It may sound like corporate speak but marketing is essentially about communication. And it’s a vital part of helping your practice be financially healthy, delivering a better patient experience, recruiting staff and more, says Gary Hughes. He provides some advice on how to do it well.
It’s safe to say marketing isn’t usually top of the agenda for general practice.
In recent years, more activity in this area has been growing, but very slowly, and primary care is still far from achieving the many benefits available from effective marketing.
There are probably a variety of reasons for this, primarily a lack of understanding about what it means. Perhaps there is also some discomfort with the term marketing.
So, what is marketing?
A more helpful way to think of marketing is simply communication. It encapsulates the three elements of ‘what I’m going to tell you’, ‘when I’m going to tell you’, and ‘how I’m going to tell you’.
We do this for different reasons and to achieve a number of aims that can include:
- Educating patients on self-care
- Educating patients on attending services and reviews
- Driving uptake in a particular service
- Changing patient perception of the practice
- Informing patients and others of changes
- Sharing advice
- Attracting new patients
- Attracting new staff
- Connecting with wider community and stakeholders.
If we look at marketing in this way it’s far easier to relate to and we may even find we’re doing many of these activities already.
How does marketing help my practice?
If the explanation above has provided a bit more understanding of what marketing is then you’ve probably already begun to see what some of the many benefits might be. They include:
Financial improvements
- Better uptake of services that generate additional income
- Meeting QOF targets more effectively through better patient engagement
- Improved utilisation and less waste of resources.
Operational Efficiency
- Improved capacity and access as patients use the right service at the right time
- Reduced phone volumes through greater use of online booking and services
- More efficient use of clinician time.
Staff Satisfaction
- Reduced stress from managing unrealistic patient expectations
- Higher job satisfaction from delivering preventive, rather than reactive care
- Improved workplace reputation, making recruitment easier.
How does marketing help my patients?
If we only think of marketing as something that benefits the practice, then we are only seeing half of the picture. Marketing provides huge benefits for patients too, and a practice that isn’t communicating with its patients properly isn’t looking after them as well as it could be. Here are some of the ways patients are helped by effective marketing by their practice:
Better Access
- Clearer understanding of available services and how to use them
- Knowledge of alternative access options like online consultations
- Understanding of when to use different services e.g. GP vs pharmacy vs A&E.
Improved Health Outcomes
- Better management of chronic conditions through education
- Higher uptake of services like screenings and vaccinations
- Greater confidence in self-managing minor conditions.
Enhanced Patient Experience
- Clearer expectations about practice services and processes
- Reduced waiting times through appropriate service use
- Stronger relationships with the healthcare team
How can I get my marketing started?
As with anything new, it’s usually a good idea to start small. Focus on the patient, and remember this is new for them too, so begin by concentrating on raising awareness and building trust.
1. Get your existing marketing communications up to date and ready
This comprises your website, waiting room materials and screens, recall messages and if you’re using social media then the home pages and profiles of these too. The information you’re sharing should be up to date, accurate, easy to read and mobile friendly.
2. Use the tools you already have
Practices have access to the NHS App, online consultation platforms and tools to share SMS reminders and email. Make sure you are using these to enable the patients and practice to gain the maximum benefit.
3. Use tools that are free
Social media is the biggest and best free tool available to you. Every practice should have a presence, on at least one platform, whether that is Facebook, Instagram, X or TikTok. They are all different in terms of content and demographics of the users, so think about which will be the most effective way to communicate with your patients.
4. Build a 12-month marketing calendar
If you marketing is to be successful then it needs to be a continuous and regular drip, drip, drip. A good way to keep up the motivation and momentum is to begin by creating a 12-month calendar of campaigns. This doesn’t mean creating all the messages at the beginning, but it does mean deciding what your communications will be about for each part of the year (see box below).
Hopefully all this has encouraged you to embrace marketing in your practice.
A template for a 12-month marketing calendar
If you’re creating a marketing calendar for the first time, then keep it simple and work in small manageable steps. Quarterly or two-monthly campaigns will be easier, accompanied by weekly posts on social media and a single flyer or newsletter. The key is to stay consistent and communicate regularly to build awareness and trust.
A simple 12-month marketing plan for a practice might look like this:
Quarter 1 (January-March)
Key Campaign Messages – ‘New Year, New Health: Encourage health screening and preventive care’; and ‘Mental Health support: Focus on awareness and support for stress, depression and anxiety.’
Activities will include:
- Launch SMS campaign for annual screening and health checks
- Use social media to signpost to support groups and self-care resources.
Quarter 2 (April-June)
Key Campaign Messages – ‘Spring Wellness: Managing allergies and respiratory conditions’; and ‘ Women’s Wellness: Promote cervical screening and female health services’.
Activities will include:
- Partner with pharmacies for hay fever management
- Send targeted screening reminders to eligible women.
Quarter 3 (July-September)
Key Campaign Messages – ‘Family Health: Child vaccinations and school readiness’; and ‘Managing Long-term Conditions: Support and reviews’.
Activities will include:
- Run school vaccination catch-up clinics
- Offer chronic disease review appointments.
Quarter 4 (October-December)
Key Campaign Messages – ‘Winter Protection: Flu vaccination campaign’; and ‘Winter Wellness: Managing seasonal illness’.
Activities will include:
- Deliver flu vaccination program
- Create and promote a vulnerable patient support plan.
Key summary points:
- If you’re having trouble getting your practice to embrace marketing, then talk in terms of ‘communication’ instead.
- If you want to see the impact of your marketing, measure the area in which you start your marketing activities, e.g. has our promotion of online booking and services reduced our call volumes?
- Ask your patients, or patient participation group, what would they like more communication around, and in what format they would they like to receive it.ask them for feedback about how your communication is e helping them.
- Marketing is an activity that can be shared out among the practice team and is a great way to develop staff and to get people involved who have got social media skills. Find the ideal people to be in your practice marketing and communications team.
- Learn from your staff, your team knows what patients are asking about or struggling with, so use their ideas to shape your marketing.
Gary Hughes is the founder of Leadership in Practice and Portfolio Careers in Primary Care providing leadership and management development to primary care. He has been a practice business manager and federation director, has an MBA and a Post Graduate Certificate in Medical Education, and is the host of the Leadership in Practice podcast.
