5 Key Healthcare Marketing Strategies to Implement in 2020
As a healthcare organization, you may know that you have a product or service that fulfills a pressing need; however, that doesn’t mean that patients will simply find you. You will still need to market your healthcare business effectively; in order to spread awareness of your organization and what it is that you have to offer. Because there are so many healthcare options out there for patients to choose from, your marketing strategy is even more important to your success. With that in mind, the following are five key healthcare marketing strategies that you should implement this year:
1. Focus On Local SEO
A lot of people will search for the closest healthcare practice to them if they have a pressing medical need. Even if they have some time to find several different healthcare practices and to compare them, they will often choose the one that is closest to them. You’ll want to make sure that your healthcare business can be found by such patients, which is why you should focus on local SEO. Optimizing for local SEO means that it will be easier for potential customers in your area to find you via search. To strengthen your local SEO, you should do the following:
- Submit your NAP – Make sure that you submit your NAP (name, address, and phone number) to numerous local directories. Yelp or Zocdoc, would be good examples of where to start.
- Set up Google My Business account – A My Business account on Google will allow you to submit your NAP along with other business information, such as a description of your services, a link to your website, photographs and more.
- Encourage reviews – Encourage your patients to leave positive online reviews. When researching nearby healthcare practices or facilities, people will often check online reviews before making a decision.
- Optimize for mobile use – Because most local searches are performed on mobile devices while users are out and about, it’s important that your website is properly optimized for mobile use.
- Create local-based content – Create content for your blog that’s relevant to your area and use local keywords wherever appropriate (such as the name of the town or neighborhood you’re located in).
2. Use Social Media To Build Your Brand
Building your reputation is key to attracting more long-term customers. Establishing and maintaining a presence on social media is a great way to do that. Social media allows you to engage directly with your target audience, whether it’s by posting links to helpful healthcare-related content (including your own), answering questions that followers have about your services or products, asking followers for feedback, and more. As you continue to engage with people through social media, you will build trust and awareness. If done effectively, people will begin automatically looking for your healthcare practice or business when they’re in need of healthcare products or services instead of doing basic Google searches.
3. Keep Patients Engaged With Email Updates
Staying on the top of mind, is important. If your existing patients forget about you, you could lose them to a competing practice. Not to mention that some patients may not stay up to date when it comes to scheduling routine appointments. Email is one of the best ways to keep your current patients up-to-date and to remind them about scheduling appointments if it’s time to do so. You can also use email marketing to inform customers about new healthcare services or products that you’re offering.
4. Attract More Patients Using PPC Advertising
PPC ads are a great way to attract new customers. The way they work is simple. You bid on a keyword. When somebody performs a search using that keyword, there’s a good chance your ad will show up on their SERP (search engine results page). You will then only pay for the ad if that person clicks on the ad. Using relevant keywords (such as keywords that are location-based and describe specific services or products), you can make sure that your ads are attracting potential customers in your area. You can use your PPC ads to promote new products and services. Making PPC advertising one of the most flexible healthcare marketing strategies available.
5. Create And Publish Relevant Content
Create content centered around healthcare-related topics that are relevant to your business. Afterward, publish that content on a website blog regularly. Not only is this a great way to attract organic traffic via Google, but it will engage readers and help to build your brand authority. The greater your authority becomes, the more your reputation within your industry will grow, thereby helping to increase brand trust.
Knowing how to market your healthcare organization is critical to attracting more patients and growing your business. These are some of the healthcare marketing strategies that will help you to attract more patients and that will help put you in the best position to compete with other healthcare businesses in your area.
Mark Beebe oversees all current clients. His secondary focus is leading the creative with original thinkers who provide innovative processes and insightful answers for clients’ marketing needs. His 30+ years has garnered the team to over 50+ national and international awards. As a partner, Mark, looks for unusual solutions to bring smart results and metrics to your bottom line.