Marketing and medicine. A basic guide for PAs.

Marketing is a conscious plan to influence the behavior of others. Physician assistants can use marketing techniques to promote themselves and their profession as well as to help build a practice and improve patient services. Basic components of a marketing strategy include analysis, planning, implementation, and monitoring. Marketing tools easily accessible to PAs are the telephone (call to check on compliance); a photocopy machine (patient handouts and practice newsletters); and the mail (postcard to remind of follow-up visit).