How do health clinics grow? Smart digital marketing.
But if you’re drowning in a sea of potential strategies, it can be tricky to figure out where to begin.
We’ve pulled together 5 of the most crucial online marketing tactics that growth-hungry health professionals should be investing in right now. In this post, we show you why each activity matters and how to apply it for maximum results.
1. Facebook advertising
Eager to build brand awareness? One of the best ways you can achieve this is with Facebook advertising.
Facebook advertising helps you get your message out by providing easy, direct access to a broad audience (2.14 billion people – and counting!). It’s a great way to increase brand visibility and showcase your expertise.
Through this platform, you can target your ideal customer type based on extremely specific psychographic and demographic information. This allows you to create and publish relevant content for the exact audience that wants to hear it.
Compared to traditional social media marketing, paid Facebook ads allow you to reach a particular segment of users very quickly. You can engage with your target audience and encourage them to take actionable steps that bring them closer to conversion – ticking lots of boxes at once!
To generate impressive results, you must properly utilise Facebook’s targeting tool and make the most of its engaging ad formats. Perfect your message, focus on visual impact and keep an ongoing eye on key metrics.
It’s also worth remembering that Facebook advertising is an interruptive style of marketing. This means you’re getting in front of people who might not necessarily need your services at the moment. But don’t let that put you off. This activity is fantastic for boosting brand recall so that when the right time comes, your ideal client remembers you.
2. SEO
If you want to capture existing demand, then you need to make sure your business is visible for searches that involve an immediate need. For example, if someone has an injury and they’re looking for a physio, the first thing they will do is perform a Google search for “physios near me”. This person is actively looking for a provider, so they are a great potential customer.
One of the best ways you can tap into this need is with SEO, which is all about improving your website’s rankings. Today, organic search drives more than 50% of all website traffic.
As the world shifts towards local search, you can now support lead generation with consistent efforts to show up in Google’s “3-Pack”.
People are increasingly searching for credible local clinics that can treat a variety of healthcare needs and this makes optimising your Google My Business listing incredibly important. You should dedicate effort to ranking for relevant local keywords by producing high-quality, optimised content and building authority with reputable backlinks.
Think about what your clients need right now. How can you, as a medical professional, help them look after themselves and their families? For the healthcare industry, in particular, it should be a priority to share useful, practical content that educates and supports people because your message truly matters – it directly impacts the quality of people’s lives.
“Above all, a great SEO strategy should start by putting yourself in the user’s shoes and asking yourself if the content is truly valuable, the brand is trustworthy, and the website is easy to use (especially on mobile).” (Lily Ray, SEO Director at Path Interactive)
We’ve got lots of other tips when it comes to optimising your website, but first, let’s stick with search.
3. SEM
Another fantastic way to capture existing demand is with search engine marketing (or search engine advertising). This is where you use Google advertising to make sure your brand is popping up for significant searches.
SEM, more commonly known as pay-per-click advertising, is the only way to guarantee your website’s placement in search results. It involves selecting strategic keywords and attaching them to ads for specific content, products or service pages. If a user submits a Google search that matches your keyword, your paid ad will appear above the organic search results.
There are numerous benefits of SEM. It’s very targeted. It’s easy to measure, so you can identify what’s working (and what isn’t). It can also be optimised in real-time. Above all, SEM puts your brand directly in front of your ideal client at the precise moment they’re actively seeking treatment.
Google Ads can feel a bit scary for health professionals. Much of your audience is self-diagnosing with “Dr Google”, you’ve got restrictions on remarketing and there are countless issues with sensitive information and privacy. However, with the assistance of someone in the know, Google Ads has the power to transform your practice.
If you want to bring more clients to your clinic without spending your life savings, you need to use Google Ads in the right way. As a starting point, in order to boost conversions, always ensure your landing pages are relevant to your ads, create mobile-optimised campaigns, implement the correct keyword match types with appropriate ad extensions and use geo-targeting to reach local traffic.
4. Website optimisation
Of course, after people see your ads, you need to send them somewhere. That’s the role your website plays.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: your website is your digital practice, so you need to make it irresistible to potential clients AND search engines.
Here are some key questions to consider:
- Design: Is it attractive, user-friendly and up to date?
- Reviews: Have you included client testimonials that can act as social proof?
- Backlinks: Do you have a strategy for encouraging links from credible sources?
- Content: Are you regularly updating your website with engaging blog posts and videos?
- SEO: Are you using optimised page titles, headings and body copy?
- User experience: Does your site load quickly? Is it mobile-responsive? Does the journey make sense and result in a relevant call-to-action (CTA)?
The critical message to remember is that you want your website to be optimised for the client experience. Building trust is always important in relationships, but never more so than in the world of healthcare.
The digital space has made it possible for people to conduct extensive research into potential service providers before deciding to book an appointment. Consumers are empowered by the vast amount of information at their fingertips. Your clients are taking their health into their own hands.
Does your digital presence reflect your values and convey your competence? If you don’t put in the effort to make sure it does, your competitors will – and they’ll win.
5. Email marketing
Once you’ve attracted a client, you want to retain them for as long as possible. You need to focus on increasing their PVA (patient visit average) and boosting their ALV (average lifetime value). Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to do this.
Automated emails, in particular, are extremely important. This includes welcoming new clients, following up and reactivating individuals after 3 or 6 months if they haven’t visited your clinic for a while.
There is nothing more valuable than a happy client who shares their experience with friends and family. Email marketing is an incredible medium for facilitating this by keeping your brand top of mind and helping your clients feel special.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Reward campaigns for loyal clients.
- Personalised promotions and offers for inactive leads.
- Regular newsletters with useful health information, news, tips and trends.
- Invitations to wellness events.
- Birthday emails!
Since the rise of social media and other digital marketing channels, some people have given up on email marketing, tempted by shiny new strategies. However, email marketing continues to be one of the most rewarding online marketing methods because it’s targeted, measurable and cost-effective. What’s more, it’s personal and permission-based. Email marketing creates a direct line of communication between you and your ideal client – something that social media cannot achieve.
“…the average return for email marketing is approximately $38 USD for every dollar spent, making it a critical pillar of every organisation’s multi-channel marketing strategy.” (Shopify AU)
