There are many different types of healthcare marketing, but some basic principles apply to all of them. It’s critical that your message is clear and concise and that it speaks directly to your target audience.
It’s also important to consider how your messages will reach your intended audience, whether through social media, print ads, web banners, direct mail, radio, television, billboards, etc. Be sure to communicate effectively and efficiently, to stand out from the crowd.
Marketing costs vary greatly depending upon what type of healthcare marketing you choose to pursue. Depending on what kind of service you offer, you’ll need to budget accordingly.
As a general rule of thumb, the average marketing cost per month ranges between $100 – $500, depending on the amount of time and effort involved. Choose a strategy that aligns with your objectives, and then evaluate it after a few weeks to see if it achieved the desired result.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is any form that uses digital technology for advertising and branding purposes. Digital marketing encompasses many activities, including email marketing, SEO/SEM, paid social media campaigns, display advertising, web design, and more.
• Email Marketing: Email marketing is a type of direct mail marketing where messages are sent directly from businesses to customers’ inboxes. Typically, marketers only send emails to past customers or potential future customers.
• Social Media Marketing: Social networking websites allow users to interact, share, or collaborate through different online platforms. An individualistic person can create a personal page to express his opinions, thoughts, and emotions. You can also use a healthcare marketing agency.
These online spaces can help him connect and communicate with other people. Individuals may connect with friends, family members, coworkers, groups, organizations, and public figures. The best part of social networking websites is that individuals can join without paying fees.
• Paid Advertising: Paid advertising refers to any actions taken to increase awareness of goods and services. Paid advertising often involves the placement of advertisements in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and even outdoor spaces. Through paid advertising, consumers receive information about goods and services while being exposed to advertising. You can as well use a healthcare marketing agency.
SEO FOR DOCTORS
• Create Long Tail Keywords with deep links: The longer keyword phrase contains less competition. So, they rank higher in Google searches. To optimize for long-tail keywords, try to write unique content with lots of value. Use long-tail keywords in blog titles, headers, subheaders, and meta descriptions. This helps you to create highly targeted pages that get ranked better in SERPs.
Link building is another vital aspect of SEO. Using external sources to link back to your website helps search engines crawl and index your article. The rule of thumb is to publish original content first and then seek relevant publications to link to yours.
• Add Social Signals and Online Reviews: Social signals boost your SEO results. Share your content across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. They help to increase organic traffic and engagement.
Online reviews are a huge factor when it comes to Google searches. If your practice isn’t doing social media marketing, it’s time to jump on this fast-paced bandwagon. Ask patients and visitors to leave reviews on Google, Yelp, and other review websites. This will help bring more business to your practice and give you credibility in your market.
• Create quality content: Quality content should always be the cornerstone of any digital marketing strategy. When done properly, SEO, PPC, email marketing, and other tactics work together to help you achieve this goal.
Quality content doesn’t mean publishing long blog posts; instead, it means producing unique, helpful, and informative articles that educate people. A blog post may contain various types of content, including images, videos, infographics, podcasts, slideshows, case studies, interviews, surveys, etc. Each piece provides a different level of value, helping you gain exposure while establishing authority in your industry.
• Google My Business: Google My Business lets users manage their reputation across multiple listing services (MLS). This includes adding addresses, uploading images, and listing details. Users can add reviews and ratings to help consumers make informed decisions before visiting their practice. This enables you to maintain a positive reputation online, giving patients confidence in your service and potentially driving more foot traffic.
BENEFITS OF SEO FOR HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS
• SEO for doctors helps bring more patients to healthcare providers’ websites: When a patient visits a website, they first look at the number of relevant web pages to their problem. A health care provider needs to have a top ranking in Google to improve their chances of getting more new patients.
• SEO Helps To Generate More Leads: A medical practitioner needs to reach out to prospective patients so that they can seek medical advice from them. With the help of SEO, a medical practitioner can increase the number of clicks and leads generated through their website. So, it becomes easier for healthcare professionals to generate more leads for their practice.
• SEO Improves Patient Experience: When someone searches for a doctor on Google, s/he often finds multiple options. However, s/he cannot choose between them without going through hundreds of reviews. This makes it difficult for a person to decide where to visit for treatment. Since healthcare providers can now gain visibility by using SEO tactics, they can be found at the top of the results page. Therefore, people can select their preferred doctors based on positive testimonials.
• SEO for doctors is Cost-Effective: When running a business, every penny counts. Healthcare practices can spend thousands of dollars on pay-per-click campaigns to get more patients. The cost of PPC can add up very quickly. But when they optimize their websites through SEO, they can save on advertising costs. Moreover, they can start earning profits immediately after optimizing their websites.
• Competitive Advantage – Hundreds of competitors vying for the same market share. To stay ahead of competitors, you should do everything possible to gain a competitive advantage. The best way to do this is to leverage SEO. Being visible among thousands of competitors will give your business an edge over others.
• Increased Brand Recognition: SEO helps businesses increase brand recognition. A study conducted by Stanford University showed that 94% of people believe that the first thing they notice about a company is its logo. Other studies have shown that 87% of consumers rely primarily on Google to navigate the Internet. By using SEO healthcare providers, they can ensure that their organization gets listed among the top results, thus increasing its chances of being recognized by potential clients and patients.
• Improved Search Rankings: Search engines prioritize websites based on keywords and link popularity. Websites with higher ranking positions will naturally display at the top of a search result page. Higher search rankings help healthcare providers gain more visibility on the web and thereby receive more organic clicks and impressions. Using SEO for healthcare providers allows them to rank highly and showcase their expertise, increasing their chances of getting new patients.
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Citations
• Jindal, Atul. “10 Local SEO Strategies For Doctors And Dentists.” Search Engine Journal, www.searchenginejournal.com, 17 June 2022, https://www.searchenginejournal.com/local-seo-doctors-dentists/453799/.
• “6 Proven SEO Strategies for Health and Wellness Clinics – Fresh Mind Ideas | Branding and Digital Marketing Agency in India.” Fresh Mind Ideas | Branding and Digital Marketing Agency in India, freshmindideas.com, 13 Apr. 2022, https://freshmindideas.com/blog/seo-strategies-for-health-wellness-clinics/.
• “7 Actionable SEO Strategies for Healthcare Websites | Blog.” Max Effect Marketing, www.maxeffectmarketing.com, 24 Aug. 2018, https://www.maxeffectmarketing.com/seo-strategies-healthcare-websites/.