Healthcare Marketing Strategy Guide for 2022

Healthcare marketing has evolved into a comprehensive process of discovering new ways to engage patients who are more interested than ever in taking control of their healthcare journey and educating themselves. As a result, developing an effective healthcare marketing strategy to reach and educate new and existing patients is critical.

What is Healthcare marketing and why is it important?

Healthcare marketing is about reaching new patients and improving patient care by developing an open line of communication between healthcare providers and their patients. Its goal is to provide valuable content and resources to patients across the care continuum through websites, social media, paid advertising, SEO, email marketing, video, and a variety of other tools. Patient-centric marketing in healthcare is the most effective, focusing on who the patient is, what information they care about, and developing a know, like, and trust relationship. The healthcare industry is constantly changing, and patient education and information are quickly becoming a priority. An effective healthcare marketing strategy can help you reach out to potential patients and position yourself as a thought leader in your field.

Top healthcare marketing strategies to reach patients.

Let’s take a look at the most effective strategies for reaching and converting new patients in your practice.

1. Create a user-friendly website.

A healthcare practice’s website is one of the most important digital marketing assets. It must be user-centered and provide clear and immediate value from the moment a patient visits your website. Describe yourself and what you do. Answer their questions and provide value to persuade them to convert.

2. Get familiar with Google my business tool.

Because patients do not want to travel too far for medical treatment, any healthcare marketing strategy must be extremely local in nature. As a result, winning in your local search environment for whatever specialty or conditions you treat is critical. Before making an appointment with a provider, approximately 80% of patients conduct an online search. And, when it comes to winning medical SEO searches, Google My Business, a free tool provided by Google for physicians and businesses to manage their online presence, reigns supreme. When it comes to optimizing your Google My Business, there are a few things to consider:

• Make sure you pick the most accurate category.
• Include your location and specialization in the first sentence of your business description.
• Fill out all your contact info.

3. Invest in patients’ feedback.

Reviews have rapidly evolved into one of the most important components of healthcare marketing strategies. Consumers read online reviews in 92.4 percent of cases. And in healthcare, as in any other industry, reputation is everything. Furthermore, one of the top local ranking factors for your Google My Business that we mentioned earlier is…reviews.

4. Great content is a prerequisite for effective SEO.

If you want to show up high in local search rankings for your focus specialties and procedures, you need excellent well-structured content on your website. It’s as simple as that. Here are some tips to help your grow:

• Keep your URLs short and include your keyword
• Most treatment pages should be over 500+ words
• Add the focus keyword at the front of your title tags

5. Create your patient’s profile.

Digital Advertising is Extremely Targeted now, so you need to create an effective digital ads strategy as part of your health care marketing. Answer questions like: Who is my ideal patient? Create a patient profile on each of these Where do they go online to spend time? How much website traffic do I currently have for retargeting? What assets do I have for advertising? Videos? Graphics? These questions are essential to find out which platforms will be ideal for you to start advertising on.

6. Telemedicine and Online Appointment Book are a Must.

Before COVID, telemedicine and online appointment booking were “nice to have” components of healthcare marketing. Now it is absolutely necessary. The issue is that there is still a lot of uncertainty about how to get started and get patients to use telemedicine. First and foremost, you must send emails to your current patients informing them of your telehealth process. Then, create landing pages on your website and make social media announcements about your telehealth solution. When it comes to online booking, you must have this option available on your website. It is also critical to effectively track your paid advertising campaigns for new appointment bookings.

7. Analytics and Tracking are Keys to Healthcare Marketing Strategy.

Keep a close eye on your marketing analytics. The most effective healthcare marketing is data-driven. To continuously improve, you must understand what works and be able to attribute success and failure accordingly. This begins with investing in analytics. Start with the basics, such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console, to name a few. When you’re ready to see everything in one place, marketing analytics dashboards are the way to go.

Summing up

Healthcare marketing is an ever-changing world with limitless opportunities for healthcare professionals to reach their target audience, grow their patient base, educate patients, feature physicians, and scale their practice. Choosing a right digital marketing agency with an extensive industry expertise will help you to choose and implement tested and proven methods to get you where you want to be!