Getting the Best Bang for the Buck

As an owner or operator of an urgent care business, you’re justifiably enthusiastic about the services you provide and the much-needed help you give patients. Your passion is correct, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that everyone shares your zeal or the knowledge of what services are available at your facility. When reaching out to new patients through advertising and marketing, be sure to carefully customize your efforts to reach your target market in a way that puts you in the best light and educates the public about the many services available in your clinic.

Before you can focus your external marketing efforts, you must know your target market inside and out. Your target market consists of the subgroups of people with similar characteristics that cause them to consider an urgent care center for their needs. These subgroups can be defined by age, gender and geography as well as various socio-economic and lifestyle variables. As an urgent care provider, you are likely in a neighborhood clinic serving residents within a 10-minute drive time. Or, if you are in a more rural area or an area where there are limited health services available, your practice may pull patients from larger distances.

Identifying your target market goes beyond the scope of this article, but let me assure you that if you try to reach all people, you’ll soon burn through your marketing budget.

Let’s assume you have a good understanding of your patients and the services you provide to meet their needs. An examination of the six top components of external marketing reveals ways in which they can be customized to reach a target market.

Signage

Signage is an obvious, but important, form of external marketing. City ordinances will specify what types of signs and how many you can place. Be sure to follow these guidelines related to signage:

-- Break the line of sight. Make sure that your sign stands out from all of the buildings, foliage, etc., near your facility. Angular signs tend to draw attention better than straight verticals and horizontals.

-- Illuminate if permitted. A well-lit sign helps patients find your center and serves as a constant advertisement to people who are not currently patients.

-- Use multiple signs if allowed. Try to place signs from all approaching levels, including at the line of sight of those arriving by foot and by automobile. For example, put up a lawn sign and a building sign. Or, if on a corner, place a sign on the main road and on the side street.

n-- List your services. A sign is a good place to briefly define your clinic, so that potential patients can be instantly educated to many of the available services. Regrettably, most of the general public does not realize the wide range of services available in immediate care centers. You will wish to feature the “urgent care” services such as treatment for strains/sprains, lacerations, burns, etc. But also the more “primary care- type” services such as sore throat, earache, flu shots and so forth.

-- Include a promotional phrase. This is another way to speak to your target audience and to differentiate yourself from your competition. Examples include: “Quick, Gentle, Effective Care,” “Fast Care for the Entire Family,” and “More Than Your Average Walk-In Clinic!”

-- Supplement with banners. Use banners to promote grand openings and special events such as open houses, health screening clinics and educational sessions.

Paid Advertising

There are two slants on paid advertising — informational and promotional — both of which can build your reputation as a valuable source of healthcare in your community. Two important rules to always evaluate are “reach” (how many of your core potential patients will be exposed to your ad) and “frequency” (how often will these people be exposed to your information).

Informational. This type of advertising is undertaken to position you or the professionals in your clinic as experts. Very often, informational advertising takes the form of a paid “column” in a local newspaper. The column contains information about a particular health disorder or health subject. The information can be written in the first person and the ad can include your photo, as well as the location of your clinic, operating hours and phone numbers. Choose topics that speak to your target market. Injury prevention, cholesterol control, sports injuries, prostate health and children’s conditions are some examples. Another way to position yourself as an expert is through a practice newsletter that is regularly distributed to your existing and target patients.

Promotional. These are ads that introduce your clinic and its services to your target market. You will want to include a list of services and conditions that you treat (cuts, bruises, fractures, joint pain, colds, headaches, etc.). This is also the place to provide directions to your facility, list hours of operation, and explain types of insurance accepted. In print advertisements, you may include a photograph of yourself or of your center. When appropriate, an offer of a free or discounted service or other promotion will tend to increase response.

Direct Mail

Direct mail can be the most cost effective way to directly reach your target market. As opposed to a newspaper ad, which reaches an undifferentiated mass audience, a direct mail piece is delivered specifically to a person who matches the segment of the population you want to reach.

