Did you know that most healthcare businesses and medical practitioners are not using any form of healthcare marketing? And those less hesitant to market their practice use only a fraction of the tools available?
Although marketing is one of the most important factors in determining success or failure in any business, many healthcare practitioners are still hesitant to embrace it. Not marketing your medical practice is a surefire way to lose many potential patients.
Healthcare marketing can help you reach more people, attract new patients and keep your brand top of their minds.
Not sure how to market your healthcare practice successfully? This guide provides practical tips and advice on how to stand out in such a competitive industry.
But first, let’s start with the basics.
Table of ContentsHealthcare marketing is the process of creating and executing a marketing plan to promote a healthcare practice. Its goal is to attract potential patients, guide them through the healthcare journey and keep them engaged with your healthcare practice.
Healthcare marketing strategies incorporate multichannel, offline and online marketing methods that are extremely targeted to increase engagement and drive healthcare business growth.
Healthcare marketers measure their success by key performance indicators (KPIs) and marketing returns on investment ROI.
Using a customer experience platform can simplify your healthcare marketing strategy without worrying about technical jargon.
DemandHub is a great example of such a platform, as it allows you to connect with potential customers through various channels, including social media, web chat, text, search and more.
Moreover, it automatically tracks your results and measures your success so that you can focus on your marketing goals.
77% of patients turn to search engines like Google before booking an appointment. Therefore, you are missing out on potential patients and growth opportunities if you are not investing in marketing in today’s competitive healthcare market to rank higher on Google’s search results.
Healthcare marketing can help you grow your patient base and create long-term satisfied patients. Successful marketing campaigns will result in instant growth in new patients for any practice.
In a rapidly changing healthcare landscape, it is crucial for healthcare businesses to have an effective marketing strategy.
With the increasing number of health insurance options, the rise of healthcare costs, and the popularity of health and wellness apps and devices, patients have more control over their healthcare than ever before.
Healthcare practitioners must market themselves effectively to reach potential patients to stay competitive. When done correctly, healthcare marketing can have several key benefits, including attracting new patients and increasing revenue.
Healthcare marketing can help you reach a wider audience and ultimately improve your bottom line through various marketing channels such as social media, patient text marketing, and your website.
The healthcare market is constantly evolving. New technologies and procedures are being developed all the time. Healthcare facilities are constantly expanding their services to meet the ever-growing demand for healthcare.
This means that marketing strategies for healthcare providers must also evolve constantly to stay ahead of the competition and attract new patients.
However, with so many options and constant changes, it is not easy to know where to start or what is the best strategy for your practice.
Here are some tips on how to build the perfect healthcare marketing strategy:
The first stage in any marketing strategy is understanding who your target audience is. There are several factors to consider when defining your target audiences, such as age, gender, location, and income level.
Remember that it’s not a one-time event. Your audience can and will change over time, so it’s important to regularly revisit this step to ensure you’re still on track.
How to identify your ideal customers? There are many ways to do this:
After defining your target audience, setting some goals for your healthcare marketing strategy is next. Essentially, you want to answer these questions:
Your marketing goals should guide your strategy, so it’s important to consider what are your goals rather than moving impulsively. Some common goals for healthcare marketing include:
Remember, your marketing goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Some examples of SMART healthcare marketing goals could be:
For example, you are a physiotherapist who aims to generate awareness about your practice and attract new patients. You could break this down into a SMART goal like:
“Increase brand awareness by 50% in 6 months through a targeted text marketing campaign.”
Now that you have some SMART goals to work towards, it’s time to start thinking about the healthcare marketing tools and tactics you’ll use to achieve them.
After knowing your target audience and goals, it’s time to develop your healthcare marketing strategy. You should consider the following factors:
Let’s discuss each of these in turn.
Budget comes first while developing your healthcare marketing strategy. Marketing can be expensive, so make sure you have enough money to sustain a long-term campaign.
Also, consider what kind of return on investment (ROI) you expect from your marketing efforts. This will help you decide which marketing activities are worth pursuing and which aren’t.
You can use analytics to help manage your budget for future marketing campaigns by looking at past campaign data, calculating how much is needed to reach key demographics, and then setting a budget accordingly.
Apart from paid marketing, you can use low-cost or even free marketing activities such as content marketing, social media marketing, and text marketing.
78% of customers purchase products from brands they know and trust. The same goes for choosing a healthcare practitioner.
Your brand defines you, sets you apart from your competitors, and tells your target audience what they can expect from your practice.
Positioning is how you want your practice to be perceived by potential and current patients. Do you want to be known as the most affordable option, the best quality option, or the most convenient option?
Think about what makes your healthcare business or practice stand out and what attracts customers. Is it customer care? Caring staff? Cutting-edge technology? Fast treatment? Find your unique selling proposition or USP, and design marketing campaigns around this.
