The Top 5 Myths Of Personal Branding Holding Physicians Back and Allowing Quacks and Fake Gurus to Dupe Our Patients.

As a practicing physician I hate to see quacks take advantage of patients.

It’s normal to blame patients: “how could they fall for that bs?” But to be fair, patients are seeking answers and, if physicians are nowhere to be seen, they’ll take whatever they can get. We beat this by building strong personal brands online and going where our patients are.

In this essay, I’ll share the top 5 myths I educate my physician clients in during my Personal Brand Accelerator program:

Myth #1: Nobody cares about what you have to say

Yes, patients don’t care about technicalities, jargon, big words, references and basically, boring stuff.

But believe me, they care about their condition and how you, your knowledge and your expertise can help them live healthier. This is why I often tell clients to keep an inventory of questions their patients ask them. In the patient’s words. And then answer them online, just like you would answer to that patient in your office.

Myth #2:You must to be on every platform

No wonder physicians are often overwhelmed by the idea of starting a personal brand!

One platform is more than enough for most. And definitely all you should build on when you start out.

Myth #3: You need to build a huge audience

I have less than 5k followers on LinkedIn, less than 500 on Twitter yet I’m building relationships and have leveraged both of these audiences for new clients.

On the other hand, I’ve worked with doctors who have built Instagram profiles with 50k+ followers and just can’t figure out how to leverage them. The way you nurture your audience is more important than its size.

Myth #4: It takes too much time

“I just don’t have time to do all this…” is a common reason I hear when I’m discussing the Personal Brand Accelerator with a new client.

But here’s the thing, it only takes too long if you don’t have a system. Having a system allows you to batch the pieces of the process, delegate some (if needed) and never start from a blank page. Other than these daily essays, I create my content for the week in about one hour every Sunday.

Myth #5: Monetization means you have to “peddle products” a-la Dr. Oz

Let me assure you, you do not need to sell supplements, pills, devices or join an MLM to monetize your personal brand.

Physicians I’ve worked with have monetized their audiences by acquiring new patients for their practice, creating their own digital products, a coaching program, getting a book deal or speaking engagements, etc.