If you are one of the over 3 million current Registered Nurses in the United States right now, you may want to start considering the opportunities to pursue advanced degrees for a career as a Nurse Practitioner. Aside from the increased confidence and your abilities, the outlook for growth in this position in the medical industry is worth taking note of.
The Association of American Medical Colleges is projecting a shortage of around 122,000 medical doctors within the next decade. This combines with a population growth of 45.1% for people 65 and older, while the general population is set to decrease by 10.4% over the next fifteen years. The need for sound medical professionals is growing.
As a result of projections such as these, more states continue to rethink their standards in order to join the list of Full Practice Authority (FPA). These rulings and precedents are changing the landscape of healthcare for good reasons, but without the persons willing to shoulder the responsibility, healthcare positions will be greatly taxed in their ability to appropriately serve patients.
For those of you whose interest is piqued enough to do some more research, here is a map of acceptable NP practice levels state by state as well as a longer article that covers a more in-depth elaboration of the 5 levels of scope of practice for NP’s.
However, if you are already among the ranks of persons who have decided to further themselves, this article’s purpose is to present some modern marketing skills for ways in which you can promote your services and continue to make great impacts nationwide whether in public or by starting your own independent practice.
Marketing Skills: What They Didn’t Teach You in College
Marketing is, for all intents and purposes, a fancy term to describe a more dignified version of what used to be accomplished by newsboys running around yelling out the latest headlines. So, unless you have a want to raise your voice in the local strip mall or just don’t have the money to hire an experienced professional, here are some techniques you can employ to let people know just how brilliant and caring you are.
What’s Your Niche?
Just as there are specialist physicians in health care, so too should there be as a nurse practitioner. Before you can begin marketing effectively and efficiently, rather than email blasting everyone in your inbox (and accidentally sending a message to your ex), you may want to spend some time thinking through what your areas of expertise are, and how that makes you stand out in the community.
In the same way that not every medical provider is right for certain patients, so will both your effectiveness and a future patient’s experience be memorable.
Do you have more of a heart for single mothers? What about those in hospice? Once you become confident of your answer, write this out as a mission statement, read it aloud and see how it feels.
Read to friends, family, and colleagues. What wonderful attention do you bring as a unique human being? When it all feels like “you”, then you can begin focusing and formalizing a plan for where and who you want to reach. Trust me, it’s way more effective and personable than a business card left to disintegrate on someone’s front porch.
Legalities
Being that medical practices deal with some of the most sensitive, and personal issues, it would be wise to consult the advice of an attorney, preferably one who has previous experience within the medical field, and maybe even someone who has helped another NP start their business.
An attorney should be familiar with the laws associated with the state in which you reside or intend to practice. While an accountant or tax agent can advise you on what ways to approach the financial component. We wouldn’t want you working “for food”’ now.
Spread the Word
It’s hard to imagine the world before the internet, but some of you may be old enough to remember that brick of a book called the Yellow PagesⓇ. Where you had to manually flip through thousands of pages while repeatedly humming the alphabet song in your head until you narrowed down the topic and business you were looking for. Luckily, that archaic method has been done away with and now we can just search a topic in our web browsers.
So, build a website — or hire someone to do it. The astounding need for websites in the last decade has pushed innovation so far now, that, whereas a year ago you needed to hire a professional to design, code, and construct the site, you can now choose your own look from a series of premade palettes. While you can certainly spend the money on a custom look, you may not have the income stream yet to support that investment yet. So, in the meantime, peruse this list of the best website builders for 2023.
Are you Open or closed for Business?
So you have a website now (hopefully one that your nieces or nephews would think is “cool!). Great, but how is anyone going to actually locate and click on your webpage? There are after all, nearly 1,125, 374,000 websites online today. Your homepage may be stunning, your services may be the best in a twenty-mile radius, but if no one can find you then your cell phone may not be ringing with as much excitement as you have to help others.
Consider how most people look for a business nowadays: Google or Apple Maps. If your business isn’t showing up on a quick search like this, then people will be far less likely to even know that your business exists, let alone search for your website.
Social Media
We all use it. Some for distraction, others use it to keep in touch, but have you considered how many people you can reach by posting and linking a few hashtags together? Social media marketing combines multiple social media platforms to connect with a broader audience to increase sales and promote website traffic.
Blogging
If you’ve ever felt that you have a lot of insight to share, but not sure who will listen, then maybe you just haven’t found the right audience yet. If you’ve a talent for stringing relative and important information together, you can combine that into articles on your own blog to demonstrate your skills and intelligence. All of this disseminates information while populating your social media platforms.
Putting it All Together
While this is by no means a comprehensive list, it entails a lot of everyday actions that most people are already used to utilizing. So, all in all, you are closer to starting that successful business than you thought. Go ahead, save the world on your own terms.