Remember, creating a strong brand decreases your cost-per-acquisition, so it’s important you should set some budget aside for building and promoting your brand.
The marketing mix is the blend of the marketing activities you’ll pursue to achieve your healthcare marketing goals. The four main elements of the marketing mix are:
For each element of the marketing mix, you need to consider how you can appeal to your target audience. Remember, you’re not just selling a healthcare service or product; you’re selling an experience. Make sure your marketing communicates the benefits of your services and how they can improve patients’ lives.
It’s also worth considering discounts and special offers for promoting your brand. For example, you can offer a discount to new patients or package several treatments at a reduced price.
Make the purchase process for existing and potential patients as smooth and easy as possible. If they have to jump through too many hoops, they will likely give up and go to a competitor.
How to raise awareness of your healthcare practice, or treatments? There are many promotion channels you can use, such as:
Not all promotion channels will be right for your practice. Make sure you consider which can help reach the audience most effectively and then choose one!
For a successful healthcare marketing strategy, you must focus on the patient experience and let them enter your health system through their preferred channels.
The digital front door to your healthcare system is a crucial and often overlooked step in the patient journey. These initial touchpoints could include channels like your healthcare website, or third-party physician listings that patients visit before coming to you about their care needs.
In addition, social media channels have been increasingly powerful to connect with your patients. Start by identifying these channels and ensure your digital presence is up to par.
After the patient’s first engagement with your healthcare system, what is the most likely path they will take? This practice is called patient journey mapping.
Patient journey mapping helps you recognize which actions lead patients down the conversion path and which may cause them to stop in their tracks.
Ideally, you want to make the patient journey as seamless as possible, with a few steps and touchpoints. By reducing friction points, you can increase the likelihood that patients will continue down the path to conversion.
There are a few key ways to do this:
Consider using a marketing automation software that helps you trigger text messages at key points in the patient journey.
For example, you could send a text message to patients after they’ve made an appointment, reminding them of the date and time.
By understanding which channels your patients are using and what type of content they’re engaging with, you can create more personalized communications that are more likely to resonate.
Your website should be mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. If you’re listed in a third-party directory, check to see that your information is accurate and up-to-date. These channels are important for new and existing patients as they help shape initial perceptions about your brand.
Create a consistent brand voice and experience across all of your channels. This means using similar messaging, graphics, and overall brand design. Your patients should feel like they’re interacting with the same healthcare provider, no matter how they choose to reach out to you.
Your website or social media content should be informative and helpful, but it should also be focused on conversion. All your website pages should have a clear CTA that tells patients what you want them to do next.
Your CTAs should be actionable and specific. For example, if you’re trying to get patients to schedule an appointment, your CTA could say, “Schedule an appointment online now.”
Every content you create, whether a blog, a landing page, or social media post, should have a specific purpose and goal. For example, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, you should focus on top-of-the-funnel topics like general information about your healthcare practice.
If you’re trying to increase patient acquisition, your content might focus on specific services or treatments you offer. You can create a more effective healthcare marketing strategy by segmenting your content and tailoring it to each stage of the funnel.
Encouraging online reviews should be a key part of your healthcare marketing strategy. When choosing a healthcare provider, online reviews are one of the most important factors that patients consider.
Managing and monitoring your online reputation is vital to maintaining a strong patient base. There are a few key ways to encourage and manage online reviews:
You can quickly identify and address any issues by monitoring your online reviews. You should also respond to all negative reviews promptly. This shows potential patients that you’re attentive and care about your patients’ experiences.
60% of customers will read a text within 1-5 minutes of receiving it. That’s why asking for reviews via text is the best way to get them more quickly.
Review management platforms like DemandHub can help you send automated text messages to your patients after their appointments, reminding them to leave a review. It can also help you get more authentic patient reviews, monitor them, and engage with them in one centralized platform.
Marketing a healthcare business can be a challenge. You have to find a way to reach your target audience while still being sensitive to the fact that many people are dealing with health issues.
However, there are some effective healthcare marketing trends and ideas that you can follow:
Video marketing is becoming popular and is a great way to connect with potential patients. Video will account for 82% of all internet traffic by 2022 (Cisco, 2019). So, incorporate videos into your marketing strategy for maximum reach.
You can create video content to educate and inform your patients. Some video marketing ideas for healthcare are:
You can create video content to educate and inform your patients. Some video marketing ideas for healthcare are:
By 2022, mobile marketing will be the primary way people interact with healthcare providers.
For maximum reach, ensure that your website and marketing materials are mobile-friendly so you can use targeted mobile advertising to reach potential patients.
Digital marketing tools such as pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) can help you reach potential patients. By optimizing your website for related keywords, you can increase your visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs), and by running targeted PPC ads, you can reach potential patients who are actively searching for healthcare providers like you.
