So you’ve decided to host a community event. Maybe it’s a free screening before a race, or an educational seminar for a particular health issue, or even just an open house for your office. A community event is a great way to connect with people who might not know about you or have discovered you otherwise. However, in order for your event to be successful, you have to actually make the most of it by promoting it through all four of your marketing pillars.
The Four Pillars of Marketing are the four basic ways you can interact with current or potential patients. They use the internet, referrals, internal, and external marketing strategies. A community event is a big deal for your practice and you want people to know about it so they’ll actually attend. Using all four pillars of marketing allows you to spread information as widely as you can and reach people in every possible way so they know about your event well in advance.
So what does this look like practically? It really depends on you, your unique marketing, and the event you’re hosting. Still, there are general strategies you can use:
- Web marketing – All of your social media leading up to the event should be regularly providing informational updates, hype, and general excitement about your event. You want people checking Facebook or scrolling Twitter to know what kind of event it is, where and when it will be, and how to find out more information. You might even want a dedicated page on your website that your social media can direct people to.
- Referral marketing – Make sure all of your referral sources know in advance that you’ll be having an event, and provide them with things that will both help them remember and help them pass the information on to others. This could mean flyers or postcards or anything else you can think of to get others to recommend your event.
- Internal marketing – Your marketing database should be working hard to make sure everyone on your list knows about the upcoming event. This could mean sending out periodic e-mails promoting it, or sending postcards, or providing other incentives to get your list anticipating it.
- External marketing – This is your opportunity to get information “out there” to your community. Submit a press release to your local paper. Set up posters or flyers. See if a local radio or news station will cover your event or something leading up to it. Be creative in helping get the word out!
The success of your event for your practice will partially depend on how well you use all four marketing pillars to promote it ahead of time. If you’re not sure how to use the four pillars, or you’re not sure where to get started, Top Practices can help. We’ve helped plenty of our members make the most of events to grow their practices in their own communities. Contact us by e-mailing [email protected] or by calling (717)725-2679 to get more information about how Top Practices can help you today.
