In this era of social networking, sometimes we forget that grassroots marketing is still hugely beneficial for sparking conversation.
Whether you use social media or more traditional methods of fliers, special events, etc., grassroots marketing is a cost-effective way to build exposure for your practice regardless of size. Incorporate these tactics into your practice and watch it grow:
PLAN YOUR ACTIONS. This may seem like a simple step, but it is often overlooked. Plan out your efforts and the manpower you’ll need every month. Decide exactly who will do them, what you are going to offer patients or customers (if anything) and who will follow up on any leads you generate.
NETWORK EVERYWHERE. Talk to people on the golf course, in line at the grocery store, at sporting events … everywhere you come into contact with others. Remember every person in your community is a potential new patient (or knows someone who might be). Identify opportunities to talk about the services you provide and their real life benefits. Participate in community events, like booths at health fairs, sponsoring local sporting events, hosting seminars — any place you can talk about your services, capture leads (have a drawing, give eye screenings, etc.) and engage with others.
BECOME THE TRUSTED RESOURCE. Use content marketing to educate and brand yourself as a trusted source of information and a leader in your industry. Create content that is impactful, easy to absorb and sparks action in the form of fliers, blogs, emails, articles, social posts and more.
USE SOCIAL MEDIA. You used to be able to post to your business’s Facebook once or twice a week. Today, with their changing algorithms and the frequency posts show up in feeds, it is imperative for your practice to post daily.
Business posts should contain a mix of messages, like information about your services, interesting articles and fun facts. To take it further, utilize some of Facebook’s powerful platforms: geofencing and Facebook Live. With geofencing, you put a virtual 20,000 square-foot fence around an area so anyone on Facebook sees your ads. This is beneficial when at an event to draw more people to you. Facebook Live is a live video feed, that allows you to post sneak peeks of events, live procedures, announcements and more, in order to create buzz and boost attendance.
Brandi Musgrave is the director of Business Development at Fast Track Marketing (fast-trackmarketing.com) in Broomfield, CO. You can reach her at brandi@fast-trackmarketing.com or 303-731-2634.
This article originally appeared in the February 2017 edition of INSTORE.