It takes a lot of courage to step away from the traditional healthcare system, especially as a specialist. Most specialists get nearly all their patients through referrals, so going direct means building a patient panel from the ground up. Opening a Direct Specialty Care practice shares many challenges with opening a Direct Primary Care practice, with one key difference. Patients intuitively understand the need for a primary care doctor, but the need for a specialist isn’t always as obvious. That makes getting your marketing right even more important.

We heard from specialists at the Direct Specialty Care Alliance who found creative ways to get their names out and fill their panels with patients they love caring for. Their experience shows that grassroots outreach can outperform paid ads early on and that and that credentials alone rarely win patients. Patient reviews can also help you sharpen what you offer.

How should I start marketing my direct care practice?

Before you start marketing your direct care practice, make sure your messaging, brand, and offering resonate with your ideal patient profiles. If you haven’t thought about your ideal patient profiles, then start there. Amplifying a message that’s off target or inconsistent wastes time and money. If you’re bringing someone on to support marketing efforts ask them to begin by assessing how well your messaging and brand positioning stands before anything else. 

Do I need to be the face of my practice?

Yes. The beauty of direct care is that patients get to have access to you directly and enjoy a personal relationship with their doctor without going through the hoops of referrals and insurance preauthorizations. That also means prospective patients want to get to know you before deciding to work with you.

Prospective patients want to hear from you. Credentials are important and qualify your expertise, but being board-certified in a particular area usually isn’t what convinces someone to become one of your patients and pay you directly for that relationship. They need to feel a connection with you and feel comfortable coming to you for their most vulnerable needs.

You also need to think about what your services are and how you want to present yourself to these prospective patients. You want to be authentic and show up in your marketing and branding as you would when a new patient meets you. Everything about your practice’s marketing is a reflection of you as the specialist, so it is essential that you own this voice. You can absolutely delegate the execution of your marketing, but review and approve anything written on your behalf.

Should I pay for ads to get patients?

Not at first. There are ways to optimize your website and get your name out there without investing in paid ads Paid ads usually aren’t the most effective way to fill a new panel. Some specialists at the Direct Specialty Care Alliance shared that they spent thousands of dollars on ads without gaining new patients. Start with free directories and researching your ideal patient profiles, so you can go to the online and in-person events that they attend.

One doctor got creative and took a grassroots approach: She printed dozens of branded T-shirts and handing them to friends and family in her community. The branded t-shirt became a conversation starter amongst the doctor’s personal network and their networks, leading to consultations and new patients.

How can patient reviews help me refine my offering?

When you start out, you’re creating an avatar or persona of your ideal patient, but once you’ve put yourself out there and have acquired even a modest patient panel, you can rely on real, qualitative data. 

Use the reviews as a guide to recall the various interactions you’ve had with real patients because the review itself may not have all of the insights, but you as the specialist do. What problem was this patient struggling with? What did other doctors miss that you uncovered? How did you solve their problem? What did the continuity of care look like? 

From the patient’s review, what was the most valuable part of their experience with you? That shows you what you do best and how to talk about it. And it’s also an opportunity to review where these patients are coming from and increase those marketing efforts to attract more of those patients.

Should I outsource marketing for my practice?

If marketing isn’t where you want to spend your time, or your own efforts aren’t bringing in patients, hiring a fractional marketing professional is a great way to get the expertise and support that you wouldn’t get otherwise. However, when you do engage outside marketing support, start small, and outline clear timelines of what should be completed. The goal is to connect with qualified leads who will turn into patients that you love caring for! 

What’s the best way to vet marketing partners?

Go beyond the testimonials page and ask to speak with someone who has worked with them before and achieved results. It’s even better to connect with another specialist who got results from engaging with that particular marketing resource. 

Want more insights and support? Connect with the Direct Specialty Care Alliance.