Tag: marketing

15 Radiology Marketing Ideas to Help You Launch Your Diagnostics Facility Into the Stratosphere

When you’re starting up a new diagnostics imaging facility, you have to be prepared to hit the ground running. Construction and staffing are just the beginning of the beginning. You then have to book appointments and start bringing in patients and revenue. That MRI won’t pay for itself.

Well, maybe it will, but not without your help.

If you’re in this situation, you should already be thinking about your marketing strategies. There’s a reason why the above article, which you might have read already, overlaps with this one and mentions starting on your marketing long before construction is complete. There’s no way that you’ll begin bringing in income, much less enough to break even in the first week if you don’t start your marketing push before the Grand Opening.

So, for your benefit, we’ve compiled a list of fifteen things to keep in mind for radiology marketing, specifically. Several of these will overlap or relate to one-another, so bear in mind that ignoring one tip may impact your efforts to follow another.

If you have any questions or would like some help with any aspect of your marketing approach, contact the diagnostic marketing experts.

Lay The Foundation for Your Diagnostic Imaging Marketing

We’ll start with four basic tips. These are our starting points, and everything else you do to market your diagnostic imaging services will build off of these.

1 – Website

You are pretty much required to have a website these days. If you don’t, you aren’t taken very seriously. And websites should be the first consideration you make for marketing, including the cost for developing your site in your initial investment runs.

The benefits of having a well-designed site are substantial. It anchors all of your marketing efforts, grants you additional traffic, and serves as a platform with which you can communicate or assist your patients at their convenience. These are all effects which can be major contributors to your continued success.

When designing your site, you need to ensure it meets three key criteria:

  • It works on all browsers and devices (especially mobile phones!)
  • It is designed for users to easily find what they are looking for
  • It clearly represents your company and services

Not all website building services are equal. Sure, a quick one pager you put together on Wix over the weekend could count as a website, but for a healthcare business like a radiology imaging center, you’ll need something much more robust and professional.

WordPress sites are the best option for most businesses, healthcare or otherwise due to their versatility, security, and ability to be updated.

If you are looking for a team to build your website, be sure to use one that specializes in diagnostic imaging websites, or at the very least healthcare businesses. Otherwise you’re going to either end up with a confusing and overly-complex site, which is difficult to navigate. Worse, you could end up doing a lot of the work yourself (which is a bad idea since we’re guessing you’re not a UX designer).

On your website, you should consider including as many of the following as possible:

  • Your contact information
  • What health insurance you accept
  • Information about your staff and expertise
  • Patient Portal
  • Physician Portal
  • Online patient forms
  • Online payment option
  • “Call Now” Button for smartphone users
  • Pricing information
  • Exam information
  • Equipment information
  • Calendar of events and facility closing dates
  • Customized landing pages
  • An image rotator
  • Links to your social media pages

Again, this website will be a core element to your marketing efforts. Most marketing today is done digitally because most consumers are online. So no matter what your overall strategy is, your website is going to be the backbone of all of your digital marketing efforts. If you’re going to go all-out on any individual element of your marketing plan, this should be the one to dote on.

2 – Social Marketing

In a word: Facebook. Facebook isn’t the only platform that can be useful here. There are also potential uses for Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram if you hire a savvy social media specialist. However, Facebook remains the top dog for most diagnostic imaging centers. As popular as the anti-social media train has gotten, Facebook’s broad utilization numbers continue to swell, reaching 79% usage rates in America in 2018.

With these numbers, Facebook provides direct reach into your community and potential patient-base.

If you don’t have a Facebook page set up, or don’t know how to set one up, there are multiple guides on how to set up a proper business page. There are just five key points you need to incorporate to ensure maximum effectiveness:

  1. A clearly branded profile picture and cover photo (i.e. matches the logo on your website)
  2. A call-to-action (CTA) button (typically to call you)
  3. Post regularly (once a week at the minimum)
  4. A member of staff needs to be tasked with reputation management, which means that responses to comments and feedback is their primary task.
  5. Keep your “About” info up-to-date

There are other elements you can work in, such as targeted Facebook ads and analytics tools to measure the success of those ads, but those are all secondary. Make sure the page is up and running and reliable first.

3 – Lead Magnets

Technically, consideration for lead magnets should be included with the website build. You want to have this functionality incorporated at the base level, if possible. If, for some reason, it’s too late or this sort of incorporation isn’t an option, services like Sumo can help you cover that need with a variety of popups and CTA bars

If you aren’t familiar with the term, “leads” are contacts, and magnets attract; thus, a ‘lead magnet’ is something which naturally attracts people and convinces them to provide their contact info – namely, an email address. This will be a vital step towards automating your diagnostics imaging marketing plan.

In a nutshell, your lead magnets, for radiology marketing, will generally look something like:

  1. You write a blog article about “What to expect during an MRI”
  2. You create a PDF checklist that tells “Everything you need to know to prepare for an MRI exam”
  3. You put a lead magnet on your article that pops up or is shown in a sidebar asking readers to enter their email to receive the free checklist.
  4. When someone enters their email, they are sent the checklist as a file (usually a PDF) and they are added to your email marketing list.

4 – Google Places

This one is crucial to not overlook! Many business owners, in numerous industries, neglect to think about setting up a proper business profile for Google Maps. This can make all the difference for your patients when they’re trying to figure out where they want to get their testing done or when they’re trying to figure out how to get to your facility for their appointment.

The best thing about Google Places is that searches done on the Maps app have a focus on local. This means that you’re only competing against other radiologists and diagnostics imaging providers when somebody searches for “MRI” or “CT Scan”.

And, even then, only when those providers include those keywords for their business.

Setting up a business profile is not difficult, either. It’s a three-step procedure:

  1. Set up a Google My Business account
  2. Verify your business
  3. Fill out information about your business

Just make certain to use crisp, high-quality images for your listing and keep your information up-to-date.

Building Up Your Medical Imaging Marketing Scheme

Now that you have the basics down, it’s time to start building onto them.

5 – Corral Your Providers

This is the most important thing to do in this section of the list. It’s the one thing that isn’t, strictly speaking, building off of something you’ve already done. However, this is also something that is strictly its own beast, and a crucial element of any diagnostics practice’s radiology marketing strategy.

If you have any experience with healthcare, you likely understand that, as important as all of the other things are for your long-term success, referrals from various physicians will provide the most reliable source of patients in the first few months. And they will continue to provide a solid, foundational baseline for your practice in the long run – if you keep them happy. Remember that the referring physicians and their staff are working hard every day, too. Make their jobs easy, and they will continue to refer to you.

Also, keep in mind that the majority of your referrals will come from only about 20% of providers. If you have not planned to track referrals, change those plans; if you’re already operational and not doing this, then change that procedure. You will want to put in a little extra effort to keep your top 20% especially happy. Just keep anti-trust laws in mind as you’re dropping them little tokens of appreciation.

6 – Use a Blog to Draw Additional Organic Traffic

The internet is just where people flock to for information nowadays. That’s the entire point of it. Ergo, if you can position yourself as a local authority on your specialty, people in your area who look for information related to your specialty will not only want to check in with you about other inquiries they may have relating to CAT Scans or Fluoroscopies, but when they or a loved one need one of these diagnostic imaging services performed, guess who is going to be the first one they think of…

No, not Bob Dole, silly! You!

Side note, WordPress sites are the king of blogs and SEO, which we’ll talk about next.

A blog should be an essential element of your website, and can be used to place lead magnets, as well. It can also be used to attract more visitors to your website when you make use of…

7 – Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, is the practice of fine-tuning your website so that it ranks well on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Of course, Google is the big one, and if you can get your home page or your blog article to rank in the top three results for the right keywords, then you’ll find that your website is, essentially, a super-powered patient finder. Properly done SEO can make a supermassive difference in Digital Marketing efforts for Imaging Centers.

SEO is not easy, though, and Google is fine-tuning its algorithm all the time. Still, there is a process that consistently works if you know how to work through it:

  1. Brainstorm keywords that you think people would search for when they should be finding you.
  2. Use Google Adwords Keyword Planner to see which of those keywords are being searched the most and how difficult it is to rank for each one
  3. Pick out your best keywords. These are the ones that are relevant to you, have the highest search volume, and have the lowest competition
  4. Use those keywords in the text on your website and blog
  5. Repeat these steps for each page and article on your site

Note that you’ll want to use different keywords with each blog post. You don’t want to try to get an article about Thyroid Scans ranking for MRIs (it wouldn’t work, anyhow, as Google’s algorithm has gotten good enough that it would notice something weird).

PRO-TIP: When you’re deciding on your keywords, reference Item #9 on this list! Include words in at least some of your keywords that focus on your local area.

If you don’t want to spend much effort on this, there is another option (see #8), though the most effective method is to use a combination of these tools.

8 – Pay-Per-Click Ads

Also known as PPC, services like Google Adwords can provide a ‘shortcut’ if you’re willing to just pay for the ads. However, the shortcut isn’t necessarily simple. There is a learning curve to it, and you still need to decide on specific keywords which your ads will appear on.

Regardless of whether you choose to run PPC by itself or use it to bolster your SEO efforts, it can be a very handy tool. And if you plan to make use of it, we recommend starting with this handy guide to ensure that you get off on the right foot.

Time For A Full-Scale Rollout of Your Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Strategy

The building is done. The following three tips are all things to put into place as policy during launch and after – as things are really getting started.

9 – Keep Your Marketing Focus Local

Your marketing dollars are precious. If you’re doing it right, your cost per acquisition of each patient should be a small fraction of the profit that the patient brings your business.  If you try to throw money at an urban center a hundred miles away – how many potential patients are you going to convince to drive one hundred miles to come to your facility when there are likely three or more to choose from within twenty miles of their home? Even if you get one or two, the hundreds or thousands of dollars you spent to get those one or two actually create a deficit which you then need to fill with more efficiently-found patients.

As your patients come in, track what zip codes they’re from so that you can know exactly where your patient-base is. Then, focus your marketing in that area and begin treating them like your neighbors. Afterall, they likely are your neighbors. Talk to them, get to know them. Often, you can get some insights from them about things that will help your marketing efforts.

You can also utilize these six common opportunities to maximize your efforts:

  1. Connect your RIS system to a HIPAA Compliant Visual Analytics Tool where you can create customized reports.
  2. Create a map report that shows the zip code or address of each of your patients.
  3. Find the specific neighborhoods, schools, and businesses in these areas.
  4. For your target neighborhoods, answer questions on local Private Facebook Neighborhood Groups
  5. Sponsor after-school events for the top school or schools in the area.
  6. Run Facebook ads to the businesses in the specified locations.

10 – Use Your Generated Leads For Automated Marketing

Automated emails can be a blessing when utilized properly. This doesn’t mean that you’re trying to spam your patients or annoy them. Quite the opposite: one of the first automated emails that you can set up is a follow-up for each appointment, giving patients a chance to provide feedback (the importance of which we’ll discuss in a moment).

You can also use value-based emails, sending out promotions that recipients can use for themselves or give to loved ones who may need your services. Think ‘specials’ like women’s month means a discount, or free box of chocolates or roses for the ladies coming in for their mammograms.

These can be especially valuable for you – not only do you get business, but you might also endear yourself to a large portion of your patient base if you use this tool in the right way.

Then, there are the content-focused emails for leads who opted in based on previous content. When you publish a brilliant new blog article (not every article, but perhaps the best one every week), you can notify your audience of that article, drawing a fresh round of clicks, keeping your audience attentive and educating them on important elements of radiology. Speaking of which…

11 – The Benefits of Educating Your Patients

Most of your patients won’t be returning as patients – because they won’t need to. Very few people need an MRI more than once per lifetime, much less multiple times in a decade.

But they’ll probably know somebody else who needs one eventually.

Because of this, educating them on various aspects of radiology, how different tests work, etc, can help them to help somebody else down the line. And when they think of that knowledge, they’ll think of who they learned it from.

Lastly, you can also send an automatic educational email when appointments are booked. These emails can include links to articles or videos which explain the procedure which the appointment was just booked for. This can provide value and comfort to the patient, who is now not only better prepared for their visit, but also, reassured about their choice to book with you.

Your Radiology Marketing Strategies Should Be Cyclical

Even if you don’t expect to see most patients more than once, there are still things you can do to ensure that each patient leaves happy and thus makes it easier and cheaper to attract the next one. These are all great long-term policy tools to use.

