It doesn’t matter how small or large your practice is, healthcare marketing is sure to help you grow. Word of mouth advertising only goes so far, and you eventually reach a standstill.
To make it in this competitive field, you need new strategies that provide a continuous flow of patients. We’ve put together a few of the top ways a quality marketing campaign can help you.
What is Healthcare Marketing?
In the healthcare industry, you require a different set of marketing techniques than other professions do. Healthcare marketing combines highly-segmented, multi-channel avenues to acquire new patients.
Then, it continues to work by nurturing them and maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship. You can measure the success of any marketing campaign through specific metrics working with your key performance indicators (KPIs) and your return on investment.
Top Benefits of Healthcare Marketing
In this article, we will discuss the top five ways marketing helps your business grow. While there are countless benefits, these are the top five we will talk about.
1. Turn Prospects into Patients
When an agency performs digital marketing correctly, you become an industry leader. This benefit connects you with more patients than ever before. The right content marketing does more than just sell your services; it helps to build trust.
Trust is a vital selling tool. Only 34% of today’s patients trust medical leaders. To gain their trust, you have to be transparent and employ unique healthcare marketing strategies.
Most patients don’t reach out to a doctor or medical professional until they’ve done their own research. That’s why you must have information on your site for them to use.
By offering guidance on surgical procedures, post-recovery tips, and other well-being guides, you show your care for the patient.
Another aspect of digital marketing done correctly is you receive access to the patients that need you. As you come up in the right search results, your prospects find what they need, and you gain a new client.
While many companies can get your name to come up in search engines, few understand how to target it appropriately.
You must reach your target audience if you plan to grow your practice further. When that happens, you will see an explosion in the number of prospects that turn into new patients.
2. Improve Your Reputation
You can’t expect to excel in the industry if your reputation suffers. Reputation management is the key to moving ahead of the pack.
When a physician or practice gets a negative review, receives bad press, or is sued, the reputation of the entire organization suffers. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that a questionable reputation will hurt your acquisition rate.
81% of patients will read online reviews about a doctor, even after getting a referral. This fact proves the reputation of your healthcare organization matters more than you thought.
The right marketing strategy finds a way to draw in new clients while improving your reputation.
Whether it is on social media or through Yelp, it’s vital your marketing partner addresses any concerns appropriately. Otherwise, problems quickly spiral out of control to the point of no return.
The best way to protect your health system from undergoing a public relations crisis is to work closely with the best digital marketing agency. You don’t want to pick a partner solely based on price because your reputation is worth too much.
Consider the cost of every patient you lose due to negative reviews. Isn’t this worth your investment?
3. Strengthen Your Brand
The world needs to know what makes your healthcare brand different from the other options on the market.
- What’s unique about what you offer?
- Is it your customer service or the technology provided in your hospitals?
With a properly laid out plan, prospective patients know why they must come to you for care. The more people identify what sets you apart, the stronger your brand becomes.
Still, many healthcare organizations struggle to figure out how to take the next steps. The first action is to make sure that when a patient clicks to your website, they immediately see what makes you different.
Your assets should be loud and clear. No matter what your skills or talents are, you want high-quality videos and photos online illustrating them.
If you’ve won awards, make sure you prominently display them as well. Consider pointing out the benefits you offer that the competition doesn’t.
4. Implement High-Tech Solutions
Digital technology is taking over the healthcare field. Patients are digital savvy, and they expect modern services at their disposal.
Allows Your Patients to Remain Independent
This isn’t just something millennials are looking for, but also baby boomers. Tech-enabled solutions enable patients to manage chronic illnesses and remain independent.
If your organization isn’t currently offering high-tech solutions, a planned out marketing strategy helps implement this. Consider:
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- Telemedicine
- Alexa integration
- New avenues of promoting yourself
Consider Hospitals
While there are plenty of health apps available, few of them are actually from hospitals. That opens the door to many professionals who can get ahead of the competition quickly.
