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Be the Superstar in Your Own Backyard: Community Marketing
You don't need to be famous online. You need to be known, trusted and visible to the few thousand people within a short drive who fit your practice. That is community marketing, and it is how most membership practices actually grow.
Start here: the questions this brief answers
Tap a question for the short answer, then jump to the evidence.
Membership practices grow locally. In a 2024 survey of people who found a new provider, 32% relied on word of mouth and 29% on a referral from another provider. CMT's Patient Study found four distinct patient segments, from those who prize insurance compatibility to those ready for a fresh start, and each needs a different message. The best community marketing doesn't look like advertising: a free walk with your doctor, a health talk at the library, a sponsor banner at the Little League field, a handwritten note to a teacher, a coffee with the cardiologist down the street. Pick your segments, show up where they already are, sound like care instead of a pitch, and plan it in 90-day cycles. CMT's free Community Marketing Planner walks you through each step.
“When you have a heart for your community, you don't have to compete on price. Without community, you're a commodity. Be the superstar in your own backyard, and the rest of the world can wait.”
Where do new patients come from?
In a 2024 survey, 32% of people who found a new provider used word of mouth and 29% a referral from another provider; search and reviews also mattered.
Go to the full answer ↓Who should we market to?
Start with the CMT Patient Study's four segments. They want different things, so they need different messages. The planner helps you choose.
Go to the full answer ↓What does community marketing look like?
Walks, talks, sponsorships, notes and coffee with local physicians: being present and useful where your patients already are. Part 3 has ideas.
Go to the full answer ↓How do I plan it?
In 90-day cycles. CMT's free Community Marketing Planner produces a 90-day plan, checks whether your message sounds like care, and helps you plan conversations with local physicians.
Go to the full answer ↓You don't have to be famous. You have to be known.
One of Michael Tetreault’s marketing mentors gave him advice that still hangs on his wall: “You don’t have to be seen everywhere (on the Internet; on social media; you name it), just be the superstar in your own backyard!”1
That’s community marketing. And for a membership practice, it’s where growth actually comes from.
In a 2024 Harmony Healthcare IT survey of people who had found a new provider, 32% relied on word of mouth and 29% on a referral from another provider, alongside online search and reviews.2 Industry Research Every one of those starts with someone local knowing your name.
When you have a heart for your community, you don't have to compete on price. Without community, you're a commodity.
A mentor’s line quoted in Branded (2025).1
Four kinds of patients, four different messages
The CMT Patient Study grouped 561 patients by two things: how satisfied they are with their current doctor, and how important insurance or Medicare compatibility is to them.3 Practice Insight
| Segment | What they may need to hear (CMT inference) |
|---|---|
| Coverage Keepers | How membership works with their insurance or Medicare, and that they won't lose what they have |
| Careful Movers | That change can be safe: a clear path, no surprises |
| Level-Uppers | What more they get: time, access, a relationship |
| Fresh-Starters | A fresh start with a doctor who listens and answers the phone |
Message ideas are CMT inference, not findings of the study. The Community Marketing Planner helps you decide which segments fit your practice.
Be useful where they already are
Community marketing works best when it doesn’t feel like marketing. A few ideas from CMT’s books:4,
Teach
A free talk on a community health topic at the library, a church or an employer.
Walk
Walk with a Doc is a free, doctor-led walking program founded in 2005 by a Columbus cardiologist; each walk starts with a short health talk, and it has more than 500 chapters worldwide.6
Sponsor
A local school team or community event that fits your values.
Serve
A "Stock the Station" drive collecting supplies for your local fire station.
Thank
A handwritten note to a teacher, a public official or a colleague every week (Brief No. 64).
Connect
Coffee with physicians in your area who could refer to you, and to whom you refer (Brief No. 78).
“While cheering at my son’s game, I do four things: root for him, check the sponsor wall, chat with neighbors, and scroll my phone.” Practices often think they’re too busy for school sponsorships and community events, Michael writes. “But trust me, these chances are golden!”
From Remark-ology (2025).5
Sound like care, not a pitch
The quickest way to lose a room is to turn a health talk into a sales presentation. Teach something genuinely useful. Answer questions. Leave contact information. Let people come to you.
The Community Marketing Planner includes a message check for exactly this: it tests whether what you plan to say sounds like care or like a pitch.
| Instead of | Try |
|---|---|
| “Join our concierge program for just $X a month!” | “Here are three things you can do this winter to protect your heart. If you ever want a doctor who has time to talk about this, here’s how to reach us.” |
| “We’re the best doctors in town.” | “We limit our practice size so we can answer your calls and see you the same or next day.” |
CMT original examples.
Free events, giveaways and partnerships can raise kickback, beneficiary inducement and patient brokering questions. Never pay or reward anyone for referrals without a healthcare attorney's review (Brief No. 51), and keep giveaways to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries within OIG's nominal value limits.7 This brief is educational and is not legal advice.
