Healthcare marketing has been thrown for a loop with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic still an ever-present issue. Small practices and large health care providers alike have been forced to alter their operations and normal elective procedures to create a safe environment in light of the pandemic.
Marketers have also been forced to adapt quickly to the changing environment, altering language and clearly communicating new processes, hours while maintaining practice revenue.
One of the most challenging aspects for health care marketers has been the sheer amount of change that they must communicate to their patients and supporting remote healthcare via web portals, apps, and curbside service when possible.
Healthcare providers have adapt to altered operations and create an environment safe for patient visits while incorporating remote services as well.
Health-related products have also been under pressure as e-commerce expectations and competition has risen.
Sales online skyrocketed as many prefer to make their purchases digital and wait for the item to be delivered.
Here are some of the more effective healthcare marketing strategies for 2021
Communicate consistently!
Utilize all your social media channels as we
Posting regularly on social media channels is one of the most basic but important methods to keep your audience engaged and build a wider audience. While you shouldn’t sacrifice quality for quantity, posting at least weekly will keep your audience in touch. Posts should be a variety of different types of posts as we’ll go into more detail about below.
Regularly interacting, commenting back, and replying to questions will also keep your audience better engaged and improve the perception of your customer service as well.
Educational Content in Healthcare Marketing
Blog articles posted on your website and shared through social media platforms, email newsletters, and youtube content are all very strong ways to build SEO ranking as well as generate audience engagement. Finding the right balance of topics, detail, and length can be tough, but typically a mix of some articles being more scientifically detail driven and some being more aimed at the general audience can be an interesting mix. Working with an SEO team and content writers to make sure keyword searches and lists have been built, then make sure the article incorporates keywords correctly should be employed to maximize the positive SEO impact. Building backlinks by having other websites use your article as a reference is a great way as well to boost SEO and should be a focus of any SEO campaign.
Health related E-Commerce Companies
If you are a health-oriented product company, or a pharmacy, adding online order options and thinking through remote fulfillment is a near requirement. For physical product companies, e-commerce is no longer an option for the majority of items, with customers easily buying more from companies that offer online ordering and easy shipping.
Shipping and returns must be thought through as well, often returns can be costly for e-commerce firms, but customers will more likely recommend and repeat buy from firms that make returns quick and easy. The same goes for shipping, while free shipping is great, even offering free shipping above certain dollar thresholds per order is a popular choice that can also help to increase the total magnitude of average orders.
Healthcare Mobile Apps
More and more, patients – notably your younger segments prefer to communicate and set up scheduling via a mobile app vs phone or email.
If you haven’t already considered creating a mobile app and online scheduling center for your practice. Some firms have elected to design and create their own app, while many use off-the-shelf software systems from proven suppliers. Either option works, but working with a proven software supplier gives you quick setup time, better support and makes the transition to digital/online/ mobile scheduling easier and more seamless.
Communicate with your patients when you launch your new app or digital scheduling system, often it’s a good idea to create basic video tutorials showing them how to schedule and make an account etc.
Healthcare Video Marketing
Video content should be incorporated wherever possible to increase retention and build more engagement with your audience. Video used in PPC ads generates a MUCH higher CTR rate, which results in a higher ROI on the campaign even in light of the slight increase in cost from creating video ads.
Educational content such as a youtube channel is a popular way to build an expanded audience and credibility as a thought leader in your niche. While the focus on a youtube channel should be from an education viewpoint, it is possible to develop great leads from it and potentially even have sponsorship opportunities or it can lead to invitations to other opportunities.
Pay Attention to Your Data
You should be running a diverse schedule of content on social media channels, which means that your content should be more interesting for your audience and be relatable to a wider range of audience members as certain niches within your audience will tend to prefer one type of content vs others.
This means you can develop segmentation within your audience, going forward you can segment email campaigns and digital campaigns to deliver segment-specific offers and content which will result in more efficient and profitable marketing.
A/B testing should be a key component of any digital marketing plan and should be tweaked monthly. It really doesn’t cost extra to have multiple ads and multiple ad segments, and the data you generate and insights you learn is well worth the extra budget needed.
Over time, you will start to develop a feel for what type of ads work and what doesn’t.
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Volan Media is a top Knoxville, Tennessee video production and marketing agency with years of experience working on a range of projects, everything from 1800s steam railway locomotives to the most cutting edge cancer treatments. If you turn on the tv in East Tennessee, chances are you’ll see one of our ads! We are a top Knoxville, Tennessee video production firm, with projects commonly being used for explainer videos, broadcast/cable tv ads, digital ads, recruitment. Volan Media also is a top Knoxville Tennessee virtual Reality video production firm, having made a large number of 360 videos and VR productions across a range of industries, including various tradeshow VR 360 videos, treatment and branding VR videos, and VR experiences.
