What is digital marketing?
Digital marketing is the act of marketing a business, product, or service online. (28)
By definition, digital marketing aims to connect a specific individual with a business that can meet their needs online. (5)
Digital marketing offers various strategies and approaches practitioners can use to reach potential patients and give current patients a better experience online. (29)
Why is digital marketing important for practitioners?
From a practitioner’s perspective, digital marketing is a way of attracting, gaining, interacting, and treating patients online.
It’s a great way to engage, educate, inspire, and motivate patients. And when used properly, having a well-managed digital presence online can increase the number of potential patients who find you regardless of how they search. (27)
Did you know?
A study conducted by Deloitte found that 52% of consumers search online for information about treatment options or, more generally, to learn about health concerns and care providers.
What are some benefits of digital marketing for practitioners?
These days, patients are looking for practitioners and healthcare services online. And if you have a more robust digital marketing presence, you can reach more potential patients in a more cost-effective, measurable, and meaningful way. Just think about it. (20)(29)
Some benefits of digital marketing for a medical practice or health clinic include:
Digital marketing strategies every practitioner should consider
Digital marketing in healthcare encompasses a whole suite of marketing techniques. If you are a practitioner interested in growing your practice, there are well-established digital marketing methods you should learn about and start using. This includes using SEO tactics, building a professional website, managing social media accounts, utilizing email marketing, creating blog content, and offering virtual services to patients.
Skip to any of these sections:
Keep reading to find out how you can put them all into action.
“You can start by engaging current patients with your digital offerings as an extension of your existing practice.”
-Dr. Daniel Kalish, DC, IFMCP
Search engine optimization
What is search engine optimization (SEO)? SEO is the practice of boosting quality and quantity of traffic to your site through organic search results. (13)
With patients now searching for their practitioners and other healthcare providers online, SEO has become a primary tool every practice must use to stay ahead in the digital landscape. Almost 80% of all users don’t look past the first page on Google search results when searching for local doctors. (33) And a strong SEO practice strategy means your existing and potential patients can find you quickly and easily online. (13)
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, change is the only true constant. SEO best practices are constantly changing, and for most practices, it’s hard to keep tabs on the ever-changing rules and try and implement them in a timely manner. (13) Don’t worry. We’ve gone ahead and outlined some “back-end” SEO methods below that can prove to be effective this year.
Four tips for improving your site’s SEO in 2020:
Professional websites
If you are planning to have an active online presence that attracts current and new patients, you need to have a professional website. Digital marketing without a website is a challenging thing to do. (31)
If you are looking to establish a digital footprint online, try keeping this practitioner site creation checklist in mind:
Blog content
Blogging is an essential part of digital marketing that helps practitioners find, serve, and keep more patients. You can grow your brand and demonstrate your years of experiential knowledge in a professional blog. (16)
“The single most important action you can take right now as a practitioner is to build your online presence by offering the best educational content to your existing patient base.”
-Dr. Daniel Kalish, DC
How often should you create blog content? Try writing blogs at least once a week that address frequently asked patient questions. Focus on creating SEO-centric content that is specific to your expertise that users will want to read and share. A lot of practitioners write about patient case-studies, their opinions on the latest research in their given field, or different experiences they’ve had while working in the healthcare field. (2)
A well-thought-out and regularly maintained blog with good SEO can help you:
If you are looking for specific tips on how to write a blog with on-page SEO in mind, check out our SEO blogging guide for practitioners. Writing one specific blog post and sharing it across your social media platforms and by email is a great way to unify different digital marketing strategies. (11)
“Regular weekly posting of content is the key. It doesn’t take anything more than persistence and follow up to build an online marketing machine that will supply your practice with new patient leads.”
-Dr. Daniel Kalish, DC
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the best tools you can use to create a trusted, personable brand without using up your whole marketing budget. It offers a direct line of communication for existing and new patients, which in turn allows you to manage long-term relationships with a wide range of patients. (26)
Some reasons why you should consider using email marketing:
Tips for executing email marketing
Social media platforms
Social media is a handy tool for sharing information with patients and also generating patient referrals. For example, you can provide updates about your clinic’s virtual hours and appointments by sharing them on Facebook. It’s an excellent way for you to share your expertise with potential patients, build up your professional credibility, and increase your online SEO footprint. (4)(6)
Practitioners should keep the following four best practice tips in mind to get the most out of their social media impressions. Before you add a new paid marketing campaign to your digital marketing arsenal, be sure to check, double-check, and triple-check before you start running the campaign. (8)
Four things to keep in mind when you start using social media
1. Choose social media platforms that are right for you
There are a lot of different social media platforms, and each one is different. Before you sign up for an account on all the sites, think about what you want to put out on social media. (23)
For example, do you want to showcase tangible results from your services? You may want to try Instagram. If you want to increase organic traffic to your website, then Google+ can be a good approach. Do you want to bring patients together to form an online forum to have discussions? Facebook is excellent for that. And if you’re going to share primary news and updates, then Twitter may be a good fit. (32)
2. Be consistent and frequent about sharing actionable content
Interactive social media profiles are one of the best ways you can attract new patients to your practice. When you are active on social media, your potential audience is larger than you could ever imagine with traditional marketing strategies. (21)
Before you start posting on social media, begin to develop a schedule, and organize information to help you post social media consistently. Try and only share information that is pertinent to your specialty, and when you reference, use credible sources. And include links where patients can find even more information about the topic. For example, you could provide a link on an Instagram post back to a blog post where you discuss the matter further. (32)