Typically, for a single practice, you will target a specific geographic zone. Larger operations with multiple locations can combine information onto a single mailer and then send them to multiple sets of potential patients dependent upon the trade area of each clinic. It is worthwhile to consider employing a market analytics firm to target households within a geographic area that contain specific core potential patients.

Of course, the effectiveness of direct mail depends greatly upon the quality of the mailing list you are using. Be sure to work with a reputable marketing company to ensure your mailing list contains the most up-to-date names and addresses. Other factors that impact the effectiveness of any direct mail campaign include visual quality of the piece being sent, the offer provided (if any) and the timing of the mailing. For example, advertising flu shots in April is a waste of money.

Freestanding Inserts

These are the inserts that fall into your lap when you open your newspaper. Larger circulation newspapers will allow you to place inserts into their circulation in specific geographic zones. Like direct mail, a freestanding insert (also known as an FSI and a preprint) can be an effective way to target your market. FSIs are great at getting the reader’s attention and they serve as a good “keeper” for the potential patient. Be sure to include all pertinent information so that the patient is able to contact you and to find you when later referring to this piece. Many of the rules for creating and distributing direct mail pieces apply to the success of FSIs.

Fliers

Fliers can be an effective way to promote your center in the areas immediately around the facility. Fliers are especially effective when used to promote a special event or grand opening. As with direct mail, it is possible to develop a list of addresses at which the fliers should be dropped, along with a list of houses to skip.

Mass Media

At times, you’ll want to spread your message to the public at large in a bigger way. The key is to determine which vehicle is most effective for targeting your best patients.

Radio. Because radio stations program their content toward specific audiences, radio advertising can be an effective way to reach your market. But not all stations will reach the audience that you desire, so carefully select which station to advertise with. For instance, a Miami urgent care clinic with Spanish-speaking providers found that advertising on Spanish language stations was a good fit. Keep in mind that it can be especially effective to advertise on a radio station that is “the only one” in the area airing its particular format. For instance, if there is only one country-and-western station in your area, and your target market includes listeners of this type of music, advertising on this station could work well for you. Radio advertising is more of a gamble when multiple stations in an area play a particular format. If your city has a lot of pop music stations, for instance, listeners may tend to change stations during commercial breaks.

TV. Television advertising can be costly, on two levels. You often have to pay an advertising agency to produce your ad, and on-air time from the station is expensive. If you have determined, however, that your target market watches particular television channels at hours other than prime time, it can be a reasonable venue for advertising. Remember the rules of reach and frequency before buying a schedule of commercials!

Newspapers. Full circulation advertising in a large circulation newspaper can be quite expensive. Often the best way to target your core potential patients is to utilize freestanding inserts, as described above. Otherwise, a regular smaller ad that catches the attention of potential patients can be effective and within budget. This may allow for more frequency of your ads.

Cable. Local cable stations frequently have cost-effective packages that can allow you to advertise your services to your target audience within your trade area regularly and often on multiple cable stations.

Magazines. Within your trade area, look for local magazines targeted toward families, athletes and other interest groups. These magazines allow for targeted marketing at a cost that is reasonable.

Effective external marketing can help you grow a new practice quickly and fill up an existing practice. More importantly, making good choices in your marketing efforts can help you attract patients with health needs that you specialize in treating. All of us have special types of patients and specific conditions we prefer to treat (i.e., sports injuries, skin conditions, etc.). Effective, specific targeted marketing can bring more of those patients to you for care, which makes your practice that much more enjoyable. You have the ability to take your practice in many directions. External marketing is a tool that allows you to control where you want to go.

Ken Rabinoff-Goldman, MD, is vice president of Buxton HealthCareID, responsible for business planning, market development and sales focusing on superior site selection, targeted marketing and other strategic planning tools for the healthcare industry. He has served patients at his private practice in Albany, N.Y., for 22 years.

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