My dad entered my life when I was 3 years old, taking on two young girls and becoming an instant full-time father.  I remember the late nights he spent at the kitchen table in a small trailer studying to better himself and achieve the goals he had set forth in life.

I can tell you it wasn’t always easy - two young girls running around and not a lot of time for concentration. This must have been hard for a man who was use to the bachelor life.

He has always been an inspiration for me, pushing me to do what it was that I loved to do.  Teaching me that not everyone would agree with my choices in life, but I had to make the ones that were right for me.

As we walked into the reception I had a great admiration for the man that not only serves as my dad even though we are not blood related, but served the community by directing a fire department.  I saw photos of the people he had saved; everyday putting his life on the line to serve the lives of others. I call that selfless.

Congratulations Dad - you did it and now you can enter the next phase of your life.  Make it memorable, live your dream and treat everyday like it’s your last.

What are those searching looking for?

Great question.  They are searching for professional consultations, information about health conditions, local medical practices and information regarding medication and healthcare products.

The National Institute of Health did a recent study that showed that between 2003 and 2005 there was an increase of 7% of people searching for healthcare and medical information. 

In the past doctors have fought the stigma regarding advertising and whether or not it’s ethical and a professional practice.  Many physicians are now realizing that in order to gain the trust and confidence of potential patients they must have an online presence.   People are simply going online first to find that physician they click with.

This both good news and bad news for the medical field. The good news is if they are finding you you have probably begun to see an influx of internet leads that are converting into long-term patients.  The bad news is that if they are not finding you - they are finding the physician in your area that does have an online presence and they are going to them instead.

It’s not enough to have a website, you must market that website.  It’s important to utilize search engine optimization, so that you are being found by those seeking your speciality.   Your website must also create a level of trust in order to help them in feeling comfortable to take the next step and make that phone call to setup an initial appointment.   

If you are not seeing leads from your website, I hate to tell you but there is something wrong.  Every physician should be gaining inquiries and leads through there website.  The problem could be in a number of areas including:

• Your website is not in the search engine results.
• Your website does not create the comfort level to encourage them to move to the next step.
• Your website does not contain the information a potential patient might be looking for. 

I am so confident in the new medical vertical that we have launched at BIGSHOT that I am personally willing to offer you a no-cost consultation to provide you with a critique on your current web presence and offer you tips and suggestions on how you could improve it and turn it into a lead generator for your medical practice.  Contact me and let me know you saw the offer here. 

Jennifer will you marry me 

-John

First off, thank goodness he included his picture after all how many Jennifer and Johns are there.  I actually giggled when I saw the billboard, because my first thought was how long has that been there.  I couldn’t help but to wonder if she had driven past it like I had done in previous days without it grabbing my attention.

My perception is now not only do we encounter banner blindness, but we have also developed a level of billboard blindness.  

Perhaps I’m cynical when it comes to romance, a woman scorned per say who doesn’t necessarily believe in the happily-ever-after myth, but I do hope for his sake that she saw it the first time, because wouldn’t that be a disappointment if she didn’t - eek! 

So John all of us who drive Northbound on I-35 into downtown Kansas City want to know what her answer was. Did she in fact say yes and did she see it on the first day it was displayed?  

For all the others reading this what do you think of traditional billboard advertising (not necessarily for proposals) -  Is it effective? 

One of the most controversial posts that I have written was regarding online advertising and dentists. In that posts I suggest that dentist begin considering placing some of their marketing budget into advertising online. The reasons are simple. When was the last time you opened the yellow pages to find a service professional, be it medical or not? My assumption would be it’s been awhile.

The Internet is at our fingertips daily, it’s easy to look online to find services providers that we need including physicians. Online not only will we find their telephone number, but we are able to read about the doctor and make a decision on whether or not they are the type of provider we are looking for. A physicians website can draw us in or turn us off. It can confirm that we want to make an appointment or drive us to keep looking for a better fit. This is the reason we created the medical marketing agency division at BIGSHOT. We wanted to be able to give the information to the potential patient in a way that they can understand. This assists the physician in growing their practice drawing in people who are attracted and feel comfortable with them and their practice.

We are not new to medical marketing. We have worked with several doctors in the past and a major hospital. In this process we began to realize how important medical marketing services was to them, even if they didn’t quite understand the potential in the beginning they saw the value shortly after we began our work.

There are several medical advertising agencies available to physicians, but we felt with our experience in the medical industry and our marketing expertise could help physicians gain the patients they were looking for without having to spend a lot of time trying to find the right places to advertise - we do that for them.

Why should physicians market online?

• We are an instantaneous society - give us information now. We don’t just want your telephone number and a static yellow page ad - we want to know who you are and why we should chose you.

• Medical information is one of the top searched for topics online. We not only look for information regarding our symptoms but we look for doctors who can relate and help us. We want to know you before I walk into your practice.

• Marketing your practice online enables you to stay in front of potential patients without spending a lot of your time doings so - because we know it’s difficult to find the free time during the day to market your practice.

• Marketing your practice is no longer an option - it’s a necessity - I guarantee if you are not doing it there are other physicians in your area that are and they are attracting patients that could be coming to you. Can you risk that?

• Physician marketing no longer carries the stigma of unprofessionalism that it once did. Marketing is simply educating potential patients on why you are the physician for them. You still leave the decision in their hands, but you inform them of why you should be their choice.

If you are are a physician and you ready to explore a turn-key medical marketing solution, that is as effective as word-of-mouth and referral marketing contact me directly or at BIGSHOT. I will let you know if we can help you by implementing our medical marketing expertise and services. I will also let you know if our program won’t work for you - I promise.