4 Tactics to BOOST Your Podiatry Marketing During the Holidays

It’s not hard to find examples of things that most people have strong feelings for or against. No one in the U.S. needs to look much farther than our current state of politics—which is something we are NOT getting into!

So let’s go with a considerably less controversial source of polarization:

Miracle Whip.

The straight-up fact of the situation is that people either love or hate mayo’s cousin. And this is so well-known that the parent company, Kraft Foods, even embraced it in a series of ads they ran in the past.

Now, it’s one thing when polarization happens within large groups of people—and quite another when we’re talking about love and hate existing within an individual person at different times.

In other words, when someone has a “love/hate” relationship with something.

There are countless sources of love/hate relationships out there and you can probably even come up with a couple of your own right now.

Of course, a highly common one is the holiday season—and rightfully so. After all, we’re talking about a time of year where generosity, festiveness, and goodwill coincide with insane levels of stress from obligations and expectations!

During this busiest time of year, thousands of brands—including ones in healthcare fields—try to capture the attention of consumers. In doing so, they create an unfathomable level of “noise.”

If you want to break through all the constant chatter and make sure people don’t lose sight of their footcare, you need to know how to market your podiatry practice during the holidays.

As a starting point, prepare your practice for marketing in the holiday season by having a dedicated team—which can be staff members, family, or a digital marketing agency like VMD Services—working by your side.

After all, you’re going to need the help during the most stressful month-and-a-half there is!

Along with your strong team, here are four quick tips to help you increase your conversion rates and maximize your marketing returns during the holiday season.

1. Get an Early Jump with Some Preseason Prep

The work you put in ahead of time is always strongly related to the success of your marketing campaigns—and this is possibly even truer for the holidays!

You already know the season is a frantic mess of rushing from store to store and celebration to celebration.

With that being the case, make sure you and your expert team properly prepare for the holiday season months in advance. This will allow you to better focus your resources and ensure you get the most bang for your digital marketing buck during all the stress of the season.

Even better:

Doing the work on the front end helps you formalize your marketing strategy for how you are going to approach holiday and end-of-the-year campaigns.

A great way to do this is by starting with your list of business and marketing goals. Keeping your focus on what you’re trying to achieve is instrumental in making sure efforts are properly coordinated.

Along with that, evaluate your Marketing Strategies of Christmas (and other holidays) Past. Look at what worked and didn’t work in previous years.

Use all this information and insight to plan a timeline and strategy.

When you do, keep in mind that a certain degree of flexibility is necessary to maintain your sanity. Things aren’t always going to go as planned—and you might observe opportunities for improvement—so be ready to make changes when they’re needed.

2. Make the Most of Your CRM Platforms and Content Calendars

Going back to the point that you need to cut through the noise and capture the attention of your target market, take steps to meet them on their preferred online platforms.

To do so, you will need a comprehensive strategy integrating email marketing, social media, blogging, and other essential elements. Tracking and managing all that work can be challenging, so make it simpler on yourself:

Utilize your CRM (customer relationship management) platform, content calendar, and other organizational tools to stay on top of it all.

A CRM is especially beneficial for segmenting lists and information—so you can be more specific and intentional in your marketing efforts.

For example, if you know that certain patients see you in the winter because of toe pain while skiing, you can apply appropriate labels and make sure they receive emails related to this topic. This allows you to customize your messaging, which is proven to generate better results.

An important consideration here is to make sure your expert marketing team is highly capable and familiar with the tools you are using to manage your podiatry marketing efforts!

3. Write Laser-Focused Emails

During this time of year, your patients’ inboxes are stuffed fuller than a Thanksgiving turkey!

So how do you make sure your emails are actually read?

Well, as you’re hopefully picking up, strategic targeting is an important consideration here. Emails about diabetic foot care sent to your sports injury patients will go over about as well as a re-gifted fruitcake.

Make sure you have the right audience established for the emails you are planning. Then, invest the time to develop subject lines that will be irresistible to open.

If you can hook them in with a clever, captivating subject line, the next step is to ensure that your content conveys a message that resonates with the reader.

The body of your email should include a compelling call-to-action (CTA) that results in the reader taking the action you hope to influence. Depending on their state of awareness and place in the buyer’s journey, the CTA might be to have them read your latest blog post, sign up for your monthly newsletter, or—for audiences who are ready to commit—contact your office to schedule an appointment.

As is the case with any content you generate, carefully proofread every email before sending it to the appropriate list. Careless or sloppy emails rife with errors can damage your practice’s brand faster than Santa can make his way down a chimney!

The best times for reaching your potential patients will vary, so you might want to consider staggering your emails to be sent at different times. Doing this can maximize visibility and keep your practice top of mind during the holiday season.

4. Capitalize on the Holiday Cheer

Here’s something that is easy for podiatrists to forget:

You’re more than a doctor—you’re also a business owner.

And, because you are, you need to think like one if you want your podiatry practice to thrive.

Successful businesspeople think of loyal customers as being almost like family, and this works so well because the situation becomes relational in nature. Forming and solidifying these relationships are key to your marketing and brand.

Retaining patients costs you less money than it does to acquire new ones. More than that, this can help you generate additional revenue.

How does that work?

Easy. Loyal, satisfied patients are more likely to tell others about you and your practice. That’s worth knowing because all marketing is important, but referral marketing is the most effective.

The holidays are an especially great time to form and develop positive relationships with your patients!

Some of the ways your practice can benefit from the season include:

• Decorating the office to give a fun, friendly vibe
• Participating in charitable events and food drives (etc.) popular this time of year
• Hosting contests related to various holidays
• Posting pics of celebrations on your social media accounts
• Creating short videos of staff members saying what they’re thankful for (and then sharing on Facebook and Instagram)
• Offering seasonal discounts

These are just a handful of the many ways you can take advantage of holiday spirit to convey personality and establish your brand as one people will like. That might be more important than you think:

People do business (like make appointments) with brands (like your practice’s) they enjoy, trust, and find to be credible.

If you get your holiday marketing right, you will be their first choice when they need the podiatric services you provide!

“Jingle Bell Rock” Your Marketing During the Holiday Season!

Whereas people generally want more on their plate at a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, you probably want less from your metaphorical plate during the holidays, right?

One area where you can find the help you need is in your digital marketing efforts. As noted earlier, you have options in this regard. If you want to take advantage of utilizing an agency and having professionals handle it all for you, we’re here for you!

To learn more about our podiatry marketing services, give us a call at (833) 823-3335. We offer complimentary, no-obligation consultations and would be happy to chat with you—so contact us today!