Making Marketing Easy - Systematizing Your Marketing

Most of us didn't start our health care business so we could do marketing all day. We started our health care business because we knew we could help people in one way or another.

However, most of us quickly learned that our business isn't going anywhere without marketing. When we do market our business we ultimately help more people.

Intuitively we know that marketing is a good thing to do, we just don't want to do it. I find this truth to be universal for entrepreneurs in healthcare. The easiest and best way to turn marketing into a dreaded event is to create automated systems and processes, so the marketing happens even if you don't feel like doing it.

Let's talk about creating health care marketing systems in a little more detail. Fundamentally, understanding this process is key to generating more income and increasing the size of your business.

When I talk about marketing systems I'm talking about taking action using a planned, ordered procedure. A marketing system is a methodical and fairly automated way to communicate with clients and prospects. The goal of implementing a "systemized marketing procedure" is to create a disciplined and organized approach to marketing. Marketing needs to be done, but you shouldn't have to spend all day every day stressing about it. When the procedures are automated you can easily teach someone else to do them and ensure your connect with your clients on a consistent basis.

There are several reasons (let's call them what they are - excuses) for not doing any marketing. Here are some of the top excuses we hear from our coaching clients:
"I don't do marketing because..."

1. I hate it
2. Because I don't know how to
3. Marketing is boring
4. I'm too busy
5. It doesn't work
6. It's too expensive
7. People don't like to be sold to. My business will come naturally.

Whether you love to market your business or not, putting systems in place so your marketing is done in a consistent and effortless manner ensures it happens – even when you are super busy or just don't feel like it!

Here are a couple of tips to creating your own marketing systems:

1. Put one system in place at a time. Get one down and then start another.

2. Schedule time each week to work on growing your business. Have a calendar system you use, such as Google calendar, and stick to it.

3. If there are things you really don't want to do, have someone else do them. Hire a virtual assistant, do a trade with someone, have a high school student or intern at the local college help you out.

4. An example of a marketing system could be sending post cards to clients on their birthdays. How can you do this? Ask for their date of birth in your introductory paperwork. Enter it into a simple spreadsheet like excel, or use an automated system like www.sendoutcards.com. You can choose a card at the beginning of each year and set the system up to automatically send the week before your client's birthday – without your involvement each week. Your involvement consists of asking for their birth day during the initial paperwork, and then making sure it gets keyed into the system. Perhaps someone does this for you every Friday, or the last Friday of the month. You decide what works for you. Whatever you decide put it in your calendar!

Systemizing your marketing not only ensures it will get done each month (or week), but it allows you to set up your business the way YOU want it set up, and then you can teach someone else to do it. Again, the way YOU want it done.