This article is going to focus on the 17 best strategies any healthcare marketing agency can use to boost your online presence. These are in no particular order, except number 1. You really have to do number 1.
1. Build A Website
Your website is likely to be the best healthcare marketing tool that you have at your disposal. Your website should be organized into separate sections. It should be visually appealing and easy to navigate. All of the links on your website should be clickable and all of the information and pricing on your site should be up to date. Check your website analytics often. Update your website in order to improve site analytics and total revenue overall. Your website should easily link out to your blog and social media pages. It should also have a great reviews section.
2. Post on Twitter
Twitter is not just for teenagers and celebrities. It also an important tool that businesses can use for marketing and growth. Make a professional Twitter account for your practice. You can hire a social media marketing professional to run your accounts or have someone in the office take on the job in their spare time. Try to update Twitter at least one a week. Use the right hashtags so that more users can see your posts.
3. Establish Yourself on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is an excellent business tool for professionals in all sorts of different industries. Encourage members of your practice to create professional LinkedIn profiles. You can use this social media platform to keep tabs on other practices and connect with other professionals as well. Sharing interesting and engaging posts on LinkedIn can help you to connect with important individuals in your local area.
4. Give Back to the Community
Giving back to the community is a great way to market your healthcare practice. For example, you might want to sponsor a highway, host a food drive, or do pro-bono work in your local area. These tactics are good for the community. These tactics also serve as good ways to create a good reputation for your practice. Make it well known that your practice gives back to the community, but avoid bragging about it. You might want to post on Facebook or LinkedIn about the charitable work that your practice does.
5. Get a Billboard
A billboard is a classic marketing and advertising tactic that any type of business can use. People see billboards every day while driving to and from work, traveling on road trips, and running errands. Securing ad placement on a billboard in a great location can be the perfect way to find new patients for your practice. Make sure that your billboard is simple, well designed, and easy to read. It should have the name of your practice, the location of your practice, and some contact information clearly listed in large lettering. Any healthcare marketing agency worth their salt should have a billboard company that they work with.
6. Encourage Patients to Review Your Practice
Positive reviews are important for all businesses. Encourage your patients to review your practice on Google, Facebook, or Healthcare specific review apps. You may even want to offer incentives to patients who choose to review your practice online. Find the best reviews online and be sure to list those on your website as well. A “What People Are Saying…” or “Reviews” section on your website can show potential patients just how trustworthy and reliable your practice is.
7. Hire a Photographer
All of your advertisements should have beautiful, clear photography on them. Doctors and nurses should have professional head shot photographs taken regularly. Hiring a quality photographer can improve these photos as well as the content that you are able to post online. Quality photography also looks better for print marketing campaigns. You may want to share photos of your doctors, your lobby, your happy patients, and your patient care rooms on social media or your website so that people can easily see how clean and beautiful your practice is.
8. Make a Commercial
A commercial is an excellent way to advertise a medical practice because commercials can be targeted specifically for local areas. You may want to have a videographer create a professional television commercial for your business. Alternatively, you may want to create a commercial for a local radio station in order to advertise your practice. Make sure that your commercials are memorable without being cheesy.
9. Make Merchandise Items to Give Away
You might want to give away branded merchandise items in order to help market your practice. For example, you may want to give away t-shirts, drawstring backpacks, pens, mini hand sanitizers, fans, or stress balls. You can give these items away to patients for free or give them to employees for their own personal use. Either way, branded swag items serve as a great way to get your name out into the community. Again, any healthcare marketing agency worth their salt should have a promotional company that they work with.
10. Run a Blog
Running a blog can be a highly effective way to market your business but starting a blog can be intimidating for some businesses at first. Working with a well reviewed healthcare marketing agency is a great way to manage a high quality blog without any experience. Your marketing agency can make sure that your blog posts are interesting and appealing. They can also make sure that your blog posts have the right keywords for search engine optimization.
11. Use Email Marketing
A healthcare marketing agency can also help your practice create an email marketing campaign. Emailing patients and potential future patients regularly can be a good way to make sure that they return to your practice instead of switching to another one. Do not send emails too often, as this can actually detract patients from your business.
12. Run Ads on Facebook or Instagram
Advertising on social media platforms for a small fee. When you advertise on social media, you can target specific demographics and locations. This can help you to reach out to a more specifically targeted group of potential future patients. This tactic is generally better for finding new patients than getting old ones to come back.
13. Start a Referral Program
A referral program, where patients get bonuses for referring other patients, is an excellent way to market your business. Word of mouth is important. When you offer discounts, prizes, or cash bonuses for referrals, you can build up a new patient base and keep your existing patient base coming back too.
14. Cross-Promote with Another Practice or Business
There are all kinds of different businesses that healthcare practices can cross-promote with. For example, your practice might want to cross-promote with local massage therapy practices, holistic wellness centers, spas, and salons. You also may want to cross promote with gyms, vitamin shops, and other health related businesses.
15. Set Up a Booth at Local Events
In-person events like fairs and farmers markets often allow vendors and businesses to set up for a small fee. Find events that potential patients might attend and send some brand representatives out to set up a booth and advertise. Your booth’s table should have swag items, pamphlets, and fun games for people to play when they pass by. A prize wheel is the perfect tool for an event booth. People can spin the wheel to win discounts, free visits, and swag items. Your healthcare marketing agency will need to work with their promotional company as well as whichever venue you will be setting up at to coordinate booth specifics.
16. Make YouTube Videos
YouTube videos from healthcare practices can be either informative or entertaining. You may want to share helpful health tips or interesting health facts on your Youtube channel. You may even want to make funny videos featuring the people who work at your practice and try to go viral. Share your YouTube videos on social media and your website so that more people will see them.
17. Send Out Cards to Patients
Cards are a classic healthcare marketing tool. Many practices send out Thank You cards, holiday cards, and reminder cards to their patients. Sending cards to your patients is an excellent way to improve patient retention. Make sure that you have an up-to-date mailing address on file for all of your patients so that you can ensure that your cards get into the right hands.
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