Your Functional Medicine Practice more than likely runs on a few gears. Word of Mouth for any Local business is and should always be your number one priority. In planning for 2019, let’s look at some simple things to consider to lift your company to even loftier heights in 2019.

Setting Aside Time

In 2019, I am going to be conducting a range of interviews with some of my customers and their peers, so that you can understand what makes the best in Functional Medicine online tick.

However, I can let you in on a little secret. They plan their time. What I mean by this is these companies dont hope they are going to get things done, they set aside time each week, month to make sure these get things done. So, if you want to be successful online, set aside that time. By this I mean, each week for two hours you set aside a time, to write blogs, record videos, create courses, etc., and make sure everyone around you (that is not involved) knows you are not to be disturbed.

Front Desk Reviews

We recently wrote an article about online reviews services and more specifically a service called Doctor Reviews. Whether you use this service or run your own through Google Business Listings, it is really important to your business as it is one of the algorithms Google uses in search rankings (admittedly, amongst many). Remember, for Google to continue its search success it needs to give people relevant results and what more relevant can you get than results recommending you locally.

So set out a plan for each customer that you know is happy to write you a review.  Have a simple tablet at the front desk with your Google Business listing page open and give incentives to write a review. Alternatively, hand out branded postcards to happy customers that have instructions to post reviews online and then an incentive to return to your Functional Medicine practice for a discount.  Your front desk team needs to be heavily involved in this endeavor.

Google Business Listings

If you dont have control of your Google Business Listing, then you should do so immediately. Locally, this is one of the major components of your success with new customers. Your Google Business Listing needs to be current always. You can assign levels of management (users) of your listing to front office staff (and revoke) at any time. You can now also list services and pricing as well as post your latest articles.

Here is a recent article I wrote with a how-to video about how to control your listing and make it better than your competitors!

Online Courses

2018 was a big year for my clients’ online courses with my first client reach over one million in sales and a few others getting over 100k in sales. If you are starting in online courses, keep it simple. A good start would be to create an online course related to a major service you have been providing. Visitors to your site should be able to purchase and access the course immediately. Each course is normally divided into three major areas.

Course Name + Landing Page + eCommerce Product Linked

Your course has a name and branding. You should also set up a promotional landing page and link it to the product (course) you are selling. This way, the user can purchase the product and access it immediately.

Course Modules

Your Course will have a range of modules that lessons reside under. These could be Introduction, Week One, Week Two, etc. The module simply serves as a way to split the course up.

Lessons under Each Module

I suggest keeping the lessons simple; each lesson should have a video, MP3 (of that video), transcript (of that video), some downloadable files and maybe some quizzes. In reality, you can add any content you like to each lesson, but you probably want to keep it consistent. A good way to get people excited is to get some interviews with notable people in the field as well as just you or your staff.

Common Course Mistakes

The biggest mistakes businesses make when getting into online courses is they make them too complicated – trying to add too many features – making it so that there is ongoing involvement from staff.  A great course can be constantly improved upon, however, keep manual labor support out of it. Allow your customers to buy the course, access the course and complete the course without adding you or your staffs time to the course after it is purchased.

 Marketing

Most Functional Medicine practices do their marketing. This is fine; however, once you outgrow this or have the budget, it is probably time to hire a social media marketer. These companies can do your newsletters, unique content, social media marketing, funnels, etc.

Stay well away from larger firms, as you are paying mostly for their operational expenses and stick to people you can talk with on a regular basis. Get consistency with your plan and stick to it. Create unique content on a regular basis that can be used in your marketing.

Online Consulting

Over the years as a medical practice owner, you will see customers come and go from your area. A great way to keep in touch with your customers is to grow your online consulting business. This is where you and your staff can help remote patients with advice and regular contact. You can also do group consulting (invite only) and charge for it. Google Meet, Google Hangouts, and Zoom all have a variety of features. My advice is to use it internally (staff meetings) first then expand it out so that you know how to use all of the features.

“Newfangled” Term of the Month

Each month we will attach a new word or phrase to learn. It is a good idea to understand a few new terms. Some have been around a while and are gaining traction.  Some are just replacement terms used by marketers.

Funnels – Click Funnels: these are just a set of rules (steps) that you set up, that can be dependant on the behavior of the interaction of subscribers to your program, newsletter or promotion. At its core, it is just a set of steps users complete to make a conversion or purchase

Be careful of anyone telling you these will transform your business, many of these products are sold in a kind of pyramid scheme for the people pushing them. They are not magic and unless setup correctly, a waste of time and money. Stay away from them unless you can spend the time learning it yourself.