Can You Hear Me Now? Marketing Essentials for Audiologists in a Noisy Health Care World

Abstract

Audiologists, even those with a strong acumen for business, are not traditionally taught the basics of creating a robust practice identity and dynamic marketing plan. This activity will teach learners how to create a distinct brand that separates them from others in a competitive and distracted marketplace. Additionally, learners will gain an understanding for how to blend traditional marketing tools with more modern online options and social media. Upon completion, learners will be familiar with the skills necessary to actively create, implement, and track the effectiveness of their marketing strategy using proven methodologies.

Learning Outcomes: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to (1) create a brand identity for a practice; (2) identify new trends and how to use them to maximize target audience reach.

From Survive to Thrive

Current statistics from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute of Health show that ∼15% of American adults aged 18 and over report some degree of hearing loss.¹ This equals more than 37.5 million people. As of May 2015, The U.S. Department of Labor reported that there were 12,000 audiologists in active practice.²

Given these statistics, we should be drowning in people who need our services. However, the reality is audiology continues to struggle to find its identity and voice in a noisy and distracted world of health care.

In 2015, MarkeTrak IX released that although people who choose hearing help reported an 81% overall satisfaction rating with their hearing aids, market penetration for hearing aids still remains relatively low. Only 30.2% of people with hearing loss report that they own hearing aids.³ Of those reporting satisfaction with their hearing aids, a primary contributing factor is their relationship with a hearing health care professional.⁴ So—how do we convert people who need hearing aids and do not purchase them to people who need hearing aids and do purchase them? We must develop the marketing skills necessary to clearly communicate with our target audience—our patients and influencers. To thrive in the changing health care world, we have to know more than how to diagnose and treat hearing loss; we must learn how to gain the trust and loyalty of the millions of people resistant to seeking help due to the societal and cultural stigmas associated with wearing hearing aids. Easy, right?

What is Your Why?

In 2009, Simon Sinek shook up the business world with his groundbreaking book titled Start with Why.⁵ Sinek described how it is not enough to simply try to fix things that are not working. He created and defended his compelling argument that although there are those who attempt to influence human behavior by manipulation, those with a clear understanding of why they do what they do have a higher potential to inspire others to take action, even when these others are resistant to change.

It is important to understand the difference between branding yourself and your practice, and marketing a product or price. Branding is the why; marketing is the what and the how. Branding is your expression of the essential truth or value of the organization, product, or service. Your brand tells the world “this is what I am, why I am here, where you can buy me, support me, and recommend me to your friends.”⁶ When you know your unique brand characteristics, marketing becomes a vehicle for taking your message out to the world. Branding is not simply your logo. Branding and marketing work together to create a dialogue between you and your audience.

Before going deeper, I am going to put in writing the dirty words no one in audiology wants to see in print—sales. There is nothing shameful about selling. We are all in the business of selling something. Even if you are not in private practice or dispensing hearing aids, the truth is, you are selling. Every organization—even the most altruistic such as the American Cancer Society—is selling. The difference? A clear mission statement and identity they believe in drives everything they say about their organization and do in the world. How services and products are sold differs among businesses, but every business has the goal to instill trust, loyalty, and longevity. It is imperative to establish a brand identity to help reach this goal.

Answer this question—why do you show up to work on any given day? Time, effort, and a willingness to dig deep are required to discover the heart of your brand. Start with a personal inventory of your core values to become very clear about what is most important and essential to you. Search the Internet for the phrase list of values. The results provide lists you can choose from to develop your own personal set of guiding values. Dr. Brene Brown teaches an online course called the Living Brave Semester. This course provides one of my personal favorite resources; it is Dr. Brown's List of Values.⁷ Dr. Brown suggests choosing three values that really resonate with you. From your list of three essential words, distill down further to one word that embodies your unique business brand. Once this has been completed and you are comfortable with the word you have selected, ask yourself some tough questions. Entrepreneur Magazine suggests knowing definitive answers to the following⁸:

• What is your company's mission?

• What are the benefits and features of your products and services?

• What do your patients and their family members already think about your practice?

• What qualities do you want your patients and their family members to associate with your business?

