As a healthcare professional, you have a lot on your plate! Not only do you have to provide quality care for your patients, but you also have to worry about marketing yourself and your practice.
Fortunately, there are some easy marketing tips that you can use to get the word out about your healthcare services.
These tips range from basic to advanced, but they can all be learned quickly. Or if your time is really tight, they can be delegated to your employees or to a marketing team.
Here are marketing tips for healthcare professionals that you can actually follow, no matter how busy you are!
Big Changes Make for Big Opportunities
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a rise in interest in medical information.
People are spending more time searching for healthcare resources, making sure they can trust a healthcare provider before working with him and learning more about each healthcare organization before choosing to visit the practice.
This is why there is a great opportunity now to try healthcare content marketing or improve your overall digital marketing strategy and see results fast.
Tell Me the Importance of Healthcare Marketing?
Marketing for healthcare professionals is important for several reasons:
First, healthcare marketing can help to build awareness around your practice and what you offer. This can attract new patients and grow your business.
Second, by sharing information about your experience, qualifications, and successes, you can establish yourself as a credible source of medical care. This can help to build trust with potential patients and convince them to choose your practice over others.
Additionally, marketing can help to create a relationship of trust between a healthcare professional and her patients. By communicating effectively and building trust, you can retain existing patients and encourage them to refer you to others.
Finally, healthcare marketing can help to differentiate your practice from other, competing medical practices in the area.
In a competitive market, it is important for you to stand out and show why your services are the best option for potential patients. Healthcare marketing can be a powerful tool for achieving all of these goals.
So first, we'll start with the basics:
The Easiest Starting Point: Your Provider Profile Listings
Updating your practice information is one of the easiest places to start when diving into healthcare marketing initiatives!
Correct information has a positive ripple effect
As a medical professional, it is essential that you have accurate and up-to-date information listed on your provider profile.
This not only helps potential patients find you more easily, but it also helps to improve your ranking on search engines like Google. Uniform listings across all platforms help to inform Google of the accuracy of the information displayed about your medical practice.
Be sure to check that your healthcare website is listed and the link works, your phone number, contact information, and office hours are correct, and you have pictures of the office to help prospective patients find you.
Keeping these things up to date will help you appear higher in search results and give your visibility an instant boost. This will positively impact any marketing strategy you try.
What if I can't access the listings to update them?
Sometimes when you start the process of making sure your information is accurate everywhere online, you'll come across listings that you cannot edit.
This can happen if you are not the owner of the listing. It may be owned by someone previously associated with your practice, or simply be an anonymous listing generated based on old information online.
You can request ownership of most provider listings, or in some cases request the removal of inaccurate information if full ownership is not available. This may be even easier on sites that are specifically for healthcare providers.
If one or two listings remain elusive, but you have updated your information everywhere else, your marketing strategy will still benefit from your efforts to clean up as much of your information as possible.
What "provider listings" should I be sure to check?
If you've updated your main listings (your website, your Google My Business profile, your social media profiles, and other healthcare organization directories you participate with), it's always a good idea to run a Google search of your practice.
You want to dig up any Yelp, Yellow Pages, Better Business Bureau, or other sites that have your practice listed so you can claim and update, or remove, your listing from those sites.
You also want to prioritize directories that list many healthcare providers. If you are listed incorrectly next to others who have current information, it can cause your competitors to earn the patients who would have contacted you.
Optimize Your Practice Website for Patient Experience
Now that your updated listings are bringing traffic to your website, it's time to make sure it's ready for it!
When doing so, keep user experience in mind as you go through your site.
Your website is often the first interaction potential and new patients will have with your practice - so it's important to make sure it's optimized for patient experience.
While marketing efforts may typically focus on attracting new patients, it's important to remember the importance of marketing to current patients, too.
A few key things to keep in mind when optimizing your website for patient experience are custom features, speed, mobile responsiveness, and interactivity.
By keeping these things in mind, you can create a website that not only attracts patients, but also provides them with a positive experience that keeps them coming back.
Build a mobile-friendly website
As a healthcare professional, it's important to have a mobile-friendly website. 60% of internet users use mobile devices, and many of them use these devices to search for healthcare information.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, you may lose potential patients.
Mobile-friendly websites are easy to navigate and look good on all devices. They load quickly, which is important for users with limited data plans.
They also include easy ways to book an appointment or call your office so the prospective patient can reach you quickly and easily.
To build a mobile-friendly website, you'll need to choose a responsive theme and design your pages for smaller screens. You'll also need to optimize your images and videos for faster loading times.
