Reaching Out to New Residents
By Dr. Ken Rabinoff-Goldman

To help their practices thrive, healthcare providers must continually bring in new patients. An always-available and fruitful supply of prospective patients can be found in the new residents that move to your community each month.  

New residents are looking for all types of healthcare services, from family physicians and dentists to optometrists and urgent care providers.  Short of knocking on doors and personally meeting newcomers, using direct mail is one of the best ways to effectively reach out to these prospects.  Targeted direct mail allows you to introduce yourself, explain why your practice is right for new residents and offer incentives, such as coupons for particular services or reduced rates for first-time patients.  Additionally, by targeting only those households who are most likely to have an interest in your services, you can save substantial amounts of money as compared with mailing to entire zip code lists.

Despite the benefits of direct mail, many healthcare providers have implemented this marketing tool and failed miserably. The key to success with direct mail is incorporating three keys to success into your campaign.

Key to Success #1: Have a great message.
Make sure that your direct mail piece captures readers’ attention and solves their problems. An obvious problem for new residents to a community is the difficulty of finding a healthcare provider that they can trust. To be most effective, your direct mail piece can explain in detail the benefits of your service.

Think from the patient’s point of view. They want to know that you offer great quality of care (thorough examinations, cutting-edge equipment and techniques, etc), on-time appointments, friendly staff and a convenient location. As much as possible, personalize the message. If you are sending the piece to residents of a particular community, include the name of the community in your message (i.e., “Springdale’s premiere urgent care facility….)

Key to Success #2: Target your “best” patients.
Not all newcomers to your community will be right for your practice. A pediatric provider, for instance, will want to target people of a certain age who are likely to have children. For other providers, the target patient may require a less obvious set of variables to pinpoint.

Start by having your list provider analyze your existing patient base. They need to identify those characteristics that make your best patients “best” – on a demographic, psychographic, life stage and behavioral basis. Your list provider should map your trade area based upon the “drive time” that people are willing to travel for your services. Within this trade area, your list provider should pinpoint the exact addresses that are most likely to respond to your offer. By narrowing the area of focus and finding ideal patients, you can mail fewer names and get a higher response rate.

If you do not have an already existent patient base to analyze, it is essential that you utilize a provider who can scientifically develop a profile of potential patients for your type of practice and then provide you with the names and addresses of those people.

Key to Success #3: Use the cleanest and newest mailing list possible.
Unfortunately, a lot of poor quality mailing lists are available for purchase. To be “clean” a list must:

• Consist of recent movers (those who have moved in the last 3 months)
• Filter out undeliverable addresses
• Tag consumers who have requested that the Direct Marketing Association remove them from ongoing direct mail promotions
• Include renters (if they are part of your “best” patient profile) and include apartment numbers along with apartment addresses.

To obtain the best return on investment, direct mail requires a strategy based upon success principles. If correctly applied, direct mail can enhance your ability to grow your practice by reaching out to new residents.

Ken is Vice President of HealthcareID, responsible for business planning, market development and sales focusing on the healthcare industry. Serving patients at his private practice in Albany, NY for 22 years, Ken contributes greatly to Buxton's executive medical experience by helping understand the needs of clients in the medical field.