Digital – Effective Healthcare Marketing

You must have heard about digital marketing or you may be doing it, here we will look into why you should do it & which channels can help you to grow your patient base.

Over the last few years the world is rapidly moving from analogue to digital. People are using mobile phones, laptops, desktop computers etc. on daily basis & consuming more & more digital content.

Digital Marketing is said to be the future of marketing. Affordability & Measurability has enticed businesses & marketers to increase their marketing budget for digital channels.

Here are some statistics which highlights how digital plays an important role in Healthcare:

• Search engines are used by 77% of the patients before booking appointments. (1)
• 41% of consumers reported social media may impact which doctor or hospital they choose for care. (2)
• More than 40% of consumers say that information found via social media affects the way they deal with their health. (3)

So now we have proofs that digital marketing is very much effective in healthcare industry, let’s see how we can leverage it through different channels.

Marketing on Google

Google is the most popular search engine in the world, the market share of google is 96.33% in India (4).

People have become researchers, they search for doctors, treatment options, hospitals, cost of surgeries, reviews of doctors & hospitals etc. before making the first point of contact with the healthcare provider.

To generate business from google your presence at the top position is important.

I will explain you the different sections on google’s result page, by ranking higher on it you will get good amount of quality website traffic which can be further converted into appointments.

Paid Ads, Local Listings & Organic Results are the three sections that are displayed for most of the queries on google’s result page.

Paid Ads

This is the section where google generates its revenue from, apart from display ads.

It works on a pay per click modal, you will be charged when someone clicks on your ads, the charge for click varies depending on the keywords competitiveness.

Keywords are the term or phrase that people use to search for your services in google. Pay Per Click campaign when done correctly starts sending instant targeted traffic to your website.

It is highly measurable & effective. You can target people, in a particular pincode, a city, a state or a country from anywhere in the world.

How to get there: Through Google Adwords

Local business listings

When someone searches for your services with location name google displays local business listing just below the paid ads section. It displays your business name, reviews, your address, timings, call option on mobile, etc.

Reviews are displayed in this listing with stars, which helps to create a positive impact & build trust about your services with the user.

Reviews are considered as a personal recommendation by 84% consumers according to a survey (5).

By syncing google adwords account with your google business listing page you can display your ads in this Local Business Listing section as well.

How to get there: Google Business Listing

Organic Search Results

This is the place from where you will get free & most of the traffic from google for your targeted search terms.

Organic rankings are the most trusted form of results in the search engine results page because it’s an unpaid result and the listing in this section is rewarded by google.

Once you rank higher for your targeted keywords in google’s organic section & maintain it, it implies that you are an authority & leader in your industry, which further builds trust among the users & google.

Big brands & small business alike work hard to get to the top position in organic spot because its associated with lucrative website traffic & lead opportunities.

How to get there: SEO(Search Engine Optimization)

Social Media

This platform enables healthcare providers & practitioners to connect with the new digitally empowered patients by providing accessible & trust worthy medical information.

Now patients seek, converse about and share their health findings on Social Media.

It helps to elevate brand authority among the patients who are already present on Social Media.

Choose the platforms wisely depending upon your target audience, start with one, than move to other platforms.

You can distribute your content on social media in different forms like image, video, article, etc. & reach your audience through proper marketing & strategies.

You can even interact through live videos with your audience on social media.

How to do it: Social Media + Content Marketing

Conclusion:
Selecting the right digital channels with proper strategies will help you to increase your patients base.

My experience in healthcare digital marketing can help you reach your target audience effectively while remaining fully compliant with medical regulators.

Click here if you want to take your services to the next level

References:
(1) https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/advertising-channels/search/the-digital-journey-to-wellness-hospital-selection/
(2) https://getreferralmd.com/2013/09/healthcare-social-media-statistics/
(3) https://www.cdc.gov/minorityhealth/summit/2016/promotinghealthequitythroughsocialmedia.pdf
(4) http://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/india
(5) https://www.brightlocal.com/learn/local-consumer-review-survey/