The Best Healthcare Digital Marketing Practices for 2023

Improved SEO practices

Patients select providers based on the results of their online searches. That means that your institution's website must not only rank highly in search results, but it must also be informative and helpful, as well as facilitate visit booking. Take care of incorporating effective keywords and ensuring the speed of page loading and responsiveness on mobile devices, but that's not all. Invest in location-based SEO. That means formatting location settings in the website's code and providing location-specific content. Trust us; this could be a game changer in digital marketing for clinics and other healthcare institutions.

Targeted, patient-centric content

No matter the sector you work in, nowadays, all digital activities revolve around the customer. This is no different in healthcare. Your goal is to bring customers to your website, brand, and service, keep them interested, and, most importantly, to address their needs and solve their problems. The way to do it is by creating compelling content corresponding to the search intent. Remember that the healthcare funnel is all about answering questions, so make sure that your website:

• Provides answers to the most common questions
• It has an easy-to-navigate UI
• Allows the visitors to find relevant information quickly

Focus on personalization

Personalization is often called the "gold standard" of digital marketing. It's also a challenge, considering that patients expect maximum convenience and efficiency combined with the familial approach of a small clinic focused on an individual. To respond to these high expectations, you can use paid ads targeted to different groups of patients, create several versions of landing pages, or, for example, focus on geo-personalization. As mentioned before, people often look for specialists in the area, so give them all the information they need to convert to your offering. 

READ ALSO: How to Improve the Patient Experience?

Reduced time to lead

This is very practical advice. The number of people active online and the number of inquiries addressed to service providers is growing. Unfortunately, many remain unanswered; while others wait for a response for hours or even days. Responding quickly is beneficial for any sector and essential in a time-sensitive industry, such as healthcare. You can give visitors several options for contacting your company or institution – email, phone, contact form, or chat options. Consider callback solutions like CallPage, which instantly connect website visitors with your sales team, improving the healthcare lead generation.

Enabled voice-activated search

In the US, but increasingly in other parts of the world, people own smart speakers and have grown accustomed to using them, especially during the pandemic. Voice assistants have been utilized to research treatment details, ask about medication or illness symptoms, or find a doctor or therapist. Enlisting your institution in local directories makes it more findable by Amazon Alexa, Siri, or Bixby. Providing conversational answers to the common GFAQs on the website increases the chances for voice-based searchability. With some technical tweaks, like adding schema markup to make your content readable, you can stand out from the competition and optimize your brand for voice search.

Social proof

An adverse opinion about your service can be a deal-breaker for your business. With 94% of patients using online reviews before choosing a healthcare provider, social proof is gaining significant importance. Be present on social media, provide testimonials, and promote positive reviews. Ask customers, stakeholders, and influencers to share favorable stories about their experience with your institution. Don't shy away from including small gift cards or bonuses for the most loyal patients to show appreciation. And if you happen to receive negative feedback – don't panic. It's better to address the concerns than leave the problems unresolved. Such practice will improve your brand's image as well. 

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Social media and video content

Believe it or not, while social media has conquered the market, it remains primarily underused by the healthcare sector. But you need to remember the potential it brings. Paying for search ads is one thing, but advertising on social media platforms is a sure way to increase conversions. Remember that you should include several different platforms (like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) in your mix and create a different copy for each of them. After all, they address different audiences in a variety of formats.

Invest time and resources in video campaigns 

Video took the market by storm and needed to be used if you wanted to harness the real power of social media. A digital consumer is a visual creature, so there is no better way to grab their attention and attractively present your offer than by posting a series of engaging, high-quality videos. This kind of material makes your brand feel more approachable. Moreover, YouTube ads are becoming one of the leading forms of advertising, so be sure to include them in the mix. 

READ ALSO: How to Get More Patients? Proven Strategies for Doctors and Dental Practices

Conclusion

Focusing on the practices described in this article alone is not enough to ensure the market success of your institution. You need to remember about the overall user experience, email marketing, paid advertising, and other forms of promotion, which you have undoubtedly already implemented in your strategies. We wanted to underline that the changing online landscape forces us to pay special attention to some phenomena centered around customer expectations. We hope our advice on best practices will help you enhance customer engagement and lead conversion.