The answers to these questions are just the beginning. These answers must be incorporated into a tangible form. A marketing professional or graphic designer that can create a professional logo to embody your brand is your next step. Next, incorporate your logo into everything you publish or distribute—letterhead, business cards, email signature lines, Web sites, and social media—choose colors and use them consistently and purposefully. Visual images combined with your descriptive words complete your message.

Remember—you cannot create and reinforce your marketing presence on your own. Your team must be trained to accurately speak about your practice and embrace their role in communicating your branding message to your patients. Your message translates into everything; how your phone calls are answered, how your office is furnished, your office atmosphere, and your office dress code. It may be worthwhile to create a one-liner—or tag line—to express your brand in a clear and memorable manner, example: Nike and their tag line of “Just Do It.” Your brand is your bond with your patients. It is an unspoken contract between you and your patients. Use it consistently and guard it with care.

There are two primary conduits for reaching your potential and current patients. These can broadly be defined as internal and external marketing.

Internal Marketing—The Original Social Network

After taking the time to create your brand and beginning efforts to build awareness, consider first your internal marketing options. There are some basics—logo, letterhead, business cards, signage—that you must have in place. Remember it is cheaper and easier to keep your existing patients than it is to acquire new ones. Example: an average practice has 1,600 active patients and ∼70% of those patients will need one of your services at any given time⁹—from testing and hearing aid repairs to new devices and rehabilitative services. Therefore, devising strategies and processes for prescheduling follow-up visits, timely outreach education and communication, and staff training assures you maintain a gold standard in care with your current clients. Current patients already know and trust you, and are much more likely to open your e-mails, answer phone calls and text messages, and respond to your letters.

Never underestimate the value of orchestrating the patient experience from start to finish. This experience includes greeting guests with a warm smile, sticking to your scheduled appointment times, and thoroughly explaining test results and treatment options. These activities add significant value and instill trust for future encounters. Create a menu of items designed only to offer a higher level of comfort and hospitality in your office—refreshments, snacks, blankets, reading materials, informative and entertaining videos. One of my colleagues in Colorado makes home-baked cookies daily in her office for visitors. Imagine the scent of fresh chocolate chip cookies floating around your office; it is an evocative scent, conjuring up happy childhood memories while subtly encouraging comfort and ease.

Beyond these ideas, there are many relationship-focused programs you can choose from to keep your existing patients returning to you over and over again, including:

• Patient referral programs

• Battery clubs

• Birthday specials

Programs like these help create tangible reasons for your patients to share stories of you and your service with their friends and family members. When they too need hearing health care services, you become top of mind. Word-of-mouth marketing is relatively inexpensive, yet priceless in the potential yield for increased revenue opportunities.

External Marketing—Word on The Street

The days of shotgun marketing—where you spray buckshot in the general direction of your target audience and hope to hit a few—are long past! With our society's rapidly diminishing attention span, how you attract new patients to your practice is becoming more challenging with each passing day. Cutting through the noise in the marketplace requires a smart, targeted use of your marketing options and budget. You also must track and evaluate the effectiveness of your choices, so you can quickly discontinue what does not drive patients through your door and switch tactics.

Traditional Marketing Channels

Marketing channels have typically included advertising in some format;

• Print (newspapers, magazine)

• Direct mail

• Telemarketing

• Directories or yellow pages

• Broadcast—radio and television

• Outdoor

With so many forms of communication available, it is even more important to remember this statistic: people want to be in control of the content they receive. Eighty-six percent of people skip TV commercials on recorded programs and 44% of direct mail is never opened.¹⁰

Print

Print advertising used to be the primary way to capture the attention of your consumer. Today, readership of traditional newspapers and magazines is way down in favor of online content, and print marketing is going through an awkward transition. According to Joji Jacob, the president at the DDB Group, print is not going to die, but it is trying to find its feet in the age of distraction.¹¹

Negotiating with local, community-based publications, age-related advertorial newspapers, or specialty health care focused magazines may allow you to funnel your marketing dollars toward a very specific target audience to maximize your return on investment (ROI). The decline in print publication circulation can actually be a benefit to you, allowing you to leverage your power and negotiate better rates. Most publication space is sold by size, defined by the size of the columns and inches used. Positioning where your ad appears within a publication matters—opposite a feature article, inside front and back cover, right-hand pages—and surcharges apply for specific page placement. Ads can be more expensive on certain days of the week for daily publications; Sundays traditionally garner higher advertising rates, as circulation and readership is higher.

