Don’t panic! With the right plan, you can retain your current patients while attracting new ones to boost your brand through profitability and relevance now and into the future.
One common concern that I have heard among healthcare leaders sounds something like this: “We need more patients, and we need the ones we have to stay with us and tell all their friends and family about us.”
Unfortunately, most physicians and practice managers don’t have digital marketing skills, not to mention historically needing traditional marketing skills. So what are some of the challenges?
- Patient behavior is becoming more and more like classic consumer behavior. Long gone are the days where a medical practice can assume that a patient will just keep coming back. Patients will shop around and will go where they feel engaged, communicated with, and where they perceive that they are receiving most value.
- Patients are more inquisitive and are turning to the web for answers. More and more patients are Googling their symptoms or looking for answers about concerns or searching for the right doctor to engage.
- Patients are looking at online reviews and weigh heavily your online reputation. Your “digital” image means everything in today’s healthcare market. Patients will look for information about you and your practice on your website, social media, blogs, and review sites like Yelp.com. Anywhere they can find information they will.
So what is our suggested course of treatment?
Think about it this way: Your online image is much like a person’s health. The body rarely stays the same. We are either getting healthier or sicker by the choices we make.
In order to maintain our health, we must invest in proactive, effective behavior. Your digital image is the same – if it is left alone its health will deteriorate. You must engage in proactive and effective behavior to ensure the health of your reputation and ability to attract and retain your patients.
Do you know the power of your digital presence?
- More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month!
- Your site is more than 53 times more likely to appear on Google’s first page if you have relevant quality video content.
- Video content delivers more than 10 times the response rate of static text and graphics.
- When embedding video content in digital newsletters or emails to your clients, the click-through rate to your website is increased on average by more than 90 percent.
So what should you know?
- Video content, depending on the length and how well it is made can keep a visitor on your website much longer. Also, the likelihood of them calling or making an appointment rises dramatically.
- Video also helps you rank higher on Google and promotes your practice to many more users then your standard website when they are searching for your specific specialty.
- A proper Digital Marketing plan, social media strategy and reputation management is critical to your practices health.
It’s critical that your practice embrace a clear and current plan to attract and retain your patients. Marketing is more relevant now then it has ever been in healthcare. Selecting a partner to help you build and execute your digital strategy is critical to your ability to focus on your patients and your practice.
Curious what we can do for you? Let’s talk!
