Why Some Programs Succeed: A Marketing Approach

Let’s take it as a given that we have a fine clinical program, a dedicated staff, and committed, passionate leadership.  We take an intelligent approach to administration, financial management, and operations.  Those are all critical elements in helping a treatment program–or a whole system of treatment programs–succeed.

Yet even with all those elements in place, some programs are more successful at attracting customers than others.

All programs, nonprofit and for-profit, depend on a steady supply of people who need their services and/or the relationships with institutional payers like government and managed care.  We need referents:  Doctors, psychologists, “black belt” AA gurus, social workers and others who understand what we do, trust us to do it well, and are willing to send people who need help to us.

The key to making this happen lies in how we market our program.

Scott McMillin has some thoughts on how to apply some useful marketing principles to help your program succeed.