When your practice is moving, there are a ton of things to think about and marketing is sometimes forgotten.  Maybe we are biased, but we believe it should be one of the key strategies for a successful practice move.  We want your patients to be able to find you.  And, we want new patients to find you too!  Start early and use this checklist to ensure a smooth transition.

Communicate early and often about the move

Start at least 30 days before your move notifying patients.  Email them, send a portal message, send letters, post signs in the office, and have your staff verbally tell patients when in the office (scheduling a follow-up is a good time to do this.  Include a map to the new office in communications along with address and phone number. Put a notice on your website about the upcoming move.  Schedule a series of posts on all your social media channels about the move – when and where.

Update all your online profiles

This is extremely important.  It takes time to get them updated and even after changes are submitted, there can be a delay.  Claim as many of your profiles 60 days before the move so that you will have immediate access to change information.  Update the address for your NPI, DEA, DPS, and state license as some pull from those sites.  If there will be a gap between offices, start updating 1 day before the move.  If there isn’t a gap, start updating the day of the move and post a message about the new location where you can.  Don’t forget Google, Mapquest, and Waze.  Once you think you have them all, Google the doctor’s name and the practice name.  You’ll find more there!  Check back on the submissions once a week and be persistent. 

Get signage up at new office

Be sure your signage at the new office is up before you move in. Work with your building well in advance of the move to ensure this.  Both outdoor and indoor signage should be up to make it easy for patients to find.  Include pics of sign/building in the social media campaign.

Do a targeted ad campaign

If you want new patients in this location, do a targeted advertising campaign in the areas closest to your offices (1 – 10 miles depending on the saturation of physicians in the area). 

Pay per click (PPC) is a great place to start.  You can target by very specific traits.  For instance, for an ObGyn moving to Coppell, Texas that wants to focus on gynecology, you can target women ages 40-64 in Coppell.  You can also target by areas of interest (like fibroids).  A professional digital marketer can help with this.  We can recommend several amazing ones. 

A good search engine optimization (SEO) campaign is a great idea too, especially in the form of blog posts that your current patients enjoy as well. 

Targeted local print is a good option as well if you can find a publication that is hyper local.  For instance, Frisco Style is a well-read magazine that targets the Frisco, Texas area.  76092 is a magazine that targets Southlake, Texas.

Join the local Chamber of Commerce

If you want new patients, join the local Chamber of Commerce, or at least start participating as a non-member.  They can help you figure out where to plug in to get the most benefit.  Assign this to a friendly and outgoing staff member that will represent you well.  Once your team member knows the “good events,” join them for introductions to the community.

Ask your hospital for help

If you want new patients and are joining the medical staff of a hospital, ask them for help.  They should be able include you in their online physician directory.  There are also a lot of things they might be willing to do.  These include providing a list of other physicians on staff so you can do outreach, introducing you to other physicians on staff (promoting the service line, not the doctor), include you in community events and speakers bureaus, and possibly even some joint advertising.  The joint ads can be tricky, but are possible.  Basically, 50% of ad is about the doc and 50% is about the hospital and costs are split accordingly.  This can include print and digital. 

Put a team member in charge

We recommend creating a checklist and having a specific team member in charge of it.  Have scheduled check-ins with them as the move-in date approaches.  And, we are always here to help if needed.