UCAOA Fall Conference: Marketing Lecture

Amy and I managed to break away and head out to Chicago for the UCAOA Fall Conference despite all the fun at home surrounding Halloween. I couldn’t make it to all the marketing lectures that were offered, but I did attend “Hands on Marketing: Effective Campaigns & Ideas”, instructed by Cynthia Rilling, Director of Operations & Marketing of Acute Injury & Illness Centers, LLC.

As Ms. Rilling was instrumental in all stages of development for three successful urgent care centers, she has learned the "dos and don’ts" of marketing a clinic. Like many tend to agree, much is in a name. Although Urgent Care has many noted differences from Emergency Care, some states regulate the use of this name as it may be misleading to patients. Ms. Rilling spoke about the importance of checking your state’s legislation on this. She also spoke about adding words like “injury and illness center” so people know exactly what you do. Sometimes, depending on your area, short names like immediate care, walk-in center, urgent care or convenient care might not be as familiar to patients.

Ms. Rilling’s clinics have undergone name changes as well as adaptations to the logo. After realizing that using the red cross shape in their logo violated the Red Cross organization’s rights to this symbol, she had to replace all signage and marketing materials as well. Ms. Rilling described it as an expensive mistake for a brand new clinic, especially since stacks of marketing materials were fresh off the press, and the signage hadn’t even seen the clinic’s opening day. However, she was able to make it as cost effective as possible by only cutting the symbol out of the signage.

The logo underwent another conversion later on down the road, to a speedier looking red and yellow italicized cross. She also had another clinic that needed a backlit sign since it blended in too much with the building. Additional transformations like these required allocating valuable marketing dollars towards improvements in existing materials, but a simple change like this makes a world of difference in getting the patient's attention as well as to their first impression of the facility.

In fact, Ms. Rilling is very passionate about the patient’s first and lasting impression of the facility. She knows that the clinic’s design has almost as much impact on the patient as the care they receive. In her presentation, she noted “If your signage, your landscaping, and even the building you’re in isn’t the image you want to project, you will lose patients before they even meet the physician.” Her facilities’ designs employ everything from outer-space x-ray rooms, to custom murals in the waiting room, local art, plant life, a jungle themed pediatric room and a facility with a plasma screen TV. The list goes on because Ms. Rilling believes in exceeding the patient’s expectations. This is all part of removing the “white coat effect”- an expression she uses to describe the feeling of an uncomfortably sterile and bare facility—the last place you want to go when you are not feeling well.

More highlights of the lecture:
• Offer free or flu shots for a penny- for marketing purposes, not for profit
• Add more freestanding removable signage for the sidewalk
• Always mention a popular landmark in marketing materials, also include hours or other attractive benefits of your clinic, and a great picture of the facility
• Keep employees updated with your latest ad campaigns and specials
• Invite the community into your clinic for an open house with snacks and send them home with a magnet or other marketing materials

We have a winner!!! The 8gb iPod Nano was claimed by...

Dr. Husain of Northwest Ohio Urgent Care! Our hearts are warmed to hear that he will be sharing it with his adorable son who accompanied him at the recent UCAOA Fall Conference in Chicago, where we featured the iPod drawing at our exhibitor booth. Congrats to Dr. Husain and family!

2007 UCAOA Fall Conference- Chicago

Having fun being tourists in the "Windy City". We didn't have a ton of time to play unfortunately, but our late flight allowed for a bit of shopping and browsing. We did, however, experience some great eats at "De La Costa" and "Red Light" for dinner the two nights we were there.


Amy(right) and I(left) working hard on our macs at the UCAOA Fall Conference in Chicago October 27th. We had a ton of fun demoing the brand new upgraded and redesigned FindUrgentCare site for existing members and many aspiring FindUrgentCare clinics. Check out our press release!