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Email your suggestion, tip or trend that has worked well in your concierge, direct care or private medical practice -- editor@conciergemedicinetoday.com

TRENDING...inside concierge medical practice
Earlier Hours plus, Single-Serve Tea or
Coffee Brew Stations
And, In Rare Cases, Offer Soda.

# 213 -- TRENDING...early hours bring the 'ideal' patient.

If your mornings are anything like mine, you prefer to schedule the majority of your health exams and check-ups right away. Infact, the earlier the better! I'll take the first possible appointment or even the second visit of the day because I know that I that my physician(s) are revving up for a busy day -- and they and I, need to get our day moving.

I'm a big fan of practices which cater to the patient with hours starting at 6:30am or even 7am. Just last week, I visited a few into a concierge practice in North Atlanta area and was pleasantly surprised at the early morning or after 6pm appointments they've made available to their patients every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

# 131 -- TRENDING...single-cup, tea and coffee brew stations.

Occasionally you might run out of the house without your hot cup of tea or favorite blend of coffee at your side. If you're like me, you love the convenience of a fresh, cup of tea or coffee when you're running late.

The Keurig K-Cup coffee makers and other single-serve and pod coffee/tea brewers have come into businesses with a flury of excitement over the past two years. Patients spending any amount of time in your office will appreciate the convenience and employees of concierge medical practices love the easy, no mess -- clean up they provide.

In recent months, these single coffee cup brewers have become much more affordable and stylish. Some of the larger big-box wholesale clubs even sell such devices to their members with 60 or more K-Cups included with the price of the coffee maker. So, if you have the traditional-style coffee maker which involves making a full pot of coffee, you're behind the trend...!

Here's a couple of quick tips!

+ Keep a fresh assortment of tea and coffee flavors -- don't limit your lobby coffee maker to one or two flavors.

+ Have one of your staff monitor the water tank twice a day (or more, in some cases) and fill the water tank with filtered or distilled water routinely.

+ Use throw-away, to-go cups with lids. Lids show that you've gone the extra mile to provide convenience for your patients -- plus, it helps prevents spills around the office!

+ Don't bring out the old coffee mugs from the break area.

+ We all know the health factors that go along with drinking soda. Because you're trying to promote good health, only in rare circumstances, offer soda to your guests if they ask for them. Have them chilled inside a small refridgerator in your lobby or in the break room.

+ Have chilled, bottled water readily available for your patients.

# 467 -- GPS and Mobile Map Location Services For Your Practice

BY 2015, MORE PEOPLE WILL BE USING THEIR MOBILE DEVICES TO ACCESS THE INTERNET THAN COMPUTERS (Source: Quantcast, 2010)

Submission and optimization to the various mapping platforms on the web today, will provide users with the ability to quickly GPS your location via their mobile device or computer.

# 74 -- Google Maps Is Free! If You're Not Using It, You're Losing Potential Patients Finding You Every Day

If I live near your medical practice and Google your name or practice name, will your practice name, address, telephone, map to your office and web site show up on Google? If not, you are missing out on one of the easiest and most cost effective way to attract patients to your practice. Placing your practice on Google Maps is free and takes only minutes to submit your information.

# 983 -- Next Step, Prepare A Tablet Strategy For Your Practice

More and more people are using tablets like the iPad to surf the web during business hours, waiting rooms, meetings and at home. Searches among tablet users have increased exponentially in the past year and more PR agencies and small business promoters are encouraging business owners to stay updated in the latest technology trends by creating web sites, blogs and geo-targeted advertisements specific for tablets. This also includes the use of videos. So, while creating a tablet marketing strategy for your practice might seem like a time vacuum, it would be wise for you to consider talking to a web professional to help you prepare for the next phase in social connection.

# 653 -- Push Vs. Pull Marketing In Your Practice

There is nothing more frustrating than spending a few thousand dollars on a postcard or letter and a week later your office received five phone calls, one email and 43 return to sender stickers.

This form of marketing is what advertising agencies call "push" marketing. This form of marketing "pushes" a product or service onto an individual when they are not yet ready to buy or learn more about your service. The goal of such campaigns is to create TOMA or Top of Mind Awareness.

The Problem With "Push" Marketing. It's expensive and the ROI (return on investment) is minimal.

The Solution. "Pull" Marketing.

"Pull" Marketing is a marketing approach that allows you to gradually attract prospective patients to your business when they are ready. With the advent of internet marketing, Google and Social Media, "Pull" marketing has been proven to be successful in tracking ROI, dollars spent, clicks, hits, and much, much more.

Since every doctor and their office staff are constantly looking for that one unique golden nugget of marketing wisdom, today I'll tell you what NOT to do when advertising your practice in PRINT.

The biggest mistake people make when promoting a product, person or program in print is...they don't include a low-risk offer.

Bottom Line - If you are currently using "Push" marketing and would like to learn more about the benefits and cost-effectiveness of "Pull" marketing in helping to grow your concierge medicine practice, you will want to connect with a social media marketing agency that understands these core principles.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4749339

# 116 -- What We Can Learn From "See Rock City"

If you've taken any kind of road trip in the southeastern U.S., you've probably seen the phrase "See Rock City" painted on barns, billboards, shack and sheds. There is an important marketing lesson to be shared and that applies to marketing your concierge medical practice online or in your local community.

