11 Reasons Why Hospitals And Doctors Should Focus On Digital Marketing

The last time you looked at your company’s marketing efforts, what did you see? Chances are, if you look like a lot of established business owners, whether it’s health care or not, you’ve found a decline in the effectiveness of some of your proven marketing channels- adio, television, yellow pages. It’s too easy to be lulled into thinking, “I just need to increase my budget.” Unfortunately, this generally does not lead to the expected gains, as the way consumers buy everything, even medical services from doctors and hospitals, is changing.

Take the yellow pages, for example, when was the last time you looked for a copy to find a number? These once ubiquitous reference books are downright difficult to obtain these days; most are never even delivered.

What about radio and television? According to a recent Omnicom Media Group study, 47% of people under the age of 50 are part of a group dubbed the inaccessible. These are people who don’t watch traditional TV, instead of watching their TV as another screen for YouTube and other streaming services. They will never see your expensive ad in the middle of prime time programming.

That’s not to say that you should never use these methods, but in 2018 and beyond, digital marketing should be your primary marketing tool to generate return on investment. Here are 11 reasons why your hospital or doctor’s office should focus on digital marketing in 2018 and beyond.

1. We now live in a digital world

More than ever, we all live in a digital world and future patients are no exception. We go online to find a good place to eat, a reputable hair salon or hairdresser, and even a good doctor or dentist. In fact, almost 80% of all the health needs that drive someone to choose a doctor or hospital start online with research.

This need for information has led to the meteoric rise of sites like WebMD. Prospective patients are looking for information about their pain, this weird bump, their aching tooth and many other health needs. They’re not looking for you to diagnose them for free on the Internet. They are looking for confirmation that it has something to do with a doctor and that you are the doctor they should see. They are looking for options for a sick relative or another loved one.

2. Patients want to see good doctors

Prospective patients are not just looking for information about treatments and conditions. About 44% of American Internet users have sought information specific to their suppliers. They are looking for reviews and ratings that indicate their choice of doctor or other health care provider was good. Although the end product is very different, it is not entirely different to find a roofing contractor or a plumber for the average consumer. They’re just trying to avoid making a costly mistake by making an informed decision rather than just choosing the guy with the billboard near the highway. With the various health assessment websites and preferred health care industry registries, it is simple for potential patients to understand which providers are appreciated and why their patients like them.

3. Patients appreciate good facilities

As a follow-up to the search for specific providers, more than 90% of potential patients also look into the reputation of an establishment. Patients may think twice before hiring a doctor who works only with a hospital known to have frequent certification or inspection problems or known to be so underfunded that wait times are excessive for specific procedures. There are digital tools to help track patient concerns, provide feedback opportunities, and allow potential patients to see that your facility is the type of place where they can get the best care they are looking for.

4. Mobile Device Use is Growing

This change doesn’t stop at web design; everything tends towards the mobile. Tablets and phones are quickly replacing laptops and desktops. Although a large number of existing healthcare consumers currently use laptops or desktops, as Generation Y and Generation Xers age, they represent a huge growth category for healthcare professionals and are replacing more and more their computers by mobile devices and tablets. Not only are they looking for a mobile-friendly site, they’re also looking for patient portals and apps that also work on their mobile devices.

5. The results of digital marketing can be tracked easily and accurately

One of the main differentiators of digital marketing initiatives is the amount of analytical data that can be tracked for each channel and campaign. Robust and accurate metrics are available for everything from search terms used by someone to find your site until the moment they called for an appointment and everywhere in between. Unlike traditional marketing methods, which do not allow meaningful tracking between posting and replies, digital campaigns are faster and easier to configure and modify and, with the right metric analysis, display meaningful comments faster. . on your investment. For example, with click-to-call advertising via Google Adwords and CallRail, it’s possible to track exactly how many people saw your ad, how many people click to call, and even how long each call was and from whom. . . . was coming. All of this additional data allows you to track exactly what marketing strategies resonate with your potential patients, allowing you to focus on those strategies and reduce the time and money spent on ineffective strategies.

6.Email is versatile and personal and cheaper than regular mail

If you have already sent postcards or other promotional material, you have probably spent a lot of time preparing the documentation, setting up the mailing, and transporting mail to the post office. It’s a lot of time and money to ask questions about its effectiveness

What if there was a way to sit down for a few hours in the afternoon, prepare something and put it in front of your existing or potential patients? Better yet, what if you know exactly how many people are interacting with it? It’s email marketing in a nutshell and it’s still one of the most versatile digital tools for marketing. Emails can be easily and inexpensively designed for almost any purpose and format, as well as personalized and segmented to focus their impact. In an article in the Hubspot blog offering an analysis based on the return on investment of email compared to direct mail, they found an “email campaign 95 times better in terms of return on investment”. The post-campaign direct mail cost approximately $ 21,000, while the email campaign cost $ 210 and both generated approximately $ 550,000 in revenue. That’s not to say that direct mail can’t be effective, but $ 21,000 is a lot more than $ 210 in terms of marketing budgets.