Magazines often prefer more visual offerings, with their glossy paper and high-quality printing determining the size of ads they will run. Sizes range from one-eighth of a page to a full page. Always consider the lasting image you wish to convey to the audience and keep the written content minimal so the ad is more likely to be seen, easily read, and remembered. Also keep the age of your audience in mind, and use text size and color to enhance readability.

When considering print ad placement, speak directly with your account supervisor. This person is likely empowered to negotiate rates. Discussions with an assistant may result in a rate that is not approved and cannot be honored. Base your negotiations on the published rack ad rate so you can refer back to it when making your final decision.¹² Get any changes to the published rates in writing, and always verify you have been invoiced correctly.

Direct Mail

Despite the rise in postage and printing costs, direct mail is still considered an effective medium for patient acquisition, provided it is optimized to the target audience. Data from the 2015 Direct Marketing Association states that median response rates for direct mail with prospect lists are ∼1%, whereas in-house database lists typically garner a 3.5% response rate.¹³

To effectively maximize your response rate, being savvy about crafting your content and scheduling your mailings is important. Summer Gould of Target Marketing Magazine predicts that 2016 will see an increase in consumers' expectations that direct mail be directly applicable to them. Offers based on what consumers want and need, combined with relevant offers with a strong call to action, are key to your success.

Mailings should be integrated with other communication channels, such as e-mail and mobile, while featuring similar graphics, colors, copy, and messaging. Consider adding multiple avenues for responding to your offer beyond traditional paper coupons. Using a unique code on each mailing to differentiate among lists used for similar materials allows you to track which list provided better response rates. These codes are called Quick Response codes (QR). Texting the QR, rather than returning a response card in the mail, is gaining in popularity.¹⁴

Telemarketing

Imagine being able to get targeted feedback on your patient's experience with you, your staff, and your services. Medical telemarketing services can perform a wide variety of functions. Everything from handling incoming off-hours and overflow calls to conducting patient satisfaction surveys, help desk services, e-mail management, and appointment confirmation calls can be outsourced.¹⁵ Be sure to consider the potential negative consequences on using telemarketing in your overall marketing plan. You may experience patient resentment, especially if calls are made in the evening. Poorly conducted calls can damage your community reputation, and training and script writing can be time-consuming and costly.¹⁶

Directory

Yellow pages and other telephone information directories used to use the tagline “Let your fingers do the walking.” Now, our fingers are walking right on over to the computer keyboard, or swiping on mobile screens. According to media tracking firm BIA/Kelsey, print directories began to decline in 2007. In 2010, overall ad revenue was approximately $8.7 billion dollars per year. That figure dropped dramatically to $3 billion in 2015.¹⁷ Smaller, rural communities may maintain a need for a print directory for the next decade, but search engines and mobile phones continue to facilitate the decline of the paper books.

Broadcast

Radio is a potentially inexpensive medium for reaching a wide variety of demographics. Spots—the term used for broadcast ads—as short as 30 seconds can reach a wide audience. Using on-air personalities as the voice of your message lends credibility, depending on the relationship they have with your audience and their fans. Referring to your other marketing campaigns in print and digital can further reinforce your message, compounding value. Radio stations are often looking for experts to interview on a diverse array of topics such as noise exposure, hearing loss prevention, and topics for parents regarding hearing risks to children and teens. Consider your target audience and when they are most likely to be listening. Advertising on popular online radio and free streaming services, like Pandora, have become very popular because ads can be purchased to play in a particular geographic area.