12 – Show Your Personality

People don’t trust robots. Robots are decidedly lacking in charisma (generally speaking). Some can be absolutely adorable and lovable – such as the ones that are programmed to show a little personality.

Your patients will feel more at home with a professional staff who is willing to, well, be human with them. Most patients will be nervous. Your staff can ease that.

You can also show that human factor online. On your Facebook page, your blog, or your website, you can include any of the following elements:

  • Patient testimonials with or without pictures
  • Employee of The Month notifications
  • Pictures of office parties
  • Testimonials from referring providers
  • A diagnostics center walkthrough, showing all the rooms with all the modalities. You can just do this on your iPhone or Android, it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time.

These items make you more approachable, more real. It’s not unprofessional to be human.

13 – Stay Visible

Another thing you can do is to keep yourself involved in your community and in the minds of your patients. There are a few simple, easy-to-use tools for this:

  • Surveys allow you to get feedback about your practice (more on this in a moment).
  • The educational emails that we have already discussed, but which really shouldn’t be forgotten, can help to provide long-term value for your patients.
  • Patient referrals can also give your previous patients additional value, as well as the new patients you’re gaining. Allow them to refer their friends who could also benefit from your services, and give them both something of value in return – a gift card or a chance to win a Big Green Egg, for example. The savings in advertising dollars means you’re not losing anything here.

14 – Seek out feedback!

Not every patient is going to leave happy. There’s nothing you can do about that. However, you can have most patients leave happy. The steps for this are actually pretty straightforward:

1 – Allow every patient a chance to provide anonymous feedback

2 – Do not assume that a patient who leaves seemingly ‘neutral’ is a positive; they could be seething, yet too uncomfortable to say anything

3 – Once you have consistent feedback coming in, find the common denominators and make corrections.

4 – Gather more feedback, find more consistent issues, repeat

As long as you’re actively addressing issues, then you should be reaping the reputational benefits online. All you need to do is ensure that enough people are posting reviews, as a higher review count leads readers to trust those providers more – they’ve been more thoroughly tried and tested, after all.

15 – Know Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Finally, figure out what makes your team, your entire business, work. What are patients loving? What advantages do you have over your competition?

Figure those things out and leverage them.

Then, as #14 emphasized, ensure that you know where you are underperforming and fix those areas. If you can do these things, you will quickly become a powerhouse.

Good Radiology Marketing Strategies Can Make All The Difference

The modern healthcare market is anything but certain. Patients are uneasy and have understandable concerns about where and how they spend their precious healthcare dollars. But if you work hard to come up with a cohesive, smart strategy for marketing your medical imaging practice, you shouldn’t have any trouble becoming a successful provider of diagnostics expertise in your area, especially if you make good use of these fifteen radiology marketing tips.

We wish you the best of luck!
If you have any questions or would like some help with any aspect of your marketing approach, contact the diagnostic marketing experts.

How to Start a Diagnostic Center

If you’re considering starting a diagnostic imaging center yourself, you’ll want to first consider IF you should begin working toward opening an imaging center, HOW TO BEGIN your process for planning out this mammoth endeavor, and WHAT IT WILL TAKE in the end to get the center up and running and, most importantly, profitable.

So. How do you open a diagnostic center? There’s more to it than many people realize. The first step is determining whether you should consider opening a center of your own. The most valuable thing you can do at the beginning is always research and asking the right questions. Here are some of the most important things you’ll need to know to be successful.

See How Diagnostics Marketing Can Boost Your Revenue

The Total Cost Of Starting An Imaging Center

Everything starts with money. No matter where you stand on a variety of issues – political, religious, humanitarian – the first consideration for everything is money.

Healthcare is no different. The monetary cost of a diagnostics center can be described as ‘outrageous’ or ‘obscene’ without even drawing within sight of the concept of hyperbole. Understand that, at least for many people, whatever numbers you have in your head are likely not anywhere near what your final cost will be.

To determine your overall price tag, you’ll have to look at all of the specific costs to get started. It’s best to set up a price sheet with a minimum and maximum that you think you’ll encounter for each item so you have a clear range.

In this article we will focus on the initial items to get you going, but keep in mind ongoing costs like marketing, overhead, and maintenance. And don’t forget about the small items that add up like software costs, waiting room furniture, and staff meetings just to name a few.

What Type Of Diagnostics Are You Focused On?

The term ‘Diagnostic Center’ could mean a variety of things. There are two main groupings (which are not mutually exclusive):

1 – Clinical Pathology – These are labs that do things like bloodwork, urinalysis, and handle other bodily fluid testing, etc. There are very few efforts to start new businesses focusing on this element of diagnostics, as a handful of other companies have already managed to expand into national competition, and it’s cheap enough that many mid-sized primary physicians have labs onsite.


2 – Radiology or Medical Imaging Centers – This article will focus on Imaging Centers, as these tend to involve the more costly equipment. Imaging can involve a variety of modalities which produce images of the body, such as CT, MRIs, PET scans, and others. These centers are more expensive, but are also one of the fastest growing segments of the industry. Lastly, while there are nearly a dozen modalities to consider, it is perfectly acceptable to plan your business around just one or two. In fact, for most business owners find that starting with one or two modalities and growing over time is the best strategy. If you want to open and operate an MRI Center, then that could be perfectly viable. The cost of starting an imaging center will vary with your specific business plan.

Where Is The Best Place To Start A Diagnostics Center?

The first rule of real estate and one of the major determining factors of the success of every business are the same: location, location, location!

This doesn’t just mean exactly where you are in a city, either. The first thing you should do, even before you begin looking for funding, is to determine what niche your business will fill. How many hospitals are there within ten miles? Twenty? What are the populations of the cities and towns in your area? Are there any other freestanding or independently owned diagnostics centers? Where are they located? What modalities do they offer?

Answer these questions, and you’ll be on your way to mapping out the beginnings of your overall plan. Later, you’ll need to determine an exact physical location. For now, you need to know where you want to look.

Location Should Be Considered In A Number Of Ways

It’s important to think beyond the city, or neighborhood to start your business. Make sure to think about the smaller things like whether the exact location is convenient as far as traffic patterns and accessibility from major roadways.

If your potential patients cannot find your building or would have to drive for longer than would be comfortable, then they’re going to become somebody else’s potential patients. Healthcare providers tend to cluster near hospitals and other healthcare providers for a few reasons:

  • Specialist facilities like being near hospitals because it means that any referrals from the hospital are going to be able to reach their practice easily.
  • Other providers use the rationalization that if they are within a few blocks of rival practices, then there is no discussion to be had about which provider has the more convenient location, which removes one criteria from consideration when trying to poach patients. Setting up shop in a different area comes with a risk of being inconvenient to your targeted patient-base.

For convenience, selecting a site close to major thoroughfares is most often preferable. Depending on which modalities and machines you utilize, though, you may not want to be sitting next to extremely busy roads. You’re already going to have to modify whatever building you decide to use.

Pro-tip: Don’t forget to take parking and public transit into account when selecting your building!

Is An Office Park A Good Location For A Diagnostics Imaging Center?

Diagnostics imaging utilizes powerful magnets, radioactive chemicals, and bursts of radiation. The equipment is loud and takes up a lot of space. Therefore, if at all possible, you want to set up your Imaging Center in a freestanding building, and not as part of a complex (whether something akin to a shopping center or a multi-story building makes no difference). If you do end up having to set up in a complex, you’ll need to take a few precautions to avoid upsetting the neighbors, which could mean slightly higher price tags during your initial renovations.

What Specifications Do Diagnostics Centers Need To Follow?

Diagnostics equipment has very particular requirements, so you will need to renovate any building you use, even if it used to be a diagnostics imaging center. These renovations will include meeting building codes or regulations regarding healthcare, imaging centers, and specific types of machines. MRIs, for example, require shielding. Other machines also have specific requirements for the construction or layout of the rooms they occupy, so make certain to be thorough in your research.

Pro-tip: Machine-specific requirements also mean that you need to have selected and purchased your machines before renovations begin in earnest. Timing will be crucial here, as you will want to try to coordinate delivery of your new or used MRI or CT Scanner with the progress of the renovations. Walls will likely need to be removed to get them into the building, so good timing can save you a few thousand dollars in the process.

How Much Does an MRI Machine Cost?

If you’re wondering how much an MRI machine costs, you’re most likely looking at between $150,000 and $500,000. However, there are options under $150,000 and buying a used or refurbished machine is often a big money saver. Alternatively, the most advanced models cost upwards of $1 million. Obviously, there is a huge range of prices based on the machine. Your MRI machine is a big decision and will be one of your biggest expenses when running an MRI center or multi-modality center.

MRI Shielding

That’s why it’s important to make sure your MRI room is up to standard.

You must have the proper MRI shielding to ensure that your MRI is working optimally. Without it, you will notice noise and artifacts in the images you take, which can result in unclear images, and unnecessary rescans.

The MRI is Bulky

You’ll want to make certain you have ample room for the machine, because it is huge. MRIs are comprised of three nested components that provide structural support, internal Radio Frequency shielding, and of course various other crucial components.

This is yet another reason to ensure you have ample space not only for the machine to reside and get in the building in the first place, but also for your staff and patients to be able to move around comfortably in the MRI room.

Do You Need a Metal Detector at Your MRI Center?

Certain items (metallic ones) have a tendency to be attracted by magnetic fields. This could spell disaster for a rather expensive machine and in some case the people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many facilities go so far as to include a foyer by the entrance of the MRI room, specifically to have a convenient place to keep a metal detector.

Whether or not you want to implement a metal detector is up to you, but it is important to make this decision as early on as possible to incorporate it into your plans, or create procedures to otherwise avoid metal from being brought into the wrong areas.

Pro-tip: You’ll want to keep your MRI in an interior room or as far from moving traffic as you can get it. Well designed shielding helps, but vehicular traffic can interfere with the images because of the metal in the cars.

Design Your Building Layout With The Noise Of The Mri In Mind

Yes, it’s noisy. If you are in a complex of some sort, with neighbors, you’re going to want to consider taking a few measures to soundproof the room, or at least cut down on the noise. You’ll also want to consider what rooms are adjacent to the MRI room internally so that no sound-sensitive areas end up nearby.

CT Scan and X-Ray Room Requirements

Rooms containing CT Scanners and X-rays will also require specific shielding, except the shielding is meant to protect the people outside the room. Lead-lining the room will prevent any excess radiation leakage. This process is expensive, but necessary.

Some machines may also utilize various chemicals, which you will need to store before use and dispose of after. Again, this means that you need to decide which machines you plan to utilize before finalizing your renovation plans. Newer machines will generally require fewer special considerations and be less “hazardous”, but be thorough in your research so that you know exactly what each machine needs and what impact this will have on your construction and design plans.

Building an Imaging Center Requires Knowledge, Experience, and Expertise

In other words, consult with specialists who have done this before. Cutting corners may reduce your upfront cost to start, but the cost will be greater down the line, and may even impact your profitability, especially considering the intricate and layered considerations for the requirements of the machines, the layout of the center, patient expectations, and more. So, for the layout, especially, you will want to consult with a professional who has experience specifically with setting up and starting new imaging centers. The needs of the MRI room, by itself, make this worth the cost of seeking out somebody with a more established portfolio.

An expert should also be capable of helping you to decide the best layout, from the locations of the entrance and waiting rooms, all the way down to the width of the hallways and the best locations for restrooms.

Imaging Center Building Approval Process

Once your plans are finished and you’re ready to break ground, it’s time to hit the brakes. And put it in park.

Your plans need approval. First, you’ll need to show the final plans to your stakeholders. They’ve given you the money, so you have to show them what you’re doing with it. Then, Local, State, and possibly even Federal agencies will need to sign off on the plans.

The Code-checkers from your city or your county will go over the design with a fine-toothed comb. Even with the help of a qualified consultant, there will likely be things that you missed. Some obscure regulation, or a safety regulation that seems unimportant in the midst of design (but can actually be critical), will be brought to your attention, and you’ll have to make a few changes.

So, how many exits are there? Where are they? Where are you placing fire extinguishers? Did you remember to plan out the sprinkler system? No? How are you going to work that into the MRI room?

