Dos and don'ts for practice marketing: Increase patient referrals

Effective internal marketing requires consistency and execution. Being able to implement strategies separates high-performance practices from those offices struggling to grow in a slow economy

Implement marketing targets. The internal marketing targets Levin Group recommends include the following:

• Implement a minimum of 15 ongoing strategies to drive patient referrals. Less than 15 strategies results in inconsistent referrals.

• Budget 3% to 6% of last year's production into your internal marking program. This allows for the best return on investment.

• 40% to 60% of patients should make at least one referral a year. When an effective internal marketing program is in place, patient referrals dramatically increase.



Don't try to do it all yourself. You need an internal marketing coordinator (IMC), a part-time employee who handles 95% of the practice's marketing activities. Working with the team, the IMC implements strategies to increase patient referrals and maximize production. With an IMC in place, the dentist is free to concentrate on providing exceptional patient care and generating production.