TV covers a much larger physical population area than any local newspaper or radio station. The area of a TV station's broadcast area is referred to as the area of dominant influence, or more commonly simply as ADI. The cost of advertising varies based on number of viewers and time of day a particular program airs.¹⁸ It is important to factor in all costs associated with TV advertising. Quality TV production and creative support must be considered in your decision-making process. A complete ROI calculation to assure you are getting the best bang for your buck is not a step you can skip. Although the TV advertising industry has made great strides in gathering audience viewership data for specific TV programming, this information often influences your decisions about the amount of money to spend, as well as ad run time and frequency.

Outdoor

When you are driving, there are more things than the road fighting for your attention. Outdoor advertising is found on billboards, benches, transit stations—signs you see at bus stops, train stations, subways, taxicabs, and airports—and on vehicles, even your local golf course clubhouse and grocery store carts carry ads. Consider a branded sign outside your practice to draw visual attention, as even a simple sandwich board sign is outdoor advertising. These ads also must reflect your branding image, as they must be seen frequently to be effective. High-traffic areas are most valuable. Messages using outdoor media are ideally short and clear—no more content than can be seen and absorbed within a time window of 2 to 3 seconds.¹⁹

Physician Outreach

Statistics show that physician referrals generate ∼15% of the total audiology market revenue.²⁰ A paradigm shift has occurred in our physician marketing approach; where we used to focus on selling audiology diagnostics and technologies, we now spend more time on marketing disease-state strategies offering evidence-based clinical studies and their relationship to hearing loss and hearing health care. Explaining at-risk patient populations and comorbidities that significantly contribute to hearing loss may build mutually beneficial relationships with primary care physicians, specialists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other allied health professionals.

Reports to your referrals on their patients are also points of contact that you must assure embody the branding and marketing message you have created. Sloppy, rushed reports—or no reports at all—to a referring physician gives a negative impression of your patient care. Other options for presenting relevant information include research-oriented articles and summaries, direct mail or emailed information, and lunch-and-learn sessions with the physician and staff.

No matter the avenue you chose, consistency is key! Dana DeFreece, owner of Doctor Connections, LLC, a company catering to audiology practices, suggests creating a list of providers and establishing a monthly physician marketing routine to stay connected and foster relationships, without becoming overbearing or coming across as too intermittent. She emphasizes the importance of tracking referrals and sales generated as a result of these efforts. Anticipate a long-term commitment of at least 12 to 24 months to nurture these relationships.²¹

Professional Image

Research conducted at Princeton University found that people assess your competence, trustworthiness, and likeability in ∼1/10 of a second, based 100% on the way you look.²² Your style and presentation are important. Decide if you prefer a more formal for casual feel for your office and then ensure your staff has employee documentation defining clearly what is acceptable and what is not. Some offices choose medical scrub-style staff uniforms, often embroidered with the practice name and staff member name to take guess work out of making appropriate clothing choices. Be sure your staff documentation also includes information addressing the acceptable display of tattoos and piercings. Depending on your clientele, having tattoos and piercing that are visible may be important for maintaining the overall image of your office. Many audiologists choose to wear a white laboratory coat. This is becoming more and more popular in the profession. Statistics for other medical professions show that 70% of patients prefer their medical professional to wear a white laboratory coat. The white coat is one clothing item that has been shown to increase a patient's confidence, trust, and comfort level.²³

Trending Marketing Channels

Online Marketing

Today's prolific online access and the shift toward nearly nationwide digital accessibility in the marketplace mean it is critical to have an online presence with a clear and concisely targeted strategy for all marketing efforts in the virtual world. You must regularly and consistently evaluate “Am I findable?” Patients and their influencers are researching and vetting you based on the content and amount of information they are able to find about you and your practice online.

Web Site

In the early 2000s, having a Web site was comparable to having a virtual billboard for your office. A very simple platform provided basic information with the hope of encouraging Web site visitors to call your office. Today, 46% of people state that Web site design is the number one criterion for determining the credibility of a company.¹⁰ Hiring a professional Web site developer to help you continue the branding of your office online is an important investment. Many audiology and other medical-specific resources can be accessed through either independent Web development firms catering to audiology or through resources with professional business development buying groups and hearing aid manufacturers.

