Place your practice in the public eye

摘要

START WITH A PLANIt’s been said that failing to plan is planning to fail. Regardless of the size of your practice, a successful marketing campaign always starts with a comprehensive marketing plan. In its most essential form, this plan should cover your marketing message, which audiences to target with it, how best to reach them and, of course, a budget.“A practice should never do marketing without a plan, which should always include a budget,” says Mr. Borglum, who notes that marketing budgets for ophthalmology practices typically range from 1% to 5% of collections for practices maintaining a given level of business; 5% to 10% of collections for practices wanting to grow; and 10% or more for practices in highly competitive markets or for those looking to add new services.“During the recession, it was common to see marketing budgets of 15% or more of targeted collections for elective services like LASIK and blepharoplasty,” he says.Other factors to consider in formulating a budget include your practice location and your choices of marketing vehicles and platforms. “There are regional differences in marketing costs — i.e., it takes a higher percentage of revenues to be heard above the marketing noise in LA than it does in Fargo, N.D., and ophthalmology may be different from other medical specialties in that we offer an unusually high percentage of elective treatments,” Dr. McDonald says.