Yesterday, we focused on the importance of creating positive first impressions for new potential patients. In today’s post, we’re taking a deeper dive into how you can keep the momentum going by creating valuable content for your prospects and implementing campaign scheduling.
Given our objective of finding ways we can bring in elements of personal growth to make us better at work, we’ll first be looking at how you can use “brand purpose” to inspire you and your team to engage with patients in a more meaningful way.
Why is Brand Purpose Important?
What is a brand purpose? A practice with a powerful brand purpose is one that has a higher reason for being than just making a profit. Organizations with a strong brand purpose tend to have more engaged employees. According to a new survey from Deloitte, 73% of employees who say they work at a purpose-driven company are engaged, versus just 23% of those who don’t. Other research supports the notion that employees feel inspired if they derive meaning from their company’s purpose, increasing productivity and motivation.
Does Your Practice Have a Brand Purpose?
If not, this concept is one you should seriously consider in 2020. Establishing a brand purpose helps ensure your messages are consistent across every marketing channel, helping to strengthen your credibility and reputation. Whether you’re the top breast augmentation specialist or your practice focuses exclusively on facial rejuvenation, your unique selling proposition is what helps give you a competitive advantage.
- Your brand purpose can be as simple as helping your patients enhance their quality of life and sense of wellbeing.
- You could emphasize the “luxury” or “boutique style” of your practice, where every patient is treated with the most personalized care and attention.
- Another approach is to focus on the importance your team places on patient care, comfort, safety, and open communication throughout the entire process.
Once you know what the genuine purpose is that you want to communicate to prospects, it’s time to create the lead nurturing material you need to move prospective patients to the next stage in your sales funnel.
Bringing the Power of Lead Nurturing Through Different Channels
How many devices have you used to access the internet today? Chances are, it’s more than one. In order to establish a long-term relationship with your prospects and patients, it is crucial to consider the different channels they use to communicate with — there’s email, phone calls, text messaging, social media, live chat on your website — and the list just seems to be keep growing.
While sending out a monthly email newsletter is better than no communication at all, it’s no longer enough. Email marketing has industry longevity under its belt, there’s no denying that. However, this one-size-fits-all approach should no longer be relied upon as your sole communication tool.
Tap into The Power of SMS Marketing
To outperform your competitors, you need to supplement your email marketing with promotion through other channels. Research shows that SMS open rates are as high as 98%, compared to just 20% of all emails. On average, it takes 90 seconds for someone to reply to a text and 90 minutes to respond to an email.
Not to pick on email too much — text messages also consistently outperform phone calls. Statistics show that calls are only answered 42% of the time, whereas over 70% of texts are replied to.
However, it is important to remember that communication preferences vary between generations. For example, Boomers will typically be more inclined to speak with your practice over the telephone, whereas Millennials will be more receptive to communicating via text.
This is why it is important to use a mixture of message types and segment your audience to increase engagement, and you need this process to be automated. Setting your marketing sequences up as automated campaigns helps ensure you successfully deliver the right message to the right person, at the right time.
With systems like MyMedLeads, as each new lead comes in, they can be automatically segmented based on a number of different variables, including their procedure of interest, age, gender, lead source, etc… and will be entered into the appropriate campaign sequence that is most relevant to their needs. The timing of when each message is sent can be customized based on the average purchasing timeline per procedure and other variables. Campaigns can be created for each stage of the patient journey, including patient recall.
Lead Management Software for Marketing Automation
An effective campaign marketing strategy starts with a strong lead management system (or CRM). MyMedLeads acts as a hub of information about your leads, patients, and a history of their interactions with your practice. This information is what empowers you to send targeted messages that are geared specifically to the lead’s interests.
The beauty of marketing automation is you only have to set up your messages once, and as people meet the trigger you define, your campaign messages will begin to send without any additional effort on your part. With MyMedLeads, you can create campaigns that combine emails, text messages, and outbound call reminders for reps.
What Type of Messages Should I Send?
Simply setting up a few campaigns for your most popular procedures is a great place to start, for example:
- Breast Augmentation
- Liposuction
- Rhinoplasty
- Eyelid Surgery
- Tummy Tuck
Create a few emails with content specific to each of these surgeries. Include things like:
- Before and after photos of the specific procedure
- Testimonials from patients who have had the procedure
- Links to videos your practice has made about the procedure
- Blog posts you have written on the procedure or area of concern
Circling back to your brand purpose, don’t forget to include unique elements that set your practice apart from the competition, such as:
- Any accolades awarded to your practice or surgeon
- Specialization in the procedure or special techniques used
- A high number of the specific procedure performed by your surgeon
- Offer extended or weekend hours for busy professionals
- Having staff members who speak both English and Spanish
- Concierge services available for out-of-town patients
The more personal you can make your messaging, the better. Addressing your emails from an actual person, rather than your practice, tends to increase engagement. When it comes to message content, you want to relate to prospects emotionally while still balancing professionalism. Write with a conversational tone and avoid using too much technical medical terminology. It’s also important to keep it positive. Focus on the positive emotional responses that your services can generate for them, rather than the concerns that drove them to reach out to your practice.
Focus On Being Genuine and Delivering Value
Above all, focus on being authentic, delivering value, and genuinely trying to help your prospects and patients. You will derive more meaning and value from your own job when you approach your lead nurturing campaigns with this positive mindset.
Would you rather write an email for a huge, faceless crowd? Or, would you prefer to write a helpful email to Tracy — who recently lost a significant amount of weight and wants a to get rid of the excess skin so she can feel confident in her swimsuit this summer?
When you view marketing and lead nurturing through the lens of helping a friend, both you and the patient benefit!