In previous decades, the healthcare sector—comprising private practitioners, public and private hospitals, and specialized healthcare facilities—wasn’t one to advertise aggressively. Healthcare is a timeless and enduring need for everyone, no matter their age, health status, or economic background. Thus, on the assumption that patients would always come to them nonetheless, few doctors, hospital executives, and other decision-makers in healthcare businesses actually prioritized marketing. But the situation couldn’t be any more different now, especially in light of contemporary health crises like the COVID-19 pandemic. Healthcare practitioners have realized the need for new marketing strategies, as well as new technologies, to supplement the hard work they do on the frontline.
If you hold your own practice or work in a healthcare facility, you may be asking yourself: what’s the best marketing strategy to take? How can you build a healthcare brand that patients will trust given the many healthcare-related difficulties of the past year? Part of the solution is to find an agency that specializes in digital marketing for healthcare and sitting down with them to plan a campaign. Here are five objectives that you should aim to meet together.
Revisit Your Strongest Healthcare Products and Services
This point of action may not seem necessary at first, as you probably know your current healthcare offerings like the back of your hand. But new patients don’t have that knowledge yet, and when they come upon your brand, they’ll be discovering it in a new light. Thus, the first thing you may want to do when crafting a healthcare marketing strategy is revisiting your lineup of products and services. Let your partner agency know which products or services are the most sought-after. Then, let them refresh the language, visual identity, or method of engagement used around them to make them relevant to a new generation of patients.
Highlight Innovation as Part of Your Current Healthcare Practice
Another element that should take center stage in your new healthcare marketing strategy is innovation. More than ever, patients are looking for evidence that healthcare practitioners are evolving in order to keep up with their needs. Among the things that appeal to patients seeking healthcare are data-driven results, generosity with information technology, and willingness to use new channels for service delivery. Some key examples include telemedicine and online patient portals that keep track of a patient’s latest lab tests or prescriptions. Ensure that your brand has greater presence and availability than before, especially on the web or through mobile apps. And most importantly, convey to your potential patients that you’re willing to invest in safe, technologically advanced, and adaptable ways to practice medicine.
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Brand Your Healthcare Business as a Patient-Centric One
Healthcare is a practice that acknowledges and caters to diversity. There’s no generic approach to treating every kind of patient. Each one of them brings their own needs, dispositions, and health goals when they visit a practitioner. It’s crucial for you to have a good grasp of your various “patient personas,” or different profiles of patients who are looking for your services. For example, if you work in hospice care, you’ll be tending to the different physical—as well as emotional—needs of terminally ill patients. Your approach can be centered on the delivery of the best possible patient and family experiences in different situations. Perhaps you could launch a content plan highlighting stories of healing, acceptance, and hope among patients and their families. This is just one way that you could communicate the patient-centric nature of your practice. There are various other ways to launch modern marketing campaigns that resonate with your future patients.
Establish Yourself as a Leader in Your Field of Practice
Yet another element that should be highly visible in your new marketing campaign is your specialization. No two doctors share the exact same backgrounds, credentials, or specialty areas. Your marketing strategy should help you highlight your unique contributions to your field and detail the kinds of patients who’d be a good fit. If you’re a pediatrician, for example, the content and visuals of your new campaign should resonate with parents of young children. You should also look for ways to tap into new channels where you’ll find new patients, for example a parenting network. Back up your reach with fresh, updated, and appealing information about your experience, and showcase the good things previous patients have said about you. That should inspire confidence in new patients and lead them to choose you as their provider.
Advertise Aggressively to Your Local Community
Some healthcare companies believe in being as broad as possible in their marketing strategy, and sometimes, that works to their detriment. What you should be concentrating on in 2021, however, is marketing your healthcare services to your local community. Your campaign should focus on targeting patients in your particular state or county and proving to them that you’re the best in their area. Your marketing partners can brief you on the best strategies to do so—for example, using search engine keywords that are optimized for local searches. If your patients are convinced that you’re the best option in their particular area, they’ll come to you to have their needs met.
Final Words: Communicating a Trustworthy and Forward-Thinking Healthcare Brand
In summary, your healthcare marketing campaign for 2021 should be highly specific, patient-centric, community-centric, and anchored on innovation. It may seem like a tall order to step up in terms of your marketing. But now is the best possible time to find new ways to connect with your patients and demonstrate your readiness to accommodate them. A great marketing partner will help you find your footing and present you to the public as the healthcare business it truly needs. Here’s to spreading the word about your practice, and staying true to it even as you welcome another challenging year ahead.