1. Repetition Is Good. The more people see you online or in print, the more you create TOMA or "Top of Mind Awareness"

2. Why Is TOMA Important? Rock City offers something truly unique...as does every concierge medicine physician across the U.S. Every wise healthcare marketing agency should know, "You don't need to be seen everywhere online [or in print], you just need to be seen everywhere in your niche."

Another example of marketing is the age old credit card offer. They follow the same principle and we can see from the massive amounts of debt that consumers have accumulated that the strategy worked. You've probably received credit card offers in the mail several times a month. As useless as these offers might seem, at some point, their hope is that one day you will need them and you will choose them. They've created top of mind awareness and targeted your mail box with relentless repetition.

If you have never been to the southeastern U.S., there is one other fast way to remember the "See Rock City" marketing principle and that is remembering the phrase "7-11." If you've ever heard of the 7-11 Rule, this is when you must see something (ie. "your brand") seven to eleven times before it becomes "top of mind" and you've created that beloved feeling in someone's mind that you are someone who they should do business with because you are the only one showing them true brand consistency time after time.

If you liked this post and would like to learn more about how to Grow Your Concierge Medical Practice With Twitter, Google or LinkedIn or maybe you want to see if your web site has the 5 Micro-site Must-Have's, visit http://bit.ly/GEOil9

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4791861

# 856 -- Biggest Mistake Doctors Make When Marketing Their Medical Practice in Print

It never fails. At every single medical marketing conference or health care related event I attend, I'm always asked the same question: 'what can I do to best advertise my practice to get more patients?' or 'what's the one takeaway piece of knowledge that you can give me to help me market or advertise my business?'

Since every doctor and their office staff are constantly looking for that one unique golden nugget of marketing wisdom, today I'll tell you what NOT to do when advertising your practice in PRINT.

The biggest mistake people make when promoting a product, person or program in print is...they don't include a low-risk offer.

What Is A Low Risk Offer?

A low risk offer is usually something free for the reader of the advertisement. It can be a coupon, a free book, or usually a free 'something' that entices the reader to want more of what you are selling.

What Should My Print Advertisement Contain?

It's been said that we as general consumers are exposed to over 5,000 advertisements per day. With the advent of online advertising in the past few years, I believe the number to be even higher. Noting this knowledge, it is now more important than ever to be seen as unique, offering something of true value and provide as many ways as possible for the reader of the ad to connect with you. You need more than just a phone number and a web site. In this day and age, you now need email, twitter, MySpace, SoKule and more.

When you and your staff want to take learn more about print advertising, I would strongly encourage you to take a look at promoting their practice with a strategic, laser-focused marketing plan to get the results and you truly need to grow your business. You might want to visit http://bit.ly/GEOil9

# 23 -- The Absolute Best Time of Day For Doctors to "Tweet" and Get "Retweeted"

When sending a tweet out into the oblivion, you are actually sending it out only to those who have chosen in return to follow YOU. The benefit of having "Followers" means you are communicating with an audience who finds what you have to say interesting. If they find it really interesting, they will "RT" or "ReTweet" it to their "Followers." And so the cycle can continue on and on. What's the benefit? Maximum exposure for you and if you've done your marketing right, maximum exposure for your brand and a data collection center at your web site!

So, when is the best time to send out a tweet? Should you send it out during the day or night or both? There are plenty of reports and analysis out there as to when the best time to tweet is.. so you might find some of these tips useful when it comes to tweeting at the best possible time.

1. There are a lot of different factors to consider such as time zones, where your Twitter followers are located, target audience, etc. Ideally, you want to send it out at a time that reaches the maximum amount of eyeballs possible.

2. According to a report by Fast Company in September 2009, the best time to get re-tweeted is at 4:00 pm EST (Eastern Standard Time) on a Friday. Why? Well, according to the Social Media Guide, April 2010, you are hitting three major break times:a. People arriving at work on the West Coast of America and Canada, ie Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, etcb. It coincides with lunchtime (12:00 pm EST) on the East Coast of America, ie New Yorkc. It coincides with the end of the business day in London (5:00 pm GMT)

3. Include Your Web Site Address and if it's too long, shorten it! You must choose your URL shortener carefully: Newer, shorter services, such as bit.ly, ow.ly, and is.gd, were much likelier to get "ReTweeted" than older, longer services, such as TinyURL.

A free service I'd like every concierge physician and doctor of any specialty to know about is Tweet O'Clock. Tweet O'Clock allows you to personally find out when is the best to tweet your followers. Just enter your Twitter username, select the timezone to display the results in...then click on .

If you liked this post and would like to learn more about how to Grow Your Concierge Medical Practice With Twitter, Google or LinkedIn or maybe you want to see if your web site can pass a Concierge Physician Free Web Site Self-Test, visit: http://bit.ly/GEOil9