With rapid digitalisation, digital marketing has become one of the most powerful marketing tools across industries. Like every other service industry, the healthcare industry is committed to enhancing customer experience and expanding reach.
Is healthcare digital marketing the magic elixir to all marketing problems? The answer is yes! Digital marketing works like magic when it comes to customer engagement and outreach.
This article will take you on a journey through various strategies and tactics adopted by marketers to excel in healthcare digital marketing.
What is Healthcare Marketing?
Healthcare digital marketing offers a variety of online channels to influence the desired customer-base including patients and associated members. It has completely altered the healthcare landscape, allowing healthcare providers to connect with people worldwide, strengthening trust and aiding business expansion.
Importance Of Healthcare Digital Marketing
Healthcare digital marketing is a lucrative investment opportunity for your online services. Patients are now more demanding and want to make informed decisions and look to the internet for information.
Approximately 70% of the target market use online information to make health related decisions. To cater to the needs of the evolving customer needs, healthcare marketers have to adopt innovative digital marketing techniques.
Healthcare digital marketing provides a direct route for healthcare organizations to stay connected with existing and potential patients, as many prospective patients spend time online. With the drastic increase in mobile phone usage in the past decade, online research has become easily accessible for customers. Despite this, healthcare organizations face various healthcare marketing challenges in their digital marketing efforts. Overcoming these challenges through effective strategies is crucial for success in healthcare digital marketing.
Role Of Digital Healthcare Marketing in Healthcare Services
Due to the fast-changing dynamic business environment, healthcare marketing has been subjected to continuous evolvement. Digital marketing plays a vital role for healthcare providers to excel in today’s competitive healthcare landscape.
To show commitment towards customer service, you need to invest in digital marketing techniques that optimise search and create customer engagement opportunities through social media.
Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the most promising digital marketing method that enhances user experience. To become a successful healthcare provider, you need to invest in SEO for your healthcare services. It is a critical digital marketing technique that escalates your online exposure. All you need to get started is a good SEO expert, who can improve user experience and increase visibility of your clinic in online search engines.
This allows you to drive more organic traffic to the clinic’s official website. Search engine optimisation is most effective when you combine it with best user experience tactics like voice-search optimisation, smooth navigation, webpage load time, responsive layout, quality content and impressive design.
According to the Think With Google Study, search engine optimisation generates three times more traffic websites compared to other marketing techniques. Research indicates that 44% of the patients who reach healthcare websites through their mobile phone search will book an appointment.
SEO marketing should be integral to your overall digital marketing strategy. You can achieve this by hiring a SEO specialist who can boost search engines to recognise and rank your organic content – such as patient testimonials, informative videos and images and blog posts. The common method for doing this is tagging pages with related keywords and fashioning strategic HTML titles.
Healthcare digital marketing experts need to understand that mobile searches comprise more than 55% of total web searches. Mobile phones are an easier option for customers when conducting online research. Therefore, it is important that your official website complements mobile search and browsing by offering stress-free mobile navigation which prioritises a dynamic web-page design.
Social Media Marketing
Engagement via social media with patients is a competitive digital marketing strategy in today’s dynamic industry. Social media is the most prominent online platform to connect with patients and facilitate healthcare providers. There are a variety of social media marketing strategies that can be adopted when devising a successful healthcare digital marketing strategy such as participation in group discussions, by indulging in networking and using promotional material and information regarding health and healthcare service.
One of the most essential objectives of social media management and marketing is to improve community health by providing the target audience with appropriate and timely health information.
Social media marketing has become very popular in recent years as it allows healthcare providers to reach prospective customers. In today’s world, majority of people carry a smartphone and have accounts on networking social media platforms such as Facebook Ads, Instagram, Snapchat and LinkedIn.
These social media platforms offer an opportunity for healthcare digital marketers to attract patients and educate them about new products and services. If you want to enhance digital marketing, social media is the place. You can find maximum customers and create devoted brand advocates that help drive new business leads.
Although organic social media marketing is good for your business, you can excel further with paid social media marketing. It allows healthcare digital marketers to target the audience you want and offers the perfect opportunity to engage with existing customers through online blogs.
Final Thoughts
Healthcare digital marketing is essential in today’s dynamic and technologically sound healthcare industry. Where traditional marketing channels can no longer produce the desired results or generate appropriate sales leads. Potential customers send most of their productive and unproductive time on online platforms, giving healthcare digital marketing the opportunity to amplify sales. The role of search engine optimisation and social media marketing is prominent in healthcare digital marketing strategies. It allows healthcare providers to reach out to a larger customer base, increase engagement and build a reputation to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
