Every new business needs a business plan, including a medical practice.
A business plan is a road map to the success of your practice. It shows you where you are starting, where you want your business to be in the future, and how you plan to get there.
When doctors begin a practice, a great first step is to create a medical practice business strategy.
A Medical Practice Marketing Strategy is a formal process. It helps to identify your mission, values, goals, projects, timing, barriers, opportunities, and strategies.
Here’s a look at the important points to include in your business plan and how to write them.
- Mission Statement: Why have you chosen to start your own practice? What are your personal and professional reasons for taking this step? What do you want to achieve?
- Values Statement: Values are a little more intangible at times, but still very important. Consider what’s important to your medical practice, and how you deliver care. The way you interact with patients and each other are all going to reflect the values you espouse.
- SWOT Analysis: Take the time to think through the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are specific to your practice in your location. Given your practice mission and values, in what areas do you excel? Where are you weaker? Based on this, what opportunities and threats to do you see to your practice in the next 5-10 years?
- Timeline: Map out your timeline from initial research to opening your doors. Know when each step has to happen for maximum efficiency. If your time to opening is either too short or too long, it will cost you more money.
- Budget: Research various costs in your area and create multiple scenarios for what you will spend to open your practice. Plan A will be what you have to spend to get your doors open. Plan B will include what you will purchase if you have any money remaining from Plan A. Plan C is for your ideal future plans, purchases, and upgrades as your practice becomes profitable.
- Market Research: Check out other providers as well as payers in your area. What is your patient demographic? What are the expected charges for services you plan to provide?
- Profitability Projections: Use a spreadsheet to create projections for expected expenses and revenue for at least your first 12 months.
- Ideal Patient Profile: Envision the type of patient you want to treat and create a patient avatar. How old is your patient? Where does your patient live? Where do they spend their days? What is their income? What type of services do they want?
- Services You Will Offer: What type of services do you plan to offer? Do they complement the needs of your ideal patient?
- Goals: What are the practice’s specific goals? Financial goals are important, but also think about things like staffing, marketing, IT needs, operations, etc? If this is a new practice, this is the time to think in terms of creating an ideal practice. If this is an established solo or group practice, then perhaps it is a revision of what has been set in the past.
Healthcare Marketing Today:
Healthcare marketing goes well beyond advertising and sales and is considered an essential business function where strategy is the driver of a data-driven road map impacting the future direction of healthcare.
• Builds awareness
• Enhances visibility and image
• Increases prestige
• Attracts medical staff and employees
• Serves as an informational resource
• Influences consumer decision making
• Offsets competitive marketing
• Builds patient volume
• Maintains existing volume
Should you do it yourself, or hire a professional?
In any medical practice, there are likely to be differences of opinion, and someone outside the organization with no personal stake in the outcome can often help to be a guide for the discussion. An experienced external facilitator or medical practice consultant can also bring to the table lessons learned from other medical practice business strategy planning sessions.
It is very easy to skip this process when starting a medical practice. However, without a medical practice business strategy, you also are likely to miss opportunities and make some expensive mistakes as you grow your practice.
If you are thinking about starting your own practice or like so many other business processes, marketing implementation is far more successful with a solid marketing plan with the support of a structured system. We have the experience to create a highly effective strategic marketing plan.
Reach me today at +1(302) 613-1356 ,or writing me @ support@wonderws.com