Making sure there's an easy button or form to use to book an appointment or request a consultation will help your site bring in patients faster.
By following these steps, you can ensure that your healthcare website is accessible and user-friendly for its visitors.
Spotlight the information your patients want to see
When potential patients visit your website, you want to make sure they can find the information they're looking for easily. That's why it's important to spotlight the information that's most relevant to patients on your website.
You can do this by prominently featuring things like your locations, office hours, and contact information. You should also make it easy for patients to find information about the services you offer.
If your website is for healthcare professionals, be sure to include clear and concise descriptions of your services, as well as links to additional resources.
By making it easy for potential and current patients to find the information they need on your website, you can create a positive experience that will encourage them to return.
Make it visually interesting
Make sure the overall design of your website is current and visually appealing. You want patients to enjoy using your site!
This doesn't mean that you need to spend a fortune on a flashy website - but including patient pictures, before and after shots, and dynamic colors can help to make your site more visually interesting.
Easy navigation also lends a calming appearance to your website. Remember that first impressions matter. Take the time to review your website content and make sure that it's accurate, up-to-date, and free of typos or other errors.
Potential patients will form their opinion of your practice based on what they see on your website - so make sure it's putting your best foot forward!
Don't forget to harness the power of landing pages!
A landing page is a specific web page that's designed to capture a visitor's attention and convert them into a lead. When used effectively, landing pages can be a powerful tool for healthcare marketing.
To create an effective landing page, you'll need to include a strong headline, compelling copy, and a clear call-to-action (CTA). You should also make sure it's easy to read and simple to scan.
For some platforms, it may make more sense to link to a specific landing page, rather than your general website.
This is where analytics (we discuss these soon!) can help direct your efforts to even greater success.
Design a Powerful Social Media Healthcare Marketing Plan
Social media marketing for healthcare professionals can be a great way to connect with potential and current patients, as well as build up your brand.
However, it's important to create a plan that will ensure your success. Social media platforms can be tricky to learn and have specific tactics that work better on certain platforms than others.
Some things to consider when creating your social media healthcare marketing plan are:
Who is your target audience?
What platforms will you use?
What kind of content will you share?
How often will you post?
What are your goals?
By taking the time to answer these questions, you'll be on your way to designing a powerful social media healthcare marketing plan that will help you achieve your goals.
Stand out and be consistent
When it comes to social media healthcare marketing, you need to lean into the things that make you and your practice unique!
No one has the same team that your practice has, so give your employees the spotlight. Highlight your unique services, and be sure to use branded hashtags and images.
You should also aim for consistency across all of your social media platforms. This means using the same visuals, language, and overall brand voice.
By being consistent, you'll make it easier for patients (and potential patients) to connect with your practice - both online and offline. You also build up even greater trust in your practice as a healthcare authority who is active in the community.
But, I don't have time to create social media posts!
Yes, the above can sound overwhelming. If you tried to do it all at once, it would be!
But if you take it one step at a time, you will be surprised how quickly you are able to establish a rhythm and keep the inspiration flowing. Starting is always the hardest part, but there are easier ways to get going.
Decide which platforms you want to focus on, taking it one at a time. Then, create a content calendar and batch create your posts in advance. Make use of tools and resources to streamline the process.
Finally, teach your team members (or outsource a social media team) how to create the content you want. Don't try to do it alone!
By taking these steps, you'll be able to create social media content quickly and easily, without sacrificing quality or creativity.
Consider Adding a Blog to Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy
Blogging is a great way to share more information about your healthcare services, as well as build up your credibility and authority.
Patients are always looking for reliable sources of information. If you can provide that for them, they're more likely to turn to you for their healthcare needs.
Target difficult keywords or search terms
Blogs can make it easier to target long tail keywords (long tail keywords are simply keywords that are more like a phrase and often more than five or six words in length).
Commonly searched questions or phrases that look awkward or forced in a headline or social media post can look right at home in a blog post that explains a service more in depth.
For example, if you want to write a blog post about "How to pick the right pediatrician for your family", you can target the keyword phrase "pediatrician for your family" without having to worry about it sounding forced.
By targeting these longer keywords or phrases, you're more likely to show up in search results - which means more potential patients will find you.
Build up content that is easy to use for other platforms
By creating blog content, you're also building up a wealth of content that can be used for social media posts or even for other marketing collateral.
This means that your time investment in blogging can have a ripple effect, benefiting your healthcare marketing strategy in multiple ways.
