How PPE and Infection Control Policies Can Save Lives and Your Practice.
The coronavirus pandemic has completely upended marketing messages. Television commercials, social media posts, and marketing emails experienced a tectonic shift in messaging and images.
Instead of emphasizing cheese-stuffed crust or spicy sauce, pizza chains talk about contactless delivery.
Instead of MPGs or radical styling, car dealers want you to know you can get your new car without any human interaction.
What’s going on?
Your medical practice, too, needs to think about “brand” messages. In many states, patients are hesitantly, slowly coming back for long-deferred treatment. But most practices still have not seen a return to pre-COVID patient volumes.
Instead of a “V-Shaped” recovery, we’re facing a “NIKE” recovery: dramatic downturn, followed by slow, hesitant recovery.
What can you do to bend back your own curve?
One idea is to make safety and hygiene part of your marketing message.
As a doctor, position your brand in a way that reaches patients’ minds, and right now. Brands with a consistent message of safety have stronger associations that tend to resonate with consumers as they evaluate alternatives.
In these first tentative days of recovery, safety is a crucial motivator when choosing a provider. It is not the primary motivator, but it is definitely a reason to give pause.
As a doctor, you are in a unique position as trustworthy sources of information, especially emerging from a pandemic. You are in the best position to educate and reassure your patients – and staff – about staying safe during a pandemic.
PPE and social distancing are not as appetizing as say, stuffed-crust pizza, but it is an important consideration as patients tentatively return to your practice.
Marketing Safety
When your practice adopts and communicates well thought out safety protocols, patients start making inferences:
- You are a doctor that cares about safety. You care about your staff and me.
- Your practice pays attention to detail. You have logical, detailed procedures. Safety is more than a passing thought.
There are several ways of introducing safety into your overall practice marketing efforts:
- Make wellness calls to all patients, especially those truants who are overdue for a checkup. Use the call to check on the patient’s overall health and reiterate the office’s new safety policies. Offer to email a summary. This will allow you to confirm the patient’s current email address seamlessly.
- Update your website with a COVID-19 specific pop-up banner for first-time visitors, and a dedicated page listing pre-visit protocols.
- Update your Google My Business listing. Google has extensive resources to help you communicate with patients. Your Google My Business listing rivals your own website in terms of communications with your existing patients. Be sure you keep your policies up to date.
- Echo those policies on your business’ social media profile, most likely your Facebook business page.
Consider, too, making a video demonstration of the safety procedures you have in place. Get creative: demonstrate the patient journey from the front door, waiting room, to the exam room or operatory.
Take pride and demonstrate any safety equipment you’ve recently installed (HEPA air handlers/purifiers, UV air sanitizers). Show how to properly wash your hands.
Yes, COVID-19 is a serious disease. But using proper guidelines and controls, the risk of infection can be greatly minimized. Your patients look to you for information and to reduce fear. Be that leader.
