If you live a life similar to mine, you're probably reading this article from the comfort of your own home on a laptop or smartphone.
That’s the reality of life now.
Things were different only 18 months ago. It was a different world.
Yet, we might not be able to return to that world again.
Let’s find out why …
- We've modified the way we work.
- Consumer behavior in all marketplaces and healthcare has changed too.
In fact, healthcare is one of the top sectors affected by changes brought about by a pandemic-driven change in behavior.
Today, the healthcare industry is changing for three main reasons:
- People's health requirements have changed.
- The public's access to accurate and timely healthcare information has become a top priority.
- The healthcare sector is adjusting to meet them.
I must admit that it would be challenging to stay on top of what customers want.
There are various medical product brands, and each one faces challenges in this sector.
Let me share with you some challenges.
Challenge #1. Brick-and-mortar stores will not grow because they cannot keep up with what customers want in today's market.
Challenge #2. As patients and buyers become more digitally savvy, so must your marketing efforts. But the healthcare industry has been notoriously slow to innovate.
So is healthcare marketing a game-changer?
Yes, it is.
Still in doubt?
Let me show you some statistics, and you will probably find them relevant for healthcare marketing.
Health-related queries account for about 7% of all Google searches.
- 47% of internet users look online for information about doctors or other health professionals.
- 66% of internet users look for information about a specific medical problem or disease on the internet.
This brings us to the gist of this article – Healthcare marketing
What is healthcare marketing all about...
What is Healthcare Marketing?
Marketing for health care organizations can be defined as any activity that helps you reach out to potential customers or clients.
How do you do this?
You do this by advertising, telling people what you do and how they can get more information about you.
This leads me to the next question.
Why is Healthcare Marketing Important?
Healthcare marketing is essential for your medical organization.
This is why you may want to make sure people know about you and what you do, especially when significant changes strike the industry.
When someone hears about new changes, they might think of you first.
In other words:
People will remember that they heard about your organization through your marketing campaign.
What is a Healthcare Digital Marketing Agency?
A healthcare digital marketing agency is a company that helps healthcare organizations have a good reputation.
But does a good reputation result in more visibility?
Yes!
In fact, when it comes to putting the right things in front of the right people, nothing beats a healthcare digital marketing agency.
A healthcare digital marketing agency will drive more patients to your business and boost your bookings
One interesting statistic shows that 81% of people are not satisfied with their medical experiences.
A professional healthcare digital marketing agency knows how to deal with negative reviews as well and generate happy customers.
How can a healthcare marketing company help you grow your healthcare brand?
A healthcare digital marketing company will:
- Elevate the visibility of your organization
- Improve your brand reputation
- Build authority in your field
I always wondered how they do this.
But I recently found out that they can manage your social media channels or post blog articles on websites.
These may include (but are not limited to) the following:
1. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a way to grow your organization's online presence.
83% of healthcare organizations use content marketing to grow their healthcare business.
This statistic is impressive, but you may probably be asking;
Where do I start with content marketing?
Well, content marketing is a broad term for using content as a means to grow, that usually includes:
- Blog
- Web copy
- Newsletters
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Downloadable resources such as case studies, brochures, and eBooks
Creating unique and valuable content will boost your organization’s rankings on search, reinforce your brand and establish credibility via knowledge-sharing.
2. Social Media Marketing
Healthcare digital marketing agencies will help you improve your following and engagement on social media.
This implies they will use both organic and paid campaigns to:
- Create and manage social media content
- Provide customer support to people on social media
- Paid advertising
- Measure performance and optimize it.
And that’s not all!
They will make sure that these campaigns comply with the rules of the platforms where you are advertising.
3. Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing campaigns are an excellent way to grow your brand. You can do them by spending a lot of money or not.
They are very cost-effective, and you can see results right away.
Healthcare digital marketing agencies use email to:
- Send messages about what you are doing to your clients and people who want to be clients.
- Send messages with news and promotions that you have.
- Help your website get more traffic by sending people there when they open their email.
4. Paid and Organic Search (PPC & SEO)
A healthcare digital marketing agency will use on-page, off-page, and technical SEO tactics to improve your location-based rankings.
