Digital Marketing Strategies for Clinics

With too much marketing and advertising happening on a daily basis, it is easy to get overawed and confused at the same time with so much happening at all times. The digital marketing strategy gets a little complicated especially when it comes to anything related to medics because not only it has to be relevant, genuine, and nothing too pushy…and more-so post-COVID-19. As per a study conducted by Deloitte, it was found that 52% of consumers tend to look up online for any kind of information related to healthcare providers, services, and/or any health issues, thus, this shows that an effective digital marketing strategy is needed as an effective way to bridge the gap between consumers and the medical service providers.

Marketing strategy has seen a shift in course of strategy, unlike earlier times when people used to rely solely on TV, radio, and various print ads and shell out hefty sums to generate attention, but nowadays things have changed tremendously and the digital marketing arena has gained immense traction, primarily due to its widespread reach, more scope for being creative as well as light on spending resources. Therefore, when it comes to marketing your practice, it should be a healthy mix of traditional and contemporary marketing practices.

1. Website Wonders- It won’t be wrong if I say that your website is your e-visiting card because how creative, eye-catching, well structured, detailed and crisp it is, shall determine how you are able to attract visitors to your website. Designing a website is totally in your hands and how effectively are you able to do that, shall determine consumer traffic on your website and eventually patients at your clinic. Your website should be consumer-friendly, SEO optimized, and most importantly genuine, as consumers should develop trust in you and your services, because health is one aspect where people tend to make selves, doubly sure and which is absolutely fine. Your website shall have a creative outlay, placement of contact information at prominent places, any offers or discounts, special services, etc. as well as it should be responsive, fast to load, and interactive.

 Similarly, you should have a website customized for mobile devices, as the majority of the users are on the go and will use phones, most probably as a primary device to search for any doctor’s clinic or enquire about a doctor, therefore you should aim at ensuring that it includes flexible images and it is customized for all platforms because you don’t want to lose customers on any front. You should put analytics-based tools to good use, so you can analyze traffic behavior on your website across different platforms and use the captured information to the best of your use.

2. SEO Strategy for Local Searches- Having a well thought SEO strategy in place, shall yield wondrous results for you, if resources are invested in a proper manner and it all starts with having SEO optimized website, in place. Your website should show up in the top few searches on any search engine like Google or Bing, it should be well structured and the appropriate use of long-tailed keywords would enhance the organic search results.  In case you have your practice, spread over various locations, then you should have individual landing pages designated for each location, this shall help your practice rank higher organically on the search engines. There are various information snippets which you shall definitely include, for instance, on high priority presence of Google My Business Map, contact details and operating hours, the name of the city shall be highlighted multiple times on the page as well as a short write up on the services provided by you and/or your team.

3. E-mail ‘Gold That Never Grows Old’- E-mail till today remains one of the most useful and effective modes of communication, it can be designed as per your business needs and preferences. E-mail-based marketing helps businesses staying in touch with older customers as well as touching base with new customers, who have displayed an interest in your services. E-mails can serve as messengers of whatever information you wish to convey to the customers, be it informing and eventually re-directing them to your website, any offers, blogs written, etc. If your audience is interested and sounds positive, then you can ask them to sign up for your newsletter, which will help you to keep a common touch base with your target audience, on a regular basis.

4. Social Media Consistency- To remain relevant and maintaining an interactive channel with your consumers should be on top of your priority; to get visitors on your website consistently shall require you to be on your mental toes at all times, for instance, be it posting your live session videos on Youtube or Facebook, etc., or post blogs on a regular basis. Social media gives you abound opportunities to interact with your target audience, and you can share multiple information and relevant pieces of interest with people and engage with them on different levels; this shall contribute only towards your popularity, show you as approachable but also make it easier for people to trust you. You can also join relevant groups on Facebook, Quora, LinkedIn, and Twitter and interact with people on a first-hand basis and simultaneously generate inbound traffic for your website.

5. Video, is the King of Engagement – Videos are undoubtedly one of the most engaging and curiosity generating mediums, and they give you a chance to be creative, engaging, and informative at the same time with your audience. Video-based medical marketing helps you in delivering appropriate message to your audience and market yourself, at the same time. Since videos enjoy higher engagement rates rather than conventional ways, these could work up-to your advantage, for instance, you can share interactive videos, Q&A videos, general informative videos, live patient sessions (if your patients share their consent) on various platforms to promote your practice and this shall help you in building a trustworthy relationship with your clients and encourage them to come to you. The interesting part is that there is no dearth of topics to start from and with such a wide range of topics available to discuss upon, you can start from today itself and have content ready to attract people from all backgrounds.

 These are just some of the many strategies for you to start off on the journey of establishing your market niche amongst your competitors, you just need to be sure of sharing relevant and authentic content and having regular interaction to win the trust of customers, as that shall go a long way in having a long-term healthy relationship between you and them and solidifying your position in the market.