Attracting Referrals – A Cycle for Growth

Gather & Analyze Data

Getting started begins with analysis and an honest look at how new patients are finding your door. First and foremost, a tracking process is essential. Most practices can identify their referral sources through the patient intake form. In a perfect world, a new patient would answer two questions: "Where did you hear about us?" and "Where did you get our contact information?" While these appear similar, the difference is who and how. The goal is to determine which people are sending referrals your way, but it's also important to identify how they're finding your contact information. For instance, are prospects going to Google, Facebook, your website, or some other directory? Understanding where patients are searching for information will help you determine where to focus your marketing efforts.

Oftentimes, there's a discrepancy between the perception of where patients are coming from and the actual raw data. One might assume a referral source is generating several patients a week, when it may only turn out to be one or two new patients per month. It's crucial for a physician's staff to be proactive and accurately document referral sources. As the first spoke in your wheel, accurate data lays the foundation you'll build everything else on. Once referral data is gathered, analyze the demographics of your patients by looking at characteristics such as gender, age, insurance plans, where they live, where they work, and other similarities. This insight is essential for identifying new opportunities to attract referrals.

Create a Targeted List

Now that you've established where your current patients are coming from and the demographics of your current patient base, it's time to think creatively about how you can generate new referral sources. The following questions can help as you develop new targets:

• Is there a certain type of physician, specialty, or group from whom you'd like to attract more referrals?
• Do you have a particular insurance plan that provides better reimbursement to your practice than others?
• Is there a new procedure or treatment you need to promote?
• Are there new physicians or providers who have joined your practice?
• Would you benefit from building relationships with primary care offices?
• What sets your practice apart from the competition?
• To whom can you best promote your competitive advantages?
• Are there non-medical groups or community events your practice can partner with?

Create & Execute Your Plan

Your staff knows you and your patients best! Review the data and your potential new targets internally with your staff and create a plan. Roughly 7–11% of your gross revenue should be budgeted for marketing. This should include public relations, marketing, SEO, Google Ads, community relations, printing, promotional items, sponsorships, and other miscellaneous spending. Assess how you've budgeted your marketing dollars in the past and identify what has worked and what hasn't.



The execution of your plan is where the rubber meets the road. Determine who will be responsible for carrying it out. Simply adding more responsibility on top of your employees' existing tasks isn't likely to produce maximum results. You may find it necessary to hire a physician liaison, bring on a marketing firm, or build a dedicated marketing team to ensure the best return on your marketing dollars. While the action steps will be unique to each plan, the key is action — the best-formed plan is useless without execution.

Track Outcomes

An effective marketing plan must remain flexible and be monitored constantly. Knowing your numbers, and using them to refine your marketing efforts, brings you full circle through the cycle that will continue to feed and fuel your marketing. Use your patient intake form to track where your new patients are coming from on a weekly basis. As you gather this data, compare and analyze growth (or lack thereof) from different referral sources to determine what's working and where you need to tweak your approach. Referral sources worth tracking include:

• Established patients
• Internet: Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, Facebook, and others
• Hospitals, urgent care centers, general practitioners, specialists
• Health fairs or community events
• Seminars & speaking events
• Directories: Angi or other online forums
• Advertising campaigns: direct mail, newspaper, billboard, etc.

Be diligent about tracking all referral sources, and keep the cycle moving to maximize your marketing efforts!

Partner with Experts

If this all seems a bit overwhelming, don't go it alone! Full Circle PR is the nation's leading medical marketing and public relations agency specializing solely in the healthcare profession. Our team offers an array of services to meet a variety of marketing needs and budgets, and we have a proven record of successful partnerships with practices of every size, from solo practitioners to large medical groups.

Attracting Referrals – A Cycle for Growth

Full Circle Public Relations of Tampa