When you rank higher, that’s when you will observe the following:
- Organic traffic coming in
- A growth in traffic to your website
- More appointments and leads filling in at the top of your funnel.
- Increased visibility and awareness of your brand
They will also focus on implementing pay-per-click (PPC) paid advertising tactics.
Are PPC’s helpful?
Yes, they can help you position your pages among the top three Google search results almost instantly.
PPC is a highly effective tactic in driving qualified leads to your website, funneling more prospective clients through your carefully set up channels.
A healthcare digital marketing agency will use different types of SEO & PPC efforts to improve your ranking on Google and other channels.
These experts will assist you in purchasing advertisements, which will allow you to reach a larger audience.
This is a method of increasing the number of individuals who visit your pages and subsequently request a service.
It is very effective.
What Differentiates a Healthcare Marketing company from your average agency?
73% of consumers use search engines to research medical treatments.
They go to your company's website, for example.
Some might even contact you on social media or by phone.
The question is, why?
Because Google and other search engines are looking at companies like yours to provide answers the people need.
You want to be visible on search engines, social media platforms, and online in general so that people will find you when they need help with a medical question.
According to MD connect, 41% of consumers said that info found on social media would impact their choice of hospital or treatment center.
Anyone can build a website and open up a Facebook page,
But
Not everyone has the skills to answer tough questions like doctors and build authority in the healthcare niche.
This is why leaders usually turn to specialized professionals when they are looking to dominate a particular space.
They are typically knowledgeable about:
- Industry-specific regulations and policies.
- How to carve out a niche
- How to position yourself in a crowded market.
- How to target your consumer based on their tastes and behavior.
Why hire a healthcare marketing company instead of in-house experts?
A healthcare digital marketing agency could be the lifeblood of your marketing campaigns.
That said, there is no reason why you should not hire a health care marketing company.
It's tough to do healthcare marketing campaigns all by yourself.
So it makes sense to hire a healthcare digital marketing agency.
Here’s why:
#1. No overhead costs
To be precise, it can be costly to use online marketing tools and other third-party services.
It's also tough to find someone with experience in web marketing within the organization.
Professionals are required for this, but they are not inexpensive.
Want to know why?
Because agencies charge fees, all of those items are already covered.
As a result,
You'll have a better understanding of how much it'll cost you to use an agency.
#2. Flexible contracts
A healthcare digital marketing agency contract allows you to adjust your marketing needs.
If your business needs more, make more; if your business needs less, do less.
#3. Access to premium tools
Agencies who want to help you market your healthcare business can use third-party tools, like analytics and management.
This would help them create a more robust campaign than they could if they didn't access these tools.
#4. Efficient resource management
Hiring an agency allows your organization to focus on its core services and improve its online presence.
In other words: you will have more time to do other things while the company delivers reliable, professional, and specialized services.
5 Signs Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy Isn't Working
To be successful in the digital marketing space, you need to have a strategy.
How do you do this?
Well, you need to check your online presence every now and then.
When you are looking online for healthcare, someone else is likely looking there too.
You need to make sure people find your site by having an excellent online profile on sites like Facebook or Twitter.
This way, you can attract more patients who are also looking for healthcare providers on these sites.
Many healthcare organizations make the error of not having a strategy in place.
If you don't have one, make a point of paying attention to the things that cost money.
You need to create a professional brand for your company or use the same trademark repeatedly so people can identify it.
Here are some of the most prevalent healthcare marketing blunders:
1. Not measuring success
If you spend thousands of dollars on PPC campaigns without knowing how successful they are.
Unlike traditional marketing like TV, print, and radio, digital marketing is different because we can measure it.
So if something doesn't work, we know what changes need to be made.
Digital marketing is the holy grail of tracking; you can track everything and build a very data-driven marketing plan.
Additionally, you are headed for failure if you spend money on digital marketing initiatives without having a strategy.
Unless you have an in-house marketing team who are very good at drawing up a marketing strategy and measuring success, it's best to find someone who can do this for your company.