But you will also have to educate the authorities on the requirements of your machines. You will need to explain the whys and wherefores. It will be difficult, and it might be frustrating. Just remember, they’re just doing their jobs and trying to ensure the safety of your patients, and your plans will be improved by this approval process.

Time to Build!

Now, it’s time to break ground! But you’ll need somebody to oversee the project. You have two options for this.

Contractor vs Foreman

This comes down to whether you want to hire a contractor or not. If you want to try and save a little money, you can act as your own contractor, but you still need an expert on site. So if you choose not to hire a contractor, then you need to hire a foreman. You need somebody who knows construction and can coordinate the efforts of the workers on site. A good foreman can save you a lot of money and keep your renovations on time and on budget.

There are a few things to keep in mind, either way:

  • This is an expensive process, and you’re already paying a lot, but mistakes will cost you more. For this reason, you need to visit the site every day. You will personally want to oversee as much as you can.
  • You’re paying a lot for workers who know how to build – let them build. You and your contractor or foreman should know the design and the sticking points, and other than that, your concern should be in ensuring that no corners are cut. There are instances where you can be too hands-on.
  • Set a timeline and work to maintain it. Be conservative in your initial estimates. It’s easier to take a day off if you get ahead than it is to catch up if you fall behind. And, this cannot be stressed enough since you want to time the work that’s being done with the delivery of your machines.

Finding the Right Staff for a New Diagnostics Center

As expensive and crucial as your machines are, your staff is even more important. Your staff drives your success. They’re the face of your imaging center. They’re the expertise that makes the entire place run. With this hard fact in mind, you need to begin looking for hires while the building is still being built or renovated. The hiring process, as you know, takes time. And even once you’ve spent a month or two selecting the best candidates, they will still, typically, need two to four weeks before they can actually join your team onsite. Some will need to move, some will already have jobs. Ant then there’s training and formalities. Give yourself ample time. Use job boards, career fairs, and any other resources you can to get the word out.

Pro-tip: If you’re on a budget, look for recent grads with high potential for growth. If you’ve got a lot of money for staffing look for more experienced technicians and radiologists. If possible, hire an experienced Chief Radiologist who can help with the hiring of his or her subordinates.

The Cost To Build A Website For A Diagnostics Center

Websites don’t just happen. They take time and money. And while you can make the attempt to go ‘old-school’ and do without a site for a bit, the habits of consumers and patients in the modern market involve heavy utilization of electronic information. That means a website is going to be a crucial item and not having one spells almost certain doom.

In order to give yourself the best chance of success, you’ll want to try to have a website designed, built, and launched by the time of your first day in operation.

What does it cost to build a diagnostic center’s website? A custom site, on average, typically starts at around $10k, and is usually over 50 pages in size. In some cases this can be trimmed, depending on how detailed you want the site to be, how many locations you have, and how many features, such as online billpay, that you plan to implement.

You will want to begin by doing research on your options and getting quotes from web development companies that specialize in outpatient care centers. Some agencies offer pre-planned websites that are built just for imaging centers with customization options. Templated sites like these can save you a ton of money and get you a robust and professional website for around $2,000. Figure out what you need, what you want, and what you’re willing to pay for.

Running an Imaging Center and Maintaining Profitability

Since you’re looking to start an imaging center, you likely already know a little bit about managing people or operations or both. But even with this experience, you may be surprised by just how much time, attention, and effort running a new business takes. As the owner, you will need to personally keep an eye on the finances and be prepared to make difficult decisions to ensure long-term profitability – sometimes this might mean taking a short-term hit as you reinvest or refocus your existing profits. There will be times when costs must be cut, and these circumstances will require creativity and patience to navigate successfully.

Profitability Begins And Ends With Patient Satisfaction

If you have no patients coming through the door, then you have no profit. Patients are the lifeblood of any medical business. Always keep patient satisfaction front and center. In order to breed happiness, you must know what your patients think, what their experience is truly like. Most healthcare providers overestimate their quality of service. Patients who seem like they are content or even neutral visits are not always so. From the very start, you should have a plan for gathering patient feedback, learning how you can improve, and guiding your happy patients to Google or wherever else to leave positive reviews. These efforts will draw new patients and build a towering reputation for your facility that will keep your profits stable or climbing.

After You Start An Imaging Center, You Need To Market It

Once your new diagnostics center is up and running, the hard part begins. You have a new, beautiful and inviting facility with state-of-the-art equipment and a great staff. Your next big undertaking is marketing. But it doesn’t have to be a guessing game and it doesn’t need to cost you an arm and a leg either. Digital marketing covers a wide range of services and offers a lot of valuable opportunities in diagnostics. If you’re on a tight budget, take a look at the options and make a priority order. Some of the most effective marketing strategies for radiology centers include:

  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Pay Per Click Advertising
  • Content Marketing (Blog Articles)
  • Search Engine Optimization (Seo)
  • Reputation Management (Online Reviews)

Once you have  decided where and how to start your imaging center, you will need to set up a business strategy. You will need to study organizational and financial models, think outside the box, and prove to be an effective manager in order to make it all work. Even if your ultimate plan is to sell the business and move on, you still need to work for several years in order to make it an attractive purchase for an area hospital. It won’t happen quickly or easily. But with patience and hard work, this place than you’ve built can become a pillar of your community’s healthcare landscape and a cornerstone of your personal legacy.

See How Diagnostics Marketing Can Boost Your Revenue

Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Emails Can Be An Effective Method of Getting More Patients & Referrals

Email can be an effective marketing method for imaging centers. Whether you’re currently sending out emails, or not, this article will explain exactly what you should write about, who you should send to, and much more.

Should Email Be A Cornerstone Of Your Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Strategy?

Is your diagnostic imaging marketing plan not producing the results you want? We all get emails in our inbox, but sending emails out isn’t so easy, especially for an imaging center. There are plenty of resources out there that detail how to sell products through email, but not many that are specific to the medical field, much less email marketing for an imaging center.

But don’t be discouraged, email can certainly be an effective marketing method for imaging centers. Whether you’re currently sending out emails, or not, this article will explain exactly what you should write about, who you should send to, and much more.

Remember, even though email can be an effective marketing option, it should be one of many tools in your marketing toolbox. Your diagnostic imaging center reputation should have a management plan to keep your audience, patients and physicians alike, interested in doing business with you.

Don’t Let Your Competition Win Over Your Patient Base!

Learn How You Can Improve Your Online Reputation and Patient Experience with MedRev, The Healthcare Reputation Management Systems Built for Healthcare Professionals, By Healthcare Professionals.

Email Marketing to Physicians for Referrals: Do it Right and You’ll Easily Get More Patients

chess with providersHealthcare providers are obviously people you want on your side. If you have a designated Physician Liaison they have likely delved into this to some degree. However, marketing to physicians for referrals is a tricky business. Monetarily, it seems providers offices wouldn’t have much to gain by sending patients to any particular imaging center since it doesn’t directly impact their bottom line. Upon closer inspection, however, it’s clear that when patients are happy with an imaging center, and their doctor, everyone benefits.

It’s up to you to show providers not only that you are interested in their referrals, but that you are taking stock in their practice and the well-being of their patients. Your center’s diagnostic marketing emails to physicians should reflect this.

Provide value in every email you send

analytics marketing imaging centerLike most of us, doctors don’t have time or patience for emails that are generic and salesy. People want to open emails that are chock full of useful information that is specific to the problems they are facing. This is important to keep in mind when incorporating emails into your diagnostic imaging marketing plan for gaining new referrals. Here are a few ways you can provide valuable information in your emails to referring providers.
Help them help their patients. Anything from scheduling advice to training tips on staff and patient interactions, to the delivery of test results can be good information. Do some research to find what your specific providers would find most valuable.
Help them help their practice. With healthcare, there are always new medications on the market and treatment options being developed. Help doctors stay up to date with recent research and popular topics related to their specialty.

Pro Tip 1: Don’t include a request in your emails. Instead, include key information about your imaging facility to help providers see the value and quality care your radiology center offers.

Pro Tip 2: Do your research. Take the time to learn as much as you can about each provider you’re reaching out to. It’s also important to research their specialty to better understand what value you can provide. For example, you might find articles that are of particular interest to Orthopedic Surgeons.

Pro Tip 3: Personalize and segment your emails. 77% of email marketing ROI came from segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns in 2015. And it makes perfect sense. Nothing throws a wrench in your diagnostic marketing efforts like a generic email, so make sure you tailor everything you send.

Get More Patients Through Radiology Email Marketing

Your diagnostic email marketing strategy is incomplete until you are sending effective emails to your existing patients. You may wonder how sending emails to current patients will help you get more patients coming in the door. The answer is community awareness.

Increase patient volumeWhen people read about something interesting, have a great experience, or save a ton of money, they tend to tell their friend, family, and coworkers about it. Here are a few ways to encourage your patients to spread the word.

Remind them how much money they saved. Find out how much the local hospital charges for the same exam and let patients know how much they would have spent elsewhere.
Send patients interesting and actionable health information. There are countless article topics that people may find interesting. Find some articles that really help people understand their health, risk factors, and symptoms.
Ask patients to like your imaging center on social media. If you’re confident that a patient was happy with their experience (you can find out with a satisfaction survey) there’s no harm in asking them to like or follow you. Just make sure you’re providing useful information on your social media sites to keep your followers engaged.

Pro Tip 1: Personalize and segment your patient emails. What is true for provider emails, is also true for patients. Generic emails are always a no-go in diagnostic imaging marketing.

Pro Tip 2: Track your results. The goal is to increase patient volume. If you don’t track your results, you will never know what emails are engaging and how many new patients are coming into your imaging center due to your efforts. Track your open and click rate for each email and be sure to ask new patients where they heard about your radiology center.

Pro Tip 3: Make sure you’re staying HIPPA compliant and that patients you email have agreed to be emailed. Of course in your email marketing for your imaging center, maintaining HIPPA compliance is a must. You may want to utilize an email opt-in selection on your patient registration forms so you know who to send emails to.

Email marketing to patients is an effective way to build a following and empower your patients to take an active role in their health care choices. Well informed and empowered patients also are more likely to schedule follow up exams when their doctor recommends them.

Build and Nurture Relationships With Emails

Get more patientsEmail is not only a great marketing tool, it can also help you nurture your existing relationships with physicians and patients. Maintaining and increasing patient retention should always be a top priority and paying attention to what your patient need and want is key.

Keep people in the know by using emails to send out:

  • Appointment reminders and follow up reminders
  • Updates about new additionals or processes at your imaging center
  • Invitations to any events your radiology group is sponsoring or hosting in the community such as free health screenings.

If you’re already sending out emails to patients and physicians, and you are not getting the response you expect, it could be that your emails are not being received due to spam filters. In other cases, it may be that your emails are not being opened because your subject lines need some work. If you’re seeing low open rates, especially with your email marketing to physicians for referrals, you should address the issue before implementing new strategies.

Admittedly, marketing to physicians for referrals isn’t easy, even if you are an experienced email marketer. But, the rewards are well worth spending the time to craft your messages carefully.
Always strive to give more than you ask in return and to respect the time and wishes of everyone you send to.

Analyzing your results regularly will help guide your future efforts. It’s crucial to know your open and click rate on each email so you can fine-tune your approach to marketing your imaging center. A/B or Split Testing is a great way to test out various content or subject lines to find what is most popular among your readers. Most email marketing services such as MailChimp offer an easy way to set up an A/B test.

Email is an effective approach to diagnostic imaging marketing if you do it right

man-with-frying-pan-cookingSending out emails without a clearly defined strategy is like cooking for dinner guests without a recipe. It might start out great, but once you get going you’re bound to run into some problems. And serving a burnt casserole at your party is not so impressive.

With some research, individual consideration, and careful planning, you will find that email is a very useful tool for gaining new business and nurturing existing relationships.

Taking a step back to assess what your patients and referring physicians really want and need from you will help you effectively incorporate email into your diagnostic imaging marketing plan with a solid path.

How would you like to market your center to referring physicians with Medical Practice Growth Tips and Doctor to Doctor articles?

Click to learn about our Radiant Email Growth System today!

Email Signature Tricks for Diagnostic Imaging Marketing

A Good Email Signature Is an Easily Accessible Tool in Your Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Strategy Toolkit

According to Sumo, the average person receives 124 business related emails per day. That’s a lot of competition. When it comes to diagnostic imaging marketing, there are several tactics to get you noticed. One of the simplest, yet often overlooked, is having a good email signature.

