How do you establish yourself as the hearing healthcare provider of your community? How do you encourage patients in your area to consider you for their hearing health needs? Establishing brand awareness comes from multiple marketing strategies, but one key tactic you should have in your toolbox is community outreach.
What is Community Outreach?
Community outreach is an organic way to connect with an audience. It creates a local connection. You’re able to build a network around who you are and what your practice represents. It’s something that sticks with patient. Community outreach is generally a low-cost strategy, or sometimes it can be no-cost depending on the event, so it is helpful too, especially for practices that are just starting out. The goal of community outreach is really to make your brand known by that specific group of people that you’re trying to help.
Community outreach can mean so many things depending on your specific community, the time of year, and what you personally feel connected to. Examples include
- Attending a local senior fair
- Hosting a “Clean & Check” clinic at a senior center
- Leading a hearing healthcare discussion at a Chamber of Commerce meeting
It can even include something as simple as stopping into a local business nearby with a business card and a rack card that says how you can help. Even if they don’t need your services, they might know somebody who does. They’ll remember you because of the personal connection you’ve made.
Is Community Outreach Right for Me?
Community outreach is a universal practice. Essentially, any hearing healthcare practice in a community should be reaching out to other people and businesses in their community. That’s the way to make a name for yourself, and make your values and intentions known within the community. Once again, if they don’t need your help now, they might in the future. Everyone can benefit from this kind of awareness, so you should be reaching out and developing connections.
Implement Community Outreach into Your Marketing Plan
When it comes to your marketing plan, all activities should work together. The purpose of your community outreach is to build brand awareness for your audiology practice, but it’s also going to benefit things like digital marketing performance and direct mail campaigns, because once your reputation’s established and the people know who you are, they’re ready to rely on your for their hearing health needs.
CQ Partners can help with seamlessly integrating community outreach into your marketing plan. We have many resources available to members within the company. The Marketing Account Executive team can work to create a strategy that’ll work within your local community. Each one is a little bit different, so each approach has to be unique. Additionally, the CQ Training team can help you build the skills to make those introductions. They can work with your team to know what to say when they go into an office and begin the conversation. Then, they’ll help you field responses, whether they be accepting or a rejection. We also have an in-house design team to create different types of collateral tailored to the type of community outreach event. These pieces are customized to represent who you are and what your brand to say. All of these teams work together to incorporate community outreach into your marketing plan.
Build better awareness for your hearing healthcare brand with a community outreach strategy. Reach out to the CQ Marketing team to start incorporating community outreach events into your marketing plan!
About the Author
Vikki Edmond joined the company in 2021 and currently serves as a Marketing Account Executive. Vikki earned her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from West Chester University and completed graduate coursework in Digital Communications and Advertising at the Newhouse School for Communications at Syracuse University. Her background is in healthcare marketing and public relations.
