medical marketing strategies to attract more patients

Index of contents

1. Be consistent in your brand or medical branding
2. Evaluate the patient experience online
3. Create a responsive medical website
4. Check the speed of your medical website
5. Optimize your website for search engines
6. Use paid Google ads for medical marketing
7. Make the most of social networks
8. Request reviews from your patients
9. Track negative patient reviews
10. Don’t neglect traditional marketing methods
11. Build medical referrals as part of your medical marketing strategy
12. Communicate with your current patients
13. Become a leader in your specialty
14. Track your physician marketing strategy with metrics
15. Audit reception staff

If you are here it is because you want to know the strategies of medical marketing to apply it to your establishment. Well let me tell you that you are not alone, I have compiled what you should take into account from today.

It is no secret that now patients have many more medical options to choose from adding all the information that Google shares with users in search results, people feel that a consultation in a local medical establishment, such as a hospital, is not necessary, clinic, doctor’s office or specialist.

It is for this reason that it is important to plan and have the budget to carry out a marketing and advertising plan for doctors , in this way you can attract new and old patients from your community at the best time.

If at this moment, you maintain an acceptable volume of patients, you cannot sit back and think that without a marketing strategy you are going to keep your medical establishment busy and make them remember you.

Just think about how easy it is to change a medical establishment: changes in health insurance, moving house, you are annoyed by the waiting time, or simply because you had a bad experience with the receptionist. No medical establishment can guarantee you to maintain patient volume forever.

What is a marketing strategy for medical clinics?

Doctors always tell us “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” in serious digital marketing terms: “It is better to have a medical marketing strategy in place now, than to wait and find that the patient database is almost gone. empty.

You have to keep in mind that marketing does not save any medical establishment if it is about to go bankrupt, it is very risky that a marketing agency promises to give you results when you are in a stage, and I hope you are never in this stage.

Medical marketing is a strategy focused on hospitals, clinics, offices, health networks, doctors, specialists, nurses and medical marketing executives. The changes in the healthcare industry have been made immediately and these changes require agility and a change in focus. It is very normal to hire medical marketing agencies to plan this type of strategy, in the end it is worth it since the volume of patients will grow faster and in less time.

To help you on this path, I am going to share 15 medical marketing strategies

Be consistent in your brand or medical branding

I am more than sure that the experience that your medical establishment has separates you from your competitor infinitely. But the harsh reality is that to a patient, one white apron looks the same as the next.

This is where you should pay attention and find out what your brand is about. What is special about your medical establishment? Is it the form of patient care? Are you a medical establishment of doctors who are family members? You must see something that makes your medical establishment unique, and precisely what you are about to discover is what patients will remember about your organization.

I’m not going to deny it, discovering that unique factor takes time and effort. And don’t forget that when you find that factor, the next step is to develop the medical identity manual.

At the end of everything, the aforementioned is part of the medical marketing strategies that are unified with the sole objective of improving. It is necessary to learn how to represent your brand to the community, both in the digital medium and in the printed medium.

Evaluate the patient experience online

A decade ago, having a website was enough to impress potential patients, helping them select you through the identity of the medical establishment. But now, the website is the new cover letter, front door, and red carpet. With the ease of Google searches, potential patients do their own research, and if by bad luck your website is not properly optimized, designed for different types of mobile devices…hmm…it may be the last time a patient consider your medical establishment.

Put yourself in the patient’s shoes for a moment. If they go to any page on your website right now, can you tell where you are located, or if you have different locations, and can they easily find the medical services you offer in 5 or 10 seconds? Can they reach the person or specialist they need quickly? Do the images, the wording represent what it means to have a medical consultation?

UX means User Experience in English, translated into Spanish it is “the user experience” and it is a fundamental aspect in a medical website. Don’t make the serious mistake of building a website with an agency that doesn’t understand the medical industry. Usually agencies without healthcare experience focus on making the website look nice, but completely forget to focus on the patient experience. I have come across hundreds of cases where the website has to be redone because the previous agency had no experience in the industry. In any case, make sure that it is easy to contact your medical establishment.

Create a responsive medical website

A responsive physician website means that it automatically adjusts to any screen size, so the patient experience is the same from a computer, tablet or mobile device. On September 20, 2020, Google established ( mobile first indexing for all the websites ) which Spanish translates to ” Indexing of mobile web pages are first “, it is the new standard and applies to all medical websites worldwide. But more than that, it is something that search engines interpret when determining how and where they rank you.

Google cares about the user experience, in your case that of the patient. They will always give preference to your competitors who have their website optimized for mobile devices.