Below we will show you how an effective email signature can be created in a matter of minutes.

Looking for a better way to send out more effective emails from your diagnostic center?

Click to learn how professional and educational email marketing can grow your diagnostic center!

How a Simple Addition to Your Email Signature Can Generate Sustained Interest and More Patient Referrals

Radiology Marketing Strategy: All aspects of marketing your diagnostic center should aim to be memorable.  If your signature doesn’t stand out and provide useful information to your reader, you could be missing out on connecting with your community and getting new patient referrals.

So, what does a memorable email signature need?

Most imaging centers have the minimum. This includes:

  1. Your Full Name
  2. Your Diagnostic & Imaging Center’s Address
  3. Your Diagnostic & Imaging Center’s Website

That’s a great start, but here’ what you really need for radiology marketing strategy:

  1. A link to your Imaging Center’s Facebook Page and other Business Profiles
  2. Your Title or Position
  3. Your Logo
  4. Your Email Address (yes, I said that)

Here are 3 key email steps below to pique the interest of a Referring Physician

1. Add Your Email Address to Your Email Signature

It’s funny how a  little thing like this can have such an impact.  Most people feel that it is redundant to add your email address to your signature.  Actually, you are making it easier for your referring physician to save your information and remember who you are.  

This technique sets you apart from those other 123 emails your reader is getting today. 

Email signature diagnostic imaging marketing

2. Make Sure Your Email Signature is Branded In Line Your Other Radiology Marketing Efforts

Your email signature is a form of branding which is key to any diagnostic imaging marketing strategy.  Just as you would take into consideration font size, type, and color on a piece of marketing collateral, use the same principle here too.  Color plays a big part.  Change the font color of your name to match the branding of your facility.  This helps it stand out and adds consistency to your overall marketing.

Go a step further and change the font color of your title and email address to match your name.  This helps your referring physicians quickly identify what they need in a well-organized signature. Another benefit of adding color to portions of your signature is that it will break up your name, title, and website from the middle portion featuring your business address.

Remember to test your color on multiple devices to be sure it is clearly visible.

radiology marketing strategy

3. Get Creative With Your Layout

Who says your email signature has to read like a standard line-by-line paragraph? Actually, you can get your referring physician’s attention by being creative in unique ways.  For example, add your facility’s logo to your signature and move it out to the right of your contact information. Enlarge your logo to cover ⅔ of the signature.  Since we read from left to right, your contact information is the first that is read and your logo is the last.  Embed a link to your website within your logo for an interesting Call to Action.

diagnostic imaging marketing

Want To Kick Your Diagnostics Imaging Marketing Into High Gear?

The tips above cover a lot. But there is so much more you can do! Incorporating effective emails into your diagnostic imaging marketing plan means using what you have to your advantage.

Use Your Radiology Blog in Your Email Signature to Generate Added Interest.

To really stand out, consider adding

  1. Your Headshot
  2. A Link to your Blog
  3. A Link to a relevant article on your Blog
  4. A featured image from your Blog as your link

Are You Seeing Low Open Rates on Your Emails? This article can help!

It’s the little things that matter is a phrase that holds true in many instances. Your mail signature is one of them.  By making just a few small adjustments, you will set yourself apart from your diagnostic imaging marketing competition, increasing the chances of your diagnostic and imaging facility being remembered, thus creating an increased chance of new business with referring physicians.

Download the Email Signatures Template

Still not getting the response rate you’re looking for?

Your diagnostic center’s online reputation could be to blame! Learn how you can get more positive reviews to boost your business.

A Good Email Signature Is an Easily Accessible Tool in Your Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Strategy Toolkit

According to Sumo, the average person receives 124 business related emails per day. That’s a lot of competition. When it comes to diagnostic imaging marketing, there are several tactics to get you noticed. One of the simplest, yet often overlooked, is having a good email signature.

Below we will show you how an effective email signature can be created in a matter of minutes.

Looking for a better way to send out more effective emails from your diagnostic center?

Click to learn how professional and educational email marketing can grow your diagnostic center!

How a Simple Addition to Your Email Signature Can Generate Sustained Interest and More Patient Referrals

Radiology Marketing Strategy: All aspects of marketing your diagnostic center should aim to be memorable.  If your signature doesn’t stand out and provide useful information to your reader, you could be missing out on connecting with your community and getting new patient referrals.

So, what does a memorable email signature need?

Most imaging centers have the minimum. This includes:

  1. Your Full Name
  2. Your Diagnostic & Imaging Center’s Address
  3. Your Diagnostic & Imaging Center’s Website

That’s a great start, but here’ what you really need for radiology marketing strategy:

  1. A link to your Imaging Center’s Facebook Page and other Business Profiles
  2. Your Title or Position
  3. Your Logo
  4. Your Email Address (yes, I said that)

Here are 3 key email steps below to pique the interest of a Referring Physician

1. Add Your Email Address to Your Email Signature

It’s funny how a  little thing like this can have such an impact.  Most people feel that it is redundant to add your email address to your signature.  Actually, you are making it easier for your referring physician to save your information and remember who you are.  

This technique sets you apart from those other 123 emails your reader is getting today. 

Email signature diagnostic imaging marketing

2. Make Sure Your Email Signature is Branded In Line Your Other Radiology Marketing Efforts

Your email signature is a form of branding which is key to any diagnostic imaging marketing strategy.  Just as you would take into consideration font size, type, and color on a piece of marketing collateral, use the same principle here too.  Color plays a big part.  Change the font color of your name to match the branding of your facility.  This helps it stand out and adds consistency to your overall marketing.

Go a step further and change the font color of your title and email address to match your name.  This helps your referring physicians quickly identify what they need in a well-organized signature. Another benefit of adding color to portions of your signature is that it will break up your name, title, and website from the middle portion featuring your business address.

Remember to test your color on multiple devices to be sure it is clearly visible.

radiology marketing strategy

3. Get Creative With Your Layout

Who says your email signature has to read like a standard line-by-line paragraph? Actually, you can get your referring physician’s attention by being creative in unique ways.  For example, add your facility’s logo to your signature and move it out to the right of your contact information. Enlarge your logo to cover ⅔ of the signature.  Since we read from left to right, your contact information is the first that is read and your logo is the last.  Embed a link to your website within your logo for an interesting Call to Action.

diagnostic imaging marketing

Want To Kick Your Diagnostics Imaging Marketing Into High Gear?

The tips above cover a lot. But there is so much more you can do! Incorporating effective emails into your diagnostic imaging marketing plan means using what you have to your advantage.

Use Your Radiology Blog in Your Email Signature to Generate Added Interest.

To really stand out, consider adding

  1. Your Headshot
  2. A Link to your Blog
  3. A Link to a relevant article on your Blog
  4. A featured image from your Blog as your link

Are You Seeing Low Open Rates on Your Emails? This article can help!

It’s the little things that matter is a phrase that holds true in many instances. Your mail signature is one of them.  By making just a few small adjustments, you will set yourself apart from your diagnostic imaging marketing competition, increasing the chances of your diagnostic and imaging facility being remembered, thus creating an increased chance of new business with referring physicians.

Download the Email Signatures Template

Still not getting the response rate you’re looking for?

Your diagnostic center’s online reputation could be to blame! Learn how you can get more positive reviews to boost your business.

Effective Radiology Marketing Using Emails to Physicians From Your Diagnostics Center

Marketing to physicians should be a cornerstone of any imaging center’s overall strategy.

Effectively marketing to physicians comes down to professional relationships. Building and maintaining relationships with both current and prospective referring physicians is the name of the game. Email is an effective and surprisingly personal method for doing just that.

But what should your radiology email marketing convey? When should you send them? And how do you determine what’s working and what’s not?

Needless to say, setting up automated email funnels for various groups can be tricky. Today we are here to help you build your roadmap to email success.

But before we dive in, remember, your marketing is only as good as your reputation.

If your reviews are less than stellar, not only will patients look elsewhere for care, physicians will look elsewhere when sending referrals.

Generate positive online reviews ethically and automatically with MedRev, the reputation management system built by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals.

Writing physician emails to increase patient referrals

Referring Physician radiology email marketingFirst and foremost, your focus should be on your physician emails. Since doctors are the ones referring patients to your facility for diagnostic tests, they need to be your focus. As a diagnostic center, one of your most valuable relationships is with referring physicians.

There are three groups of physicians to consider here.

  1. Potential relationships: Doctors who have not referred anyone to you, but that you would like to build a relationship with. (Cold leads)
  2. Previous relationships: Doctors who have referred patients in the past, but not within the last few months. (Warm leads)
  3. Current relationships: Doctors that have recently referred patients. (Hot leads)

Each of these groups needs to have their own automation funnel which we will go over next.

If you’re new to email funnels, this article will get you up to speed on the basics.

New Physicians: Using a radiology newsletter to build relationships

Gaining traction with a provider that has never referred to your center is the most difficult group to engage so it’s very important that you are selective with the content you include in your radiology newsletters to these offices.

For radiology email marketing, the most important question you can ask yourself here is:

How can I best provide value to the person I am reaching out to?

Here are some proven tactics to use:

  • Personalize each email by medical specialization. By targeting the physician’s specialty you can provide information that is specific and therefore most useful to that office.
  • Let them know you researched them. If you’re sending cold emails you don’t want people to think you’re emailing every doctor this side of the Mississippi, but that you chose to reach out to them for a reason (which should be the truth anyway). Tell the referring provider exactly why you chose to reach out to them. These reasons could be:
      • Their location is close to your imaging facility
      • They are new to the area
      • Their specialty is also your specialty
    • You have a relationship with one of their partners
  • Introduce your facility. Let them know who you are and why they may be interested in building a relationship with your radiology center. This is your chance to focus on your strengths.
  • Ask them a question. Give them an opportunity to tell you what they are looking for or what they are having trouble with. You can send out a survey asking things like:
      • What difficulties do you face when referring patients to a diagnostic facility?
    • What are the biggest factors you consider when choosing a facility to refer patients to?

radiology email marketing unsubscribeImportant note: Always be respectful and courteous of their time. When marketing to physicians that you have not worked with previously, make it very clear that they can choose to stop receiving your radiology emails marketing at any time and make it easy for them to do so.

Winning back physicians who have referred patients to you previously

There could be a number of reasons that a physician who has previously referred patients to your imaging center is no longer doing so. Marketing to doctors in this category means striving to understand what caused them to stop referring and what you can do to make them interested in sending patients once more.

Here are some strategies to use when reaching out to this group:

  • Update them on what’s new with your facility. If they haven’t talked to you in a while, they likely aren’t up to speed on any new equipment, software, and referring guidelines you may have. Letting them know what they missed could mean you’ve already resolved the thing that made them leave in the first place.
  • Remind them of your referral process. Sometimes reminding people of how easy it is to work with you makes a big difference.
  • Let them get to know your staff better. Did you hire a new office manager? Let people know who to contact to get in touch with you. Giving everyone the chance to learn who’s who on your team will help strengthen relationships with physicians. Putting faces to names also helps make your business memorable.

Maintaining relationships with physicians who are currently referring patients

radiology email marketing relationshipsMaking sure you’re fostering strong relationships with currently referring physicians is vital. The content you send to this group is highly dependent on the nature of your current relationship. So, always be sure you’re only sending emails to these doctors if and when they are wanting to receive them. If you have determined that these providers are interested in getting emails from your imaging center, here are some tips:

  • Tell them something they don’t know. Do some research so they don’t have to. Maybe there is a new imaging technology that is being developed for their specialty or maybe there are some new findings in how to interpret the results of a scan. Find the information that is most valuable to show them you care about their interests.
  • Make every email personalized. Maybe you have a doctor that is interested in hearing about new medical technology, and another doctor that is interested in hearing about upcoming community events. Ask people not only if they are interested in getting your emails, but also, what they are interested hearing about.
  • Learn how you can help them. It may be that there are ways you could help your referring providers out that you don’t know they need. So why not ask them? Finding out how you can best help people means you will understand what you can do to provide value to them.

Effective email marketing to referring physicians takes time

Maintaining mutually beneficial relationships doesn’t have to be hard, but it does take work. With these tactics, you can write effective radiology email marketing to your referring physicians that provide value to your referring partners. Every physician’s office is unique and research is an ongoing process. Measure your progress often to find what emails are best for your diagnostic imaging center.

