Conventional wisdom in the marketing industry holds that your advertising must reach customers 12 times before they will take action. While this is largely true, healthcare providers who have conducted successful communications programs know that many referral sources respond long before 12 communications. How can the conventional wisdom of 12 impressions be true when so many doctors seem to require just one good contact? Understanding the answer to this question will help owners and administrators choose better communications strategies and more reliably predict results.

 

You have probably heard the phrase, “That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.” This old saying recognizes that people often receive several motivators over a long period of time before taking action. Clients and referral sources are no different. Everyone requires repeated pieces of persuasion or motivators before finally taking an action such as making a referral or buying a product. Use Brazzell’s Boiling Pot model of consumer motivation to help you understand referral source behavior.

 

Imagine a pot on a stove. It is boiling. It holds 12 cups of water. Each cup of water represents a marketing impression. When the pot boils over, you are getting a referral.

 

Bear in mind that a marketing impression need not be an announcement on the radio. Receiving a well-written order for a signature or a conversation with a current patient might serve as a marketing impression. Driving by your sign serves as a marketing impression. An unplanned conversation with a colleague might add a cup or two to the boiling pot. Even if a doctor does not know who you are, a consciously perceived need for your services counts as a marketing impression. 

 

The boiling pot model demonstrates how and why past patients, current clients, and active referral sources respond to marketing faster. Their pot is already filled to the brim with regular communication and a history of good service.  They usually only require one to three cups more before overflowing with a referral. On the other hand, referral sources who have no relationship with you require the deliberate pouring of all twelve cups before they will boil over. 

 

Use the boiling pot model to think about active referral sources. The fact that they are actively sending you patients does not mean that they are referring all that they can or should. Providers who are planning an office-specific marketing effort such as a luncheon should give active referral sources consideration over potential referral sources. Because their pots already contain plenty of boiling water, providers will find that marketing to active referral sources holds a greater likelihood of timely return on investment.

 

Why is the pot boiling? The minds of your referral sources boil with marketing messages from other providers, new treatment data from medical journals, new procedures from third party payors, etc. With all this going on in the minds of your referral sources, your marketing impressions evaporate over time. Some minds boil faster than others. Providers have only a limited time to pour all 12 marketing impressions before the first cup evaporates. If you use inadequate frequency, you will never cause the pot to boil over. Providers seeking to expand their referral base must also be consistent in their communications efforts.  

 

Both active referral sources and past patients make audiences with high potential for return on investment because they have nearly filled pots. For effective marketing impressions on medical referral sources, consider informative bulletins, highly targeted Facebook ads, and sales calls. For past patients, consider patient newsletters, Facebook social media posts, and email newsletters.