Launch Strategy Session for Pediatric Speech Pathologist
PROJECT: 60-MINUTE MARKETING SESSION
OVERVIEW:
Elena had just opened her own pediatric speech pathology practice a week prior to connecting with me. She had already started her marketing efforts but wanted to get some advice and guidance on the best avenues to move forward with to set her new practice up for success.
DURING OUR SESSION, WE DISCUSSED AND STARTED TO MAP OUT THE FOLLOWING STRATEGIES:
Evaluated who is typically the first person to notice a speech issue: While her clients are going to be the parents of children with suspected or diagnosed communication disorders, there are other adults that potentially interact with those children as well. One of the first things we evaluated was who is typically the first person to notice any signs of a disorder. That would typically be parents, pediatricians, or a teacher.
Outreach/networking efforts: After identifying these 3 target audiences, we developed a plan on how to connect with each of them. While parents are the main target audience, pediatricians and teachers essentially act as the the middlemen and are trusted sources for parents. They may notice some signs and then bring it to the parents’ attention and provide resources on what to do next so we definitely wanted to include them in her networking strategy.
Pediatricians: Elena already started reaching out of local pediatricians so she had this covered. Her biggest question was the best way to go about this… pop into the office? Call? Send a mailer? We weighed each option and from there came up with a solid plan that she felt really comfortable with to get on their referral list.
Teachers: While most public schools have a speech pathologist on staff, Elena is really focused on early detection. Because of this I suggested reaching out to various preschools that aren’t associated with a public school (as well as private schools without a speech pathologist on staff) asking if she could do a short presentation to help them learn the signs to look out for and why early detection is key. She already had a presentation like this created so other than reaching out to these schools, she didn’t have too much work to do to implement this networking strategy!
Parents: Reaching parents is the entire goal here and for parents we identified a few different avenues to connect with them - social media, support groups and organizations, local activities, and hosting informal play groups at her office (play is often incorporated into her evaluations so the synergy is perfect!)
Key messaging: Elena offers a unique version of speech pathology with her previous experience as an educator which helps set her apart from others so we wanted to make sure her key messaging reflected that. I helped her develop several content pillars she could use in her marketing to attract parents to her practice.
Social media efforts: Social media (specifically Instagram and Facebook groups) is going to be one of the best ways for her to connect with parents. Because of this, we spent a good amount of time identifying how to best use the content pillars and key messaging we developed to connect with parents on a deeper, emotion-based level. We also talked about different strategies she can use to find these parents locally with a social media networking strategy. These efforts are more of a long-term strategy for her to focus on as she builds and grows.
I know with these strategies now under her belt paired with her experience in the industry that her practice will be a huge success!
“Mallory definitely helped me to work smarter, not harder with my social media posts. She clearly has an in-depth understanding of marketing theories and practice as demonstrated by her ability to clearly articulate the most valuable information to her clients in a succinct manner. I look forward to working with her again!”