What Does The Irene Experience Teach You About Marketing Your Clinic?

If you live on the east coast, I hope all is well in the aftermath of Irene. Although the storm weakened from an initial Category 4 hurricane into a ‘tropical storm’ as it approached the NY-NJ-CT area, the damage from this event is expected to be in the billions of dollars. Millions of people were stranded without power (including myself) and widespread flooding was reported throughout the east coast.

Even if you were not directly impacted by Irene, the entire event revealed how people react in response to stress and impending calamity (bear with me, I’ll tell you how this ties in with the marketing of your clinic). These are some of the things I observed as thousands of residents were scrambling to prepare themselves hours before Irene was expected to impact our community in New Jersey:

Despite the return to routine, people are still shaken up, and they will be for a while.

People need comfort and reassurance (although it’s not obvious). Any event that affects the lives of people (especially one of this magnitude) is a unique opportunity for your clinic to comfort people on a mass scale, and market your services as a secondary benefit.

This brings me to marketing lesson 101, which is…

It doesn’t matter if you and your community have been impacted by a natural calamity or not, the big takeaway is:

Case in point.

A couple of hours ago this morning, I received an email from Chase Bank (intended for customers in the NY-NJ area) that was brilliant in its intent and execution. I’ve included a copy of the email below, and a few key things they accomplished.

Chase was the only bank that sent me this email, and I got no such email, phone call, or text message from Bank of America or Citibank; the other major financial institutions in the Northeast. In all fairness, I may get a letter from the other banks in a couple of weeks, but Chase acted immediately and came across as the ‘knight in shining armor’ in a way. The competing banks missed a key opportunity to connect with the consumer on an emotional level, something that no amount of money spent on marketing and brand building can ever achieve.

You can do the exact same things to position yourself as the trusted private practice in your area. Choose from different modes of contact – email, phone calls, text messages or even letters. The key in this lesson is the intent, which will be noticed (and commended) by every single patient and referral source.

The big lesson from Irene is this:

You will be doing a whole lot more than just ‘strategic marketing’. You’ll be doing the right thing.