9 Ways Physicians Can Promote Positive Word-of-Mouth

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9 Ways Physicians Can Promote Positive
Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-mouth is more critical than ever in the
healthcare industry. Online reviews are available
for every specialty, and according to a study by
Bright Local, nearly 9 in 10 customers read
online reviews, and 72 percent use positive
reviews to determine whether a local business is
trustworthy. So what can you do to gain and keep
the right word-of-mouth? Here are some of the
most useful and reliable ways to get positive
word-of-mouth 1. Provide Good Patient
Service Excellent patient service is one of the
few ways that small medical practices can compete
with larger medical practices, especially those
that focus on prices. There are a lot of articles
on how small medical practices can provide
excellent patient service, but there is no real
secret to it.
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How important is good patient service for a
positive word-of-mouth? The majority of
disgruntled patients will tell their friends and
family about poor patient service experiences,
and they may even change their healthcare
provider. Show your patients that they matter to
you and treat them with the same (or better)
respect and courtesy that you would expect in
their place.
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• Listen to their complaints, learn from them, and
  train your staff accordingly. Follow best
  practices, regardless of the size of your
  practice, and positive word-of-mouth is sure to
  follow.
• Make it Simple for Patients to Contact You
• Ineffective communication will drive away not
  only existing patients who were trying to reach
  you but also potential patients who hear of these
  frustrating experiences.
• Suppose your medical practice phones just ring
  and ring and dont even connect to an answering
  machine or your mailbox is always full. These
  are some of the common examples of ineffective
  communication practices.
• Equally annoying are websites that dont provide
  contact information or the correct practice
  hours. And do not even get me started on
  physicians who run medical practices from home
  and have their work phone answered by their
  children or have loud music playing in the
  background when you call.
• If you want to generate positive word-of-mouth,
  your medical practice has to be reachable. You
  must answer your emails promptly and organize all
  the necessary communication channels, including
  voice mail and call forwarding. Make sure your
  work phone is answered in a way that will
  encourage patients to call again, not discourage
  it.
• Maintain a Positive Image
• For small medical practice owners, this means you
  need to treat all patients with courtesy and
  respect not just the ones who are frequent
  visitors but those on their first visit to you.

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People love to tell stories about the
unprofessional medical practitioners they have
recently encountered, and your behavior will
affect your brand image. Your brand reputation
is more about maintaining the kind of image that
will help grow positive word-of-mouth
instead. 4. Clean Surroundings Are a Necessity
Even Online! Word-of-mouth travels, too.
Patients will tell other people how organized
your waiting room is, how courteous your staff is
and how knowledgeable you are.
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• In order to get the right word-of-mouth building
  about your medical practice, think about what
  makes for a pleasant patient experience and
  ensure all the elements that contribute to
  forming a similar experience are available.
• On the web, this means things such as having
  search functions and website organization that
  make key elements easy to find and visible
  information on appointments and services.
• Ask for Testimonials and Display Them Prominently
• Testimonials from satisfied patients are powerful
  endorsements and can spark encouraging
  word-of-mouth. You must start asking for shining
  testimonials. In addition to learning how to ask
  for reviews, it is important to learn the timing
  of asking for referrals.
• Once you accumulate patient testimonials, be sure
  to use them properly, posting them on your
  website, on your Facebook page and in other
  promotional activities wherever they will be
  visible to the public and create a positive image
  of your medical practice.
• Engage Patients on Social Networks
• Remember, word-of-mouth is all about existing
  patients saying good things about your medical
  practice. And social networks are where many of
  them are talking now. Your medical practice needs
  to be in that space. It is not hard to set up a
  Twitter account or create a page on Facebook.
• However, remember that word-of-mouth involves
  other people talking about your medical practice
  brand. Telling everyone repeatedly what excellent
  services you have will not help promote positive
  word-of- mouth.

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• Instead of self-promoting your services, develop
  a social media strategy that will allow you to
  engage patients, and entice them into saying good
  things about your medical practice.
• Monitor Your Online Reputation
• The majority of conversations about your brand
  are happening online, and you must know whats
  being said. So it is essential to monitor your
  online reputation and see what kind of
  word-of-mouth is being spread about your brand.
• There are some social media tools to help you
  track brand mentions on social networks. Twitter
  Search, for instance, allows you to search for a
  brand name, services or even the name of your
  city.
• There are also online reputation monitoring tools
  such as Social Mention that let you receive free
  daily email alerts about your small medical
  practice.
• Get Positive Publicity for Your Medical Practice
• Positive publicity is like money in the bank for
  your medical practice. Whether it is a photo of
  you handing over a check to an orphanage or a
  tweet mentioning a free health checkup camp you
  are hosting, publicity puts your medical practice
  at the forefront of peoples minds. It makes them
  more inclined to spread good word-of-mouth about
  it.
• So when they need a family physician, for
  instance, theyll think of your medical practice
  rather than another physician or your
  competitors. And when their neighbor needs a
  physician and doesnt know whom to consult and
  asks them if they know one, guess what? Theyll
  mention and recommend your medical practice.

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9. Contribute to Your Local Community Community
building or social responsibility whatever you
want to call it, doing good will do good things
for your word-of-mouth. Sponsoring community
events is one way of doing it. Another is to be
active in social services, such as sitting on
school or college boards. Always be willing to
get things done and support your community, and
others will take notice. Large healthcare brands
donate as much as 2 percent of their earnings.
Why? Because it improves the reputation of their
healthcare brand name and is suitable for a
medical practice.
Conclusion Word-of-mouth is going to happen,
whether you make any effort or not. It is such a
powerful healthcare marketing strategy that it
seems silly to
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ignore it. Why not tune in to what patients are
saying about your medical practice and generate
positive word-of-mouth by applying the strategies
discussed here? You have nothing to lose, but two
things that you might gain by practicing these
tips are a significant patient base and a stellar
online reputation.