You sacrificed for the last several years working your way through ND school, clinicals, and residencies. Now you’re done with school and you’re left to figure things out for yourself. Unfortunately, one of the most crucial things left out of your education is the marketing and branding that you will need to implement in order to achieve your goals. Just like anything else, marketing and business skills have a bit of a learning curve. One which causes many people inside the holistic medical field much anxiety.
But there doesn’t need to be such anxiety or dread when it comes to marketing yourself or your practice. The following 10 items are things they failed to mention to you in ND school and what you should be doing to avoid falling behind as you work to build your career and practice. These ten items apply whether you decide to go out on your own or join an already established practice.
Stop Waiting:
There is a mentality inside of many of us which is to wait for the perfect situation to start doing things. Wait until I have more time, more experience, more money, when I open my practice, when I get my business cards. This wait for the “perfect moment” strategy leaves most people behind their competitors and peers because, as with anything, marketing and reputation take time to grow, and some relationships take years to foster. So the sooner you get started the better.
Own Your Online Name:
Google my name, “Shadi Khattab” and I hold a few of the top spots on Google’s first page. You’re probably saying to yourself, well your name is unique so it shouldn’t be that hard. Well, I was surprised to see there were actually other Shadi Khattabs. Almost 30 to be exact and several of them work in internet marketing. I plead ignorance of my own culture. It’s important to own your name in your niche medical field and make sure you’re not confused with someone else. By owning your name you make it easier for people to find you and learn about you. Developing your online presence through websites, social media, forums and email will establish your online identity.
Start Collecting Emails:
Emails are the key to staying in touch with people. They are also one of the best conversion tools in the internet marketing world. Emails have a 3x better close rate than Social Media or pay per click advertising. The sooner you start the sooner you will have a huge list of people to tap when launching any of your new ventures.
Start Writing:
Got nothing to say? You’re in the wrong field then. Even as a student or a new graduate, you have opinions, ideas and theories that you should be sharing with your peers and the general public. Don’t be fooled into believing your thoughts don’t count because you don’t have x amount of years under your belt.
Don’t worry about “just being a student”, or “just starting out”. You have a voice, opinions and knowledge that can help someone or a few people behind you learn the ropes. The worst thing you can do in this hyper competitive market is to wait to begin marketing and networking. If you are an established practice or someone with a few years under them. This applies to you as well. Start today.
Make friends with Journalists, Writers, Bloggers and News Producers:
This one is key to helping you take your practice and professional career from decent and successful to over drive. Appearing on TV, Radio or in major news print has a three pronged effect. First, it leads to automatic sales and clients. Second, it establishes you as a trusted source of information which is good in the real world as well as Google’s search world. In Search Engine Optimization terms, having media mentions greatly enhances where you will rank for certain search terms relevant to your field.
And third is the repeat effect of media appearance. Once you appear in print or on TV for one channel, other channels and publications will seek you out and use you in their future segments which in turn produces more clients, more SEO relevance and more chances to appear again on TV. With LinkedIn and Twitter you can reach almost any news reporter, journalist or news director to introduce yourself and start networking.
Handling your own PR will save you thousands down the road in fees.
Start Networking:
This goes hand in hand with making friends with journalists. You should start networking with business owners in the area where you will want to practice if you know where that will be. Millions of Americans are tired, over weight, sick, suffer from anxiety, depression, and a slew of other medical problems that cause billions of dollars in lost productivity and time off. Business owners would benefit to have you incorporate a wellness program in their office or come and speak to their employees about various treatments available for their medical problems. This is basically free marketing that only requires your time and diligence in fostering and developing the needed relationships. Business owners also know many people and can offer you a great marketing channel through their network of contacts.
Don’t Fumble at the 2 Yard Line:
I use the football analogy to show that you’re so close to your dreams that getting shy at this point amounts to shooting yourself in the foot. One of my ND clients once said to me that there is a “mentality of poverty “amongst Naturopathic Doctors and students as well as other practitioners and students in holistic medicine. And it makes sense. You take on massive loans, go to school full time limiting your ability to work. So you live a frugal life while you’re in school and then you come out to a very competitive field compounded by a crushing monthly payment for your student loans. That leaves most people gun shy to spend money on marketing either by taking out additional loans or the use of credit cards.
Now you spent well over $200, 000 getting here. Not shelling out another $5,000- $10,000 to market yourself over a one to two year period amounts to spinning your wheels for a very long time before getting substantial traction.
Learn Social Media:
I think many people shy away from using social media for their business or career because they are not exactly sure how to use it to further such goals. Even many practices that use social media are not executing their campaigns correctly to achieve their goals, which is more patient referrals. Many people on LinkedIn or join LinkedIn are here because someone told them this is the place to be, so they joined and now are twiddling their thumbs wondering how this is supposed to benefit their careers. Learning how to use social media effectively as well as the difference between using social media for your personal life and using it to improve your professional life are critical. Don’t assume you know what you’re doing. Ask an expert or read up on the subject. There are numerous resources out there that can teach you about social media.
Develop a Network of Talent Contacts:
Last year I wrote an article titled, 10 People You Need On Speed Dial. This is basically the idea I am conveying to you here. There are a number of people you need to have in your network that will improve your marketing practices. Such people as editors, graphic designers, SEO consultants and writers. The more people like the ones mentioned in my article you have in your professional network the easier it will be to get things done when the time comes that you need their service. Waiting around until you need a graphic artist or writer means you have to commit time and energy during a time when you might not have enough. And taking things slowly at your leisure will help you evaluate references and prior work in order to make the best decision.
Breathe:
Lastly is just breathe. OK so maybe they might teach you this one in ND school. One of my competitors markets her business as a solution to introverted natural healers. There is a perception out there that NDs, acupuncturists, chiropractors are typically an introverted crowd. It has been my experience that they are just the opposite. Most NDs and those in the holistic field are actually very personable and social. They might not like the prospects of getting up and speaking in front of 100 people or even 5, but stage fright affects almost 90 percent of the population. So assuming that NDs are a uniquely introverted group is actually inaccurate.
The possible problem is that a majority if not all the things I mentioned above are not taught in ND school, making them foreign and uncomfortable to many people in the field. However if you start slow, take things in little bits and just breathe it becomes easier to apply the techniques to your own career.
#11 BONUS: Be Consistent: Don’t fall in the trap of leaving your marketing efforts to when you have time. Allocate a weekly time slot(s) to work on it. If you leave it on the back burner it may never leave there.
Need more information on how to apply some of the above mentioned strategies. Drop me a line at sk@shadiranks.com or connect with me here on LinkedIn.