Consider implementing a mobile app, which enhances:
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- Clinical communication
- Patient engagement
- Workflow
You can also create a map which helps keep patients from getting lost in the hospital. Of all the hospitals that currently have apps, you will notice that many of the top-rated facilities provide this service.
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- Northwestern Memorial Hospital
- UCLA Medical Center
- Mayo Clinic
- Johns Hopkins Hospital
Increase the Patient Experience
In the Mayo Clinic application, patients request appointments with specialists and view their test results. It’s possible to get care in an hour by simply tapping a few options.
They also offer a daily health news feature that keeps them in front of the clientele. This offer also increases patient experience.
Consider Telemedicine
With telemedicine, you deliver one-on-one, focused care to your patients. With telehealth services, you reach an entire group of people looking for a new solution.
You connect with those:
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- Living in rural areas
- Busy families
- Patients that don’t want to visit a doctor physically
40% of millennials believe telehealth is an essential option. These numbers won’t go down but only increase over time. If you aren’t taking advantage of the newest technology, you will be left behind.
5. Repair Problems
Agencies use advertising techniques for more than just marketing to new patients; it’s also about reaching current clients. With a strategic plan, you can:
- Improve confidence and trust in a provider
- Humanize your presence
- Clear up any doubt
- Improve care delivery effectiveness
- Improve care quality
- Reinforce healthy behaviors
- Improve patient compliance
By reaching out to current patients, they become encouraged to join the team. No longer do they feel minimalized. Their goals, desires, and values become important.
Perception and Expectation
Patient satisfaction comes down to two issues: perception and expectation. As a patient comes into your office, they start with a judgment about the interaction and care they desire.
Then, they figure out if you meet those expectations. It’s hard to address the expectations, but you can work on their perception.
Healthcare and social media go hand in hand. Your online presence plays a large part in what patients expect. It also reveals what other practices offer, so you know what you are competing against.
While social media is dangerous for practices offering poor experiences, it catapults the business of those who deserve it.
Take the time to understand your patients and address their needs. In return, they see that you care and want what’s best, which further increases trust.
Next Steps to Grow Your Business
If you want to achieve these goals, there is a clear plan to follow. Healthcare marketing is multi-faceted. It requires you to attack the market from several avenues.
The best strategies include:
- Content Marketing – A smart way to attract new customers and patients through educational content.
- Mobile Responsive Website – Gain more organic traffic through search engine optimization.
- Video Marketing – Build trust and increase awareness regarding your brand.
- Multi-Channel Marketing – Customers participate in multiple platforms, and so should you.
- Online Reputation Repair – Controls the narrative regarding what others say about your healthcare practice.
- Social Media – Increase brand affinity, long term user retention, and online engagement rates.
- Location-Based SEO – Reach local patients searching for healthcare.
- Advanced Analytics with Artificial Intelligence – Share your product with the right customers.
As you can see, healthcare marketing cannot be performed by only focusing on one avenue. You must address multiple channels at the same time for the best ROI. A perfectly laid out plan pinpoints all the roads which must be traveled.
Beyond the Five Benefits
While we addressed the top five benefits to healthcare marketing, there are so many more worthy of discussion.
Your online marketing works for you all day, every day. It’s like having 24/7 employees promoting your brand.
Despite always working for you, these strategies speak to a budget. You don’t have to give up all your profits to reach new customers. Everything created for a practice is entirely customizable.
What works for you might not work for another organization. Working with a high-quality marketing team is the key to your success.
Contact BetterHealth Marketing Today
Welcome to a new kind of digital marketing, one designed for health clinicians just like you. Schedule a free strategy session today.
Don’t let other marketing products overcomplicate your clinic. With years of experience in the specialty medicine industry, we know exactly how to help you attract and convert the right patients to your practice.
Do you have a question keeping you up at night? We’re here to help.
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