Instant Support: +1 917-274-7327 or contact.us@prostrategix.com
Digital marketing is a powerful tool to help grow your medical practice. We explain how each part of the marketing mix works and can help you.
Medicine by its definition, training, and certification, has already segmented based on the type of medicine practiced. It is true that there may be some overlap between specialties and between a general practitioner and specialist. However, overall, most patents are already segmented by need before they come in the door.
By choosing to remain in private practice or in a small practice, you have already started segmenting your market further. Like you, our market is segmented. If you are reading about marketing strategy for physicians, it is highly unlikely you are hospital based.
As you know, the way we pay for medicine creates challenges. It’s a constant balance between a healthy business, a respectable income, and a steady stream of patients
Therefore, you have some choices to make in whether to take insurance, or which kind, how and where to physically locate your practice so it is convenient, hours, and the list goes on.
Market segmentation and target selection can help you answer those business questions. Which type of patients are best suited for you? How do you identify them? How do you convince them that you are right for them?
These are the questions that a good marketing strategy will answer.
Marketing Strategy for Doctors goes into this topic in more detail
As we said, there are numerous visual cues to support the message that we wish to send. For lawyers, the color, font, images, etc., all need to support the type of medicine you practice.
As a physician there is a certain level of polish that patients will expect. They will want to be able to see your credentials, understand your procedures, and be able to book online.
That may seem obvious. What isn’t always obvious, is the non-clinical psychological state of your patient when deciding to seek care. They are likely hesitant, especially if they do not understand the condition.
Therefore, you will want to cover the clinical with a layer of emotional empathy. I would think that you would want to convey to your patients that you understand their fears, how you can help, and how together, you’ll find the best solution so that they can go on living their lives well.
This is the tricky part for most scientists or left-brain dominant people. There are colors, images, and designs that you will need to select to be congruent with your message. White and clinical makes people anxious. Warmer tones help them relax.
Next, you will want to make sure that your style of the site matches the socio-economic level of your clientele. If you are on the higher end, you will want images that showcase modern equipment, facilities, and waiting areas.
Web Design for Doctors goes into this topic in more detail
Google’s algorithm works for one simple reason - users value the results. They value these results because they can find relevant information quickly and easily.
Bots function in three ways to achieve this.
Our job in SEO is to help the bots. We can do this through a mix of
For more advanced technical SEO, you should consider hiring an SEO agency or SEO expert.
Again, many of the questions will be dictated by the type of medicine your practice. However, all physicians are faced with: “which doctor is right for me?”
Since there is some overlap between providers of high volume fee for service procedures, like dermal fillers, etc., the need to differentiate your services is very important. Other anti-aging and cosmetic procedures also require education and differentiation. Therefore, top-of-the-funnel (TOF) tactics that build general awareness are useful.
It is also important to remember, if you engage a patient too late in the funnel, they are not likely to know who you are. People don’t typically do business with people they don’t know and trust. This is why you will want to have at least a few questions and pages dedicated to the top of the funnel.
SEO for Doctors goes into this topic in more detail
This is an area of contention for many physicians. Advertising can feel uncomfortable. I like to help our clients think of it as awareness building and education. If you do not promote your business, patients will not know you are available to help them solve their health issues.
Advertising does not have to be cheap or tawdry. It can be tactful, respectful, and ethical. This is one of the reasons you may want to consider an agency with medical experience.
When it comes to PPC for health and medical, you are going to want to be cautious. The average CPC for attorneys is roughly $4 a click, and the CTR rate is average.
Since the general public has limited awareness of medicine, so you will likely have a fair degree of early stage patients exploring options. This means you should expect longer conversion times and lower conversion rates (appointments).
For physicians with a known practice, I would save paid search for the lower end of the funnel when patients are trying to decide between which doctor in a given specialty is right for their needs.
As I said earlier, people need to know you to work with you, especially in a field where there are unequal levels of knowledge. Said differently, where they are dependent on you.
For awareness building, you could choose a lower cost method like Google Display or Facebook. Instagram, Twitter, and the others are not likely your best choice given their advertising platform design.
PPC Strategy for Doctors goes into this topic in more detail
Social lets you directly interact with your audience. Social push is generally in the form of paid advertising on a social platform to a target audience. Social pull is shareable content published mainly to your social network which they value enough to share.
The Big 5 social platforms as of today are likely to stay the top 5 for the foreseeable future. But, with many of the issues arising from the 2020 election, they may change in character.
Social listening and sentiment analysis are two tools which can help you determine where your customers are and with what they are engaging. Follow the data not stereotypes of who uses what.
The key difference between push and pull is in the interaction. Push is predominantly a one-way conversation. People don’t typically interact with one-way communication for long. Pull is more a dialog.
Social Media Marketing for Doctors goes into this topic in more detail
As you can see, digital marketing offers several ways to help you boost you practice today and over time. As you also likely notices is that this is a very complex and multifaceted discipline. While it may seem overwhelming at first, with the right guidance and help, it can be a very powerful tool in helping build awareness of your practice or firm and yield dividends in lead generation.
Social can be tricky for professionals. It’s a fine line to walk between educating and interacting and providing what the end user would perceive as a diagnosis.
Push and other materials where you have direct editorial control (such as videos, blogs, and social media posts) are best. You can disclaim that it does not provide a diagnosis but rather educates others to stimulate interest in your services.
This can be a productive means to boost your credibility as an expert. It is critically important to remember what is said in social media is public record.
Stick to education and refrain from what could be considered advice and social media can help, especially when it comes to explaining the different types of procedures and what they do.