Evaluate your marketing efforts regularly. Use analytics to track social media engagement, the website traffic and patient acquisition rates. This activity will help you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing strategy and make necessary adjustments.
By following these healthcare marketing trends, you can position yourself as a leading healthcare provider in your market and ensure that you reach the right patients with the right message.
Today’s customers are inundated with choices, and they have high expectations. To meet these expectations and stand out from the competition, you must provide an exceptional customer experience at every touchpoint.
Therefore, your customer experience software should be easy to use so patients can schedule appointments without difficulty and have seamless communication with you, whenever they want, wherever they prefer.
That’s where DemandHub steps in to make your load lighter.
DemandHub is an all-in-one customer experience platform that helps you:
With our text-based web chat your website visitors can connect with you even after they leave your site. You can provide a seamless customer experience, as there’s no need to switch between apps! Google, Facebook, Instagram, web chat, email, and texts are all organized into one unified inbox, so you can address each and every lead instantly.
DemandHub can help your business grow 10X with our easy-to-use customer experience platform. Get a Demo now.
Healthcare marketing involves various strategies and tactics to attract and retain patients. It includes both traditional advertising and digital marketing efforts. The goal is to promote a healthcare organization’s services, treatments, or products and build strong, long-term relationships with patients.
Healthcare marketing is essential for acquiring new patients and retaining them. It also helps educate the public about health issues and promotes a healthcare organization’s services. It allows healthcare providers to set themselves apart in a competitive marketplace, build trust with patients, and enhance their reputation.
Healthcare marketing, while using many of the same principles as regular marketing, needs to be handled with extra sensitivity and care. It requires a deep understanding of patient needs, healthcare regulations, medical ethics, and the complexities of the healthcare industry.
In healthcare marketing, messaging directly relates to patients’ well-being and health, emphasizing the need for accuracy and trustworthiness.
Some challenges in healthcare marketing include the following:
Healthcare marketing strategies can include a mix of traditional and digital marketing tactics. These include:
Other strategies include community outreach, partnerships with other local businesses or health organizations, and public relations efforts.
Marketing in healthcare can be defined as the systematic planning, execution, and control of business activities to connect healthcare providers and patients. It involves promoting a healthcare practice’s services, products, or brand to increase patient engagement, enhance its reputation, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.
Creating a marketing strategy for healthcare involves several steps. First, understand your target audience and their needs. Next, define your marketing goals. Then, choose the appropriate marketing channels to reach your audience effectively. Create valuable, patient-focused content and use SEO to improve visibility.
Monitor your results and adjust your strategy as needed. Remember, a good healthcare marketing strategy should be patient-centric, ethical, and compliant with all relevant regulations (HIPAA) and laws.
There are several marketing channels for healthcare, each with its own advantages. Traditional channels include TV, radio, print ads, and direct mail. Digital channels have now become extremely important. They include a website, blog, email newsletters, SEO, pay-per-click advertising, and social media platforms.
Event marketing and community outreach are also effective, particularly for local healthcare providers. The best channel for your practice depends on your specific audience and goals.
Underutilization of Healthcare Marketing: Many healthcare businesses and practitioners are not leveraging healthcare marketing strategies, missing out on potential patients and growth opportunities.
Importance of Marketing in Healthcare: Marketing is crucial for healthcare practices to reach more people, attract new patients, and keep the brand top of mind. 77% of patients use search engines to find healthcare providers, emphasizing the need for a strong online presence.
Definition and Goals of Healthcare Marketing: Healthcare marketing aims to promote a healthcare practice to attract potential patients and engage them throughout their healthcare journey using both offline and online methods.
Benefits of Healthcare Marketing: Effective marketing can attract new patients, increase revenue, improve patient satisfaction, and help healthcare practices reach a wider audience and improve their bottom line.
Building a Perfect Healthcare Marketing Strategy: A successful strategy involves understanding the target audience, setting clear goals, developing a marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion), and creating a seamless patient journey through preferred channels.
Content and Patient Review Management: Content should be informative and conversion-focused, with clear calls-to-action. Managing online reviews is crucial for building trust and credibility.
Incorporating Technology: Utilizing platforms like DemandHub can simplify healthcare marketing by automating patient communication and tracking marketing success.
Healthcare Marketing Challenges: Marketers must navigate regulatory restrictions, maintain patient privacy, target the right audience, build trust and credibility, and keep up with digital marketing trends.
Marketing Channels for Healthcare: Both traditional (TV, radio, print) and digital channels (website, SEO, social media, email marketing) are important for reaching and engaging with patients.
Future Trends and Ideas: Embracing video marketing, mobile marketing, digital marketing tools (PPC, SEO), and regularly tracking progress are recommended strategies to stay competitive and meet patient expectations.