Technology has increased the range of treatments offered by medical professionals exponentially over the last decade. As the selection of services grows, a practice’s advertising strategy must evolve at a similar rate. A medical marketing agency, particularly one specializing in digital advertising, is the best way to maintain relevance in the fast-paced world of healthcare. Professionals like ours at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing are ready to help you grow your practice and keep it thriving.
All practices can benefit from pairing with an experienced marketing agency, ideally one with a well-designed software program. From well-established practices to fledgling offices, maintaining a robust digital presence will provide the stability required for a business to flourish. Providing optimum insight into what patients seek from a healthcare provider and knowing where to advertise to them, a medical marketing agency allows healthcare providers to focus increased time on patient care.
9 Ways a Medical Marketing Agency Can Help Grow Your Practice
1. They Are Experienced Professionals
Creating an in-house team of medical marketing professionals from scratch isn’t financially feasible for most practices. Even if it is affordable, it isn’t always the best use of time or funds to create a team devoted to this facet of operation from within the practice. Hiring a team of outside professionals to handle your marketing needs is usually a more cost-effective route for growing your patient base. It also provides fresh eyes to see novel solutions for any issues.
Your practice’s marketing needs will ebb and flow throughout the year, and a healthcare marketing agency will supply the staffing required for your campaigns. The agency will also have staff specializing in email marketing, lead acquisition, social media presence, content creation, and patient retention. Trying to hire a team experienced in all the aspects necessary to market your practice would be a lengthy, expensive endeavor. Avoid the ordeal by pairing with an agency that has a trained crew instead.
2. They Can Provide Software
Not all agencies can provide this perk, so it’s worth shopping around for one who does. An in-house software program can provide your practice with tools to manage and market your services. Using a software program created by, or specifically for, your partnered agency means you will have guidance for any learning curves your team may encounter as they implement the program.
Software like the Social Patient Center (SPC) by Crystal Clear Digital Marketing makes tracking everything from potential web leads to long-time patients a streamlined process. SPC is designed to handle everything from lead conversion to billing, scheduling to marketing. All the factors required to run a successful practice integrated into a user-friendly software program perfect for busy healthcare providers. Hiring a marketing agency that provides software custom for medical offices is a wise move for any healthcare business.
3. They Understand How the Internet Changes Healthcare
A medical marketing agency specializing in digital advertising will be informed of the latest healthcare marketing trends. Mirroring how physicians stay educated on perpetually morphing healthcare practices, a competent agency will know the best way to use technology to grow a practice. Six months from now, the best way to online market may be entirely dissimilar to how we market currently, and most physicians don’t have the resources to keep up with the changes in internet marketing.
Marketing isn’t anything like it was pre-internet or even three years ago. Your business can’t afford to take a passive approach to your practice’s online presence. Ideally, you need a top-notch agency providing premium healthcare software handling your medical marketing. The best healthcare marketing methods shift rapidly, and having a professional handling your marketing guarantees your online presence won’t become obsolete.
4. They Can Build Your Website
A business’s homepage has become its first impression on a potential customer or client, and the healthcare industry is no exception. With literally seconds to grab a future patient’s interest, your website must have a unique homepage. A quality agency will create individual layouts and designs for each client, aligning with the components that make the practice distinct.
Avoid any company that tries to pitch you on a one-size-fits-all approach to your website. A prospective patient will not linger on a homepage that looks similar to the last three they just scrolled past. A website highlighting what makes your practice stand out from the rest will turn prospects into patients with just a few clicks of the keyboard.
5. They Will Handle SEO Smoothly
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the method of ensuring your practice will come up near the top of the search engine results when potential patients are looking for a medical practitioner in your geographical window and area of expertise. Multiple factors determine what moves a particular practice to the top of the search list, with just a few including competition, backlinks, website structure and readability, and age and credibility of their domain name. Those are just a sampling of things taken into consideration when improving SEO.
Most physicians would prefer to spend their time caring for patients or improving their specialty over learning the logistics of SEO. Choosing not to participate in SEO monitoring isn’t a feasible option, though. Medical practices are missing out on prime growth by not paying attention to their ranking on search engines. Hiring a medical marketing agency allows physicians to use their time where it is most valuable.
