In today’s fast-paced, technology driven world, potential patients are searching on the web for local physicians and healthcare services. They want to know, research, like, and verify through other patient reviews, their chosen doctor before they walk through those doors or book an appointment online!
“I’ve been in medical marketing since 1997. Until about the last 10 years, the senior and boomer generation went off trust and word of mouth referrals, but that world has shifted significantly. With more competition in the marketplace and information at our fingertips, the ‘old’ way of medical marketing simply does not work any longer,” says Josh Cates, Ten Peaks Media’s Founder.
Doctors and medical clinics are always looking for ways to improve their marketing. Whether it’s getting new patients through the door or increasing referrals, finding ways to reach more people is always a top priority. In this blog post, we’ll share 10 tips that you can improve your medical marketing strategy. Keep reading to learn more!
Develop a local search engine optimization strategy
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the practice of increasing the amount of free traffic that sites get from search engines. Keywords are particularly important here—they’re words or phrases that potential patients might type into a search engine when looking for medical services or a specific type of practice in their area.
When you have the right keywords in place, and the correct amount of content, metadata, along with strategies in place for strong organic search, the result is more visibility and higher search rankings for your practice. This is not something we recommend a practice or medical clinic tries to task internally, as there are many factors and strategies that go into a strong SEO plan. This is the absolute first strategy to put in place for more website traffic.
Invest in your website design and content
Your website is the foundation of your online presence, your practice, and your medical marketing strategy. It’s where patients learn about your services, read your blog posts, and contact you to schedule an appointment. If your website looks outdated or doesn’t have enough information, potential patients will look for a healthcare practice elsewhere. Investing in a modern website design is one of the best ways to get an immediate return on your marketing. Ensure your website is easy to navigate on both desktop computers and mobile phones.
Make sure your name, address, and phone number (NAP) is correct across all listings
Online directories are a great way to reach new patients. Make sure your clinic is listed in the major online directories, such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, and Yelp.
Are you listed in all the right places on the web? If not, you’re missing out on potential patients. Make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is correct across all of your online listings. This includes directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and Healthgrades, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
If your medical clinic isn’t getting the online visibility that it deserves, it’s time to take a look at directory listings and review sites. If you have any negative reviews or outdated information listed, make sure to get it corrected and make sure your information is up-to-date and accurate.
Invest in social media marketing for doctors
Social media is a powerful marketing tool for doctors and medical clinics. It’s a way to connect with potential patients on a personal level, and it’s a great way to share news and information about your clinic.
Make sure you have a strong social media marketing strategy and presence on the major platforms important to your practice and patients. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Make sure your social media profiles are complete and up to date. Your posts need to be interesting and engaging. Provide educational content that is interesting and informative to your patients and do so on a regular basis.
Have an active content marketing strategy
Start a medical blog and post fresh content at least twice per month. Make sure you’re posting interesting, engaging content patients will love.
Medical content is important for your medical marketing strategy. Make sure you have medical blogs with information related to the services and treatments offered in your practice. Not only does a good content marketing strategy make it easy for patients to get needed information, but it also increases search engine rankings and improves medical SEO.
Use email marketing to reach targeted patients
Make sure you have a medical practice email list and start sending regular emails to your subscribers. Develop a medical marketing email content strategy, and make sure you’re not spamming your patients with irrelevant medical information.
An email newsletter is also a great way to keep your patients in the loop about what’s going on at your medical clinic and stay top of mind for loyalty and patient referrals. You can use it to share new blog posts, upcoming events, or special promotions that you’re running.
Make sure these emails are educational, easy to read, and engaging. You can also include a call-to-action that encourages patients to visit your website or contact your clinic for more information.
When you create an email newsletter, make sure it’s designed for mobile devices as well. This is important, as more and more people are reading emails on their phones and tablets.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the medical marketing tasks at hand, it might be time to partner with a medical marketing agency. These agencies can help you develop a comprehensive email marketing strategy, and they can help you implement and manage your marketing campaigns.
