Today, digital marketing is essential for the whole medical field, including dentists, surgeons and wellness centers. Just about all medical practices implement digital marketing to establish brand, improve professional reputation, gain visibility, increase revenue and gain more repeat customers. If you’re not implementing digital marketing in your medical practice, you’re missing out on patients who are likely choosing your competitors instead. And if you’re losing patients, it’s probably not because of your medical business or practice, but because you’re not reaching the right people. Here are a few tips to get you on the right track.
The Crucial Areas of Digital Marketing in the Medical Arena
The crucial areas of any successful marketing campaign include a great website, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing and video marketing. With these five areas, you can bring your medical practice into the modern world. If you’re not using digital marketing to its fullest, it’s time to step up your game.
A Standout Website That Attracts Attention
It all begins with having a website that stands out above the rest. It’s one of the most effective ways to generate leads. You need a standout website that will attract organic traffic from social media channels and Google. It’s not rocket science either. You just need easy navigation, evocative colors, beautiful imagery, masterful headlines and subheads and a unique tone. Turn to Crystal Clear Digital Marketing (CCDM) for a high-end web design that is cutting-edge and mobile-responsive.
Your website also needs to be a website that is all about your patients. Patients always come first. Think about common queries you get from your patients and make sure your site answers them. You can also take a look at your most successful competitors’ websites to get some ideas. Be sure that the information on your website lets them know that you offer the best patient experience. Lastly, you always need to make tweaks to your site based on analytics and user feedback. A tech tool like Google Analytics can help you out with that. It’s free; so, go for it.
Social Media Marketing: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and Google+
Many of your patients will be spending a lot of time on social media. Make sure you’ve got a presence on social media platforms like Facebook. This way, you can interact with your patients on a more personal level. Just make sure you’re advertising on social media platforms to target the right audience. Keep in mind that Google uses social media activity to determine where your website ranks for its keywords.
It’s important to choose your social network wisely and dedicate the resources to marketing the right way. Hop on the live streaming craze and don’t forget to have an active presence on Snapchat. It will drive new patients to your practice. It’s just another way to build a following and stand out from your competition.
Crystal Clear Digital Marketing eases the burden of developing a strong presence on social networks like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Google+. We will take care of all the daily tasks for you on social media platforms and ensure that you’re building brand awareness and creating a positive referral base.
Email Marketing: It Still Works
Email marketing for medical professionals is a surefire way to keep patients coming back again and again. It’s a very powerful marketing tool for medical professionals. Use it to provide your patients with hot news about your services, to offer special promotions and discounts and to get feedback on how to improve your services. For special promotions and discounts, make a valuable offer that your patients can’t resist. For example, an orthodontics practice can run a promotion with a “$500 Off Braces” offer for the month. Even consider a newsletter that is relevant and interesting. Effective email marketing works in every industry, including the medical industry.
Mobile Marketing: Provide It On-The-Fly
Both your website and digital marketing campaign should be optimized for tablets and smartphones. Most of the internet traffic comes from mobile devices today. As a medical professional, you should be jumping on this in-the-moment engagement trend to take advantage of the technology in your patients’ purses, pockets and briefcases. Mobile technology gives medical professionals the ability to take advantage of peer networks and to manage their patients’ healthcare more efficiently. There are more than 10,000 medical and health apps available on mobile devices, and it’s being integrated with mainstream medicine. In order help patients and stay current, mobile marketing isn’t an option; it’s a necessity. Are you mobile? If not, you should be.
Video Marketing: Get Up Close and Personal
Video marketing is also a powerful marketing tool for medical professionals. Medical language is technical, and it has to be broken down for the average person to understand. Video marketing makes it easier for surgeons and other healthcare workers to explain things to patients. Video marketing can take a complex subject and break it down in addition to providing a personal touch, which builds rapport and trust. Up to 90 percent of all consumer internet traffic is expected to be via video by 2019. It’s just too big of a market to miss out on.
There are many ways you can use video. Create a personal welcome video to humanize the patient experience. Use video testimonials as a form of word-of-mouth advertising. Provide videos that are informative and demystify solutions to patient problems. Even use a video as a virtual tour, so patients can understand what’s ahead. Online videos are virtual gold and like pictures, worth a thousand words.
Cultivate Your Personal Brand: Let Patients Know Your Values
Focus your marketing efforts on building a personal brand online by providing content on industry-specific topics. You can self-publish your content through blogging or posts on social media platforms. Not only will this build your reputation on Google search results, but it will also position you as an industry expert. Credibility and reputation are everything in the healthcare industry.
Follow Up With Your Patients: A Little TLC
Use technology to follow up with your patients. Create a digital follow-up program and give your patients a little bit of TLC. Organize patients according to the disease and treatment they received. Schedule periodic emails for getting feedback and informing them of health tips to follow. Be sure to educate them on preventative health measures that they can take. When you genuinely follow up with your patients, you are truly taking care of them and doing that well. You’ll be sure to get a lot of accolades and positive word-of-mouth referrals. A little TLC goes a long way.
Start Blogging and Keep Blogging
When it comes to blogging, there just can’t be enough of it. Blogging is a great way to tell your story. It can take your online marketing to a whole new level. You just need to:
- Set up your teams, such as referral specialists, nurses or pharmacy partners
- Develop a posting schedule and stick to it
- Be conversational in your tone
- Keep your posts short but informative
- Write with both caregivers and patients in mind
- Start blogging and keep it going
Start Engaging Digitally With Patients
Be sure to engage digitally with your patients. Invite your patients to use Google to find information about their condition and bring questions for you to their appointments. Track your reviews on Yelp and Facebook. Use that feedback to improve the patient experience. Make it easier for your patients to learn about your healthcare providers, pay their bills online, know where to park and use live-streaming. This is just as important as any marketing campaign.
Provide Outstanding and Relevant Content
Content is still king, but it must be authoritative and helpful to attract new clients and engage existing ones. Be sure to provide health advice that is based on facts and recommendations. Your goal should be to create valuable content that will appeal to your targeted market. For example, if you have a pediatric practice, provide content that appeals to mothers looking for useful information that will help them with the care of their children. Use this content on both social media sites and your website. Good content is a powerful tool in a practice’s marketing arsenal. It establishes you as an expert in your niche and helps you rank high on Google. It doesn’t get any better than that, so be sure to provide great content.
No medical professional has the time to implement all the strategies for marketing success. There are patients to see, reports to write, classes to take and meetings to attend. The schedule of any health care professional is very busy. That’s where Crystal Clear Digital Marketing steps in. Crystal Clear Digital Marketing provides digital marketing services for aesthetics and wellness practices, doctors, plastic surgeons, medical spas, dentists and more. From web design and social media engagement to providing engaging content for blogs and updates, Crystal Clear Digital Marketing takes care of this aspect of the business for you. Contact us today to find out how we can help you.