In need of effective and professional email marketing centered on increasing provider referrals?

Click to learn how the Radiant Referral Growth System can help!

Marketing to physicians should be a cornerstone of any imaging center’s overall strategy.

Effectively marketing to physicians comes down to professional relationships. Building and maintaining relationships with both current and prospective referring physicians is the name of the game. Email is an effective and surprisingly personal method for doing just that.

But what should your radiology email marketing convey? When should you send them? And how do you determine what’s working and what’s not?

Needless to say, setting up automated email funnels for various groups can be tricky. Today we are here to help you build your roadmap to email success.

But before we dive in, remember, your marketing is only as good as your reputation.

If your reviews are less than stellar, not only will patients look elsewhere for care, physicians will look elsewhere when sending referrals.

Generate positive online reviews ethically and automatically with MedRev, the reputation management system built by healthcare professionals for healthcare professionals.

Writing physician emails to increase patient referrals

Referring Physician radiology email marketingFirst and foremost, your focus should be on your physician emails. Since doctors are the ones referring patients to your facility for diagnostic tests, they need to be your focus. As a diagnostic center, one of your most valuable relationships is with referring physicians.

There are three groups of physicians to consider here.

  1. Potential relationships: Doctors who have not referred anyone to you, but that you would like to build a relationship with. (Cold leads)
  2. Previous relationships: Doctors who have referred patients in the past, but not within the last few months. (Warm leads)
  3. Current relationships: Doctors that have recently referred patients. (Hot leads)

Each of these groups needs to have their own automation funnel which we will go over next.

If you’re new to email funnels, this article will get you up to speed on the basics.

New Physicians: Using a radiology newsletter to build relationships

Gaining traction with a provider that has never referred to your center is the most difficult group to engage so it’s very important that you are selective with the content you include in your radiology newsletters to these offices.

For radiology email marketing, the most important question you can ask yourself here is:

How can I best provide value to the person I am reaching out to?

Here are some proven tactics to use:

  • Personalize each email by medical specialization. By targeting the physician’s specialty you can provide information that is specific and therefore most useful to that office.
  • Let them know you researched them. If you’re sending cold emails you don’t want people to think you’re emailing every doctor this side of the Mississippi, but that you chose to reach out to them for a reason (which should be the truth anyway). Tell the referring provider exactly why you chose to reach out to them. These reasons could be:
      • Their location is close to your imaging facility
      • They are new to the area
      • Their specialty is also your specialty
    • You have a relationship with one of their partners
  • Introduce your facility. Let them know who you are and why they may be interested in building a relationship with your radiology center. This is your chance to focus on your strengths.
  • Ask them a question. Give them an opportunity to tell you what they are looking for or what they are having trouble with. You can send out a survey asking things like:
      • What difficulties do you face when referring patients to a diagnostic facility?
    • What are the biggest factors you consider when choosing a facility to refer patients to?

radiology email marketing unsubscribeImportant note: Always be respectful and courteous of their time. When marketing to physicians that you have not worked with previously, make it very clear that they can choose to stop receiving your radiology emails marketing at any time and make it easy for them to do so.

Winning back physicians who have referred patients to you previously

There could be a number of reasons that a physician who has previously referred patients to your imaging center is no longer doing so. Marketing to doctors in this category means striving to understand what caused them to stop referring and what you can do to make them interested in sending patients once more.

Here are some strategies to use when reaching out to this group:

  • Update them on what’s new with your facility. If they haven’t talked to you in a while, they likely aren’t up to speed on any new equipment, software, and referring guidelines you may have. Letting them know what they missed could mean you’ve already resolved the thing that made them leave in the first place.
  • Remind them of your referral process. Sometimes reminding people of how easy it is to work with you makes a big difference.
  • Let them get to know your staff better. Did you hire a new office manager? Let people know who to contact to get in touch with you. Giving everyone the chance to learn who’s who on your team will help strengthen relationships with physicians. Putting faces to names also helps make your business memorable.

Maintaining relationships with physicians who are currently referring patients

radiology email marketing relationshipsMaking sure you’re fostering strong relationships with currently referring physicians is vital. The content you send to this group is highly dependent on the nature of your current relationship. So, always be sure you’re only sending emails to these doctors if and when they are wanting to receive them. If you have determined that these providers are interested in getting emails from your imaging center, here are some tips:

  • Tell them something they don’t know. Do some research so they don’t have to. Maybe there is a new imaging technology that is being developed for their specialty or maybe there are some new findings in how to interpret the results of a scan. Find the information that is most valuable to show them you care about their interests.
  • Make every email personalized. Maybe you have a doctor that is interested in hearing about new medical technology, and another doctor that is interested in hearing about upcoming community events. Ask people not only if they are interested in getting your emails, but also, what they are interested hearing about.
  • Learn how you can help them. It may be that there are ways you could help your referring providers out that you don’t know they need. So why not ask them? Finding out how you can best help people means you will understand what you can do to provide value to them.

Effective email marketing to referring physicians takes time

Maintaining mutually beneficial relationships doesn’t have to be hard, but it does take work. With these tactics, you can write effective radiology email marketing to your referring physicians that provide value to your referring partners. Every physician’s office is unique and research is an ongoing process. Measure your progress often to find what emails are best for your diagnostic imaging center.

In need of effective and professional email marketing centered on increasing provider referrals?

Click to learn how the Radiant Referral Growth System can help!

Lawful Marketing of Your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

Radiology & Diagnostic Center Marketing

Understanding the law and what is allowed and Marketing your Diagnostic Center, you will attract new patients, grow your practice, and get the attention of referring physicians.  Lack of understanding, and you could face steep fines or possible jail time.

So, where’s the line and what can you do to grow your patient base?

Marketing is easy when your online reputation is top notch.

5-star reviews build trust with patients and referring providers. So long as your reviews are from real, unbiased patients, growing your online reviews is always a safe and effective marketing strategy.

Learn how MedRev generates great online reviews while collecting patient experience data automatically.

The Laws You Need to Consider When Marketing your Diagnostic Center:

When marketing your practice, there are multiple legal restrictions which dictate what is lawful and what is not.  There are two areas which are especially relevant.  

First, you will need to be aware of anti-kickback laws.  This is a federal law which prevents you from offering money or gifts to entice patients into your clinic. This is a felony.  If charged and convicted, you could go to jail.

Lawful Marketing your Diagnostic CenterSecond, you will need to be aware of the Stark law.  This law prevents you from offering incentives, money or gifts to providers in return for funneling patients to your center.  This is a civil code, thus, if convicted you will not face jail time.  You will, however, enjoy a substantial fine. An important fact to know and understand about this law, you do not need to show intent to be in violation. You can be in violation without knowing and still be ordered to pay a fine.

Read up on the 2017 non-monetary compensation limits in this article

Here are some instances which illustrate what you should and should not do to market your practice or clinic:

Situation #1: Playing the Social Media Tagging Game with your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

A radiology or diagnostic center partners with a local business to promote awareness for breast cancer screening. Marketing brochures are placed within the business instructing participants to post a selfie with the brochure and tag your practice for a chance to win a small prize.

Allowed?: Probably good to go.

This situation is about breast health awareness and not specifically bribing patients to come in to your clinic.

Situation #2: MRI Merch for your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

To promote a new MRI machine, a clinic offers branded marketing merchandise to the first 25 referring physicians for a certain period of time.

Allowed?: Nope.

Lawful Marketing of Your Radiology and Diagnostic CenterThis is a violation of the Stark law. You cannot offer an incentive to referring providers only.  You won’t face jail time, but you could face a large fine.

Situation #3: Lunch & Learn at your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

A center offers free lunch to local physicians while providing an educational seminar on new relevant technology.

Allowed?: Should Be Fine.

Education does not run against the Stark law, just make sure that education is, in fact, the focus. If you prefer to be extra cautious, keep an accurate accounting of the cost per guest attending the event to report on your non-monetary compensation spreadsheet.

Situation #4: The Holiday Gift Basket Bash for your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

Your office is one of many within a hospital marketing to referring physicians.  You want to send them a nice holiday fruit basket to make sure they remember you.

Allowed?: Hmm, You Better Watch Out

The amount of non-monetary gifts you can give to a provider is calculated by entity and not by department.  Thus, if radiologists, orthopedists, cardiologists, hospital administration, or any other department are also sending baskets, you could be in violation of the Stark law.  You should try to see who is giving what and an idea of cost.

Situation #5: Your Radiology and Diagnostic Center in Full Color

You just got a bunch of 5-star reviews and some extra budget for marketing, so you put out an ad proclaiming your practice as the best in the region.

Allowed?: Maybe Not – Be Careful.

fake news, Marketing your Diagnostic Center

Something to always keep in mind when advertising your radiology or diagnostic center is truth-in-advertising laws.  Are you really the best around?  Did you conduct a verifiable survey?  

If you cannot prove your claim, you could be in violation. You will also need to take into consideration the models in your advertisement.  If they are current or former patients you must have a signed release granting permission, otherwise, you could be faced with a HIPAA violation.

Situation #6: Fancy Dinner and 15 Min. Talk About Radiology & Diagnostics Centers

A center invites referring providers to an expensive dinner at an upscale restaurant. To check off the educational portion of the evening, a fifteen-minute lecture on the latest in the radiology and diagnostic field is discussed.  The rest of the evening is spent enjoying wine, spirits, and delicious gourmet cuisine.

Allowed?: It’s a no-no.

This is the reason the Stark law exists.  They are written to keep large, expensive gifts from being given to entice referring providers to send patients your way.  Fancy dinners with all the trimmings qualify as large gifts. This is also a situation where you may, in fact, have to attribute the entire cost of food to each guest rather than noting a per person amount.

Situation #7: Extra, Extra: Get Your CME Right Here … at this Radiology and Diagnostic Center

A radiology and diagnostic center would like to offer CME to area providers.

Allowed?: Maybe.

CME, Marketing your Diagnostic CenterIf the referring provider would normally be paying for this CME, you will need to charge a fee. If you decide against charging, the cost will need to be recorded on your non-monetary compensation spreadsheet.

Situation #8: Diagnostic & Radiology Center Mixer

A practice manager at the office of a provider requests that a diagnostic and radiology center bring in lunch for everyone to enjoy together.  This is also a great way to break the ice and network.

Allowed?: Don’t do it.

No individual at any referring physician office may request a gift of any kind, which includes food.

Situation #9: Diagnostics Coupons and Special Deals on Exams?

Can a radiology or diagnostic center offer a promotion through a coupon service such as Groupon?

Allowed?: Maybe, but be careful.

So long as the promotion excludes Medicare patients, you should be clear to proceed. If the discount includes Medicare patients and Medicare pays for the service provided, this is defined as a kickback.  Not to mention, Groupon received a cut, which is like a commission for sending patients. These are not allowed.

Situation #10: Let’s Party! With Your Favorite Providers

Can a radiology and diagnostic center throw an appreciation party for referring providers?

Allowed?: Record Keeping is the Name of the Game

The Stark law provides a predetermined amount that may be spent each year on non-monetary compensation. This can be food, pens, stress balls, etc.  Use a spreadsheet to keep a record of how much is spent per year per physician.

Marketing your Diagnostic CenterThese situations are just a sampling of scenarios which radiology and diagnostics centers can face at any time. Knowledge and understanding of current laws and norms are of the highest importance when operating a successful practice.  Whether you are in the radiology and diagnostic industry or another field, be sure to realize and put into practice all guidelines and laws governing your practice today.

Looking for a little help growing your diagnostic center?

Click to learn about our systems to kick your diagnostic marketing into high gear!

Radiology & Diagnostic Center Marketing

Understanding the law and what is allowed and Marketing your Diagnostic Center, you will attract new patients, grow your practice, and get the attention of referring physicians.  Lack of understanding, and you could face steep fines or possible jail time.

So, where’s the line and what can you do to grow your patient base?

Marketing is easy when your online reputation is top notch.

5-star reviews build trust with patients and referring providers. So long as your reviews are from real, unbiased patients, growing your online reviews is always a safe and effective marketing strategy.

Learn how MedRev generates great online reviews while collecting patient experience data automatically.

