Internal Marketing Tactics

When it comes to implementing internal marketing, it’s important to develop a one to two year plan. Do you have a clear mission and strong values? Does your team know what your mission and values are? What are your goals when it comes to internal marketing? What type of culture do you want in your practice? These are all great questions to be thinking about when you’re developing your internal marketing strategy.

Your internal marketing tactics should begin with communicating your mission and values often and be sure you are adhering to them. Share your knowledge with your team. We’ve created the OSC to help you train and develop your team, even when your schedule gets busy, but there is nothing like hands-on training while you’re in the heat of the moment. So, if you notice an opportunity to share your knowledge, once you are patient free, discuss what you saw and how it can be improved. If you’re noticing the same behavior or techniques with multiple staff, bring this to your team meeting. Address it with your entire team to set the standard of care that's expected within your practice.

Encourage feedback from your staff. This empowers your team to feel heard, but also provides the opportunity to improve your systems and patient care. They may have noticed an opportunity that you may have been oblivious to. By sharing your knowledge in a professional manner, you’ll set the tone for your team to provide their feedback in a professional manner. This can be done with one on one meetings, a suggestion jar, or providing an open floor during your monthly meetings.

Facilitating innovation begins with an open mind and a team that feels heard. When discussing opportunities with your team, expect disagreements. By challenging changes, you’re providing your team the opportunity to speak from different areas in the practice as well as different point of views. (think about your patient base, they don’t all share the same philosophies) Once your team has dissected any suggestions and made their improvements, you’ll witness how easy it is to implement, and keep those new approaches. When your team believes in your office values, its easy to provide them with every appointment. Be sure to challenge your team to think differently and find new approaches to being efficient.

Engage your employees to help with building your internal marketing strategy. You’ll increase your employee satisfaction and improve your employer brand.

If you’ve been faced with a problem, focus on solving it. Look at if from your teams point of view and also from your patients point of view. This will allow you to meet the needs of those you serve. By focusing on the solution rather than pointing fingers, you remain positive and continue to maintain the culture you’re working towards.

And lastly, be sure you are empowering your team to promote your vision. You've spoken so much about your practice’s mission and vision, now it’s time to allow your team to be your trusted voice.