Welcome to The Healthcare Marketing Connection! This week we are taking a peek at how patient privacy effects your marketing efforts. What are some easy techniques you can incorporate to marketing ethically?

Thursday March 22, 3:00 ET I am being interviewed by Steve Slaunwhite of For Copywriters Only about writing copy for the healthcare industry. In this interview I am going to go pretty in-depth on how and why writing copy for the healthcare industry is different than others and why it is such a great field to work in. Steve, a very successful B2B copywriter and author, also has a very good ezine I recommend you check out. Learn more about the interview and Q&A here.

Can you believe it is the middle of March already? Yikes! I have received several calls the last two weeks from doc's with questions on their marketing. Spring seems to do that to people. They quickly see the year getting away from them and they aren't following through on some of their New Years Resolutions. It's funny because I often have the same conversation, just with different people - in different types of practices. These business owners are not seeing an increase in patients or more referrals, but they do marketing. As much as they "have time" for. They have some REALLY nice brochures, they have been a good-standing member of their community for many years...they are doing everything they should be doing, but they are attracting the wrong type of client (or they are not growing). For this to change YOU need to change something in your system. Changes don't take place because you thought about making them. They take place because you take action.

To your success!

Kelly

Patient privacy and your marketing - how does one effect the other?

Consistently marketing your practice is an important part of running and growing a business. Easier said than done sometimes, I know. Taking the time and energy to put consistent marketing systems in place has many benefits you may not have considered...

• Builds a strong reputation in your industry
• Creates name recognition
• Attracts new patients
• Increases referrals
• Your name remains in front of your existing patients, leading to longer patient relationships

Maintaining existing relationships and increasing repeat business plays a huge role in your marketing efforts. However, marketing to existing patients brings up a gray area for many doctors and they tend to skip this part. Because of HIPAA and other patient confidentiality issues, many doctors are unable to determine which patients they can market to and which they can't. What are "acceptable" forms of marketing?

Without digging too deep into the HIPAA requirements, there is one key thing you can do to ensure your marketing efforts are ethical and follow your patient’s best interests.

Get your patients permission to send communications.

You can do this very easily by asking very specifically in their initial paperwork what types of communication they prefer. Some examples you may include are:

--Would you like to receive email communications from (your practice)?

--Would you like to receive updates about upcoming events and services via postal service?

-- Would you be interested in receiving our monthly electronic newsletter with educational tips and alternative healing options? (or something similar)

--Is it ok if we send you occasional mailings about upcoming events and/or educational information?

Successful communications with your patients adds to a longer patient/doctor relationship and a healthier, more satisfied patient.

(c) 2007, A Marketing Connection

Want to use this article in your e-zine or web site? No problem! Just let me know at info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com. I'll send you a short bio to include at the end of the article.

The Business Building Basics Home Study Course is an online business-building course that you can get for no charge. The course includes the following 7 Modules:

• From The Foundation Up featuring: Willie Crawford, Terry Telford and Richard Butler
• Turning Ideas Into Dollars featuring: Jeremy Gislason and Simon Hodgkinson
• Business Coaching Revealed featuring: Richard Butler
• Niche Marketing Millionaire featuring: Kacper Postawski
• Joint Venture Magic featuring: Marc Goldman
• Copywriting Demystified featuring: Dan Lok
• List Building Secrets Revealed featuring: Tellman Knudson

Request your course here: www.yourmarketingjournal.com/member/?thankyou-page=2066

This week Kelly recommends http://scholar.google.com/. Are you trying to find research for your next copywriting project? Google Scholar provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature.You can search across many disciplines and sources. Searching Google Scholar is free however, some results do require payment in order to see their full article.

If you have any other great resources you'd like me to share with everyone, let me know and I'll check it out. kelly@KellyRobbinsLLC.com

Steve Slaunwhite puts Kelly in the hot seat in a special interview - THIS Thursday March 22nd 1:00pm MT (3:00 ET): http://www.forcopywritersonly.com/teleclass.html

247coaching.com - Tuesday April 3 11:00 (MT) - "How to grow your ezine list"

University of Masters - Tuesday April 3 12:00 (Noon) (MT). For only $19.95 you can learn from Kelly and 30 other master teachers: www.masterteacherandmarketer.com

Next class on building your copywriting business with Kelly Robbins and Terri Levine begins May 14th. Classes are kept small to ensure one-on-one coaching time. Enroll now to reserve your space

Annual SHSMD conference in Washington DC - October 3rd - Kelly will be presenting a 3 hour workshop, details TBA

To learn more about healthcare copywriting and marketing, visit my Web site at www.KellyRobbinsLLC.com/article_archives.shtml. There are tons of fr ee articles on a variety of helpful topics.