Hi Chris,
I completely agree with Shannon in that outsourcing your marketing for branding purposes or outreach will only take you so far. With radiology being such a small niche and often times with so many politics involved and all of the constant changes with technology and legislation, it's hard for the "customer" to keep up. In radiology, you have several "customers" - hospital administrations, techs, referring physicians, patients, etc - all with different wants and needs from their radiologists. Typical standard marketing is not going to allow for the type of push/pull communication in your local market that you really need to be able to find areas of possible need, determine areas of potential growth and sustain your current referral basis/volumes. Also, a lot of times the radiologists end up taking blame and fault that is not actually theirs, but because they do not have anyone to monitor their reputation among their referring population and communicate better messaging, they end up unprotected and the ones to take the fall.
There is not necessarily a "tipping point" as to when to hire an FTE and I would recommend that you need both the resource that will provide you with marketing/brand awareness/digital placement, etc and an FTE that acts as your "boots on the ground" to disseminate the information & the messaging that the marketing resource is creating. Only having one or the other handicaps the goal of what you are trying to accomplish either way.
Here is my advice/take away for you...........
If you are not building your brand, someone else will build it for you whether you like it or not.
If you are not talking to your customer about what you can do for them and cultivating your relationship with them, know that someone else is.
So, keep that in mind - that a major part of marketing & sales is not just growing new business but it's about protecting and keeping what you already have worked so hard to get.
Thanks!
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Maegan Moore
Director, Marketing & Physician Relations
Synergy Radiology Associates
an affiliate of MEDNAX
Houston, TX
Past President
Texas RBMA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-25-2019 16:34
From: Shannon Wilson
Subject: When to add a Marketing FTE to a practice?
Hi Chris,
It is very easy to outsource your Digital Marketing but local efforts require someone or a team of people with boots on the ground. They need to understand the landscape of your local territory, be highly effective in relationship building, have a strong understanding of the industry and it's happenings.
The Marketing person or team is the eyes and ears of your group and should have the best understanding of the group's effectiveness, assist in the decision making process for capital investments (based on competitors and local demographics), educate local referring physicians on industry changes such as CDS. They are an extension of your practice that is in the field daily gathering vital information.
Digital efforts can only go so far since you are relying on others to follow, like, or read your information. If you need to increase volume, have a large threat form competitors, or just need to better understand your patient's needs, an in house Marketing FTE is highly recommended.
Warm regards,
Shannon Wilson
Practice Manager
Bay Imaging Consultants
2125 Oak Grove Rd #200
Walnut Creek , Ca. 94598
(C) 925-407-6667
(O) 925-296-7152
Your IMAGE is everything to us!
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Original Message------
Hello,
For groups larger than 20 Physicians that have their own in house marketing FTE, what was tipping point for hiring versus outsourcing marketing, socials media, design, etc.
Thank you.
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Chris Snyder
Chief Operating Officer
Radiologic Associates of Fredericksburg
Fredericksburg VA
(540) 361-1000
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