Fall is quickly approaching, which means back-to-school season is officially upon us. And if you’re a pediatric practice owner, you might want to pay attention as this is a great time to get your ground marketing efforts and strategy underway. Luckily for you, you’re reading this post. This means you’re about to learn how to ground market to schools to grow your pediatric practice.
How to Ground Market to Schools to Grow Your Pediatric Practice
Unlike other ground marketing strategies, ground marketing to schools is slightly different. Most likely, you aren’t allowed to set up a booth at or in front of the school.
Don’t take this personally. Schools generally involve a lot of quick movement, which means setting up a booth would not get you the best results, to begin with. But don’t worry, this post will break down the most effective way to ground market to schools so you can grow your pediatric practice… easily.
Always Start with Community Research
As with all ground marketing, the very first step you need to take is to start with your community research. This is something you can do easily from the comfort of your practice or at your own home.
Head into Google Maps and type in keywords related to schools, such as “Montessori schools,” “private schools,” “elementary schools,” or “high schools.”
This will pull up a number of schools located close or within a reasonable distance from your practice.
Create a List
After your community research, you’ll want to compile all the viable schools (or schools you intend on ground marketing to) on a list. This will help you keep organized as you execute your ground marketing strategies.
If your lists consists of different schools such as Montessori schools, private schools, high schools, et cetera, you’ll want to make sure you keep your list organized between private and public schools at the very least.
This is a step that you won’t want to miss depending on how your conversation with a public school goes, but more on that later.
Start Calling These Schools
Once you have your list along with the appropriate contact information, it’s time to start calling the schools and introducing yourself. Let them know that you’re calling from a practice close to their school, and ask them if you’ll be able to come in, hand out some freebies for their students, and teach their students about oral hygiene and health.
Always lead your ground marketing conversations by offering value! Think about what you can contribute to the school in order to better the lives and oral health of their students.
By leading your conversations with value, you’re almost certain to get a “yes” back from the school and you’ll be able to hand out your freebies or lead a presentation on oral health for their students.
But if you get a “no,” it’s most probably because another practice is already doing the same at that location.
Setting Up a Booth and What to Do Instead
As mentioned before, it’s unlikely that’ll you’ll set up a booth at a school. This is due to the nature of how fast-paced schools tend to be. For instance, it wouldn’t make sense to set up a booth in front of the school’s pick up line. The reason being that parents don’t usually leave their vehicles when they pick their kids up.
However, this shouldn’t deter you from asking if this is a possibility on your ground marketing conversation. At the end of the day, the receptionist or whoever you’re speaking to at the school will know how things work better than you, so don’t jump to conclusions.
There’s a chance that parents park and pick up their children from school, especially if it’s a smaller Montessori or private school.
In the case where setting up a booth isn’t possible, you can always ask the school for permission to hand out freebies and important information to parents waiting in the pick up line. Remember, every school you ground market to is different, so ask if you can set up a booth but be prepared for an alternative solution.
Ground Marketing to Public Schools
Ground marketing to public schools is a little different from ground marketing to private schools. When you make the initial call, you want to ask for the school nurse but you also want to highlight the fact that you’re not sure who would be the best person to help you regarding your request.
This is because sometimes, it isn’t up to any individual at the school to make the final decision. The choice might in fact be up to the school district.
Remember your list of schools you created earlier? This is why you’ll want to separate between private and public schools. In the case where you do need to speak to the school district, you’ll want to refer back to your list to research the district’s names and numbers that the school is a part of.
Whether you’re speaking to someone at the school district, the school’s receptionist, or the school’s nurse, you’ll still want to offer value by way of providing free educational resources like a presentation, freebies, or setting up a booth at the school’s health and wellness events.
And if you do get redirected to the school’s district, don’t get discouraged. This is actually a really great opportunity since school districts are incredibly powerful institutions. So be kind, come from a place of value, and build rapport with these districts. Go so far as to even offer the employees of the district some freebies as well, and they’ll definitely be appreciative of that.
Ground Marketing to Schools to Grow Your Pediatric Practice
As families prepare to send their children back to school, there isn’t a better time to get your ground marketing efforts in order so that you can start attracting new patients to your pediatric practice.
However, schools are just one avenue in which you can tap into to increase your patient numbers. This is why in the Pediatric Marketing Course, we cover all the ground marketing avenues as well as digital marketing strategies you need to know in order to grow your practice and serve more patients.
If you want to stay up-to-date with relevant, effective, and proven marketing strategies specific to growing your pediatric practice, get your name on the waitlist. Not only will you receive free marketing tips, but you’ll also be the first to know as soon as enrollment for the fall begins!