The Laws You Need to Consider When Marketing your Diagnostic Center:

When marketing your practice, there are multiple legal restrictions which dictate what is lawful and what is not.  There are two areas which are especially relevant.  

First, you will need to be aware of anti-kickback laws.  This is a federal law which prevents you from offering money or gifts to entice patients into your clinic. This is a felony.  If charged and convicted, you could go to jail.

Lawful Marketing your Diagnostic CenterSecond, you will need to be aware of the Stark law.  This law prevents you from offering incentives, money or gifts to providers in return for funneling patients to your center.  This is a civil code, thus, if convicted you will not face jail time.  You will, however, enjoy a substantial fine. An important fact to know and understand about this law, you do not need to show intent to be in violation. You can be in violation without knowing and still be ordered to pay a fine.

Read up on the 2017 non-monetary compensation limits in this article

Here are some instances which illustrate what you should and should not do to market your practice or clinic:

Situation #1: Playing the Social Media Tagging Game with your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

A radiology or diagnostic center partners with a local business to promote awareness for breast cancer screening. Marketing brochures are placed within the business instructing participants to post a selfie with the brochure and tag your practice for a chance to win a small prize.

Allowed?: Probably good to go.

This situation is about breast health awareness and not specifically bribing patients to come in to your clinic.

Situation #2: MRI Merch for your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

To promote a new MRI machine, a clinic offers branded marketing merchandise to the first 25 referring physicians for a certain period of time.

Allowed?: Nope.

Lawful Marketing of Your Radiology and Diagnostic CenterThis is a violation of the Stark law. You cannot offer an incentive to referring providers only.  You won’t face jail time, but you could face a large fine.

Situation #3: Lunch & Learn at your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

A center offers free lunch to local physicians while providing an educational seminar on new relevant technology.

Allowed?: Should Be Fine.

Education does not run against the Stark law, just make sure that education is, in fact, the focus. If you prefer to be extra cautious, keep an accurate accounting of the cost per guest attending the event to report on your non-monetary compensation spreadsheet.

Situation #4: The Holiday Gift Basket Bash for your Radiology and Diagnostic Center

Your office is one of many within a hospital marketing to referring physicians.  You want to send them a nice holiday fruit basket to make sure they remember you.

Allowed?: Hmm, You Better Watch Out

The amount of non-monetary gifts you can give to a provider is calculated by entity and not by department.  Thus, if radiologists, orthopedists, cardiologists, hospital administration, or any other department are also sending baskets, you could be in violation of the Stark law.  You should try to see who is giving what and an idea of cost.

Situation #5: Your Radiology and Diagnostic Center in Full Color

You just got a bunch of 5-star reviews and some extra budget for marketing, so you put out an ad proclaiming your practice as the best in the region.

Allowed?: Maybe Not – Be Careful.

fake news, Marketing your Diagnostic Center

Something to always keep in mind when advertising your radiology or diagnostic center is truth-in-advertising laws.  Are you really the best around?  Did you conduct a verifiable survey?  

If you cannot prove your claim, you could be in violation. You will also need to take into consideration the models in your advertisement.  If they are current or former patients you must have a signed release granting permission, otherwise, you could be faced with a HIPAA violation.

Situation #6: Fancy Dinner and 15 Min. Talk About Radiology & Diagnostics Centers

A center invites referring providers to an expensive dinner at an upscale restaurant. To check off the educational portion of the evening, a fifteen-minute lecture on the latest in the radiology and diagnostic field is discussed.  The rest of the evening is spent enjoying wine, spirits, and delicious gourmet cuisine.

Allowed?: It’s a no-no.

This is the reason the Stark law exists.  They are written to keep large, expensive gifts from being given to entice referring providers to send patients your way.  Fancy dinners with all the trimmings qualify as large gifts. This is also a situation where you may, in fact, have to attribute the entire cost of food to each guest rather than noting a per person amount.

Situation #7: Extra, Extra: Get Your CME Right Here … at this Radiology and Diagnostic Center

A radiology and diagnostic center would like to offer CME to area providers.

Allowed?: Maybe.

CME, Marketing your Diagnostic CenterIf the referring provider would normally be paying for this CME, you will need to charge a fee. If you decide against charging, the cost will need to be recorded on your non-monetary compensation spreadsheet.

Situation #8: Diagnostic & Radiology Center Mixer

A practice manager at the office of a provider requests that a diagnostic and radiology center bring in lunch for everyone to enjoy together.  This is also a great way to break the ice and network.

Allowed?: Don’t do it.

No individual at any referring physician office may request a gift of any kind, which includes food.

Situation #9: Diagnostics Coupons and Special Deals on Exams?

Can a radiology or diagnostic center offer a promotion through a coupon service such as Groupon?

Allowed?: Maybe, but be careful.

So long as the promotion excludes Medicare patients, you should be clear to proceed. If the discount includes Medicare patients and Medicare pays for the service provided, this is defined as a kickback.  Not to mention, Groupon received a cut, which is like a commission for sending patients. These are not allowed.

Situation #10: Let’s Party! With Your Favorite Providers

Can a radiology and diagnostic center throw an appreciation party for referring providers?

Allowed?: Record Keeping is the Name of the Game

The Stark law provides a predetermined amount that may be spent each year on non-monetary compensation. This can be food, pens, stress balls, etc.  Use a spreadsheet to keep a record of how much is spent per year per physician.

Marketing your Diagnostic CenterThese situations are just a sampling of scenarios which radiology and diagnostics centers can face at any time. Knowledge and understanding of current laws and norms are of the highest importance when operating a successful practice.  Whether you are in the radiology and diagnostic industry or another field, be sure to realize and put into practice all guidelines and laws governing your practice today.

Looking for a little help growing your diagnostic center?

Click to learn about our systems to kick your diagnostic marketing into high gear!

How to Get Medical Providers to Open Your Emails

Effective Email Marketing to Doctors Starts With a Solid Radiology Marketing Plan

Promoting a diagnostic imaging center using email marketing to doctors can be a great way to increase patient referrals and build partnerships with referring physicians. That is if it’s done right.

Like virtually everyone else in the working world, physicians open emails and check social media during their workday too.  It can be a means of brief distraction or a need to research something specific for a patient.  So how can your emails be the ones they open so you are opened up to get more referring physicians?

The fact is, 55% of people don’t read their emails regularly, but that doesn’t mean your emails need to be of those that instantly get dumped in the digital trash.  

You can break out of that group by:

  • Determining the best time of day to send
  • Personalizing your emails based on physician specialization
  • Educating the physicians AND the front office about topics that matter to them
  • Most importantly, your main focus should be providing valuable content to the medical provider that sets you apart from your competition

Looking to improve your imaging center’s marketing to referring providers?

Click to learn how our diagnostic growth system can get you in front of providers and make you the go-to imaging center!

Doing some research is the first step, and should not be overlooked. Let’s start by asking …

How many medical providers open emails anyway?

You’ll want to have a clear benchmark for how many medical providers open emails in order to set goals and see where you can make effective changes to your email marketing tactics as you go. Well, there’s a metric for everything and email open rates are no different.  Here’s the formula:

Open Rate = # emails opened / (the number of emails sent – # emails that bounced)

Take a look at the medical industry’s average open rate are in the chart below.

Industry Open Click Soft Bounce Hard Bounce Abuse Unsub
Medical, Dental, and Healthcare 22.43% 2.42% 0.72% 0.72% 0.03% 0.30%

That means less than a quarter of emails are opened in the healthcare industry. That isn’t as bad as it might sound. It is just the industry norm.  

Now, let’s talk about how to increase your open rate to get more referring physicians 

The timing of your email matters

When you choose to send your emails can mean the difference between your imaging center getting more referring physicians, and the “Delete” button.

What day is best?

This can be tricky as schedules vary among medical providers. Having said that, knowing the day and time of an email impacts the likelihood of it being opened is valuable information that can be tracked and analyzed.

Like many of us, potential referring physicians are generally busiest on Mondays and Fridays, so the chances they’ll be opening emails is much lower.  

If they are a Monday thru Friday practice, then Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are your best days to send.  Thumbtacks in calendar

If the practice is open on weekends, then Saturday and Sunday may be an effective time to reach out.

Avoiding sending emails on the most exhausting work days of a targeted practice is essential to improving your open rate. That may be as simple as a conversation your sales rep has with the front desk receptionist.

What time is best?

While the specific days are important, the time of day is almost as impactful.

Studies from MailChimp found many industries have an optimal time around 10 am to open emails, while others are more inclined to check them between 1 pm and 5 pm.  This may vary significantly for medical providers. 

Determining the ideal time for YOUR emails

The good news is you don’t have to guess, at least not for long. Start off by testing these broad guidelines with a sample set of emails. Then analyze the data to find the day and time that had the highest open rate. Most email marketing systems have reports built in just for this purpose. Additionally, you may want to send out an A/B or Split Test email to compare day or time. Once you have the data, you can find the sweet spot.

Personalize Your Emails to Doctors by Creating Segments

When sending emails to doctors it’s important to remember that not all doctors are the same. Consider the specific interests and business practices of each recipient. One of the fastest ways to get people to delete your email is to send everyone the same content. So segmenting is key!Colorful mini gift boxes

Are you trying to reach an orthopedics office, a neurologist, or any other specialist? A brilliant and simple way to get more referring doctors is by sending them content that is useful and valuable to what they specialize in.  One study found that email open rates increased by almost 15% from segmenting alone.

Marketing to physicians really means building relationships

Partnerships with medical providers occur because of the level of trust you have built together.  Even though your email funnel may be a part of your radiology marketing plan, your aim should always be to provide value to those you reach out to.  Gaining patient referrals takes more than marketing to physicians in the traditional way. 

Plan out which emails should go to orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, ENTs, primary care physicians, and even the front office managers.  And yes, they should all be different. 

By segmenting your emails to a more specific target audience, you can drive down unsubscribe rates, build trust between the medical providers, and increase medical provider referrals.

Like in any relationship, you need to take the time to get to know someone

When setting up your email marketing to doctors, do your research. Maybe you know a medical office that is struggling in a specific area. Perhaps you have the expertise to help them out with the emails you provide. When you care enough to find out what their pain points are and what topics are directly applicable to what they are doing you can save them time, money, and improving their practice. If you can do that, you’ll certainly be on their good side which makes it much easier to approach doctors for referrals. 

Make sure your valuable content is actually getting to them!Lost letter in a bottle

When marketing to doctors online it’s certainly imperative that your message has the opportunity to be seen. You put in the time to do this email thing right. It would be a shame if all of your hard work never got to your recipient’s inbox, or worse, never even got to their spam folder.

Why wouldn’t your emails end up in the inbox?

When you send out emails through a third party system like MailChimp or Constant Contact, your message has to pass more checkpoints to get to its destination. Spam filters are finicky and email delivery is complicated. But all you need to know is that if you’re worried your emails aren’t getting to people, your first step should be to setup Custom Domain Authentication which means altering your DNS records.

This guide tells how to set up custom domain authentication in MailChimp.

If you’ve already done that, and your recipients are still not getting your emails, it could be an issue on the receiving side. For new prospects, your email address may not be whitelisted in their system. What’s more, many providers may not know how to whitelist your email address.

This is not something that is done automatically and the front desk receptionist will be your best point of contact.  Two ways this can be accomplished are by adding instructions to your Thank You page or by adding a pop-up feature from the email in which they can whitelist instantly.  The pop-up feature is going to be your simplest and most realistic way of getting this done.

Give the medical provider a heads up on the content coming in

The physician’s office is more likely to welcome your “Welcome” email if it is well crafted. The email should be personal, actionable, practical, but also concise.  If they are new to your campaign, pay them a visit in person and provide a quick explanation of what information is included in the emails.  If they know what to expect, they’ll be less likely to delete and more likely to send your imaging center new patient referrals.  

Let them know:

  1. How often they can expect to receive emails from you
  2. How your emails are going to be helpful to them
  3. How they can help you understand their needs (and therefore send the most relevant emails)

Email Marketing to Doctors Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

Remember, email is a fantastic option to get more referring doctors – if you can get them to open! Determine the optimal time to send, segment your emails to make them more personable. Always make sure you’re providing value in your messages. Follow these tips in your email marketing to doctors and you will find building relationships with physicians is easy. 

Looking to boost your 5-star reviews to get the attention of patients and providers?

Don’t let your online reputation manage itself!

