5 Ways to Be Involved in Your Community & Grow Your Practice - E32
In order to be an active part of the community, you have to find a way to be involved. When you are just starting a practice, this is a crucial part to growing and it can be difficult to know what to do. This week I will give you 5 things that have worked for my office.
Before I start let me give you some ground rules. The first is you have to be sincere. If you are doing this to “make money” or get something in return, do not proceed. People know when things are salesy and it will have the opposite effect. Next, it has to be fun for YOU and you need to get buy in from your office. Life is too short to do things that are tedious and not a passion of yours. Having your staff on board will increase the effectiveness 10 fold.
The last two pieces of advice are to promote the “event” before you start, during, and after. You have to have a plan and stick to it. Furthermore, make sure you open these up to EVERYONE. You want to gain exposure and be on the mind of all possible patients, not just the ones already coming to your office.
That being said let me lay out the 5 ways:
1.Eye Read
This is like “book-it” when I was a kid. The principle is the same. The kids read books and get pizza. We talked to a local pizza place and he honors the certificates I give the kids and sends me a bill. The key is do not go cheap on the forms. Get them made in color and have your logo and contact information on the reading log. We have them color in glasses and after 30 days of reading for 30 minutes/day, they redeem it for a pizza.
2.Movies in the Park
This is a very cool event we have been sponsoring for about 5 years now. We work with our local library and they do all the work of putting on the event, we merely fund it. Essentially they get an outdoor movie projector and screen and 6-8 evenings over the summer they show fun, family-friendly movies in our community park. One movie a year my office comes and hands out popcorn and something related to the movie being shown.
- A’s Pays
This is a year long event in which we have all students from area schools bring in report cards. Every “A” (or the highest mark possible for younger kids) gets them an entry for a big prize. Each kid puts down their favorite teacher as well and when we pick the winner, both the child and their favorite teacher get an iPad. We then work with the school and surprise the student in the class of their favorite teacher and award both their prizes. We try to make it a big event and share it on social media.
- Student Athlete/Scholar
Each month during the school year we give a “Student Athlete of the Month” and “Student Scholar of the Month” award to two local high school students. We work with the high school’s athletic director and school counselors who nominate an athlete and student who is excelling in a sport and in the classroom respecively. We then award them a certificate and goody bag. We have them fill out a short questionnaire and post it with their picture on social media.
- Monthly Articles
My local chamber of commerce has a monthly magazine called the Announcer. I pay to have the back page every month and write an “Ask Dr. Lillie” article every month. People tell me they come to the office because of the articles and look forward to reading them every month. It is good to build awareness and share your expertise!
Make each of these your own and invest in the communities you are serving!
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