Surgical Residents Series Part 1

Part 1: Practice Dynamics & Your Online Marketing

Whether you choose to go into private, group, or institutional practice will directly influence the opportunities and challenges of your online marketing strategies. Context is paramount; being mindful of how to navigate within your practice environment will ultimately allow you to more successfully grow your business.

In part 1, I’ll breakdown the opportunities and challenges you’ll need to consider when deciding on a practice model.

3 Common Practice Models

1. Private PracticeWhile there are singular benefits of owning your own practice, there is also singular liability when mistakes are made. Similarly, while you have complete control of practice operations, you also have complete responsibility. The sky is the limit when considering the possibilities for how you want to grow your practice, unless you count time and cash flow. Taking the time to document a plan of action with a knowledgeable Web partner is essential for a surgeon who’s about to start private practice.
2. Group PracticeHaving more resources is of great advantage to group practices, but it also creates more inter-office politics to sort out. And, while having others in your practice allows you to have a bigger reputation footprint, there is also a shared reputation liability. Likewise, shared contribution to social media, blog posts, etc., lightens the load for you personally, but creates more coordination complexity in your group. Designating an empowered leader in the group to set strategy and direction through clearly outlined decisions will nearly guarantee that you will be able to delineate and execute initiatives successfully.
3. Academic & Hospital PracticeInstitutions offer you the opportunity to benefit from an already well-known brand, but may consequently restrict your ability to stand out within that brand. Technical infrastructures are usually substantial, but can be run by IT professionals who are reluctant to collaborate. Larger institutions commonly have public relations and/or marketing departments you can tap into, but it may create difficulties when it comes to your individual priorities as a new physician. You’ll need to take the time to understand institutional guidelines (negotiate the “red tape”) and have the gusto and persistence to get the job done.

It should be noted that whatever model you choose will have more opportunities and challenges than I can go over here. But, no matter your situation, you can attract patients online.