Your blog is also a great place to show off your practice's personality. Do you have a sense of humor? Is your team passionate about something outside of work? Share that with your readers!
The goal is to show potential patients that you're more than just a healthcare provider - you're also a group of people that they can relate to and trust.
Don't forget to reshare this on your social media once you add it to your blog!
Develop a Local Search Engine Optimization Strategy
Local search engine optimization (SEO) is a process of optimizing a website for specific geographical locations. It is an important part of any healthcare marketing strategy, as it helps to ensure that your website is visible to potential patients in your area.
There are a number of different factors that contribute to local SEO, including the inclusion of geographic keywords, backlinks from local websites, and positive reviews.
By taking the time to develop a comprehensive local SEO strategy, you can ensure that your healthcare website is visible to those who are most likely to need your services.
Local SEO boosts community awareness and trust
You can increase how frequently locals see your business when you tap into the local search opportunities.
If the members of your local community see your business frequently when they are searching for other local businesses, they will start to think of your business as another go-to place for their neighbors.
When this happens, it creates a stronger feeling of trust and means that, when they need the services you offer, you will come to mind first because they're already used to seeing you and thinking positively about your practice.
By advertising locally, you can share the love across other practices!
Another benefit to leaning into local SEO is that you can connect with other local businesses for potential cross-promotional opportunities.
These relationships can be very beneficial for both parties involved and can help to increase brand awareness for your healthcare practice.
If you offer a specific set of services or specialize in one area, partner with a complementary medical practice who can serve as the "next stop" or additional support for a patient with multifaceted needs.
For example, a dental practice could partner with an orthodontist, so between the two of them they make sure their patients have access to all the oral and dental care they need to be well.
Not only are partnerships between healthcare practices beneficial for promotional reasons, but it also showcases the care of your practice.
If you are willing to partner with and promote other healthcare providers for the benefit of your patients, your patients will feel like you truly care about their wellbeing. This only continues to increase the positive opinion of your practice in your community!
Remember that SEO is not a one-time task. It is an ongoing effort that should be included in your overall marketing plan. Make sure you assess the local trends periodically and update your local advertising efforts accordingly.
Generate Leads with Google Ads and Social Ads
To gain that extra edge, whether it be in local advertising or service-based outreach, paid ads are the way to go.
Digital advertising is extremely competitive, but is crucial to driving leads and getting patients for large revenue operations.
Digital advertising is distributed via several channels, including Google Ads and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. These platforms can have the biggest influence in digital healthcare advertising, depending on which services you are promoting and who your target audience is.
Google Ads for healthcare
Google Ads is a form of paid advertising that allows you to place your ads on Google.com and millions of other websites across the web.
When someone searches for something related to your ad, such as "dental practice in Raleigh," your ad may appear at the top of the search results.
Paid ads on Google can be a great way to generate leads for your healthcare business. However, it is important to note that you will be competing with other businesses for space on the search engine results page (SERP).
The key to success with Google Ads is to create ads that are relevant and targeted to your audience. If your SEO is already high and you're still not hitting the top of the page, you can outbid your competitors with your paid ads to make sure you win the premium spot.
While you're setting up Google ads, be sure to consider advertising on less common search engines as well.
Search engines like Bing or Yahoo can return surprising results! Oftentimes the ads are much less expensive, but still reach a decent audience that converts.
When you're launching a new healthcare marketing strategy, you want to make sure you test the options available before you rule them out completely. A less popular platform could end up being your secret spot for bringing in great prospective patients!
Don't underestimate the ROI of social ads
Think outside the Google box for your healthcare marketing needs and make sure you're using all the tools at your disposal to reach your target audience!
You can do this by taking social media opportunities seriously. Cover the areas your competitors aren't by using social ads on the platforms where your target audience hangs out often.
That college athlete who needs an adjustment to fix a sports injury may see your Instagram ad before she even searches for chiropractors in the area.
By being smart about where you place your money, you can see tremendous returns on your paid advertising spend and get even more strategic about where you invest your marketing budget.
Don't forget to keep an eye on the analytics and reports around your ads to make sure they're working!
As the results from your Google and social ads come in, review them so you can tweak the content of your ads, the markets you're targeting, or even how much you are spending. If certain ads are not working, you may be better off spending that money elsewhere.
Create Procedure Based Content That Relates to Patients
When it comes to marketing your healthcare practice, one of the most important things you can do is provide procedure based content for your patients. This type of content helps to educate patients about their options and gives them the information they need to make informed decisions about their care.
