Today, the way to find patients is to have them find you! Digital marketing is an incredibly effective tool for connecting with prospective patients. If you want to be truly successful in business, you must have an effective digital marketing strategy. Otherwise, you aren’t taking advantage of what’s easily available to you. If the reality of online marketing for surgeons is daunting or confusing for you, then have no fear! Here at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, we aim to help you find, serve, and keep more patients profitably with our top-of-the-line digital marketing services.
What is Digital Marketing?
The process of growing your business using the internet is at the crux of digital marketing. You hear so much about it because it’s one of the best ways to get new patients through online marketing. Social media, content marketing, and local SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are some of the most used strategies when it comes to online marketing for surgeons. You don’t want to underestimate the importance of building a viable online marketing strategy if you want to have a thriving practice.
It’s imperative that you have a strong online presence. In order to do that, you need to assess where you are and what you need to do. In many cases, when someone needs surgery, they need to find the surgeon quickly since they rarely have much time to wait. When they begin their search, you want to be the surgeon that they see and contact first. As of right now, do you think they’d be able to find you in their search?
Ask yourself which digital marketing techniques you are currently using. What can you do to update your online marketing strategy? You can get more patients through internet searches and increase your market share. You want to consider how to incorporate these effective, easy-to-follow ideas for marketing for surgeons.
How Does Digital Marketing for Surgeons Work?
Budding entrepreneurs and professional web marketers have been using digital marketing for years. We’ve received much feedback about what does and doesn’t work regarding how to get noticed and how to receive contacts from prospective patents. You want to use this helpful information to your advantage in your marketing efforts. Whether you are leading your marketing team or someone else, it’s all about sharing your messages clearly and accurately about the services provided.
This sounds basic enough, but there’s more to it. Let’s get into the details of what digital marketing can look like for you. Marketing for surgeons has a great upside in that it has detailed components that can be captured and transferred in your messaging. This will make it easier for you to be clear and concise about what you offer and what the patient will be getting.
Your strategy must include a well-designed website that is easy to see in any format and provides all the answers for the patient. When you successfully optimize your online presence to attract visitors, it ensures that you are a trusted choice for your patients and their families. You’ll want to carefully consider how to create and disperse online ads while formulating effective SEO strategies.
Get Into the Mindset of the Patient
What do your prospective patients need? What is their online behavior like when searching for concerns about their healthcare? It comes down to the fact that marketing is a form of applied psychology, so you want to get into the mindset of your customer. When they have a concern about their health, what will their behavior be to meet their needs? Tapping into this mindset will prepare you to use the language and images that your patients will find most attractive and relevant to them.
HealthWorks Collective reports that 72% of adults looked online for health information in the past year. This is a substantial number of people searching for ways in which to get their healthcare needs met. Pew Research Center revealed that 8 out of 10 health queries begin with an online search engine like Google. These sources are confirming what we already know — that an online search is typically the first step for a consumer to make.
These are substantial findings as they help determine how to choose proficient tactics when marketing for surgeons. Strategically, you want your business and your services to be seen on the path the patient is naturally taking already. Since the behavior is predictable, you can make an informed decision about how to connect to it. These sources clarify that the top priority for you is to develop a digital marketing plan that places your practice in a prominent position amongst search engines.
Getting into the mindset of the patient is a great first step as it helps you define your target audience. This definition entails not just who they are, but what they will do as well.
Use Effective SEO
Having a great SEO strategy allows people to find you online over your competitors. SEO is a form of inbound marketing that draws prospective clients to your business by aligning with their interests. The internet is tailor-made for this as people are already searching multiple times nearly every day. Since they are already searching, you want your marketing strategy to play into their already-established behavior.
You want to show up by using relevant, quality keywords that are the most used search terms by those inquiring about your services. You must research the relevant keywords related to your audience’s intentions and search habits. Then, whoever does the writing for your marketing content can follow the SEO best practices and incorporate them into the content you share. You can also take advantage of long tail keywords, which are made up of three and four keyword phrases specific to what you’re selling.
As your well-planned SEO efforts get you more visitors to your website, what happens next? You don’t want to assume that just because more people visit your website, they will automatically become patients. SEO is only the initial part of this successful equation. To turn those searches into viable leads, the next step is for you to use targeted landing pages.
Use Practical Marketing Strategies
Along with providing search results, search engines like Google can also display in-depth information on illnesses like symptoms, graphs, treatment options, and related links to medical websites. This will make it easier for prospective patients to find out more information about their condition. They’ll have increased accuracy since the information is from a reputable source like your office. Think about what additional messages and images you want to use online to market your services.
Once you have various strategies in place and flowing, you can then check your analytics. This will be a factor in maintaining long-term success. Website analytics will give you referral statistics so that you know where your traffic is coming from and what keywords are being used the most.
Stand Out While Accurately Marketing Your Services
It’s important to communicate exactly what you offer and highlight the benefits of taking advantage of your services. Be upfront about why they should use your services. What are the unique benefits they’ll receive by choosing you? Highlighting prominent staff members and sharing accolades and patient testimonials are just a few practical ways to do this.
A lot of the surgery business is not necessarily driven by referrals; rather, it’s driven by reviews. HealthWorks Collective shared data that 26% of patients who booked appointments had used a consumer-generated review when making their decision. This is a significant amount of people that take this approach, so you want to be sure you’re supplying them with this kind of information that will allow them to base their decision off of your shared reviews.
You can also consider ways to stand out on social media; just make sure you frame your content to the platform. For example, you can share compelling, thought-provoking articles on Facebook or post unique product or brand pictures on Twitter. Whichever social media platform you’re using, always make sure to use clear and consistent messaging that is aligned with your services and brand.
We’re Here to Help!
It’s important to be mindful of these basic elements of digital marketing for surgeons. Remember, your prospective patients need your services, and you must act deliberately in your digital marketing plan to achieve the best outcome. Let our team of professionals at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing help you in this process. It is our goal for you to find, serve, and keep more patients profitably, and we are excited to help you increase your online presence. Contact us today to get started!
