Marketing is key to the success of any practice, there are really no exceptions. For any healthcare practice to grow you must get a decent number of new patients every week. Moreover, to attract new patients, a practice must offer competitive services at reasonable pricing. Retaining existing patients (which is more important) also demands hard work and dedication.

While it is important to maintain a relationship with your existing patients, it is equally important to grow your practice and add new patients. Of course, there are the many ways to achieve this, today & over the next few weeks we will look into a few. Some proven ways to help you grow your practice and add new patients are:

1. Know your target new patient: Before you reach out to potential new patients, you need to understand your current patients or what type of new patient you are looking to attract. Take a look at your clinic records and observe the average age, gender, profession and location of your existing patients. This data will help you find the best marketing techniques to promote your practice and attract new patients. Or research the type of new patient you are after & work out their average age, gender, profession and location.

2. Train your clinic team: Your team will get to interact with your patients before they meet you. So train your staff to present a great first impression and address patients’ questions regarding your practice. Your staff should not only know about the services you provide but also offer specific details such as pricing, equipment used during procedures, what to expect during a consult, etc.

3. Follow up with existing patients: Most of the practices spend about 90 percent of their resources to attract new patients. However, retaining existing patients is one of the easiest and cost-effective ways to grow your practice. Also, nurturing relationships with existing patients will increase referrals.

4. Build a mobile-responsive website: Having a modern and easy-to-use website is critical for the growth of your practice and for attracting new patients. Make sure your website is responsive and works equally well on mobile devices. The objective of your practice website is to educate your potential new patients so they can make an informed decision and call (or book online) your clinic for an appointment. Creating a relevant and informational website is probably the most important marketing tool at your disposal.

5. Start a blog on your clinic website: Blogging adds fresh content to your site and also helps with SEO. Consistently posting relevant and original content on your blog shows that you know your practice and are happy to keep your patients informed. You may provide wellness tips, outline a common condition that you see & manage well.