Digital Patient Testimonial Videos

If pictures are worth a thousand words, videos are pictures on steroids.²⁴ Whether it is on your Web site or on social media, the direct words of your satisfied patients are pure gold. Video testimonials are easily captured with a smartphone and video production software like iMovie from Apple. Creating a YouTube or Vimeo business page that can be searched and viewed easily is not difficult. Videos should be incorporated into your Web site and other online media. Remember to have the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act (HIPAA) compliant permission from your patients and/or their family members to allow you to publish their testimonials!

E-mail Marketing

Have you felt that your e-mail inbox is overflowing with marketing emails? That's because it probably is. Statistics show that email marketers send nine times more e-mail pieces than total paper mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Why? Because it works! E-mail marketing statistically outperforms every other digital marketing tactic for ROI, with an average return of $44 for every dollar spent. Additionally, 66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a result of e-mail marketing.²⁵ Using personalized subject lines increases attention and encourages 22.5% higher open and click-through rates.

Using subject lines including words like alert, new, sale, video, and weekly have shown to increase click-through rates even more.²⁶

The timing of when your mailings are sent is a consideration in your overall strategy. 78% of email opens occur in the first two days after an e-mail is sent. Open rates are significantly lower on weekends than weekdays.²⁶ Add social sharing buttons to your emails, too. This can increase your click-through rate by 158%.²⁶

As part of your patient paperwork, collect patient e-mail addresses and get patient permission to send information and offers on products, services, and events you are having in your office. HIPAA compliant patient permissions must be obtained prior to mailing. (Detailed HIPAA permissions will be outlined later in this article.) Always provide patients the opportunity to opt out or unsubscribe from your mailings.

Blogs

A blog, short for weblog, is another avenue to establish your practice as expert and current with new technology. In a blog, you publish information along with your expert opinions on any topic you choose. An average of 329 million people are reading blogs every month, making blogs a credible way to increase visibility and establish trust with your practice. Keep the subject matter focused on audiology, or patient-focused topics, so patients and their influencers can read the articles and become better educated. Link the blog to e-mail marketing and social media efforts to drive traffic back to your Web site. Publishing a new blog post more than 15 times per month—which is about three to four posts per week—generates 5 times more traffic Web sites than not blogging at all.²⁷

Social Media

If you think having a presence on social media is unnecessary, it is time to change that way of thinking forever. Statistics prove that over 70% of the U.S. population has at least one social media profile, with Facebook being the most commonly used platform.¹⁰ Establishing your presence, creating an effective strategy, and measuring your online marketing program results will confirm that your valuable time and resources are maximized on social media. Your pages should also reflect your carefully branded representation of your business and carry through all of the design elements used in your traditional marketing efforts—font, color, logo, tagline, and message. Creating and following a schedule of consistently posted quality information will support and mirror your other marketing efforts. This cohesive effort will help to build trust and credibility with your potential and current patients and their influencers.

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the organic search effort rankings created when someone searches for information on your topic categories. This is the essence of “Are you findable?” When your online efforts are displayed more toward the top of the page in the search results that appear onscreen, there is a higher likelihood that a reader will click on your link first. This is important, as 81% of purchase cycles start with a Web search, and 90% of buyers say when they are ready to make a purchase, they will find you.¹⁰ The American Marketing Association reports that previously, SEO's purpose was primarily to generate clicks on your page. Currently, exact keyword searches are no longer necessary, as search engines are smart enough to extrapolate how people interact with Web sites. You can no longer get away with just gathering clicks; you must satisfy the end user's intent for the search, which is information.¹⁰ Linking quality content information to and from your Web site increases your organic SEO results. With the prolific use of smart phones by your target audience, it is important that everything you do be optimized for mobile use.

Search Engine Marketing

Search engine marketing (SEM) is more than just paid online advertising campaigns. SEM includes everything that has anything to do with search providers such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, including SEO. PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising, also referred to as CPC (Cost Per Click), is a method of buying advertising—generally within a searchable engine platform—where ads are paid for based on the number of clicks completed by users (Fig. 1). You should engage in a blend of both SEO and SEM. Various studies have shown that companies with both a high-ranking organic link and a paid link enjoy a 40 to 65% increase in the click rate on their paid ads.²⁸ Consider ways you can add video to any of your options, as videos also increase clicks.

