The development of digital culture sets fundamentally new models of consumer behavior in all existing industries, and the healthcare industry is not an exception. The marketing of healthcare professionals is rapidly moving to digital, which becomes a key channel for promotion and communications with patients and other clients.
Besides, Covid-19 has dramatically changed our way of life, work, and business. Therefore, as a reputable healthcare professional, you can’t just continue conducting your medical practice as before. We live in a period of the pandemic, and everything you’ve ever done before is now perceived differently by patients, they search for everything online and they expect to be able to get medical services virtually. In this regard, there is a strong need for healthcare professionals to have a winning digital marketing strategy that can add value and differentiate them from others.
Here are our top 10 digital marketing strategies to help you succeed:
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Set up a professional website for your doctor’s practice and make sure your information is consistent.
To succeed in the digital world, it is important to have a modern, user-friendly, and informative professional site for your medical practice. Nowadays, patients select healthcare professionals based on their digital outlook, and visiting your website creates the first impression of your practice among potential clients.
Therefore, it is very important that your website is completed and has accurate information about hours of operation, address contact info, type of accepted insurance, and any other relevant information. This will help clients find everything they need on your site, increasing customer satisfaction and, as a result, improving the efficiency of your staff.
Furthermore, make sure that you have updated and unified listings in all online medical directories. The more online directories you have, the stronger your online presence and outreach, which gives you a competitive advantage over rivals.
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Optimize your website for search engines.
You need to ensure that your website is not only professionally presented but also contains SEO-optimized content. SEO involves many aspects, such as the keywords used on your page, the links placed, or simply structuring your medical site so that search engines can classify and understand it. All of these aspects are necessary to have a high ranking of your website in Google and other search engines, generate visitor traffic, and increase your brand awareness.
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Make Sure that your site is optimized for users.
The user interface (or UX) of your website is an indicator of the availability of information that Internet users (your potential patients) are looking for. Therefore, your website should be complete and filled with relevant content to enhance the interaction between you and the patient. For instance, it’s advantageous to add a personal patient profile to the website, where patients can book an appointment, update their personal information, view test results, etc.
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Make sure that the site is optimized for mobile devices
Nowadays, more than two-thirds of all online sessions are conducted using mobile devices. This is a clear indication of the ever-growing importance of properly optimizing your website, interface, clinic information, and blog content for mobile devices so that the user experience is positive.
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Increase your presence on Social Media Channels.
One of the most effective ways of interacting with existing and potential patients is Social Media Marketing. In today’s world, it’s essential to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. That way, you can promote your brand, improve your reputation, increase the credibility of your medical practice among clients, and attract today’s tech-savvy patients. Always keep your social media consistent and updated with relevant content so your customers can constantly engage with you.
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E-mail and SMS marketing
Another powerful digital marketing instrument is email marketing. It’s one of the best tools for communicating with your patients and keeping them informed about your practice and relevant news. Keep in mind that you must plan email marketing campaigns and tailor their content to the needs and interests of each of the target markets. That way, the message that the patients receive is personalized and keeps them engaged with you.
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Running Pay-Per-Click Ads
Pay-per-click ads allow you to display online advertisements only to the intended audience – Internet users that are searching for the keywords that you are targeting. This allows you to filter and skip a general untargeted audience, presenting your medical practice only to interested customers.
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Generate patients reviews
Patients’ reviews are one of the most important SEO factors that affect your Google ranking and impact your credibility as a doctor among existing and potential patients. Since nowadays patients choose a doctor based on reviews, do not hesitate to ask your clients to provide them for you. The more positive reviews you have, the better your SEO will be and the higher your chances of attracting more customers.
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Create video content
Video content with the doctors is the most interactive way of communication, advertisement, and brand promotion, with the highest media outreach and engagement rates. Creating video content will not only promote your practice and attract more clients but also make your patients know you better and develop trust among them.
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Marketing Analytics
Tracking tools are highly recommended to monitor the performance of your website and digital marketing efforts. For instance, Google Analytics can provide you with data about your target market, # of visitors, traffic, conversion rate, time on page, buyer’s journey, engagement rate, etc. That information will provide you with the entire marketing picture helping you to better plan your digital marketing campaigns and understand what is your ROI.
Developing strong digital marketing strategies for doctors will ensure your long-term success. It embraces the evolving digital format, opens up new ways to improve the effectiveness of medical marketing, and improves the quality of patient care services. Consider hiring an expert digital marketing agency that will create a winning strategy and generate a return on your investment.