6. They Can Run Data Reports
Having reliable business analytics is a top priority of high-performing practices. Intelligent business decisions can only be confidently made with access to accurate data. Knowing information such as how many prospects convert to patients, percentage of click-throughs from the website, and the practice’s patient retention rate allows for informed decisions. A software system that collects and reports all the information will save you valuable time and energy.
Making the most of your advertisement budget won’t be a concern if you’re working with an agency that offers premium software to track your analytics. They’ll be able to break down exactly where to invest in advertisements, or promotions, to gain maximum growth for your practice.
7. They Can Manage Your Social Media Presence
Word of mouth is still an essential method of acquiring new patients. However, it is done differently in these technology-driven times. Most individuals frequently use the internet to participate on social networking sites, which means your practice needs to be prominent on those platforms. Creating and maintaining a presence allows you to connect with patients, both current and potential, right where they spend much of their time.
Social media websites are also a phenomenal method of gaining reviews and referrals, but physicians sometimes hesitate to ask for a review. New patients will feel confident in their decision to schedule after reading the numerous glowing reviews on your page, but getting the reviews in the first place can be difficult. Your agency can provide you with effortless ways to get reviews from patients. Use their expertise to build the excellent reputation of your practice.
8. They Can Create an Email Marketing Campaign
Hiring a healthcare marketing agency like Crystal Clear Digital Marketing allows you to ensure your communications with your patients aren’t going straight into the spam folder. Choose an agency that has an email automation software package. Their professionals will carefully craft the emails and then schedule them at appropriate intervals. They will help you determine what type of email marketing would work best for your practice.
Some physicians send out bi-weekly or monthly informational content and practice updates to patients on their mailing lists. Others prefer to stick with a simple pre-appointment reminder email and patient satisfaction survey. Talk to your agency and make sure their email automation software is the right fit for your practice.
9. They Can Make You Mobile-Friendly
What to do with a beautifully designed website that looks flawless on a desktop or laptop but isn’t formatted correctly for a mobile device is a struggle many business owners face; not just healthcare practitioners. Mobile phones and tablets are what many of your potential patients will be using, making a website with formatting appropriate for mobile users a requirement.
Don’t miss out on prospects who are on the move by failing to have a mobile-friendly site or app. Choose a digitally literate medical marketing company with the software capable of creating one website that looks stunning across multiple screens. Watch your conversion rates soar once your practice is available to prospects, whether they are on the go or at home.
Circling Back to Software
Optimum Efficiency
Out of the nine ways a medical marketing agency can grow your business, the one we want to stress yet again is the agency providing your team with a software program that can help with marketing and the day-to-day components of running a practice. Doing everything through one software program, like the Social Patient Center, is a business-changing upgrade.
Avoid the stress and wasted time of using multiple software platforms by choosing a medical marketing agency that offers software designed with the healthcare provider in mind. Save precious time and train your team on just one program, with trained professionals’ support to guide them through any bumps. Have every action previously performed on numerous platforms and programs packaged into a powerhouse software program and delivered to your team by those who know the system best.
Don’t Miss the Details
Sometimes things can tumble through the cracks when your team is using multiple software platforms. With SPC, follow-ups don’t fall by the wayside with the task management system. Allowing you to track actions on a task from start to finish, coaching your team, and maintaining a high productivity level just became simpler. There’s also no chance of missing any critical communication with the text and email reminders.
Control the schedule and track patients across multiple locations with ease. You can also manage care providers, equipment usage, and room calendars at all practices. Monitor multiple operations without being physically present and ensure patient care and time management are on point using the SPC software. Provide the high level of care your patients deserve and don’t get slowed down by switching platforms.
The Choice Is Crystal Clear
A medical marketing agency with quality healthcare software can be the difference between growing and running multiple successful practices and running yourself ragged. With experienced professionals and modern software, growing your practice doesn’t have to be a tedious endeavor. Call or email Crystal Clear Digital Marketing in Orlando, FL, today and let our team develop your business and streamline your daily tasks.
