Consider the demographics of our current market with Louisiana's population now at 4,533,372 (2010 U.S. Census). For the 3,110,626 consumers age 49 and under, their caregiver's approach to finding a physician can be radically different from their parents and grandparents. For this internet-saturated group, finding a doctor can mean anything from searching online for a specialist and reading the linked reviews, to posting the question on Facebook and relying on "friends" to make recommendations.

In the old-school approach to building a practice, referrals from colleagues were crucial to the process. Or, families simply remained loyal to one physician and his partners for generations. It was a comfortable, time-honored approach to caring for families, less of an approach for building a business.

But competition has begun to create a new business model. Today's physicians now speak of market share, demographics, and payer mix in the same breath that they discuss patient care. It doesn't mean that all of their concern is left-brain and financially-focused. It means they've discovered that one begets the other. A sound business plan is required to finance the kind of treatment their heart and soul want to provide.

Branding your practice does not necessarily mean creation of a logo; branding means controlling the definition of your services. Branding can also serve to attract the type of patient mix you prefer, not just those who are referred to you, or those that live in three mile radius of your office. It is also about articulating a consistent message to avoid confusion, as in "I didn't know I could see you for that."

Marketing of a healthcare practice has become a critical element to its success, if not merely a necessary evil. That term – marketing – can mean different things to different people. In simplistic terms marketing methodology includes identification of a target audience and the appropriate media for reaching that audience with verbal and visual messages. More comprehensive marketing involves persuasive techniques wrapped around a unique selling proposition -- in other words branding and positioning.

Here's where physicians begin to recoil again. ("How dare we be reduced to products or services!") The reality, however, is that every physician becomes "branded." The consumer will assign labels to anything that they utilize, and healthcare is no exception. In May of this year, the Pew Internet & American Life Project announced that 21 percent of online caregivers refer to doctor reviews on the web. While this is under one quarter of the market, it's a statistic that is on the grow.

Unfortunately, some of today's physicians have not stayed abreast of their online image because it falls in that category called marketing, a place they dare not tread. The idea of giving their practice a name or creating a defining line or positioning statement about their services seems contrary to why they got into medicine in the first place. Meanwhile, the patient stays in control of defining and describing that physician and his or her practice to the rest of the world.

A typical Louisiana physician can be found on as many as six different websites. Take a moment and search for your practice or yourself online. You may find that it's time to take control of the conversation and to take charge of your own branding and messaging rather than leave it to suffer from the slings and arrows of a select few.

The Central Line is a column written by the healthcare marketing professionals at Right Angle, a Branding, Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations firm in Lafayette, Louisiana. For nearly two decades, Right Angle has assisted hospitals and physician practices and has been recognized by national healthcare publications for effective and creative campaigns.

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