Learn how to get better reviews automatically.

Effective Email Marketing to Doctors Starts With a Solid Radiology Marketing Plan

Promoting a diagnostic imaging center using email marketing to doctors can be a great way to increase patient referrals and build partnerships with referring physicians. That is if it’s done right.

Like virtually everyone else in the working world, physicians open emails and check social media during their workday too.  It can be a means of brief distraction or a need to research something specific for a patient.  So how can your emails be the ones they open so you are opened up to get more referring physicians?

The fact is, 55% of people don’t read their emails regularly, but that doesn’t mean your emails need to be of those that instantly get dumped in the digital trash.  

You can break out of that group by:

  • Determining the best time of day to send
  • Personalizing your emails based on physician specialization
  • Educating the physicians AND the front office about topics that matter to them
  • Most importantly, your main focus should be providing valuable content to the medical provider that sets you apart from your competition

Looking to improve your imaging center’s marketing to referring providers?

Click to learn how our diagnostic growth system can get you in front of providers and make you the go-to imaging center!

Doing some research is the first step, and should not be overlooked. Let’s start by asking …

How many medical providers open emails anyway?

You’ll want to have a clear benchmark for how many medical providers open emails in order to set goals and see where you can make effective changes to your email marketing tactics as you go. Well, there’s a metric for everything and email open rates are no different.  Here’s the formula:

Open Rate = # emails opened / (the number of emails sent – # emails that bounced)

Take a look at the medical industry’s average open rate are in the chart below.

Industry Open Click Soft Bounce Hard Bounce Abuse Unsub
Medical, Dental, and Healthcare 22.43% 2.42% 0.72% 0.72% 0.03% 0.30%

That means less than a quarter of emails are opened in the healthcare industry. That isn’t as bad as it might sound. It is just the industry norm.  

Now, let’s talk about how to increase your open rate to get more referring physicians 

The timing of your email matters

When you choose to send your emails can mean the difference between your imaging center getting more referring physicians, and the “Delete” button.

What day is best?

This can be tricky as schedules vary among medical providers. Having said that, knowing the day and time of an email impacts the likelihood of it being opened is valuable information that can be tracked and analyzed.

Like many of us, potential referring physicians are generally busiest on Mondays and Fridays, so the chances they’ll be opening emails is much lower.  

If they are a Monday thru Friday practice, then Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are your best days to send.  Thumbtacks in calendar

If the practice is open on weekends, then Saturday and Sunday may be an effective time to reach out.

Avoiding sending emails on the most exhausting work days of a targeted practice is essential to improving your open rate. That may be as simple as a conversation your sales rep has with the front desk receptionist.

What time is best?

While the specific days are important, the time of day is almost as impactful.

Studies from MailChimp found many industries have an optimal time around 10 am to open emails, while others are more inclined to check them between 1 pm and 5 pm.  This may vary significantly for medical providers. 

Determining the ideal time for YOUR emails

The good news is you don’t have to guess, at least not for long. Start off by testing these broad guidelines with a sample set of emails. Then analyze the data to find the day and time that had the highest open rate. Most email marketing systems have reports built in just for this purpose. Additionally, you may want to send out an A/B or Split Test email to compare day or time. Once you have the data, you can find the sweet spot.

Personalize Your Emails to Doctors by Creating Segments

When sending emails to doctors it’s important to remember that not all doctors are the same. Consider the specific interests and business practices of each recipient. One of the fastest ways to get people to delete your email is to send everyone the same content. So segmenting is key!Colorful mini gift boxes

Are you trying to reach an orthopedics office, a neurologist, or any other specialist? A brilliant and simple way to get more referring doctors is by sending them content that is useful and valuable to what they specialize in.  One study found that email open rates increased by almost 15% from segmenting alone.

Marketing to physicians really means building relationships

Partnerships with medical providers occur because of the level of trust you have built together.  Even though your email funnel may be a part of your radiology marketing plan, your aim should always be to provide value to those you reach out to.  Gaining patient referrals takes more than marketing to physicians in the traditional way. 

Plan out which emails should go to orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, ENTs, primary care physicians, and even the front office managers.  And yes, they should all be different. 

By segmenting your emails to a more specific target audience, you can drive down unsubscribe rates, build trust between the medical providers, and increase medical provider referrals.

Like in any relationship, you need to take the time to get to know someone

When setting up your email marketing to doctors, do your research. Maybe you know a medical office that is struggling in a specific area. Perhaps you have the expertise to help them out with the emails you provide. When you care enough to find out what their pain points are and what topics are directly applicable to what they are doing you can save them time, money, and improving their practice. If you can do that, you’ll certainly be on their good side which makes it much easier to approach doctors for referrals. 

Make sure your valuable content is actually getting to them!Lost letter in a bottle

When marketing to doctors online it’s certainly imperative that your message has the opportunity to be seen. You put in the time to do this email thing right. It would be a shame if all of your hard work never got to your recipient’s inbox, or worse, never even got to their spam folder.

Why wouldn’t your emails end up in the inbox?

When you send out emails through a third party system like MailChimp or Constant Contact, your message has to pass more checkpoints to get to its destination. Spam filters are finicky and email delivery is complicated. But all you need to know is that if you’re worried your emails aren’t getting to people, your first step should be to setup Custom Domain Authentication which means altering your DNS records.

This guide tells how to set up custom domain authentication in MailChimp.

If you’ve already done that, and your recipients are still not getting your emails, it could be an issue on the receiving side. For new prospects, your email address may not be whitelisted in their system. What’s more, many providers may not know how to whitelist your email address.

This is not something that is done automatically and the front desk receptionist will be your best point of contact.  Two ways this can be accomplished are by adding instructions to your Thank You page or by adding a pop-up feature from the email in which they can whitelist instantly.  The pop-up feature is going to be your simplest and most realistic way of getting this done.

Give the medical provider a heads up on the content coming in

The physician’s office is more likely to welcome your “Welcome” email if it is well crafted. The email should be personal, actionable, practical, but also concise.  If they are new to your campaign, pay them a visit in person and provide a quick explanation of what information is included in the emails.  If they know what to expect, they’ll be less likely to delete and more likely to send your imaging center new patient referrals.  

Let them know:

  1. How often they can expect to receive emails from you
  2. How your emails are going to be helpful to them
  3. How they can help you understand their needs (and therefore send the most relevant emails)

Email Marketing to Doctors Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated

Remember, email is a fantastic option to get more referring doctors – if you can get them to open! Determine the optimal time to send, segment your emails to make them more personable. Always make sure you’re providing value in your messages. Follow these tips in your email marketing to doctors and you will find building relationships with physicians is easy. 

Looking to boost your 5-star reviews to get the attention of patients and providers?

Don’t let your online reputation manage itself!

Learn how to get better reviews automatically.

10 Effective Radiology Marketing Strategies

Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Strategies & How to Make Them Work for Your Practice

The healthcare scene is constantly changing, and diagnostic imaging is no different. To put your business ahead of other local facilities, you need to be in front of your referring providers, patients, and employers in ways that your competitors aren’t.

Did you know? Healthcare is second only to hotels and restaurants as the industry with the most read online reviews.

One of the fastest and most effective ways to market an imaging center is to have excellent reviews and community trust and that means being proactive about your reputation. Even with 10 or 20 good reviews, your average star rating could plummet with just a couple of unhappy patients.

Here’s how to generate more 5-star patient reviews.

With these simple strategies, your diagnostic imaging center can rise above the competition and automate a lot of that work!

1. Get Ranked on Google to Grow Your Radiology Marketing

From a digital perspective, one of the MOST important things for your diagnostics center’s online marketing is to be ranked on Google Places when people search for you or for diagnostic imaging in your area. Remember, patients, providers, and employers don’t think about the technical terminology the same way you do. Make sure to help them by using layman’s terms on your website so you rank for what they are searching for. For more information on how to set up your Google Places for a diagnostic imaging center take a look at this article.

If you want to know if you are showing up properly, just go to Google and search for the following terms:

  • MRI exam
  • CT exam
  • Cat Scan
  • Ultrasound
  • MRI in my area
  • Best MRI near me

At the top of the page, you should see a map of local companies providing imaging services. Getting to the top of this list can be the difference between success and failure. Remember, Google is going to show what is most RELEVANT, so make sure you have the right content on your site to get to the top.

best mri near me

If you’re not at the top, make sure to click the ‘More Places’ link at the bottom and see if you’re on the full list. There are a lot of resources online to show you how to reach the top of this list.

Contact us if you’re interested in getting to the top of Google Places and growing your referrals!

2. Keep Your Radiology Marketing Focus Local

Make the biggest impact on your medical imaging marketing by focusing on what you can impact the most. We all know that diagnostic centers support their regions. By tracking exactly what zip codes people are coming from, you can tailor your marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness.

The big question we so often hear is, “How do I do that?”

Here is a little bit of the secret sauce:

  1. Connect your RIS system to a HIPAA compliant visual analytics tool where you can create customized reports.
  2. Create a map report that shows the zip code or address of each of your patients.
  3. Find the specific neighborhoods, schools, and businesses in these areas.
  4. For your target neighborhoods, post specials and coupons on private Facebook neighborhood groups or the NextDoor website.
  5. Sponsor after-school events for the top school or schools in the area.
  6. Run Facebook ads to the businesses in the specified locations.

There are tons of ways to target the right people once you know who they are. If you’re interested in learning about new ways to do this, some of our other blog articles go into specifics.

Grow Your Diagnostic Imaging Referrals

I know what you’re probably thinking, “Of course I should grow my referrals! That’s why I’m here reading your article!” So let’s get right into it! Here are a few of the many methods of growing your imaging center’s referrals:

3. Consistent Diagnostics Patient Outreach

The easiest way to get new sales is to sell to existing customers. So why are you letting your customers go to another diagnostics facility? Keeping in front of customers is simple. Sign up for an email marketing tool such as MailChimp or Drip.co, put together an automated set of emails that go out to new customers or patients starting a week after their visit and STAY IN FRONT OF THEM!

4. Educate Your Patients

A lot of people won’t come back for another exam because they won’t need one. But their friends will. So send them important information about their health, interesting articles about what is going on with the amazing technology involved in diagnostic imaging, as well as specials and coupons to be shared with friends, and you could be looking at a pretty substantial ROI pretty fast.

Another simple tactic is to send a canned email out to each new patient with a link to a video about their exam. Use videos that other diagnostics facilities have done that are not in your region. No one is going to notice a logo from a company in California if you are in Georgia. But if they have great videos, your patients, and your company should benefit.

5. Make the Rounds

One of the very best and most important things you can do to promote your diagnostics center and grow your referrals is to make the rounds to your referring providers.

Maintaining and improving relationships with referring providers is probably the number one way to keep your diagnostics center growing. While you’re out saying hello, make sure you remember the Stark Laws and know what you can and can’t do!

If you’re nervous about giving something physical to a provider or their office at all, how about just something intangible, like knowledge? Education such as emails, links to Youtube videos, and emailed PDFs. to help providers learn how to grow their practices is never illegal as far as we know.

6. Stay in front of your diagnostics customers

Another simple way to improve your diagnostics marketing is to stay in front of your diagnostics customers with some simple modern technology. If customers have opted in and agree to receive educational emails from you, then you can send out:

  • Surveys – find out what you did right and wrong, but also use these to stay in front of patients!
  • Educational Emails – Instead of talking about radiology and promoting your diagnostic marketing, how about going into your customer’s day to day lives? Education on how to avoid injuries could be more helpful than learning how to scan for injuries that they have.
  • Let your patients refer one another – There are no laws against patients referring one another, and there are a ton of ways to do that. Just reach out to patients online or in person and ask if they know anyone that needs help.

7. Stay relevant by showing your personality

Your business isn’t made up of robots. The people at your diagnostics center or centers are loving, kind, good people that want to help. So many companies do group lunches, the Thanksgiving pie making contest (Julie won last year, but I was in a close second), learning events, and training.

Radiology Marketing

Showing your customer base that you are real people creates a story and personality. The easiest way to show everyone is through social media, and particularly through Facebook and Instagram.

Adding to Facebook is super simple. Just create a business page on Facebook, log in, and start adding posts. Some things that you may want to show the world:

  • Customer testimonials as text and pictures or as videos.
  • Employee of The Month
  • Office events or parties
  • Provider testimonials
  • A diagnostics center walkthrough, showing all the rooms with all the modalities. You can just do this on your iPhone or Android, it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time.

