We hear a lot in the news about how there is a shortage of GPs, and so one might think that locums should find getting work easy. In reality, there is still a responsibility for GP locums themselves if they want to find more opportunities.

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Although a GP has years of medical training and on the job experience, there is little practical help in marketing. You have to be a good GP, but you must also master advertising, accounts, sales and, in fact, everything else for the business!

Build Your Brand

Start thinking of yourself as a brand. All big businesses brand themselves well, with continuity as key, and if you think about it, you probably know a lot of much smaller businesses that also have it sorted.

Brand goes far beyond a logo, although that it important. It also covers your colours, your tone of voice, even the values you and your business stand for.

Communication

Thinking about continuity, get a professional email signature that gives people all the ways to contact you. That includes updating the default signature on your phone.

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Business cards are another useful communication tool. They needn’t be expensive, though do consider that they represent you so it is worth some investment to get the right quality.

Network

People buy from people as the old adage goes, so meet as many of the right people as possible. Research the practice managers’ details at the surgeries you would like to work, and find out as much from them as you can. Listen. What they tell you will provide vital information about the practice – the patient profile, their CQC feedback – which will help you demonstrate how you could help them. And that is what marketing is all about: building a relationship and showing people how you can solve their problem.

For more ideas on how to market yourself in your career, read the tips from Locum Vision. Once you have a plan, it’s time to look for GP Locum Jobs and put what you have learned into practice. Signing up with an agency like http://www.thegplocumagency.co.uk/ can be a useful way of finding the right work.

Locum work can be very satisfying, so if you choose to go down that route, do your research and with determination you can make it work.