For many — if not most — healthcare practices, the hard truth is that their community doesn't know their name. This is because attracting patients to your healthcare practice is much more challenging in a saturated profession, further emphasizing the importance of marketing in the healthcare industry to remain competitive.
Eighteen Ventures research reported that there are about 230,187 healthcare practices in the United States, with certain communities holding most businesses in one area. Busting through the clutter and reaching your target audience is nearly impossible when everyone is fighting tooth and nail to do the same thing.
So, why is marketing important in healthcare? Simply put, prospective patients have a lot of options. Marketing helps you stand out, increase brand awareness, and improve patient acquisition. Now, where do you start?
We have the scoop! Here are the best ways to market health services with an effective healthcare marketing strategy.
Your practice must create an impressive reputation, keeping your healthcare marketing goals in mind. Although it is not something you can do overnight, it is something you can work towards starting now.
Some essential steps in this process will include the following:
According to recent research, it often takes 5 to 7 impressions of your practice for a patient to remember and recognize it. Staying true to these steps and making your practice more memorable will help speed up the process for many patients.
Patients research online when looking for a new provider. Although some people may ask friends and family for a referral, most people search online to make a decision. One study found that 93% of people go to the internet first to explore locally. Another study added that 94% of healthcare patients also use the internet to look up providers and assess their ratings and reviews. Be sure you have a strong online presence for this reason.
This means:
An online presence is only half of the potential available online for healthcare practices. To maximize your healthcare marketing opportunities, you must strategically target your local audience through paid advertising. These three notable strategies have been an incredible competitive advantage for healthcare practices:
Success rates will vary from platform to platform, but statistics show there is a vast audience on each to consider when determining which is best for you:
Looking for the best healthcare promotional strategies for today's marketing environment? Then you'll want to partner with McClatchy's experts. To win healthcare marketing campaigns, you need to know your audience to reach and resonate with them on channels they're most frequently active on. McClatchy’s experts are experienced in driving advertising results for practices in the healthcare industry.