifications, premises, and that you’re taking new patients. Don’t forget to add contact details!
- Building a social presence. A social media presence can drive visibility and raise awareness among new patients. Showcase your work, share patient testimonials, and use attractive photos of your building and location. Social media can be a fool’s errand, so be strategic and choose one or two platforms to focus on, and a newsletter.
- Fill out your Google My Business. Local search is an increasingly important factor in how people find businesses. Fill out and update your Google Maps/My Business profile with opening hours, services, and areas served. You can also upload your own professional images.
- Share reviews and testimonials. Reviews matter – 72% of patients use online reviews when deciding on a new provider. Encourage existing patients to leave a review on your website or on key services such as Yelp or TrustPilot. The more quality reviews across multiple websites, the better. Make it a point to respond positively to reviews, and to constructively address any feedback that suggests a need for improvement.
- Update your signage. Appealing, highly visible signage can be a powerful factor in driving new patients. If your lease allows, update your signage in and around your building, then explore additional signage opportunities such as strategically located billboards.
- Get out in the community. Make yourself visible in your community by hosting events, sponsoring causes or youth sports teams, having a booth at community fairs, attending business luncheons, or arranging visits at schools, libraries, or community centers. This helps prospective patients put a face to the name.
- Tell your story. Share your expertise and passion for your work via a brand story that infuses everything you do. Include this story – or key aspects of it – in your “about” page, in mailers, in newspaper interviews, across your social media channels, and of course, when first meeting with new patients.
- Provide insurance information. Make it easy for prospective patients to understand at a glance if you take their insurance. Clearly list what types of insurance are in-network on your website or on other platforms.
- Highlight inclusivity. Cultural competence is a crucial factor in medicine today. Highlight languages spoken, inclusion of historically underrepresented or excluded groups, and masking protocols. Provide documentation in multiple languages, and be mindful that any stock photography is inclusive of all backgrounds and genders.
- Show what makes you different. Know what makes you stand apart, and highlight it as a central part of your branding. Whether it’s technology, specialization, experience, inclusion, or the ability to speak multiple languages, let prospective patients know why you’re the obvious choice for their needs.
- Have an attractive setting. Setting can make all the difference to prospective patients. Proximity and convenience are both vital, as are things like parking, navigation, simple check-ins, consultation room privacy, and decor suited to your specialization and patient cohort. For example, a pediatric dentist should aim to have a very different set-up than a plastic surgeon.
Make Life Easy for New Patients
If you’ve done all of the above, new patients will start to come through your doors. Don’t miss out on prospective leads. Make sure calls and inquiries are promptly answered, that you have room in your schedule to book new patients, that paperwork and payments are seamlessly handled, and that patients know how to get to and navigate your practice. The more straightforward the onboarding process, the more likely that you’ll become their provider of choice.
Need to Boost Your New Patient Appeal? Talk to GZ.
If you’re doing all the right things, but your location is letting you down, talk to the medical real estate experts at Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty. We can help you find a highly visible space in a sought-after location – and help you negotiate must-haves like signage, updates, and more. With us on our side, you’ll find that your new business pipeline is healthier than ever. Ready to expand, move, or renew your lease? Before you do, get in touch with GZ Realty!