Listen to the Insights of a Medical Marketing professional

One of my favorite ways to learn about a new topic is to pick the brains of professionals from other industries - to probe into how they think and work. I hope to walk away with a nugget of information that educates me about 1) what I might do next 2) what I didn't even know that I don't know, and 3) where I can turn for help.

Last week, I enjoyed interviewing Rudy Svezia, president of DocGrow.com, a company that specializes in help physician practices market their services effectively.

Rudy revealed that his marketing company has been working with physician practices ever since the time he was first engaged by a physician 8 years ago - he loved the work, had fantastic results, and has been hooked on helping doctors' practices grow ever since then!

Some of the questions I asked him were:

1. What do you mean by the term “marketing”?

2. Why should physicians be paying attention to marketing?

3. Given that many physician practice incomes are shrinking due to declining reimbursement, what are some of the less expensive or even free ways that physicians could make people aware of their services?

4. What are the key moves physicians should be making to market themselves better?

5. What changes have you observed in the past few years about how physicians are successfully marketing their services?

6. What do you see as up and coming trends in 2007 for physician practice marketing?

Rudy's basic message! "You have to cut through the clutter" and "there is a huge uptick in the willingness of physicians to recognize that marketing is a valuable business strategy, to offset the negatives of the increasingly stringent regulatory environment and reimbursement cutbacks - it's a way to take positive action to grow and sustain a thriving practice".

Listen here to the whole interview (it's 25 minutes long), and discover new ways to think about marketing your business or practice!