{"id":488,"date":"2013-06-11T09:15:24","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T09:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.privatepracticemarketingroundtable.com\/ppmr-members\/?p=488"},"modified":"2013-06-11T09:15:24","modified_gmt":"2013-06-11T09:15:24","slug":"are-you-a-commodity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.privatepracticemarketingroundtable.com\/ppmr-members\/archives\/are-you-a-commodity","title":{"rendered":"Are You and Your Practice a Commodity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AreOf course not!\u00a0\u00a0 Well, perhaps I responded too hastily.<\/p>\n

Are you any different from all the other service providers who offer the same or similar services to your own?<\/p>\n

You offer a quality<\/em> service? Isn’t that what everyone else is saying?<\/p>\n

You say yours is different?<\/p>\n

Well, how, exactly?<\/p>\n

And who are you trying to attract? Who is the ideal person for your services?<\/p>\n

So many in private practice have not taken the time to answer these questions.<\/p>\n

The two most important things that you can do to bring more clients into your practice are to first:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Identify WHO you want to work with (target market) and WHAT services you want to provide (eliminating what\u2019s not profitable or enjoyable work for you); and then,<\/li>\n
  2. Establish your POSITION in the marketplace (who you<\/strong> are, how you are different<\/strong>, why someone should choose you<\/strong> as a provider).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Every decision you make concerning marketing your practice <\/strong>\u2013 your promotions strategy, your fee structure, service enhancements, even your office d\u00e9cor \u2013<\/em> all are based on this foundation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s the colors, the logo or the brochure.<\/p>\n

    Without knowing who you are trying to attract, how do you know that the content you are writing for your brochure – and the colors and logo – will appeal to that person?<\/p>\n

    I recently spoke with a marketing consultant who had been brought in by a dentist to “market the practice”.<\/p>\n

    After asking her a few basic questions, it was clear that the two of them had not identified the target market and the positioning for the practice. Without this information, the consultant was floundering in her efforts to produce.<\/p>\n

    Her final comment to me was “I see I’ll have to go back to old-fashioned marketing and get the basics done first.”<\/p>\n

    It’s a lesson for us all.<\/p>\n

    Get the basics done first and your marketing plan will be a natural outgrowth.<\/p>\n

    Once you have a profile of your ideal client and you know how you want to be positioned in the market, you won’t be fighting an image as “just another commodity”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    Not a Member Yet?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n