7. Digital Marketing Isn’t One Size Fits All

In marketing, the budget can be a serious limiting factor. Not everyone can afford expensive media, referrals and other marketing initiatives using traditional channels, but, thanks to how scalable and affordable digital marketing can be, almost everyone can afford something efficient. Email and digital advertising tools can be highly localized and segmented to keep a small audience. It may sound counterintuitive, but being able to restrict your marketing to specific cities or towns, specific market territories, or even specific types of people are essential skills for effectively using your marketing budget. Reaching only your specific target audience means that you are not paying for excessive exposure that has no chance of turning into a new appointment. The versatility and flexibility of digital marketing, unlike the relative rigidity of traditional marketing, allows your marketing initiatives to keep up with the constant evolution of healthcare. Rather than requiring a significant reinvestment of time and capital to refocus a campaign, digital marketing allows you to modify, pause and redirect your campaigns in a consistent manner so that they continue to effectively produce regular and reproducible results.

8. Digital video is hot right now

Live and pre-recorded streaming videos are experiencing a huge surge in popularity. As social media giants jostle on video, more and more people are looking for healthcare providers to show them rather than tell them. From pediatric dentists helping parents brush their toddler’s teeth to prosthetists showing the right way to put on a prosthesis, online video has an impact that goes beyond social media posts and content. textual website. Don’t forget the live broadcasts! While people love pre-recorded video (YouTube is often touted as the second largest search engine), live video holds viewers’ attention for longer. As reported by Livestream, Tubular Insights reports that viewers watch live video 8 times more video on demand, going from just over 5 minutes of video on demand to almost 43 minutes of live video. While brands compete for eyeballs in the newsfeed, live is a key differentiator.

9. Voice becomes the new keyboard

In addition to the transition to mobile, we are witnessing a rapid development of voice interaction. Consumers are starting to use PDAs such as Siri, Alexa and the Google Assistant to find information, track appointments, and do other things they did with a keyboard and mouse. In addition, a whole new segment of voice-priority devices is developing quickly and quietly at a rapid rate: smart speakers. This new Amazon Echo, which for the most part looks like a great gift for someone, could be a treasure trove of new patients for enterprising healthcare providers. Some big names in healthcare are already making inroads with their own smart speaker apps, but this is just the start.

Where average practice will see the most change and most likely to gain patients in the short term, it is in the monumental shift to search engine optimization that voice-based interactions cause. Now, instead of following traditional search engine optimization methods to focus on keywords, search engines are looking for longer, more natural phrases and questions. For example, instead of creating pages around small keyword phrases, like “Meet a chiropractor in Knoxville”, you are creating content to respond to longer sentences like “Where can I book an appointment?” you with a chiropractor in Knoxville? “This transition will not only improve your performance with newer and smarter search algorithms, but also voice search.

10. Consumerization of health care

With the evolution of health care and insurance costs in recent years and the expansion of healthcare providers in the United States, providers must begin to meet the needs of informed consumers. Now, instead of going to their family doctor or visiting the city hospital, patients have a plethora of options available from a quick-service clinic in their favorite grocery or pharmacy to a specialized facility . This is where marketing comes in: getting new patients long before their first appointment.

Relying on retail, services and other sales driven activities, healthcare providers can see strategies and methods at work that will attract and retain the type of informed and active patient in your hospital. or your business that understands what it wants and is ready to post reviews and recommendations online and actively recommend your practice to your friends and family, who are always influential, even in a digital world. In fact, according to BrightLocal, 97% of people read reviews online and 85% trust these reviews as much as personal recommendations. It’s hard to argue with numbers like that.

11. Les patients veulent des soins pratiques

When it comes to their health, patients don’t want to cut corners on their care. That said, when given the opportunity to see two doctors of the same size, convenience comes in. Patients don’t want to drive 45 minutes and wait 2 hours to see a doctor when they could just as easily get them same care as that. another doctor 5 minutes from home without waiting. According to a recent Health Research Institute survey, about 50% of consumers aged 18 to 55 are likely to choose new options, such as quick-service clinics and telehealth services, for some of their care needs. health. Health care. These services quickly put pressure on doctors and hospitals by offering the convenience of treating common ailments and procedures.

Digital marketing allows you to transmit your practice to these consumers and to meet them where they are well before their first meeting. The follow-up measures available with digital marketing help you understand what your patients need and want. Providing the desired information to patients allows them to connect with you as a provider knowing you appreciate them. Showing patients that you value their time as much as you value their own time, prioritizing convenient services and locations, and highlighting other patient-oriented initiatives is a great way to excel in digital marketing.

However, you choose to market your practice, the adoption of digital is essential. Whether digital or digital only, healthcare professionals must use digital marketing, if not for other reasons than digital media and advertising outweigh traditional media in many categories. . Whether it’s providing a simple way for potential patients to showcase providers to put your ad in front of the unreachable, digital marketing strategies and tactics will be essential to effectively increase the number of patients you serve in 2018.