October Marketing Strategies for Medical Practices

Planning your practice marketing in advance is one of the keys to maintaining your marketing strategy in a thoughtful and authentic way. We advise clients to plan for at least three months ahead, so here at the end of September you would need to be planning for October, November and December.

Here are a few ideas for your October Marketing Plan:

1. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a great time to "pink out" your logo, which simply means to convert it to shades of pink instead of the normal colors. Then use this logo on your social media pages and even your website. You can also have t-shirts made in support of breast cancer survivors, research, or finding a cure.

This is also a great time to host a class in your practice on breast cancer or breast-care related topics, such as a breast self-exam class for your patients. Be sure to make an audio or video recording of the presenter in this class for use on your website later.

Check local listing for breast cancer walks and events. Some communities have "pink out" days where the entire community wears pink. If you don't have one, start one!

2. Fall is in full swing. Typically by October fall is in full swing. Some ideas that go along with fall might include a spirit day for the local high school, where you wear your local team's colors or jerseys in honor of Friday night football. You could do the same with local or nearby state or professional teams.

Some of my clients host a chili cook-off, or other assorted cook-offs, between staff members, and invite their patients to come for an open house and judge the staff's entries.

3. Halloween. You could have a costume day or generally dress festively for Halloween - include pictures on social media to generate a positive buzz. Some of my clients host or participate in a "trunk-or-treat," where participants pass out candy from their car trunks, providing a safe and controlled atmosphere for kids to trick-or-treat.

Pumpkin decorating contests are also popular, early in October each staff member can decorate a pumpkin, it doesn't have to be carved per se, and then they are displayed in the waiting room for patients to vote on their favorite pumpkin.

Many practices choose to use all of these ideas and more, what are some of your October marketing and promotional ideas?