The public and / or private healthcare industry is really an extremely massive market, that consumes content, conducts transactions, and offers customer service via digital channels. Although most interactions (medical appointments) were face-to-face, over the past decade, and even more so today, patients seek on-demand digital healthcare via channels such as mobile applications, websites, or social networks.
That is why we place so much emphasis on the relevance of Digital Marketing Strategies for organizations in the healthcare sector. If you are from the sector, you should reflect on how to use these benefits to reinforce communication and presence on a digital level. The interaction between organizations (companies) and users (patients) is more and more a two-way street, and a digital transformation in imminent.
For digital marketing to be successful, it takes a lot of analysis of user and organization data and constant optimization and evolution of organic and paid advertising strategies.
There must be dedicated marketing teams that are continually on top of trends in social media, email marketing, SEO, and SEM to keep your organization at the forefront of change in digital transformation. The healthcare sector can no longer deny the importance of digital marketing and the opportunities it can take advantage of.
Now where do we start? Let's see some useful Tips.
Digital marketing in this industry starts with a true website. Content and navigation are top priorities for the target audience and for search engines, primarily Google.
You need to have someone in charge of SEO optimization, mobile optimization and UX / UI user experience.
Aspects such as information about physicians and their credentials, locations and contact information, and downloadable forms should be easily accessible, in addition to providing relevant and updated content within a content marketing strategy, where the creation of infographics, eBooks, case studies, digital scientific magazines, podcasts, videos, etc., are contemplates, all under the "umbrella" of a website.
Not only should the website be used as a means of communication, but nowadays users demand digital platforms within websites where you can download prescriptions, schedule appointments, view medical records, among other basic healthcare needs and services.
There are two main types of SEO (search engine optimization): general and local.
Local SEO involves creating keyword lists that are specific to regions. They usually involve a general term and a geographic term. For example, if you are a dentist in San José, Costa Rica, then a possible localized keyword could be "dentists in San José Costa Rica".
Your blog and web content should also be optimized for local SEO. Your company must have a Google My Business profile so that Google knows exactly where you are, so make sure the company listing sites have the correct information.
In addition, it is very important to use data structuring to give priority to the snippets that stand out for Local SEO. The use of directories, exchange of links with relevant sites in the region, country or city where you want to optimize is just as relevant, in order to have the greatest local presence.
It is true that SEO is one of the most profitable strategies in digital marketing, as well as content marketing, however, they are strategies that take a long time to obtain results.
So it is very important to allocate budgets for SEM or Paid media, which will give results in less time, gives SEO a boost and generates relevant data for audience construction and management.
Google is the best-known investment platform for paid ads, with formats such as Search, Display and YouTube. But there are many other platforms where advertising strategies can be used, such as Facebook, Spotify, Waze, Programmatic Purchase, etc.
It is important to understand who you want to target, in other words, have a well defined target market. The healthcare industry has a wide array of buyer personas, for example: elderly, pregnant women, medical tourism, wellness, among thousands of others, just to name a few and each can use a specific platform.
It is true that patients seek and demand a lot of information, email is one of the best ways to quickly and constantly contact with the target audience.
Imagine if a patient received information in their inbox before having to search for it?
By sending out an email newsletter at least once a month, organizations can continue to educate patients by providing them with new and relevant content for their well-being.
Email allows organizations to segment, according to a patient’s needs or preferences, this will ensure that the organization is sending the right information at the right time.
When they give you an email address, you know they are interested. So when processes change or physicians are transferred or there are modifications in procedures, its important to keep your target audience informed.
Use "read more" buttons, these call-to-actions will generate traffic to your website, from the email.
The personalization is also important, so keep that in mind. Patients don’t want to feel like a number. They want to know the organization considers and values them.
Healthcare is a personal matter. So it makes sense that digital marketing for the healthcare industry should be highly personalized- A generic and equal approach for all users will not work. After all, the reasons why a particular person might be seeking medical care can range from a desire to achieve general well-being to an emergency, or a life-threatening illness.
Similarly, health care-related messages can be deeply emotional, and marketers must be just as careful not to target the wrong patients.
Knowing how to read Cookies, the information generated from platforms such as Google Analytics, Search Console, data from payment campaigns, are essential to carry out A/ B testing and the creation of personalized and automated content.
If you know a pregnant woman in the first weeks of gestation visits your website, the organization must have the ability to automatically show sections of maternity services, Pediatrics, etc. Just as the experience after visiting the website, personalized ads on other social networks, browsing other websites is key to creating trust, credibility and value for the user.
It's easy to put all of your digital marketing efforts in one channel. Many companies in the healthcare industry think they can focus on one and then move on to the next, but in today's competitive business climate, diversification is best to have the right mix of digital strategies.
Instead of just focusing on SEO, PPC, or social media, use all three. Diversify, if one doesn't work, others can drive up traffic. It's best to choose which avenues sync up with your marketing plan and start from there. You are still driving traffic to your website from other methods as you modify the one that doesn't work.
One of the best aspects of digital marketing is the ability to constantly track performance and make adjustments in real time if a campaign is not performing as planned. Data analysis generated from different sources such as the website and social networks should dictate the decision-making process for each campaign, both during planning and execution.
At a minimum, healthcare professionals must constantly access and verify brand recognition data, blog traffic, social engagement, click-through rates, and conversion metrics. This can involve a large amount of data, so it is equally important to have a robust tool or system to classify and use it. It is here where the management of a CRM comes to have a very important role. Where you can have a personalized profile for each patient.
All institutions in the healthcare industry must have a professional with the ability to manage and interpret Google Analytics data.
According to Wordstream, a third of digital activity is video consumption.
If you can get your doctors on-camera to talk about their area of expertise, it will inevitably increase your credibility and capture an audience that is seeking the expertise your doctors have. Therefore, the use of platforms such as YouTube, Facebook videos and Live, Instagram TV, and webinars where messages and valuable content can be transmitted through video must be clear.
Video can make a patient feel like they've already met the doctor and increase their comfort level by seeing their facial expressions, gestures, and even hearing their voice.
Like a review section, another appropriate place for testimonials is with their video resources. The only thing better than reading about another patient's experience is watching it in action through a video and listening to the doctor, patient, and family members describe the experience from start to finish.
Video is a powerful, easy-to-use, and viral tool: lighting, music, and story structure work together to generate excitement by telling the story in a way that a blog post can't. These elements can evoke feelings of passion, hope, courage, fear, and many others that the written word alone cannot capture.
These 9 digital marketing strategies are in the early stages of a true "Customer Journey" and open a sea of possibilities to create loyalty is users (patients). But most importantly, increase leads, sales and brand presence.
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