Responsive web pages work much better for medical digital marketing. But even if you have a responsive website, you should check if the content and images load properly and quickly on mobile devices.

Check the speed of your medical website

Professionals in marketing and advertising for doctors focused on the study of the behavior of potential patients have proven with statistics that patients no longer have the patience to wait for a website to load. It only takes 5 seconds in the digital age to lose a potential patient who decides to go to your competitor thanks to a slow website.
In fact, it is another UX (User Experience) issue that can cause your website position to drop in search results. Where can I check the speed of my website? In PageSpeed ​​Insights and if it is slow, make sure you talk to the developer of the website to find a way to improve the speed. Here I share a medical marketing tip so you don’t forget: Also check the speed of the web pages of your neighboring competitors, this will give you an idea if you are better or worse. I hope you are always much better!

Optimize your website for search engines

Web positioning for doctors is a powerful tool to be in the exact place when potential patients are looking for medical services. Remember that if they search it is because they are ready to make a query. In any case, this web positioning is something complicated that has its own science and ethical practices. Do not think that it is some kind of code that is added one day and the next you appear as #1 beating all your local medical competitors.

Medical web positioning is an intense study of keywords to understand how potential patients search for your medical services and believe me it is complex, because you know the medical technical words, but a patient who has not studied medicine is not going to look for the solution to your problem with medical terms.

Example: medical treatments for…. or doctor for…..any type of treatment

Don’t even think that this is it. Web positioning requires content and that implies an editor who uses those terms and keywords in a natural way, it is another of the protocols Google establishes, that it be legible and that all content is original. And this is just the beginning of the best practices of medical web positioning.

Use paid Google ads for medical marketing

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) in Spanish search engine optimization or better known as web positioning is the organic strategy for the medical website to obtain a position in the organic results and thus gain online visibility. In any case, depending on the city, there may be 1 or 2 paid Google ads belonging to the competition. As shown in the image above.

These paid Google ads are known as “pay-per-click” and are targeted precisely for unique keywords where you want to appear. You must review your budget and decide what would be the amount of monthly money that you are willing to invest to be at the top of the search results.

I have to clarify that this service requires a professional who also manages your medical campaign and not let it run on autopilot, this requires study and data, since there is always room for improvement.

Related:

• The truth about web positioning for doctors
• Google Ads or Web Positioning What is the best option for medical centers?

Make the most of social networks

There are thousands of medical establishments that rely on social media as part of their marketing strategy. Organic social media means posting photos, updates, events, content directly to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and all this effort is a valid strategy that builds your brand and communicates to your patients what is the latest news about you. medical establishment.

However, it shouldn’t be your only social media strategy. Paid advertising on social networks is a better way to take advantage of and search for potential patients who are in search of your professional medical services.

Social Media Ads is so much more than just pushing buttons and posting. It necessarily requires a market study together with a personalized marketing strategy according to the medical establishment. Otherwise, the dollars you invest will not have the expected result.

Here I share a marketing advice for doctors: A small study analysis on social networks in Ecuador. Facebook to this day is still the largest social network, and if you are not investing in Facebook ads it seems to me that you are leaving many potential patients aside.

Request reviews from your patients

Remember that patients usually leave you a review when you encourage them to do so, if they had a unique experience or a very unpleasant one. It is necessary to ask your patient if they could help you with a review about the type of medical service she received, otherwise you are losing an opportunity for a positive comment towards the medical establishment. It is not recommended that you entrust this task to the staff or the receptionist.

Currently there are systems that help automate the process when asking the patient for a review, but I must clarify that you must also have an internal process in the medical establishment so that your staff start using it and in this way strengthen your marketing medical.

How do these types of systems work? Automated review systems have a filter to try to keep negative reviews from being public. How do they manage to do this? Patients usually receive a message thanking them for the visit, and asking them to please leave a review based on a scale of 1 to 10 stars.

If the patient presses from the 8,9 or 10 star the system redirects him to the live page where you prefer a positive review.

If the patient is not satisfied with the service, they will press the star 1,2,3,4,5,6 or 7 and will be redirected to another web page where we ask them to explain why they were not satisfied. This message will go directly to the doctor or the manager of the medical establishment without the need for it to be a public review that could affect the reputation of your clinic.

The nice thing about these systems is that they give you the flexibility to get back in touch with the patient and try to resolve the misunderstanding.

And if you manage to fix the misunderstanding. Congratulations! Remember it is better to always have patients on the good side, since they are the first to send you references or take them away from you.

Track negative patient reviews

Changing the negative opinion of a patient is a difficult but not impossible task, especially when it comes to the reputation of your medical establishment. In some cases we will not have a solution, but it is important to communicate with the patient to try to resolve the problem.