Figure 1.

Example of search results for the term hearing loss, showing results for both SEM and SEO.

For an example of what both SEM and SEO search results look like for the term Hearing Loss, see Figure 1.

Where Do I Start?

Your Marketing Plan

Start by writing a marketing plan. Your marketing plan will help you to establish clearly who you are, what you want to accomplish, where the best avenues for helping you achieve your goals are—all outlined down to a manageable task level. Creating an annual marketing plan is best with specific plans, particular events, and individual marketing choices mapped out by month. For example, create a specific set of measurable goals and outcome measures for your direct mail efforts. Include when each mailing will be sent, a timeframe of when you expect to receive responses, and how you will follow-up on all leads.

Components of a marketing plan include:

• Executive summary—The first page of your marketing plan is an executive summary. This provides a snapshot of the types of activities included in your plan. Drafting this section last allows you to do a high-level review of the key elements you have included in your plan. Think of it as a reality check to ensure you have not overcommitted (Fig. 2).

• Target audience—Very specifically define the groups of people whose attention you want to garner. Define the demographics clearly and concisely—what are the age, gender, average family income level, location, and any other important things about the people you want to come to your practice. Consider adding a psychographic profile, which includes potential patient interests and how these interests relate to your products and services. Define the action you want people to take in reaction to your marketing efforts. Are you expecting phone calls, e-mails, office visits, or some other actions to be the result of your efforts?

• Unique selling proposition (USP)—Identifies what makes you and your practice unique. Your USP defines what makes you different from every other provider in the area. This is a critical component to define for yourself and for your plan. If you do not know why the community should seek you out, the marketing piece is unlikely to convey a clear message to your target audience. If you struggle with defining this for yourself, go back to your original branding and mission statement until you clarify it.

• Goals and objectives—Set your goals and make them SMART. SMART is an acronym to help you develop goals which are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timed.²⁹

• Budget—Determine what you can spend overall, then break down each area of your plan and define the hard costs for creating and distributing your message. Include a cost breakdown for each effort, including costs for development, and roll it up to one amount for your annual effort. Generally, a marketing plan covers one calendar or fiscal year for your practice. An annual plan allows you to assess overall costs, so you can create a feasible business budget. Building in a small cushion for unexpected opportunities that present themselves is always a good idea, if you have funds available.

Figure 2.

Sample marketing plan executive summary.

Your marketing plan, once completed, provides you with a road map. A monthly review of your plan is recommended so you can compare cost to benefit for your efforts. Review how much you spent compared with the number and quality of your responses. If your monthly evaluation provides insights showing lower than expected results, change the plan! Your written marketing plan becomes an ongoing recipe to follow to meet the marketing goals you have set for practice success and desired growth. Refer to the sample templates at the end of this course. These can be expanded for the year or condensed for individual events.²⁹

Tracking

I cannot stress enough how critical it is to measure the results of your marketing efforts. Reviewing results and tracking metrics must be performed monthly to assure you are staying on course, and your results are meeting or exceeding your expectations. Metrics can be referred to as key performance indicators. Simply entering your results into a spreadsheet each month provides an easy way to see and measure the effectiveness of your plans (Fig. 3).³⁰ However, it is not enough to simply gather the data and plug it into a spreadsheet. Once the spreadsheet is done, review and analyze the information to ensure that you are meeting—or exceeding—the goals you set in your marketing plan. If you are not experiencing growth in your practice over time, assess your goals and determine if they need to be modified or discontinued all together so you can refocus your efforts. Refer to the sample tracking sheet that follows. Each field is defined in the table, including the calculation for each how to arrive at the amount.

Figure 3.

Sample marketing plan and budget template.

Key Performance Indicator Spreadsheet and Field Definitions (Fig. 4 and Table 1)

Figure 4.

KPI spreadsheet and field definitions (Note: Refer to Table 1. The numbers in the left column of Table 1 correlate to the numbers in the left column on the KPI worksheet). Abbreviation: KPI, key performance indicator.

Table 1. Field Definitions.