Build trust with online reviews on Google and other trusted review sites
Medical professionals love it when their patients leave good reviews on Google or Yelp. These reviews allow potential patients to get a feel for what it would be like to receive medical services from your clinic or practice, and it will build trust and confidence.
This is actually one of the most important medical marketing tasks to complete. However, most satisfied and happy patients will not leave a review unless they are asked to.
It is possible to automate the review request process, or manually request reviews via email or text with review software. Remember, it’s equally important to reply to all reviews within 48 hours, a process a medical marketing agency can also automate for you.
When a user searches on Google Search or Google Maps, a practice that obtains consistent, organic reviews and responds to those reviews in a personal, timely manner will have a better chance of appearing higher in the search results.
Start creating videos with your doctors and staff
Videos are a fantastic medical marketing tool. They can be used to introduce patients to your medical office, doctors, and staff. Videos can also get patients excited, visually demonstrate the patient experience, help them get information faster, and even give them the chance to see medical procedures in action.
You can also post these videos on your website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, emails, and your blog. With video content marketing, medical practices have the opportunity to reach targeted patients with educational content that provides medical information.
A medical marketing agency can help you get started with medical videos, and even provide video production for you. They can also help you share these videos through your medical website, social media channels, YouTube channel, LinkedIn page, and other medical marketing channels.
Generate leads with Google Ads and Social Advertising
Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is one of the most effective medical marketing tools available because it allows medical practices to target people searching for medical-related terms and attract new patients.
“Google works! Just one example is a dental practice that we deploy Google advertising for. We were able to track and generate a 5x return on their ad spend. Not only is it bringing in actual patients, but the added exposure also provides great awareness for their doctors,” says Cates.
It’s important for your digital marketing to focus on medical-related keywords that have a high search volume and low competition for the products and services you offer. Equally important is to define and constantly refine your target audience.
There are also medical ads for medical practices that appear on Facebook and Instagram. These medical ads can target people who live in your specific practice area, or even target people attending specific events in your area.
Targeting medical professionals is another good option for medical marketers who want to increase referrals and give their medical practices a significant boost in leads. This audience is already actively looking for medical information, so medical marketers can reach them just by doing medical marketing on the platforms they are using.
Depend on marketing analytics to make decisions
Medical marketing analytics is the process of measuring, analyzing, and reporting on the performance of medical marketing campaigns.
This data can help you answer important questions about your healthcare marketing, such as:
- Which ads are generating the most leads?
- Which ads are generating the greatest ROI (return on investment)?
- What social media sites are patients visiting?
- What types of content are patients most interested in?
Medical marketing analytics can help medical professionals make better decisions about their medical marketing, so it’s important to have a medical marketing agency that can provide you with these services.
Tracking codes that are embedded on your website and website URLs can let you know how many appointments were booked or phone calls made from your marketing efforts.
If you’re not currently using medical marketing analytics, now is the time to start. This data will help you feel confident in your medical marketing strategy.
Where do I start with my Medical Marketing Strategy?
If you’re serious about medical marketing and growing your practice, you need a medical marketing agency with the experience to offer sound advice specific to your industry. Agencies have the experience and knowledge to put together a medical marketing strategy that will help you succeed online. They can handle your SEO, medical blogging, reputation management, social media presence, and more!
To put it bluntly, medical marketing is tough. Doctors are not marketers by trade, and this leaves many of them struggling to get their message out there in the way that’s most effective for them. At Ten Peaks Media, we know how difficult it can be for doctors to keep up with all the latest trends. When you hire us, you are hiring a team to be an extension of you. Allow us to do what we do best, and that’s helping grow your practice.
We have compiled this list of 10 ways to improve medical marketing for doctors using these marketing tips. Give us a call today at 830-388-8110 to start planning for success or fill out our contact form if you would like more information about any of the tips from this article. We will be happy to perform a free marketing audit for your practice, then answer anything you may need help with and provide useful insights into what might work best for your practice.
