Every business requires marketing to make profits, grow and remain sustainable. Medical businesses are no exception because they need medical marketing services to thrive.
Notably, the marketing strategies that businesses apply are not standard. They vary in line with the nature of the business and the marketing objective. In this post, Communicare, a medical language service provider (MLSP) and digital medical marketer, identifies some of the elements to consider when creating marketing strategies for your medical businesses as follows:
Brand Consistency
Your marketing strategies should encompass all aspects of your brand. To begin with, the strategy should focus on the uniqueness of your brand. What sets it apart from others? The uniqueness of your brand may include your unique patient treatment, family-friendly environment, or superior customer service.
Focusing on the uniqueness of your medical business enables patients to remember one thing that other medical brands do not have. In return, they will easily remember the name of your medical business. The outcome will be a recognizable and strong brand.
Online Patient Experience
If you are using a website, optimize it for user experience. Your website is what patients see first whenever they access your site. If the website does not impress them, they will shift to your competitor.
Some of the things to include on your website are location, medical practices in each location, primary services, and point of contact. Also, the wording and imagery should accommodate an average patient. So, the website should never have complex wording, jargon, and imagery.
Sometimes, web designs make efforts to make a website look appealing and forget to consider user experience. In such an instance, the website needs remodeling to improve the user experience. The remodeling does not necessarily mean overhauling the entire web design. Minor adjustments, such as moving the contact link up on the interface, are enough to improve the user experience.
Online patient experience also revolves around how your patients like interacting with you. Do they use social media, third-party listing services, or online ads? This consideration makes it possible to design a website that matches your patients’ preferred communication channels.
If you consider your patients’ preferred communication channels they use to interact with you, you will understand your patients’ interaction path. In return, you will position yourself in a manner that keeps the communication channel open. Also, you will shift your focus from other less-used communication channels and save time and other resources.
Search Engine Optimization
In this era of eCommerce, almost all businesses are online. Also, most players in the healthcare industry offer similar services. For this reason, there is a need to achieve a competitive advantage. One of the ways of creating a competitive advantage entails improving your search engine visibility.
Your marketing strategies should include search engine optimization. This aspect makes it possible for patients to see you first whenever they seek the medical services you offer. Use the appropriate phrases and keywords in your website content to achieve this objective.
These keywords and phrases should appear naturally in your content. Remember, Google and other browsers prioritize the readability of website content. If you stuff keywords on your content, the browsers can flag your content and rank you low.
To optimize your search engine visibility, consider using backlinks, managing your sitemap, and using links that drive traffic to your website, among other moves.
Leverage Social Media
Your medical business marketing strategies should consider taking advantage of social media. Besides relying on organic social media, your business should invest in paid advertisements and other unique ways of leveraging social media.
You can opt to integrate your website and various social media platforms. Such a move enables your prospective patients to use social media and access your website.
Gather Patient Reviews
Operating a patient-centric business is better than operating a business-oriented medical business. The earlier operates in the best interest of the patient, while the latter operates with the aim of generating revenue.
The chances of a patient-centric business thriving and becoming sustainable are usually very high. However, that does not mean that such a business should overlook profitability and income generation.
To operate a patient-centric medical business, you have to collect and act on your customer reviews. Such reviews indicate what made your patients happy or sad. If the previews are positive, then exploit your strengths more. On the other hand, make adjustments to resolve any issues that give rise to negative reviews.
Sometimes, you can get reviews about your business from a third-party platform. If the reviews are negative, they can drive away potential clients. So, your marketing strategies should seek to address negative reviews and capitalize on positive ones.
Sometimes, you have to ask for reviews rather than wait for your patients to write them. Notably, it is impossible for your front-office staff to collect reviews from all patients that visit your medical business. For this reason, use automated reviews.
Automated reviews prompt a patient to leave a review about your services through email or text message. In return, a patient can write a review from the comfort of their home or office.
Include Doctor Referrals
Your medical business marketing strategies should include physician liaisons. Such an inclusion enables other doctors to send patients to you. Also, they help your patients deem your medical business as a one-stop-shop. Physician liaison transforms your medical business into a facility that provides all forms of medical interventions, even though not on site.
You can create physician liaisons by visiting other hospitals, medical practices, licensed caregivers, and other medical-related professional entities.
You can also schedule lunches and breakfast with the medical professionals to build rapport. In return, you will form a network of medical professionals and transform your medical business into a one-stop-shop for all medical services.
Mind Your Current Patients
Medical consumption is progressive. It does not stop when a patient gets better. Instead, it is a journey that can keep your current patients coming back for more services from you. For this reason, your marketing strategies should be inclusive of the interests of your current patients.
Always make a follow-up with your patients to get updates on their health condition after receiving treatment from your facility. Such a move enables you to provide personalized services that seek to make your patients satisfied.
You can also send postcards, send follow-up emails, and do other things to fortify your patients’ relationships.
Whenever you reach out to your current patients, they will feel appreciated. In return, they will make you their preferred medical services provider.
Become an Authority
Whenever you create authority in your medical speciality, your patients will trust you. So, always showcase your prowess in matters related to your speciality. You can opt to publish content or attend media interviews. In return, your patients will see that you are not afraid to go public about what you do.
You can also opt to contribute to a trending issue in your speciality. Such a move increases your visibility in addition to clearing any doubt about your medical services. In return, you will experience an influx of new patients who are either shifting from your competitor or establishing their preferred medical service provider.
Include Traceable Parameters
Your marketing strategies should have traceable parameters and key performance indicators (KPIs). Such elements help you evaluate the success of your marketing strategies. Some of the parameters are sales level, web traffic, and an increase in positive reviews.
Failure to have KPIs in place makes your marketing strategies directionless. In other words, the chances of making a loss from untraceable marketing strategies are high. The lack of parameters in your marketing strategies makes it impossible to control the strategy. Also, it increases uncertainty on whether the strategy met its objective or not.
Include Value-Adding Content
Whenever you create marketing strategies for your medical business, it should contain content that has a value-addition aspect. In other words, your strategies should focus on showcasing how patients will benefit from your medical services despite finding them elsewhere.
Everyone is always interested in getting convenient services. If your marketing strategies do not revolve around the comfort your patients get whenever they visit your business, consider adjusting them.
Value-adding content also applies to the content you have on your website. Blogs, articles, and landing pages should feature content that patients find helpful. The use of generic content often fails to make an impact. Such content is everywhere in the health industry. So, your potential patients can get it from your competitors.
Remain Active Within Your Community
Your marketing strategies should also include means of remaining active within your community. Such an inclusion helps win local patients before penetrating the market further. If the locals do not trust your services, nonlocals can’t consume them. So, winning the trust of the locals is paramount to the success of your medical business.
The bottom Line
Marketing does not entail rolling out strategies haphazardly. You should be keen on the strategies’ content, objectives, and impact. To do so, you should consider the inputs of the strategy.
Gone are the days when using generic strategies increased productivity in a medical business. Nowadays, your marketing strategies should make you stand out from other health service providers. So, always find effective ways of making your marketing strategies unique to achieve a competitive advantage.
