At OrthoForum Annual, the writing was on the wall: to remain relevant in today's competitive landscape, practices must make themselves consistently available and easy to engage with.
Why? Because relying solely on traditional patient sources will put your growth at risk - and turn you into a commodity provider constantly fighting over scraps.
That's where cultivating a "patient fanbase" becomes game-changing.
By nurturing direct relationships with individuals primed for your services, you can establish a competitive growth edge.
A patient fanbase is a pool of individuals who have an affinity toward your practice because of a positive experience.
That experience could range from consuming content, a clinical encounter, or an interaction with someone at your practice.
These are people who know, like, and trust you – if they have a need or problem you can service, you’re likely to be on their shortlist of providers.
Here are a few reasons I can think of about why they matter:
1. Owning a place in your customer’s mind
Laundry detergent.
How many brands just came to mind? Tide? Yep. Arm and hammer. Gain……
Customers can only fit a few brands for a given category of product/service in their mind at one time. This idea was popularized in Jack Trout and Al Ries’s 1980 marketing classic, Positioning.
A patient fanbase goes one step further beyond brand awareness and into brand affinity.
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As Rich calls out, patients who access his practice via chat have an awesome experience. Sometimes, the guidance provided is to come in. Sometimes it’s not.
Valuing a patient fanbase recognizes the long-term revenue benefit of providing a valuable service, even if it doesn’t result in short-term gains.
2. The brawl at the bottom of the funnel
Throughout my career, I’ve been weary of deals that come in late-stage and ready-to-buy. If we didn’t cultivate that relationship and co-design the deal with the buyer, we are likely one commodity vendor of many tossed in just so the buyer can say they thoroughly vetted the space. Those deals rarely close, and if they do, the customer relationship is tenuous at best.
The same thing happens in the B2C space. If consumers see products as interchangeable, it’s very difficult for the supplier to create a differentiated, sustainable business.
The danger for orthopedic groups is having a bottom-of-the-funnel only marketing and service offer mindset is this:
If every provider in a market believes "they would have come to us anyway."
Most are wrong.
3. Selling to customers is plain easier
Businesses have a 60 to 70% chance of selling to an existing customer, while the probability of selling to a new prospect is only 5% to 20%.
This is why many enterprise sellers adopt a “land and expand” playbook. They value getting a foot in the door. By focusing on a pointed, killer use case, they can work to deepen the relationship (and the value of the account) over time. It’s a win-win as the buyer has less risk upfront.
Orthopedic groups are beginning to recognize the necessity of expanding the scope of the value they provide as well. Rich Green references “end-to-end MSK” as part of DMOS vision. And OrthoVirginia’s CEO, David Jesevar, has eyes on an MSK Health System.
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As it relates to tapping into the power of a patient fanbase, if you see yourself as providing value throughout the MSK journey, you’ll see more opportunities to engage patients earlier with awesome experiences.
Not only will they go from unknown to known entities, but they’ll be more receptive to other services you offer that help them meet their goals.
I’ve written about Mid-Funnel Offers before. Let me know if you’d like me to resend it to you.
Here’s the recap, Mid-Funnel Offers fill a gap in your funnel for people not ready for high-commitment access activities like booking an appointment.
Examples are:
Mid-funnel offers are specifically designed to be helpful earlier in the patient journey. They’re great for building your practice’s mindshare and affinity to make downstream sales easier.
Offering individuals in your market positive-memory-making experiences early in the patient journey is the number one lever for growing your patient fanbase.
So, you've taken steps to build an engaged pool of potential patients who know, like, and trust your practice. But how do you keep that fanbase actively engaged?
The answer is simple:
Marketing.
Email Marketing: One of the easiest ways to stay top-of-mind is through email. Share new educational content, practice updates, and health tips, and make it personal. Set up automated email campaigns to nurture these relationships over time.
Social Media: Don't underestimate social platforms for driving engagement. Share bite-sized tips, behind-the-scenes content, and interact directly with your audience. It helps reinforce your presence in their daily lives.
Blogs, Videos, Events: Continually create content that educates and solves real patient problems. Blog posts, videos, podcasts, webinars, support groups - these all position you as the trusted expert.
The key is consistently showing up across these various channels. It keeps you top-of-mind and reinforces the value you provide to your fanbase.
Adopting this mindset and developing your competency to grow and maintain a patient fanbase is incredibly relevant for direct-to-employer strategies.
Employee activation and ongoing engagement are critical for benefit utilization and driving ROI.
Health plan directors look to their benefit program providers for materials and guidance to ensure their team finds value in the benefit.
If you’ve already developed the muscle to engage a pool of individuals who might not need you at that exact moment, you’ll be miles ahead of another provider who only offers convenient access.
I believe building an engaged "patient fanbase" is emerging as a key capability for orthopedic practices looking to drive sustainable growth and reduce referral dependence.
By nurturing direct relationships with individuals primed for your services - even before active treatment - you establish top-of-mind brand affinity, smoother paths to become holistic musculoskeletal providers, and a competitive edge for securing lucrative direct-to-employer contracts.
While it requires an intentional, consistent marketing engagement strategy, the payoff of an established fanbase spans fuller patient pipelines, better outcomes, and positioning as the ideal employer healthcare partner.
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