The healthcare industry is changing drastically as patients’ needs and expectations have accelerated. Healthcare patients—and consumers in general- simply don’t want to THINK anymore: 89% of consumers turn immediately to an online search engine when they’re looking to solve their healthcare queries.
So, it is very important that you plan accordingly to market your healthcare business. We have featured one of our past client Dr. Lal PathLabs in this blog and shared their marketing practices.
If you want to increase leads and grow your patient count, we have 5 healthcare marketing strategy tips for you to follow:
1. WEBSITE DESIGN WITH PATIENTS IN MIND
Have you ever invested any money into landscaping, cleaning services, or interior decorating for your facility? Of course you have—first impressions matter and patients don’t want to be treated in a place that looks like it’s from the set of Breaking Bad.
Well, your website is just like your building’s exterior, and patients will judge you based on how it looks and functions. In fact, 48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business, and once your page loads, users form an opinion in .05 seconds.
While some healthcare companies are shattering the ceiling when it comes to digital technology, the large majority of them are still struggling.
So, what DO patients want? A CDW Healthcare survey found that 89% of patients want easier, seamless access to their personal health records. They also want convenience—78% of consumers to say they would be interested in receiving virtual health services, and virtual healthcare visits have increased from about 54% in 2014 to 71% in 2017.
They also need to be able to book your services online—71% of millennials prefer both online scheduling and receiving digital reminders, but they won’t be alone for long. Online booking is becoming a necessity, and Accenture predicts that by the end of 2019, 66% of health systems will offer self-scheduling and 64% of all patients will use self-scheduling.
When you tie all those statistics, preferences, and trends together, you discover that the absolute BEST healthcare websites have all (or most of) the following:
- Online scheduling
- Customized patient portals where patients can easily access their health data
- Online bill pay
- Online prescription renewal
- Messaging capabilities so patients can communicate quickly with providers
- Doctor or specialist lookup
- Emergency wait room times
- A healthy supply of videos (see more about that further down)
- Options for virtual visits with health practitioners
2. Provide Useful Content
When it comes to healthcare, patients rely on clinics or hospitals that are experts in their field of practice. To become an expert in the healthcare business, start offering relevant, helpful information via social media platforms, newsletters, and blogs. Surely, finding your website or medical blog at the top of relevant search results will attract some new patients. What’s more, patients who read your healthcare business blog are more likely to choose your services over others. Sharing useful and informative content is a great way of interacting with your target audience.
3. Utilize Social Media
Moreover, social media sites are perfect healthcare business promotional platforms. In the first place, a huge number of prospective patients are already on social media sites, making it easier to market your healthcare business. Creating a social media business page costs almost nothing, enabling the business to provide another channel for customers to learn about the practice. Proper utilization of social media platforms can increase the number of new patients through big data analysis, sharing, interaction and campaigns.
Check some of the social content of Dr. Lal PathLabs that we developed from here.
4. Increase Patient Reviews
Think about this: in 2019, almost 72% of patients use online reviews as their first step in finding a new doctor, and 88% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
But after you get reviews you can’t just let them sit there; 65% of patients feel it’s important for doctors to respond to online reviews. To get more (great) reviews, simply ask for them, or use a program that aggregates reviews as well as sends emails requesting patients to leave reviews for the services.
Patient reviews can be gathered both on social media. But, it’s even better if you can get it on your Google My Business Profile to boost your local SEO effort.
5. Create Special Promos
You need to create special promotions for both of your old patients and fairly new patients constantly. You also need to remind them of your regular package or general healthcare package to get the most lifetime value from each customer. Often old customers are overlooked to bring in new customers in the healthcare business while allocating marketing budget. But, you need to have a proper retention strategy to make sure your old customers are happy and coming back to you.
Giving them a special promo, coupons, and loyalty discounts with NPS surveys requires less marketing budget and a greater return. Focus on that to make your healthcare business is sustainable for the longer term.
If you’re looking for a marketing service provider for your healthcare business – who understand the internal compliances that healthcare marketing needs and running best practices – contact us today for a discovery call.
