We use the internet for almost everything on a daily basis. We connect with our friends and family through social media, entertain ourselves through streaming services, and research great products and services to buy and use.
Along with our rising dependence on the internet came challenges for all industries, including medical practices.
The internet is a massive highway of information, hosting more than a billion websites. Just a quick “Okay, Google,” “Hey Siri,” or “Alexa,” we’ll get the answer to questions that have already been asked on the internet. And that includes the nearest clinic, the top-rated doctor in my area, and medical centres near me.
If you are a business owner, having a Google My Business account is a non-negotiable to be found online. It’s almost as simple as: if you are not online, you are nonexistent. It’s why dinosaurs are a thing of the past– or why Netflix killed Blockbuster.
If your medical practice is not yet online, don’t worry, it’s not too late. According to this study by Smart Insights, 49% of all businesses don’t have a clearly defined online marketing strategy. If you start building your brand online now, you may already be converting online leads into customers (or patients) within a month or two.
In this blog, we will be discussing 6 ways to better market your medical practice in 2022 and 2023. The sooner you can implement these tips, the more exposure your services will get.
A website is a non-negotiable for businesses that want to thrive and grow. Your website will serve as a virtual front desk, showing accurate information and communicating with leads (or future patients) what they need to know before they visit your bricks and mortar location.
Many successful practices that have a good online presence also feature booking functionality on their website and even have patients complete customer information documentation online. Doing so, and having basic information about your practice available, can save your reception countless hours on the phone and when meeting and greeting patients. Also, a website builds your practice’s credibility. Nowadays, if a business does not have a website, we tend to doubt its legitimacy. But with a beautifully designed website, you set a good first impression that can get your patient’s satisfaction off to a good start.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, while PPC means Pay-Per-Click.
In a nutshell: SEO is using content to be found, while PPC is paying to be found.
Whenever we search for something on Google, we rarely pass the first SERP (Search Engine Results Page). So, getting your website on the first page, and staying there, is a cutthroat competition for businesses and websites. This is where SEO comes in.
SEO is the art of being found on Google. It includes building appropriate and helpful content for your website and via your meta descriptions and image tags. Google has an incredible algorithm working every moment of every day to scan websites and this dictates decisions as to whether your website is worth including on the first SERP.
SEO exists to tell Google’s web crawlers (that’s what they’re called), “Hey, I know exactly what the searcher is looking for, let me answer!”
On the other hand, PPC is Google’s premium service that lets you display your business on top of the SERP as an ad. It is a paid service, but you can be sure that your website will be seen on Google’s SERP, unlike SEO, which typically requires an ongoing effort.
Everybody is on social media.
Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok humanise your medical practice. It makes it easier for your followers to get in touch with you (especially through instant messaging) and know your brand and the people behind your business. Social media is also a good tool to directly inform your followers about promotions you may be running, ask for feedback and reviews and to make any announcements (a new doctor, a new service, hours of operation etc).
You can also see your target market’s personal interests as we tend to be more transparent on social media. You can then use whatever information you get to better address their problems.
Also, who doesn’t like feel-good posts?
There are many ways to get online reviews, but the easiest is to ask your clients or patients to write their testimonials on social media and Google. Online reviews are especially compelling because they come from real people, not paid endorsers.
According to a 2022 survey by BrightLocal, 98% of consumers (in this case, patients) read online reviews for businesses. In turn, their purchasing decisions are affected by what they read.
Videos are a great marketing collateral, especially for medical professionals, because it puts a face to a name. They are also a great way to let your patient base know you are an expert.
Videos are also great as content because they can be easily embedded on your website, you can cross-post on social media, and the videos you create are evergreen (always valuable, always fresh).
You can make explainer videos, health tips, and even fun, light-hearted videos to ‘humanise’ who you are and the work that you do. Doing so can be beneficial to your brand.
Still, the best marketing tool is word of mouth. If patients are happy with their experiences with you, it’s easy for them to recommend your services to friends and family. Since you can not buy word of mouth, what you can do instead is to make sure your patients are happy from their website experience, the engagement as they check in to your practice and their experience with their doctor.
Keeping a happy existing patient on your books is always much easier than finding a new one!