Plan it in 90 days
Pick your segments. Write your one-sentence "known for" (Brief No. 58). Run your message check.
Choose two community activities and two physician coffees. Put them on the calendar.
Show up. Teach, walk, sponsor, thank. Track where every new inquiry heard about you.
Review what worked. Keep one activity, drop one, add one. Start the next 90 days.
CMT original plan structure, matching the Community Marketing Planner's 90-day format.
Build your 90-day community plan now: choose your segments, find where they are, plan local physician conversations and check your message.
Free. No sign-up. Your answers stay in your browser. It helps you pick the patient segments that fit your practice, find where they are, plan conversations with local physicians, check that your message sounds like care rather than a pitch, and leave with a 90-day plan.
Local first
Be the superstar in your own backyard.
Know who
Four segments, four messages.
Care, not pitch
Be useful where your community already is.
How this brief was built
This brief draws on a 2024 Harmony Healthcare IT survey as reported by TechTarget, the CMT Patient Study (Brief No. 9), HHS's Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion on Walk with a Doc, and CMT's books. The CMT Patient Study respondents were self-selected and describe themselves, not all patients. The Community Marketing Planner is a free CMT tool; answers stay in the user's browser.
How to read the evidence types
Every key finding is labeled by evidence type. Labels describe the type of evidence, not its value. Each type answers different questions. Funding is disclosed on every source.
Randomized trials and systematic reviews.Best for cause and effect.
Large observational studies and government data.Best for trends at scale.
Surveys, smaller studies and expert consensus.Best for real-world experience.
Company-sponsored or company-reported data that is not peer-reviewed.Best for early signals and operating data.
Statutes, regulation and official guidance.Best for what is required.
What we don't know
- Which community activities most often lead to new memberships; practices rarely track the source.
- How the four CMT segments are distributed in any particular community.
How to cite this brief
External review: this brief has not yet been reviewed by an outside expert. When review is complete, the reviewer is credited by name above with any conflicts of interest, and the version number is updated. Reviewers check accuracy and fairness; CMT is responsible for the final content.
Corrections policy: when an error is identified, CMT corrects it in the open and updates the version number above. Send corrections to the editor through conciergemedicinetoday.net.
Related CMT Research Briefs
References
- Tetreault M. Branded: The Concierge Medicine Doctor. Softcover edition. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC; 2025. Includes CMT online polls the publisher describes as not scientific.Funding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-published; no outside funder) CMT original
- Heath S. Most patients find new doc online, via provider directories (on a Harmony Healthcare IT survey conducted by Prolific). TechTarget Patient Engagement. June 26, 2024. www.techtarget.comFunding: not stated (news report); survey by Harmony Healthcare IT, a health data management company
- Concierge Medicine Today, LLC. CMT Patient Study: patient segmentation by satisfaction with current doctor and importance of insurance or Medicare compatibility (561 patients answering all four rating questions, 2018 to 2024). CMT Research Brief No. 9. Self-selected respondents. conciergemedicinetoday.netFunding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-conducted; no outside funder) CMT original
- Tetreault M. No More Waiting Rooms: A Customer Service Road Map to Help Remarkable Medical Offices Navigate Their Way Towards an Irresistible Practice Where Gratitude Is on Repeat. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC; 2024. Stories are the author's own experiences and accounts told to the author.Funding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-published; no outside funder) CMT original
- Tetreault M. Remark-ology: Creating a Remarkable Patient Experience Worth Remarking About to Others. Concierge Medicine Today, LLC; 2025.Funding: Concierge Medicine Today (self-published; no outside funder) CMT original
- Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (HHS). Walk with a Doc: bringing communities together through movement and conversation. May 29, 2024. odphp.health.govFunding: federal (HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion publication)
- McGuireWoods. OIG raises "nominal value" for gifts to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries (summary of the HHS OIG policy statement of December 7, 2016). December 16, 2016. www.mcguirewoods.comFunding: not stated (law firm analysis)
Educational and informational only. This CMT Research Brief does not constitute medical, legal, tax, financial, accounting or other professional advice, and it does not create a professional relationship of any kind. Statements about laws, regulations, tax rules and payer policies are general, may not reflect the rules in your state, and can change after publication. Consult a qualified attorney, accountant, tax adviser, compliance professional or licensed clinician before acting on anything here.
Independence. Concierge Medicine Today is an independent publication. It does not accept payment for favorable coverage, and it does not favor one practice model over another. Company names and products are mentioned for context only and are not endorsements. Funding is disclosed for every source in the reference list.
Accuracy. CMT verifies figures against their original or best available sources at the time of publication. Where a figure is an estimate, an inference or a company-reported number, the brief says so. This content is not without possible error or omission.
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