Hiring a Marketing Coordinator can be a key piece of your practice growth strategy. With a Marketing Coordinator you can free yourself, as the owner and principal doctor, of many of the worries of marketing and promotion. They can ensure that your practice is constantly presented professionally to your target audience and community, which supports new patient acquisition. Good marketing will have a direct impact on keeping your schedule full with everyone busy and productive work.
In this article we’ll first touch on hiring a Marketing Coordinator and then the duties of a Marketing Coordinator. If you are looking for marketing ideas for your practice by the way, then check out our other blog on Marketing Your Healthcare Practice.
Hiring a Marketing Coordinator
Prior to coming in for the interview, we suggest that you ask candidates look through your website and social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram. If you don’t have these (and that’s why you are hiring a Marketing Coordinator) then have them review what marketing materials you do have.
Have the candidate read the job duties description (given below, and which you can make into a separate document ahead of time).
Once they have read it and their questions have been answered, get their thoughts on how they would approach the job, including questions such as:
- “What’s your idea of the type of treatment and service that we provide here?” You want to see what level of understanding they got from looking over the site, as well as their observational and comprehension skills.
- What is their general approach to marketing? Do they have a particular philosophy about it?
- How would they differentiate marketing from sales?
- What, in their opinion, is good marketing that they have observed recently? This can be anything out in the world or with other healthcare practices. The more similar to marketing they will do for you, the better. Then ask “Why do you consider that good marketing?”
- What are some poor marketing approaches that they have seen? Again, this can be any thing from local digital marketing to national campaigns on radio, TV, print etc. Find out what it is about that particular marketing that he/she didn’t like.
- Ask “How would you analyze referral patterns and trends in patient referrals?” “Give me an example of how you would address a trend in overall patient referrals going into a decline over a period of a month or two.” (The answer you want is that they would drill down to find the specific areas within the patient referral base from which the decline was coming, and take appropriate actions to resurrect any referral sources that had dried up or gone down.) You could pursue this with them to ask for what kinds of things might be useful that they could do to deal with this.
- Find out what kind of marketing strategy/planning they have been involved in (as much detail as possible)? Where/when was it? What was the outcome?
- If they were going into a situation where new business was falling off, what would they do as their first actions or tasks? What kind of approach would they take?
- How do they see customer service issues in relation to the overall marketing of the practice and its services?
- What are their thoughts on Reputation Management and how would their work on this?
- Have them look again over the practice’s website or social profiles. After they have done this, ask them, “Give me your impression of the site. Is there anything you would change or improve? Why? What about the social profiles? What would they do to improve them? (The key would be to humanize them and start sharing stories and activities that the practice is doing. Results, testimonials, fun times, staff rewards, holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
Getting them to answer these questions and tell you how they would approach the job will help you know if they are a good fit. It will also help them visualize their duties in a practical way.
What are the Duties of a Practice Marketing Coordinator?
The marketing coordinator for a dentist, veterinarian or optometrist or any owner operated healthcare practice plays a crucial role in practice stability and growth. Once a practice has 10 to 15 staff and two or more associates, it would be well worth having a Marketing Coordinator on the job. Or at least having a team member who has these duties assigned part time.
Duties of a Practice Marketing Coordinator
The duties of a marketing coordinator would include:
- Marketing Strategy Development: Collaborate with the practice’s leadership and marketing agency to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy that aligns with the practice’s goals and objectives.
- Working with your marketing agency and being a liaison for you and the practice to ensure targets are effectively implemented.
- Content: Create and manage content for the practice’s website, blog, social media profiles, and other digital platforms. This can include writing articles, blog posts, and creating graphics or videos related to healthcare topics for your industry. (For a sample of videos we’ve done at Silkin, you can look at these testimonials.) If you have an agency doing these things then the marketing coordinator ensures the topics are nuances of your practice are being written about and shown properly.
- Social Media: Manage the practice’s social media accounts, including posting regular updates, responding to comments and messages, and tracking engagement metrics.
- Online Reputation Management: Monitor online reviews and ratings on platforms like Google, Yelp, and Healthgrades. Address negative reviews and encourage satisfied patients to leave positive feedback.
Email Marketing: Develop and execute email marketing campaigns to keep patients informed about services, promotions, and health-related information.- Event Coordination: Plan and coordinate events such as health fairs, seminars, or workshops to engage with the community and raise awareness about the practice.
- Patient Communications: Create and distribute newsletters or informational materials to patients, providing them with valuable healthcare information and updates about the practice.
- Website Management: Ensure that the practice’s website is up-to-date, user-friendly, and optimized for search engines (SEO). This would be done in coordination with your marketing agency.
- Advertising: Work with your marketing agency to manage advertising campaigns, which may include online ads such as Pay-Per-Click ads with Google, Facebook and Instagram, YouTube video ads, print materials, and even radio or TV.
- Market Research: Conduct market research to identify trends, patient preferences, and competition within the healthcare industry.
- Budget Management: Develop and manage the marketing budget, allocating resources effectively to achieve marketing goals.
- Compliance: Ensure that all marketing materials and activities comply with relevant healthcare regulations and privacy laws (e.g., HIPAA).
- Analytics and Reporting: Track and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and make data-driven decisions for improvements.
- Partnerships and Outreach: Collaborate with other healthcare providers, organizations, or community groups to establish partnerships and referral networks.
- Brand Management: Maintain and strengthen the practice’s brand identity, ensuring consistency across all marketing materials and channels.
- Patient Loyalty and Referrals: Develop strategies to engage with existing patients, encourage repeat visits, and foster loyalty and referrals.
Summary
In summary, a marketing coordinator for a healthcare practice plays a multifaceted role, combining elements of content creation, digital marketing, patient communication, event planning, and brand management to help the practice grow and serve its community effectively.
This work is essential in attracting new patients, retaining current ones, and building a positive reputation for the practice.
Cebron Walker
CEO of Walker Kreative
Walker Kreative is a trusted marketing partner of Silkin Management Group