While you’re setting everything up, make sure to add to your Facebook page:

  • Address – it will automatically show a map to your location for your audience here.
  • Website Link
  • Hours – A lot of people look at Facebook first to check business hours
  • A picture of your facility – Showing the front of your facility as the main image can make it a lot easier for people to find you.
  • Links to other important information such as pricing, other locations, the patient and provider portals, pre-exam forms, etc.

8. Know your neighbors!

You have the greatest impact in your immediate area. The easiest way to start drawing in new patients and referring providers is to get out and knock on some doors or send direct mail to your neighborhood businesses and residents. Forming relationships with people is key to keeping your business running, and who better to start with than the business next door?

9. Majority of referrals comes from 20% of providers

If you haven’t already, know who the top 20% of referring providers are, and KEEP THEM HAPPY! We don’t have to tell you the best ways to do that. But is easy to forget who keeps the business running and treat someone sending you a lot of patients the same as someone sending in just a few per month or year.

Not everyone is the same, and some providers deserve more attention than others. So, how do you do that?

  1. Know who they are – if you don’t already, you should be able to look into your RIS system and check the top providers right away.
  2. Make a list of your top providers and post it up for your team to see.
  3. At your team meetings go through this list and read off the list to everyone.
  4. Make sure that if a provider on this list is having some difficulty, you can get them special treatment or a higher level person to handle their needs.
  5. Consider a concierge-level service team just for these providers that calls regularly to check in with everyone, makes sure they are always ordering the right exams, and caters to their needs.

10. Don’t tell, ASK!

So often, marketing reps making calls on referring providers want to talk all about the facility, the new magnet they just installed, and what they can do for the providers’ offices. What these reps so often forget to do is ask the right questions then let the office manager or provider talk.

If you ask the right questions, they will tell you how you can meet their needs. Remember, the one thing that everyone wants to talk about is themselves. So, ask open-ended questions and let them talk!

Some questions to consider asking:

  • How is business going?
  • Any issues with getting your exams recently?
  • What can we do better?
  • How are things changing in your practice?
  • What are some of your biggest problems right now?

If they don’t feel like talking, that’s another story. But most people do.

11. Find your strengths, know your weaknesses

Some questions you may want to ask yourself and your team:

  • What advantages does your diagnostics center have over your competition?
  • What makes your team unique?
  • What are the major areas you can improve upon?
  • What are your biggest obstacles to growth now? In the future?

These are all part of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Putting together a bi-yearly SWOT analysis for your diagnostic center marketing plan as well as for your company and team as a whole, then comparing it against the previous analysis can provide great insight into your team’s growth and failures.

Here is some more info on how to set up a SWOT analysis and employing fundamental marketing and research for your center.

Use These Techniques to become a Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Pro

In the face of lowering reimbursements, Stark Law, dropping industry profits, and an overall difficult business environment, reaching out to your providers, customers/patients, and local employers is absolutely key to success.

Could your diagnostic marketing use a boost?

Click to see our full menu of diagnostic marketing and software options and get ahead of your competition fast!

Now that you’ve got some marketing ideas on how to grow your diagnostics imaging marketing plan and business, we would love to know what you liked and didn’t like from our list.

What did we miss? Are there any tactics you want to share that have worked well for you? How about some advertising methods? Post what you’ve got in the discussion below.

Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Strategies & How to Make Them Work for Your Practice

The healthcare scene is constantly changing, and diagnostic imaging is no different. To put your business ahead of other local facilities, you need to be in front of your referring providers, patients, and employers in ways that your competitors aren’t.

Did you know? Healthcare is second only to hotels and restaurants as the industry with the most read online reviews.

One of the fastest and most effective ways to market an imaging center is to have excellent reviews and community trust and that means being proactive about your reputation. Even with 10 or 20 good reviews, your average star rating could plummet with just a couple of unhappy patients.

Here’s how to generate more 5-star patient reviews.

With these simple strategies, your diagnostic imaging center can rise above the competition and automate a lot of that work!

1. Get Ranked on Google to Grow Your Radiology Marketing

From a digital perspective, one of the MOST important things for your diagnostics center’s online marketing is to be ranked on Google Places when people search for you or for diagnostic imaging in your area. Remember, patients, providers, and employers don’t think about the technical terminology the same way you do. Make sure to help them by using layman’s terms on your website so you rank for what they are searching for. For more information on how to set up your Google Places for a diagnostic imaging center take a look at this article.

If you want to know if you are showing up properly, just go to Google and search for the following terms:

  • MRI exam
  • CT exam
  • Cat Scan
  • Ultrasound
  • MRI in my area
  • Best MRI near me

At the top of the page, you should see a map of local companies providing imaging services. Getting to the top of this list can be the difference between success and failure. Remember, Google is going to show what is most RELEVANT, so make sure you have the right content on your site to get to the top.

best mri near me

If you’re not at the top, make sure to click the ‘More Places’ link at the bottom and see if you’re on the full list. There are a lot of resources online to show you how to reach the top of this list.

Contact us if you’re interested in getting to the top of Google Places and growing your referrals!

2. Keep Your Radiology Marketing Focus Local

Make the biggest impact on your medical imaging marketing by focusing on what you can impact the most. We all know that diagnostic centers support their regions. By tracking exactly what zip codes people are coming from, you can tailor your marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness.

The big question we so often hear is, “How do I do that?”

Here is a little bit of the secret sauce:

  1. Connect your RIS system to a HIPAA compliant visual analytics tool where you can create customized reports.
  2. Create a map report that shows the zip code or address of each of your patients.
  3. Find the specific neighborhoods, schools, and businesses in these areas.
  4. For your target neighborhoods, post specials and coupons on private Facebook neighborhood groups or the NextDoor website.
  5. Sponsor after-school events for the top school or schools in the area.
  6. Run Facebook ads to the businesses in the specified locations.

There are tons of ways to target the right people once you know who they are. If you’re interested in learning about new ways to do this, some of our other blog articles go into specifics.

Grow Your Diagnostic Imaging Referrals

I know what you’re probably thinking, “Of course I should grow my referrals! That’s why I’m here reading your article!” So let’s get right into it! Here are a few of the many methods of growing your imaging center’s referrals:

3. Consistent Diagnostics Patient Outreach

The easiest way to get new sales is to sell to existing customers. So why are you letting your customers go to another diagnostics facility? Keeping in front of customers is simple. Sign up for an email marketing tool such as MailChimp or Drip.co, put together an automated set of emails that go out to new customers or patients starting a week after their visit and STAY IN FRONT OF THEM!

4. Educate Your Patients

A lot of people won’t come back for another exam because they won’t need one. But their friends will. So send them important information about their health, interesting articles about what is going on with the amazing technology involved in diagnostic imaging, as well as specials and coupons to be shared with friends, and you could be looking at a pretty substantial ROI pretty fast.

Another simple tactic is to send a canned email out to each new patient with a link to a video about their exam. Use videos that other diagnostics facilities have done that are not in your region. No one is going to notice a logo from a company in California if you are in Georgia. But if they have great videos, your patients, and your company should benefit.

5. Make the Rounds

One of the very best and most important things you can do to promote your diagnostics center and grow your referrals is to make the rounds to your referring providers.

Maintaining and improving relationships with referring providers is probably the number one way to keep your diagnostics center growing. While you’re out saying hello, make sure you remember the Stark Laws and know what you can and can’t do!

If you’re nervous about giving something physical to a provider or their office at all, how about just something intangible, like knowledge? Education such as emails, links to Youtube videos, and emailed PDFs. to help providers learn how to grow their practices is never illegal as far as we know.

6. Stay in front of your diagnostics customers

Another simple way to improve your diagnostics marketing is to stay in front of your diagnostics customers with some simple modern technology. If customers have opted in and agree to receive educational emails from you, then you can send out:

  • Surveys – find out what you did right and wrong, but also use these to stay in front of patients!
  • Educational Emails – Instead of talking about radiology and promoting your diagnostic marketing, how about going into your customer’s day to day lives? Education on how to avoid injuries could be more helpful than learning how to scan for injuries that they have.
  • Let your patients refer one another – There are no laws against patients referring one another, and there are a ton of ways to do that. Just reach out to patients online or in person and ask if they know anyone that needs help.

7. Stay relevant by showing your personality

Your business isn’t made up of robots. The people at your diagnostics center or centers are loving, kind, good people that want to help. So many companies do group lunches, the Thanksgiving pie making contest (Julie won last year, but I was in a close second), learning events, and training.

Radiology Marketing

Showing your customer base that you are real people creates a story and personality. The easiest way to show everyone is through social media, and particularly through Facebook and Instagram.

Adding to Facebook is super simple. Just create a business page on Facebook, log in, and start adding posts. Some things that you may want to show the world:

  • Customer testimonials as text and pictures or as videos.
  • Employee of The Month
  • Office events or parties
  • Provider testimonials
  • A diagnostics center walkthrough, showing all the rooms with all the modalities. You can just do this on your iPhone or Android, it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time.

While you’re setting everything up, make sure to add to your Facebook page:

  • Address – it will automatically show a map to your location for your audience here.
  • Website Link
  • Hours – A lot of people look at Facebook first to check business hours
  • A picture of your facility – Showing the front of your facility as the main image can make it a lot easier for people to find you.
  • Links to other important information such as pricing, other locations, the patient and provider portals, pre-exam forms, etc.

8. Know your neighbors!

You have the greatest impact in your immediate area. The easiest way to start drawing in new patients and referring providers is to get out and knock on some doors or send direct mail to your neighborhood businesses and residents. Forming relationships with people is key to keeping your business running, and who better to start with than the business next door?

9. Majority of referrals comes from 20% of providers

If you haven’t already, know who the top 20% of referring providers are, and KEEP THEM HAPPY! We don’t have to tell you the best ways to do that. But is easy to forget who keeps the business running and treat someone sending you a lot of patients the same as someone sending in just a few per month or year.

Not everyone is the same, and some providers deserve more attention than others. So, how do you do that?

  1. Know who they are – if you don’t already, you should be able to look into your RIS system and check the top providers right away.
  2. Make a list of your top providers and post it up for your team to see.
  3. At your team meetings go through this list and read off the list to everyone.
  4. Make sure that if a provider on this list is having some difficulty, you can get them special treatment or a higher level person to handle their needs.
  5. Consider a concierge-level service team just for these providers that calls regularly to check in with everyone, makes sure they are always ordering the right exams, and caters to their needs.

10. Don’t tell, ASK!

So often, marketing reps making calls on referring providers want to talk all about the facility, the new magnet they just installed, and what they can do for the providers’ offices. What these reps so often forget to do is ask the right questions then let the office manager or provider talk.

If you ask the right questions, they will tell you how you can meet their needs. Remember, the one thing that everyone wants to talk about is themselves. So, ask open-ended questions and let them talk!

Some questions to consider asking:

  • How is business going?
  • Any issues with getting your exams recently?
  • What can we do better?
  • How are things changing in your practice?
  • What are some of your biggest problems right now?

If they don’t feel like talking, that’s another story. But most people do.

11. Find your strengths, know your weaknesses

Some questions you may want to ask yourself and your team:

  • What advantages does your diagnostics center have over your competition?
  • What makes your team unique?
  • What are the major areas you can improve upon?
  • What are your biggest obstacles to growth now? In the future?

These are all part of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Putting together a bi-yearly SWOT analysis for your diagnostic center marketing plan as well as for your company and team as a whole, then comparing it against the previous analysis can provide great insight into your team’s growth and failures.

Here is some more info on how to set up a SWOT analysis and employing fundamental marketing and research for your center.

Use These Techniques to become a Diagnostic Imaging Marketing Pro

In the face of lowering reimbursements, Stark Law, dropping industry profits, and an overall difficult business environment, reaching out to your providers, customers/patients, and local employers is absolutely key to success.

Could your diagnostic marketing use a boost?

Click to see our full menu of diagnostic marketing and software options and get ahead of your competition fast!

Now that you’ve got some marketing ideas on how to grow your diagnostics imaging marketing plan and business, we would love to know what you liked and didn’t like from our list.

What did we miss? Are there any tactics you want to share that have worked well for you? How about some advertising methods? Post what you’ve got in the discussion below.