The reward for the effort is that the negative review becomes positive. Leaving an impeccable impression on the patient. Can you imagine what that patient who is going to talk about your medical establishment?

If you, as a doctor, know that from the heart you did everything possible to ensure that the patient is 100% satisfied with your services, and there is definitely no solution for him to change his mind. Then it is necessary to respond publicly that the medical establishment did everything possible and will continue to work hard to solve the problem so that it never happens again.

In this way, curious patients who investigate the negative review will realize that you handled it in a professional manner, trying to communicate with the patient first and foremost and that you always looked for a way to satisfy them. This is a strategic way to combat those negative comments.

The bottom image is a sample that the medical establishment did nothing about it. There is no answer, nor any kind of approach.
Reviews in Google Business Profile: The value of the experience transmitted between patients about your medical consultation.

Don’t neglect traditional marketing methods

Traditional marketing methods like radio, television, billboards, and ads in the local paper still work. You just have to be careful with your budget and know where you should invest, so that the results are the best possible. Which traditional media to invest in, that will depend on the parish, city and the segment of people you want to reach.

Build medical referrals as part of your medical marketing strategy

Referrals between doctors is one of the oldest and most organic marketing strategies for doctors when it comes to attracting more patients. You should take advantage of your network of medical contacts, since they also seek patient referrals, this includes visits to hospitals, nurses and any other type of medical establishment.

Don’t be shy and take the time to schedule a lunch with a potential referral base. The truth is you don’t know when a patient is going to be referred to you, but all this earthly work is going to bear fruit.

Communicate with your current patients

While it is true that we hope that patients pay you for each consultation, it is important to show your human side as well. Simply adding the personal detail to follow up after a consultation, even if it is not paid.

And why is it advisable to do this, if I am not paid? If the patient Jaime Andrade patient receives a call, email or text message directly from her doctor to simply follow up on what happened in the last consultation. The patient’s perception is “Doctor Navarro cares about my health, he called me to ask how he was doing” Do you know how many relatives and acquaintances your patient Jaime Andrade has, just for taking the time to follow up? Rest assured that the patient will refer to you as a doctor who really cares about patients. After all, all the medical establishment needs are patients.

Become a leader in your specialty

There is medical competence anywhere in the world, but promoting the knowledge you have in your specialty, not everyone does it. Part of dental medical marketing is public relations and for this it is also necessary to develop an appropriate strategy.

You must stay informed of the latest trends in your specialty, consider joining digital medical groups or forums to share, educate and comment on topics related to your specialty. This over time builds authority.

Remember that being a medical leader is not about paying for advertising to increase the number of patients. It is about your social medical contribution to the community you serve.

Track your physician marketing strategy with metrics

This is a marketing issue that can only be resolved if the medical establishment accepts that other types of tools must be added for granular monitoring, which in some cases have extra costs. But what is the benefit of this?

It is very difficult to make a business decision based on hunches, the risk of being wrong is much higher and therefore more expensive. Imagine having a report with valid metrics to know how all your medical marketing efforts are doing. Here is an example:

This year’s Annual Report

• Facebook ads generated 40 appointments and 5 calls per year
• Twitter ads generated 2 appointments and 1 calls per year
• Google Ads generated 20 appointments and 10 calls per year
• Web positioning generated 60 appointments and 70 calls per year

If you invested in 4 different channels this year to increase the number of patients, my question here is. Do you think it is necessary to continue investing in Twitter monthly after reading the annual report? This is exactly what I mean, you can’t make business decisions for a medical establishment without metrics.

Obviously you should know that to reach this level it is necessary to use other types of tools that medical marketing agencies provide. Do they have additional cost? Definitely yes. But rest assured, this is going to give you a bird’s eye view of what’s right.

Audit reception staff

You can have the best medical marketing agency with the best strategy, you get calls, but if the reception staff can’t take the calls properly you will definitely lose money and opportunities.

Here I am going to write you the reality. You as a doctor are very busy helping your patients, but how do you know if your reception staff is properly attending to your patients? You have no way of knowing that. How can you be in 2 places at once? Humanly you can not be.

The reception staff is practically a salesperson for your medical establishment. An audit of your reception staff can reveal many things such as:

• Long waits for potential new patients
• Incorrect information causing confusion for potential new patients
• A slow process when scheduling appointments
• Inability of staff to explain or “sell” your medical treatments
• Not having a strategy for patients to book an appointment

The medical establishment should take the time to properly train reception staff. And this is 100% the responsibility of the medical establishment’s work team. I invite you to leave us your comments and tell us what you think of what you read.