Digital Marketing Strategies for Physicians

As the new year begins, it’s a great time to review your digital marketing strategy. A look at your current patient flow, advertising ROI (return on investment), and other key analytics will tell you what is working well and what isn’t. However, looking back only tells part of the story.

Advertising gets personal

In the constantly changing world of digital marketing, you need to not only repeat the tried-and-true, but also embrace the innovative and new. Here’s a look at some of the top marketing trends on the rise.Before the digital age, advertisements were delivered en masse. One ad delivered to a large audience, such as all subscribers of a magazine. Of course, only a percentage of those people are actually looking for a doctor, and the same ad won’t appeal to everyone. Online advertising is free of such restrictions and is becoming more flexible as technology advances.

Use these techniques to deliver the right ad to the right audience:

• Geo-targeting — Most paid advertising platforms allow you to narrow your audience to a geographical location, known as geo-targeting. The rise in mobile usage takes this to a new level, using GPS data to deliver timely advertisements when the user is in your neighborhood.
• Audience selection — You aren’t limited to targeting people by geographical location. In most cases, you can also select a target audience based on demographics, interests, and other criteria. Make use of this by choosing smaller, narrower audiences and designing ads that cater to them.
• Retargeting — You’ve probably seen promotions on social media or web pages advertising something you already shopped for or looked at. When implemented properly, this is a powerful advertising strategy, because it focuses on people who are already in the sales funnel.

Content is still king, but it’s wearing a different crown

People are tired of high-pressure advertisements that simply encourage them to take action, spend money, buy something, or choose a service. Instead, they want marketing materials that offer value, as in entertainment or education.

While the importance of content is not changing, the type of content is. What is your audience looking for?

• Advanced video — The internet has long embraced video. It is so popular that plain promotional videos no longer stand out. Instead, people are seeking out live video, Facebook watch parties, 360-degree filming, and interactive content.
• High quality text — The days of keyword stuffing are long gone. With improvements in mobile technology, the need for abbreviated content has passed as well. Today, people want in-depth, informative, well-written, authoritative content. Don’t write with the goal of getting clicks. Write with the goal of informing your audience, and the clicks will come naturally.
• Mixed media —You don’t want to make your website seem cluttered and busy, so don’t try to put everything on every page unless it fits well. However, the more you can naturally blend content types, the more appealing your material becomes. Illustrate text with appropriate graphics, add informative captions to pictures, embed explainer videos where appropriate.

Expanding your online presence

If you are serious about marketing your medical practice, you probably invested in a high-quality, optimized website. That is where people will go to learn more about your practice, but it might not be where they start. Increasingly, if you want to get people to your website, you need to optimize your presence across the web.

You want to be where your potential patients are. Where is that?

• Social media — Join the conversation and build a loyal following. Your practice should have profiles on the most important sites, keep them updated, and post quality content regularly.
• Online listings — Most people don’t bother asking a friend to recommend a medical provider. Instead, they ask Google, or WebMD, or Yelp, or dozens of other options.
• Mentions — Give media interviews, issue press releases, engage with bloggers and influencers. The more often you and your practice are mentioned on reputable websites, the better.

Conclusion

Your competitors are gradually adopting newer, more sophisticated, more effective marketing methods. If you resist change, you will fall behind. Alternately, you can get ahead of the game by embracing the latest trends in the coming year and beyond.

Naren Arulrajah, President and CEO of Ekwa Marketing, has been a leader in medical marketing for over a decade. Ekwa provides comprehensive marketing solutions for busy doctors, with a team of more than 180 full time professionals, providing web design, hosting, content creation, social media, reputation management, SEO, and more. If you’re looking for ways to boost your marketing results, call 855-598-3320 for a free strategy session with Naren.