There are a few tips to keep in mind when creating procedure based content that will help you market your practice more effectively:
- Use simple, easy-to-understand language. Remember that not all of your patients will be medical experts. Use clear, concise language that anyone can understand.
- Be aware of different learning styles. Some patients learn best by reading, while others prefer video content or audio clips. Try to include a variety of content types to cater to different learning styles.
- Make sure your content is accurate and up-to-date. Nothing will damage your reputation more than providing inaccurate information to your patients. Always double-check your facts and figures before publishing anything.
- Keep it brief. Patients are often busy and may not have a lot of time to read lengthy articles or watch long videos. Try to keep your content as short and concise as possible. This will also save you time and make you more likely to create more content!
- Promote your content. Once you've created great procedure based content, make sure your patients know about it! Share it on your website and social media channels, and consider sending it out in a patient newsletter. You can also pick the content that is the most popular and repurpose it in a social ad.
- Get feedback from patients. Ask patients for their thoughts on your content after they've had a chance to read or watch it. Use their feedback to improve future pieces and ask if you can incorporate any positive feedback into future content or posts.
- Monitor your analytics. Keep an eye on your website and social media analytics to see how patients are interacting with your content. This will help you gauge its effectiveness and make necessary changes. If this intimidates you, there are analytics gurus who can help you monitor this and provide fresh recommendations each month to keep your content performing well.
By following these tips, you can create procedure based content that will help you market your healthcare practice more effectively. Patients will appreciate the valuable information you're providing, and you'll be able to build a stronger relationship with them.
Focus on how you help
When creating procedure based content, you want to focus on how you help. You can do all the steps above correctly and still miss the mark if you do not lead with compassion and a focus on the pain points your healthcare services solve or heal.
The most important thing to remember is that, at the end of the day, you're helping people. That's what sets you apart from the competition and that's what your marketing should focus on first.
Good healthcare is all about solving problems and improving quality of life. When you're creating content, always keep that in mind. It will help you connect with your audience and be more successful in the long run.
Depend on Marketing Analytics to Make Decisions
As a healthcare professional, you know that patient engagement is key to providing the best possible care. But what does it take to engage patients? And how can you be sure you're reaching the right people?
Marketing analytics can help.
Marketing analytics is the process of collecting, analyzing, and reporting on data to understand how patients interact with your marketing campaigns. By understanding your patients' behaviors, you can make informed decisions about your marketing strategy and tactics.
There are many different types of marketing analytics, but some of the most important for healthcare professionals include website analytics, social media analytics, and email marketing analytics.
Website Visitor Behavior
Website analytics can help you understand how patients find your website and what they do when they get there. By tracking website visitors' behavior, you can see which marketing channels are driving the most traffic and conversions.
You can also use website analytics to track which pages patients visit most often and how much time they spend on each page. This information can help you understand what type of content patients find most useful and identify any areas where they may be getting lost.
Social Media Response
Social media analytics can help you understand how patients interact with your social media posts and which posts are most effective.
By tracking engagement such as likes, comments, and shares, you can see which posts are resonating with patients and adjust your content accordingly.
You can also use social media analytics to track which demographics are most engaged with your content. This information can help you tailor your content to better reach your target audience.
Email Open Rates and Conversions
Email marketing analytics can help you understand how patients interact with your emails.
By tracking open rates and click-through rates, you can see which emails are most successful and make changes to improve results.
You can also use email marketing analytics to track conversions, such as appointments booked or products purchased. This information can help you understand which emails are driving the most business and adjust what you send to your patients.
Understand the data to understand your patients
By understanding the data, you can make better decisions about your marketing strategy and tactics.
So don't wait - start using marketing analytics today to improve your patient engagement. If you don't know where to get started, look for the right team who can help!
Generate New Patient Reviews
As a healthcare professional, you know that online reviews are important for potential patients. In fact, nearly 90% of consumers say that online reviews influence their decisions to make appointments. Reviews will either earn trust or discourage people from believing you can deliver on your promises.
For healthcare professionals, local SEO is a key factor in driving new patients to your practice. But how do you generate more online reviews? It's simpler than it sounds!
By following these tips, you can increase your chances of generating new patient reviews and boosting your local SEO.
Ask for reviews
That's right, just ask for them! Encourage happy patients to leave a review by asking them directly or mentioning it during post-appointment follow-ups. Make it easy for patients to leave a review by providing them with links to your profile on popular review sites in an email following their appointments.
Many people are willing to leave a review, especially if you did a great job, but just don't think about it! By asking them, you bring it to mind and make it more likely they'll remember.
