To DIY or to Not DIY: Introduction to DIY

Over the last few years – as we hurtle toward the implementation of ACA – we have witnessed medical websites and marketing become Practice Manager domain at a lot of practices. Marketing, websites and branding are areas where there has been a tradition of DIY. Unfortunately, whether for cost cutting, creative or simply control reasons, it is a domain where oftentimes the practice manager has been the DIYer and they should not “do it themselves”.

A key problem with physician and practice websites is that they have been treated like “wind-up toys”: set up and then left alone to run without any thought of how to integrate with the brand and the practice. Going forward, marketing, web and social media for medical practices need to be a balance of patient and practice. Without a significant level of understanding, knowledge and experience in marketing, many of these practice managers are getting it wrong. It’s like us at Crane Creek, even with our knowledge of medical marketing, trying to run a medical practice. It simply does not work and is not an appropriate DIY experience!

Why do practice managers think they can do all the marketing and website promotions for their practices as well as run the practice itself? Your guess is as good as ours, and the DIYers will be left behind in the coming months as choice of practice becomes more commonplace under the ACA.