Tamara’s Secret Weapon For Getting Unstuck In Marketing Your Private Practice

Since it’s almost Independence Day, today seems like a really good day to share with you my favorite secret weapon for getting unstuck with my marketing.  It’s calendars!  Yes, I said calendars. . . and here’s the reason why. . . .

I collect special days, holidays, civic and religious days of observance, days that others (like the greeting card industry) have created and I place all of these on a single marketing calendar or list of days.  When I find my marketing is becoming a bit predictable or stale, I pull out my marketing calendar and get a jumpstart!

Dog Days of Summer

For example, how could you use the Dog Days of Summer? I’m thinking I could hold an open house for my business with Dog Days as the theme . . . or I could take ice cream to my best referral sources in the community. . . or I could send out a newsletter with tips for coping during the Dog Days of Summer.

National Therapeutic Recreation Week

Here’s another example. July 12-19, 2009 is National Therapeutic Recreation Week.  If you are interested in building reciprocal referring relationships with recreational therapists, this is the perfect week to reach out to them!  You might want to make a few cold calls to their places of employment — nursing homes, hospitals, mental health treatment centers, day treatment programs, etc.  This is the ideal time to take them to lunch, send them informational materials about your practice, or recognize them in the community via letters to the editor, awards, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor’s Porch Day

And, here’s a third example.  August 8th is Sneak Some Zucchini on Your Neighbor’s Porch Day.  No, I’m not kidding!  (But it did make me snicker a little.)  So, what can you do with a day like this?  Think about it!  You could drop off a basket of zucchini (with marketing info)  to your local food bank as a community service; you could take a handful of zucchini to your next door business neighbors; you could leave a big basket of zucchini in your lobby with a note for clients to “help themselves”; or you could write a guest column in your local newspaper underscoring the needs of families during this difficult economic time (and, in the process, encourage your community to share their zucchini or whatever else they might have with others).

What an inexpensive way to let people know that you are . . . a little bit different . . . that you think in a different way . . . .  And, what an inexpensive way to be remembered!

Calendars to Get You Started

Here’s a few calendars to help you get started on your own marketing calendar:

• Gone-ta-Pott Holiday Directory
• Today in History
• Earth Calendar

Let me know how you end up using calendars in your practice to energize your marketing and if you found this post helpful!