2. Low-quality leads
Lead quality is the measurement of how likely a lead will convert into a patient.
What does this mean?
This means that you had someone interested in your practice, and it was the job of your marketer to make sure to rank all these leads and collect information on them.
Generating leads is not enough.
If you do not get quality leads, then it is a waste of time and money.
The quality of your site visitors (aka leads) is important because a 10% rise in the quality of those visitors can lead to a 40% increase in revenue.
-If you are getting good traffic but not enough conversions, then this means that your marketing strategy needs to be reviewed or updated. You can't measure results if you don't know what they are or should look like.
To learn more about data-driven marketing, you'll have to click here and read more about it.
How to choose a healthcare marketing company for your healthcare brand?
As a healthcare organization, you have to follow the rules.
If you want to find an agency that offers healthcare digital marketing, you need to ask some key questions.
For example:
1. How well do they understand your industry ecosystem and its laws?
You should ask them about it.
AND
Visit their online profiles to find out more information about their experience in the industry.
Why is it important to find out their experience in the industry?
if they have followed all of the rules and if they understand all of the laws that are important for your organization, that’s a good fit for your needs.
Which leads us to our next question.
2. Do they provide the healthcare marketing services you need?
Online marketing is a set of tactics for your company's digital presence.
But it can be hard to find someone who can do everything you need.
That is why you should figure out what requirements your company needs and then search for specialists in those areas.
These can be:
- End-to-end healthcare digital marketing services
- Website design and development
- Search engine optimization
- Online marketing consultancy
- Web copy and content writing
- Social media management
- Email marketing
3. Do their fees fit your budget?
If you are an organization, there is a fee for your agency to do work.
This fee can be $50 or over $200 per hour. It can also be over $1,000 or over $10,000 per project.
To find the right agency for you, you should know how much money they charge and what their prices are like.
4. Does their company culture complement yours?
Corporate culture is important because it helps to shape the way that an agency works.
Let me assure you, it’s very important to find out if an agency would be a good fit for your company.
Here’s how to find out:
- Read reviews and testimonials about your clients
- Look at the email conversations and phone calls.
- Pay attention to how responsive they are, and see what is happening inside their company.
- Think of your day-to-day interactions with them based on what you have seen so far.
3. Do their fees fit your budget?
If you are an organization, there is a fee for your agency to do work.
This fee can be $50 or over $200 per hour. It can also be over $1,000 or over $10,000 per project.
To find the right agency for you, you should know how much money they charge and what their prices are like.
4. Does their company culture complement yours?
Corporate culture is important because it helps to shape the way that an agency works.
Let me assure you, it’s very important to find out if an agency would be a good fit for your company.
Here’s how to find out:
- Read reviews and testimonials about your clients
- Look at the email conversations and phone calls.
- Pay attention to how responsive they are, and see what is happening inside their company.
· Think of your day-to-day interactions with them based on what you have seen so far.
10 questions to ask healthcare marketing company before you hire one
Ask the right questions during your first meeting.
But that’s not the only task you have.
Write down and memorize these questions.
Be sure to ask them during your talk with the concerned person.
- Which project should I highlight?
- How do I make sure my healthcare marketing campaigns are legal?
- How do I handle your sensitive data?
- What happens if there is a data breach? How do we deal with that?
- What are some of the latest trends in online marketing that will affect our industry and how much should we spend on it.
- What will be the results of online marketing?
- When can we expect to see results from digital marketing for healthcare services?
- Who needs to know about this digital marketing project for healthcare services and why they need to know about it.
- What are our key contacts?
- How will we work together to achieve goals?
Have you found a Healthcare marketing company?
Take these last few steps before signing the contract and building a solid base for your collaboration:
- Negotiate: Sometimes an organization will take what we say as true without negotiating.
You can work with them to find a better deal. People will negotiate the rates and resources and other things. - Your cooperation begins after the contract or agreement is signed: You need to speak with your boss before you hand over access to any profiles or accounts.
- Make sure that he tells you what is expected of you before giving him information.
- Is there something vital missing? A professional lawyer will look at the contract for this to make sure that your sensitive data and your organization are protected.