Make it easy to leave reviews
The harder it is to leave a review for your medical practice, the less reviews you'll receive. So, make it as easy as possible!
You've already claimed and updated the information for your practice (see our first tip). Doing that was the first step to making it easy to leave reviews for your practice.
Since that's done, you can grab the link each platform provides and add it to any digital communications your practice sends. This includes emails, online bills or dashboards, social media accounts, and directory listings. The easier it is to find, the more reviews you'll receive!
Bonus tip: include links to a couple different platforms. This way, if your patient has a Google account but not a Facebook profile (or vice versa), he can still review your practice!
Respond to patient reviews
Respond to all reviews, even the negative reviews! This shows potential patients that you're open to feedback and willing to address concerns. It also shows all your patients, both current and prospective, that you care.
No one wants to share his opinion in an empty room! If your patients know you're listening, they will want to share their opinions publicly.
Even negative reviews are an opportunity to showcase your practice's professionalism and compassion, and potentially change someone's mind!
A negative review that receives a quick and kind response can soften the frustration the original reviewer felt and make them less likely to talk badly about your practice in future.
At minimum, it will show others considering your practice that you cared enough to listen and respond. That is something everyone wants to see from healthcare providers.
Regulations That Healthcare Marketing Strategy Must Comply With and Respect
As a medical practice, people are turning to you for important advice about their health.
You are considered an authority, whether or not you try to market yourself that way. So, you have to take extra care to consider what you are posting when considering healthcare marketing strategies.
General regulations for your medical marketing strategy
There are some general regulations that your healthcare marketing strategy should always comply with to avoid penalization and hurting your audience. Most can be summarized by the old adage, "Honesty is the best policy".
When shaping your marketing strategies, never make false claims about your services. Stick to sharing accurate information about the things you specialize in treating. Avoid jumping in on healthcare marketing trends that offer "health hacks" or scare people into using your services.
You also want to avoid grandiose promises. Rather, remind people that you offer quality services for specific issues and that results are very specific to the person.
You are not a miracle worker, and people know that! Just don't mislead them by acting like it.
Honesty in digital marketing of all types
It is also important to remember that first impressions matter. The images you use in your marketing campaigns should be high-quality and appropriate for the tone of your message. They should also be accurate, not misleading.
Don't edit pictures to exaggerate the before or the after of a patient's condition. And always be sure to receive permission before posting a patient's picture on your website or social media!
By following these general tips, you'll be on the right track for success with your healthcare marketing strategy. Just remember to always be honest in your marketing, and you'll be sure to build trust with both current and potential patients.
Intimidated By All the Content Marketing Strategies?
That was a lot of information to help you get started with or level up your healthcare marketing game! At this point, you might feel both inspired and intimidated.
But don't worry, you don't have to go it alone. The internet has a lot of great resources for healthcare marketing, including outsourcing content creation to professionals.
By working with healthcare marketers who understand your services, your audiences, and the regulations that must be respected, you can see faster results from your investment and start onboarding the types of new patients you want to work with in your practice.
Partner with a healthcare marketing agency for a better experience
If you need help with your healthcare marketing strategy, you can find different levels of support from agencies used to working with healthcare organizations.
They will have packages tailor-made with medical practices like yours in mind, so you'll know you're only paying for the services you need, not something designed for an audience that is nothing like the healthcare industry.
Meet The Diamond Group: A Marketing Agency for Medical Practices
That is the exact mentality that backs our work at The Diamond Group!
We care about your prospective patients and want to make sure they are able to find and access the important services you provide at your practice.
With decades of experience working with a variety of healthcare providers, we have our finger on the pulse of healthcare marketing trends.
We know when to follow those trends, and when going a different way will help you stand out better from the competition. That is because we believe the best healthcare marketing is very specific to you and your practice.
Healthcare marketing strategies built around your medical practice
We don't waste time with generic marketing ideas or digital marketing recommendations that make no sense for your healthcare organization.
That's not how we do things at The Diamond Group.
Instead, everything we recommend for your marketing strategy is based on careful research and analysis of your specific situation. We put together a plan for success that is realistic and tailored just for you.
So if you're ready to see real results from your marketing investment, work with healthcare marketers who know you!
Level up Your Healthcare Marketing: Book a Time to Talk with Us Today!
Now it's your turn. If you liked what you read and are interested in learning more about how we can help you with your healthcare marketing, reach out to us here: www.diamond-group.co/contact-tdg.
In the meantime, check out our blog for more articles on healthcare marketing tips, tricks, and news.
We look forward to working with you!
