Why You Shouldn’t Market Your Urgent Care During the Holidays

It’s the most wonderful time of the year to dial back your urgent care marketing campaign. Let’s face it, your brochures and newspaper ads can’t compete with $100 off an iPad. You are better off saving your energy and marketing dollars for when it really counts.

Statistically, patient counts are down in the urgent care during the holiday season. This is mostly because flu season hasn’t officially started yet. You’re in between flu shots and the flu virus. Your waiting room will fill up again in January.

Resist the urge to start focusing on your marketing tactics to get more patients into your clinic; they just don’t need your services right now. Don’t worry, all the hard work you’ve put in all year will pay off in the first quarter of the New Year when you will be so busy, you’ll be longing for the slow days of December. This is a great time to spend on employee development,
evaluating your clinic for improvement opportunities, and general clean up. Take advantage of the extra time between patients to gear up for another busy season and hopefully an amazing year!

In addition to the fact that your patients just aren’t sick, it doesn’t make sense for you to try to compete with the retail giants for ad space and community awareness. You’ve noticed that the stores that don’t typically have a weekly circular, now have an entire catalog every Sunday paper in November and December. Don’t sweat it, let them have their day, you can greet the community in the New Year with a reminder that you are there to treat their sore throats, stuffy noses, flus and falls.

Resume your marketing strategies in the New Year, so that the members of the community know where to go when those coughs, colds and flus strike. Until then, take a little time during the holiday season to cross-train employees, take inventory of what you’ve got and what you need and maybe even sneak in a little R & R, so that you are ready to hit the ground running in January.