	Term	Definition
1	Gross sales	Total sales for hearing aids, diagnostics, accessories, assistive listening devices, and all other saleables at your practice
2	Total units	Number of hearing aid units sold for a period of time (month, quarter, or year)
3	Units/mo	Number of hearing aids sold in a 1-mo period
4	Closing rate	Number of hearing aid candidates who purchased hearing aids; number of units sold/number of candidates seen
5	Binaural rate	Percentage of binaural fit; number of ears sold/number of aidable ears fit
6	Return for credit	Number of hearing aids returned for credit; number of units returned/number of total units sold
7	Exchange rate	Rate of unit exchanges; number of units exchanged/number of total units sold
8	Resell rate	The average time (years) between purchases for your patient
9	Repair to sales rate	Repair revenues compared with sales; repair revenue dollars/gross sales dollars
10	Average selling price	Average unit price for all units sold; total unit sales dollars/total number of units sold
11	Average cost/unit	Average unit cost for all units sold; total unit cost dollars/total number of units sold
12	Average margin per unit	Average profit or margin for all units sold; total profit dollars/total unit sales dollars
13	Cost of goods sold	Total costs for all units sold as a percentage of sales; total unit cost dollars/gross sales dollars
14	Gross revenue marketing/ad (percentage of gross)	Marketing expenses compared with total sales; marketing dollars/gross sales dollars
15	Marketing return on investment	Total net income from marketing dollars divided by the total cost of marketing × 100 = percentage return on investment
16	Rent percentage	Monthly building rent as a percentage of revenue; rent dollars/gross sales dollars
17	Owner salary	Amount of salary provided to the owner by the practice; owner salary dollars/gross sales dollars
18	Net profit	Total profit after all costs, taxes, and expenses are paid: gross sales − cost of goods sold − overhead expenses − taxes; can also be expressed as a percentage of sales; net profit/gross sales
19	Accounts receivable	Recognized sales revenues that have not been received by the business
20	Short-term cash	Available cash for business needs
21	Long-term cash	Cash set aside possibly in an interest bearing account, for expansion, and other emergencies

Note: Refer to Figure 4 (the numbers in the left column of Table 1 correlate to the numbers in the left column on the KPI worksheet).

Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act

The HIPAA of 1996 impacts a wide variety of professional areas. Specific to marketing in an audiology practice, it is important to read and understand the sections of HIPAA that mandate the protection of personal health care information and how you can market to your protected patients. The privacy portion of HIPAA took effect on April 14, 2003. It defines marketing as making “a communication about a product or service that encourages recipients of the communication to purchase or use the product or service.”³¹

Marketing to your own patient database must always be managed mindfully and with care. Seeking the advice of a health care attorney with your specific questions or personal concerns about current and future marketing plans is advised.

• If you are marketing to your own patient database, you must secure their authorization. If there is no remuneration, in cash or in kind, or in any form for products that you market, and you are paying for all marketing communications, only then can you use the short form HIPAA marketing authorization.³²

• If you receive remuneration, in cash or in kind, or a third party vendor is paying in whole or in part for the communication, you must have your patient sign the long form marketing authorization.

Examples of the short and long forms, along with flow charts for each, can be found online at:

• www.asha.org

• www.audiology.org

• www.audiologist.org.

You will find definitions and frequently asked questions online at http://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/marketing/index.html.

Bridging The Gap

As audiologists, we must acknowledge and accept that our job descriptions are evolving. We are changing from diagnosticians and rehabilitation specialists to become hearing health care sales and marketing experts. We are on the precipice of transforming how the world views our professional value. It is our job to cut through the noise to drive this conversation. Start today by adding one new marketing activity to your plan and commit to tracking and evaluating its effectiveness. Think of your marketing plan as an instrument to bridge the gap between patients, loved ones, physicians, and better hearing. In the words of best-selling author, public speaker, and marketer Seth Godin, “Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them; more able to get where they'd like to go.”

Sample Marketing Plan and Budget Template

This can be set up in an Excel spreadsheet and you can create formulas in the appropriate cells so amounts calculate correctly.

Sample Marketing Plan Executive Summary

Executive summary: overall summary of the marketing item/event.