When you look in your closet and realize that you haven’t worn that relic from the 80s since, well … the 80s, you toss it into the “donate” pile. Spring is the perfect time to clean both your home and your practice. Not only can you reduce the clutter in your inbox, on the desktop of your computer (too many files and apps!), and in your filing cabinets, you can also take the opportunity to get rid of marketing strategies that just don’t work. Here are some things to consider when you declutter your practice:
- Get rid of multiple vendors! In order for your marketing to be effective, your website, reputation management, social media, and email campaigns all have to interact. When you have multiple vendors working on your marketing, each is focusing on their own specialty instead of looking for ways to integrate all of your other strategies. Streamline and use just one marketing company that does it all.
- Forget marketing strategies that limit your focus to new patients. Getting new patients is the key to growing your practice only if your current patients stay loyal. When they ghost you because they don’t feel a connection to you or your team, the new patients don’t promote growth, they just prevent loss. Make sure that your current patients are reminded that you are there for them day after day, not just the two days each year they’re in your chair.
- Minimize your marketing “to do” list. There are endless ways to market your practice, but you don’t have to do them all. When you have too many ideas, they often paralyze you to inaction, leaving you stuck — which is the equivalent to having NO marketing strategy. Take 30 minutes to review and assess: Which strategies can you implement immediately? Which can you delegate to someone else? Which speak to you enough to learn more — even if it means giving up some precious personal time? Anything that doesn’t realistically fit into your professional life should be tossed aside.
- Figure out which marketing campaigns are working and which are not. If you’ve been paying for a solid year for Google Ads that promote sleep dentistry but haven’t gotten a single phone call, reevaluate your strategy. Would the ad be more effective with different wording? Are your ad parameters too limited? Change what you can, and eliminate what simply doesn’t work.
Just like spring cleaning at home can simplify your life, taking the time to spring clean your practice’s marketing mess can ultimately save time, money, and worry at work. The next time you close early or have an opportunity to be at work while there are no patients, figure out which marketing strategies are working then get rid of the rest.
