By Nancy J. Beckley, MS, MBA
Staving Off the Stale Cookie
How flat marketing ideas can hinder your facility's success and how to introduce innovation into your marketing plan. Now that things have settled down from the latest introduction of memos and explanations courtesy of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, if you have decided to stay in the therapy business, perhaps you are looking to diversify your payor mix. This process involves innovative marketing. To help with the process, I have been busy interviewing rehab and other medical marketing professionals about their best marketing practices. I was curious to see if anything had changed, if anything new was going on, and mostly to see how creative things were on the street. Most of the people I spoke with said it was important to be on the managed care network. The single biggest marketing concern was getting on the network of allowed providers. Others reported that they routinely dropped off their customized prescription pads at physician offices. Donut shops will be happy to know that weekly boxes of the sugary delights are still being utilized as a secret medical marketing technique. Promotional products such as pens; calendars, letter openers, and candy jars are also popular items. COOKIE IDEA GOES STALE Obviously, these items work or do they? Bobbie, who works for a diagnostic and rehab center, utilizes pens, coffee cups, gift baskets, and cookies. I asked her to send me some of the cookies. I could not wait for them to arrive, thinking they would be from the popular gift cookie service in town that caries the slogan "A delicious way to thank your customers," which recently won the community's small business of the year award. Well, the cookies soon arrived, but was I ever surprised. There were six cookies of various types in a white bag. The front of the bag contained a silver foil label from the diagnostic/rehab center. I had to think for a minute because the type font and the label design were not consistent with the center's distinctive logo. I ate a cookie, passed the bag around my office, and when it was returned to me, the back side was facing me. I was horrified. On the back of the bag was the 4 inch by 4 inch red rubber stamp mark of the cookie company. The ink was smeared and in the middle of the square, under the name of the cookie company, it said: "6 cookies, mixed." I immediately called the cookie company to find out if all their gift bags contained their logo. When I found out that this is how the cookies are routinely delivered, I called Bobbie to see if she knew. She did not. I spent the rest of the afternoon puzzled by how good cookies brought mixed wishes. I asked Bobbie why she picked these cookies. She thought they were good and were also cost-effective. When I questioned her about using the award-winning cookie company, she thought they were more expensive because of the packaging and she did not know how they tasted. It was then that I realized Bobbie was the perfect candidate for learning about innovations and entrepreneurship in marketing. The purpose of any marketing program in rehabilitation is to create referrals. This should not be mixed up with public relations, advertising, or sales. Public relations activities are those that keep your name in the mind of the public and engender goodwill to your facility. Back to the cookies-Bobbie utilized cookies as a combination public relations/marketing activity that was designed to not only say thank-you to her referral sources, but also to keep her name as well as her facility's name on the top of the list. Unfortunately, she risked her top spot with the shoddy cookie product. BRAINSTORM FOR INNOVATION I asked Bobbie to brainstorm for innovative and effective marketing strategies that would also keep her facility in a top of the list position for potential referral sources as well as potential patients. The Chamber of Commerce had a number of events coming up so we began looking at these to see if anything would click for marketing and public relations. Bobbie made the comment: "There is no sense in going to that event because it is just potential patients whose physicians will tell them where to go anyway." Now, that provided me with an opening. I asked her why the patients had to go where the physicians recommended. She said that in some instances it is because of managed care contracts and in other instances that is just how the physician likes to make his referrals. We looked up other providers in the various managed care provider directories. We discovered that managed care patients had a choice of at least two providers and, in many instances more, and that patients with traditional insurance or Medicare generally had the universe of providers to choose from. The next logical thought was if patients could choose their providers, how can we ensure they know they have a choice and second, how can we convince them that our facility was the best choice for diagnostic and rehab services. Bobbie bubbled over with excitement as she thought of breaking out of the old marketing routine and trying something new. We brainstormed about how to directly influence the general public before they have the need for services. Bobbie called me back within a few days to tell me she was joining the Chamber of Commerce and was going to attend all formal and informal networking sessions. She believed that her cookie and prescription pad routine could be handled by an assistant, which would give her more tune to devote to new horizons and hopefully new patients at the facility. She had her business cards printed in neon green with the familiar company logo, and when presenting them, she gave an irresistible call to action. She asked the people she met to place her business card right behind their insurance card in their wallet. The purpose of this unique strategy was in effect, to ask people to call her directly when they needed diagnostic or rehab services; she reminded people that they had a choice, and if they chose her and her facility, she would be there to personally help them. The last time I talked to Bobbie she was busy ordering yellow happy face balls to go on patients' car antennas. Her goal was to have everyone in town talking about the happy faces. She tied it in with a theme that introduced the new open MRI on the diagnostic side of the business: "Don't worry, be happy" She let the local newspaper know about the antenna balls, about contests with the happy face, stress balls with the happy face, stickers with the happy face, and her newfound joy at not only reviving a stale marketing campaign, but waking up every morning dreaming of innovative and effective ways to market her facility. As you consider exciting and innovative ways to market your facility, it is not necessary to reinvent everything from scratch. Reexamine the call to action. Is it interesting, is it effective? In two of the networking groups I participate in, the pest-control people always seem to have the most effective innovative marketing activities with sustainable value. One slogan is "Your peace of mind pest control service," another is "We fix what bugs you." Their appeal is built into their slogans. I almost wish my house had bugs so I could call them for help. Now that is really being at the top of the list. Nancy J. Beckley, MS, MBA, is the president of Bloomingdale Consulting Group and Rehabilitation Seminars in Tampa, Fla, and an entrepreneur at heart. Questions and comments from those seeking to unleash their creative side are encouraged at (888) 999-0275 or via email at bcgbeckley@aol.com.
