It’s the modern era, which means everything has been digitized. There are billions of internet users all around the world, and everyone owns a cellphone. Therefore, every business and organization needs to understand the importance of digital marketing, even those in the medical field. Many medical professionals have been slow to understand the many benefits of digitizing their healthcare setups. The overarching advantage of digital marketing for healthcare professionals is that it enables them to interact with their patients in a more effortless and accessible way.

Embracing Digital Marketing for Healthcare Professionals

Educating current and prospective patients and providing them with quality health information will establish trust in their minds and improve your image. Good healthcare management should mean that the patient does not have to travel all the way to your medical facility just to obtain information from you in person. If you want to get more patients and expand your medical practice, having a digital presence is essential.

Take note of the following healthcare marketing statistic. A 2012 study found that about 72% of internet users searched online for answers to their medical problems. This percentage has no doubt increased even further since then.

What Is Digital Marketing?

A digital marketing strategy connects people via digital methods. There are many tools and techniques available such as content marketing, social media marketing, and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. As a medical practitioner, you can enhance your reputation and attract new patients by posting your up-to-date treatments, results of medical research in your field, and reviews from former patients. The following discussion will lead you through what needs to be done to build your digital marketing for healthcare professionals’ presence.

Good reviews for your healthcare services are crucial. Prospective patients rely on online reports from sites such as Yelp before contacting a medical practitioner. Be careful not to get any negative reviews, and if you do, investigate to find out if the review is justified. Whatever happens, don’t leave the bad review out there – respond and take the conversation in private email and/or phone call.

1) Build Your Website

This is your first step – your website serves as a platform through which you can operate. Without a mobile-friendly website, you can’t provide online access to your digital medical services. Your site will consist of pages providing essential information about your healthcare practice. Bear in mind that people are tending more and more to the first search for treatments online rather than going directly to medical practitioners.

Getting leads from your website means attracting an audience while competing with others. Make your webpages interesting by adding, for example, DNA designs, sample slides, before and after photos, and anything else that will catch the attention of a prospective patient.

Make your website unique and attractive. Many internet users conduct searches on their mobile devices, so make sure your website is mobile-friendly.

2) Book Your Appointments Digitally

You can organize your appointments in a much better way through digitalization. Enable your patients to book their appointments through your website by developing an on-demand doctor appointment and booking solution. An appointment request form should guide a patient through a discussion about their specific health-related issue.

3) Create a Blog

A blog is where you will post regular medical content relating to your practice. Your healthcare content should incorporate local SEO strategies. This means incorporating words and terms that your prospective patients will be searching for to enhance the probability of them clicking on your site. Also, be aware that long-form blog posts generate many more leads than short-length blog posts.

Your aim should be to get your website included in Google’s top ten search results list. Content marketing gets three times the leads per dollar spent as compared to more traditional methods such as paid search.

4) Use Social Media Platforms

Today, more than seven out of every ten people use social media. As more people have become fans of connecting in this way, the user base has grown and become representative of the wider population. Young people were among the earliest adopters, but usage by older adults has been steadily increasing. What’s more, it is estimated that by 2021, social media will have over three billion users. This is why you can’t afford to ignore these platforms on which you should advertise your digital healthcare services.

Use multiple platforms for your health care marketing and visit different medical pages to comment on your own treatments and medical research while providing a link to your website. Almost all age groups use social media. So, if your health care service is for older people or children (via their parents), you can target them.

5) Compile a Digital Emailing List

Email marketing is still a very effective digital marketing strategy you can use to promote your digital medical services. Begin with a strong understanding of your existing patients. Send them an online survey to learn what topics they’re interested in and how often they would like to receive communications from you. Remind patients of your existing quality medical services and keep them informed of new ones. These can be specific to each patient, letting them know when it’s time to schedule a checkup.

Patients come to see you because they perceive you to be a reliable expert in your field. Boost your credibility and earn trust by sharing your expert advice and the latest health news in a biweekly or monthly newsletter.

6) Create Videos

Videos play a very effective role in lead generation. Bring up YouTube, enter a medical query, and see how many healthcare professionals have a video giving advice and explaining how their treatments work.

This is good healthcare management and another important step in your medical marketing campaign. On average, Facebook posts that contain a video generate 135% more engagement than text plus images.

7) Use Google Ads

Make use of Google Ads to multiply your audience and entice them to visit your website. When done correctly, a Google Ads medical marketing campaign can give you back $2.55 for every $1 spent. You will need to set up a Google Ads account and learn how to use the Google Keyword Planner. After you’ve entered a few relevant keywords into the GKP, you will get a list of hundreds of suggested search terms for your digital healthcare services.

The Takeaway – Keep Your Audience Connected to Your Medical Practice

Keeping your audience engaged means you have to keep people interested. For instance, provide the results of experiments and case studies where things have turned out well. Make your medical content easy to understand by a non-medical person. By giving glimpses of your medical approach, you will induce curiosity and encourage people to find out more. Your medical content is what matters the most. It needs to reflect your quality medical service and provide the consumer with correct information.

When it comes to the digital marketing of your healthcare brand and good healthcare management, focus on SEO optimization. If you need more discussion of how digital marketing for healthcare professionals can help you, our Denver SEO agency is the place to turn to. Don’t hesitate to contact us today for a free (non-medical!) consultation.