5 Things You Should Know About Healthcare Marketing In 2019

Healthcare marketing can seem like a difficult thing to understand if you’re not already knowledgeable about the subject.

Even those who know limited information about the market tend to stick to the same strategies they used a few years ago, and fail to understand why their businesses aren’t experiencing the same return on interest as they did back then.

The truth is, not refreshing your knowledge regularly can lead to stale, outdated marketing strategies that become less successful as time goes on, meaning you need to invest more to see the same results.

If you want to change this, or simply learn more about the marketing side of the healthcare industry so that you can start propelling your business towards success, then this article should help.

Providing the most up-to-date information about how your healthcare business can do marketing effectively, you will be ready to create new strategies (or amend old ones) that really work in no time.

Content Marketing Is Far Better Than Ad Placements

When the healthcare industry started to transition into digital marketing efforts, many followed other industries and started paying Google—and other advertising platforms—to advertise their content on websites and videos.

This strategy was extremely effective a few years ago, when people were used to seeing advertisements in traditional media and saw no problem with the digital world doing the same.

Now, however, a lot of people use digital media for the convenience of it, and advertisements are often seen as a hindrance to the user experience. Things, of course, have also gotten worse for the healthcare industry, now that the FDA is paying a lot more attention to digital health, something which is bound to make the industry pause before investing more.

The obvious sales tactic doesn’t work as successful as it once did, with most people barely registering advertisements in the way that they traditionally would.

In fact, it’s estimated that around 20% of web users have ad blockers installed on their browsers, meaning a large proportion of your intended audience may not even see the advertisements you pay for.

Instead, use content marketing to naturally advertise your products or services while providing users with valuable content.

Not only will this start a trusting relationship between your company and the user, but it will also increase conversions as people will not necessarily be able to detect the sales pitch in the same way they can using straight advertisements.

Social Media Should Be A Key Part Of Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy

In the online world, healthcare businesses should be working hard to increase their online presence and brand awareness.

Despite this, many struggle to implement strategies that are effective and in line with their business objectives, leaving them with many missed opportunities to increase leads.

They key thing to remember here is that you should be active within the same communities as your target audience, sharing valuable information that they will feel obligated to share, increasing your reach further.

Using videos as part of your healthcare marketing strategy is also extremely effective on social media, where people will genuinely spend longer engaging with your brand when they can watch a relevant video as opposed to reading long amounts of text.

You can also accelerate your efforts by engaging with influencers in your niche, such as communities for those suffering from chronic conditions, or people raising awareness for certain health conditions.

Your Website MUST Be Mobile Responsive

You may have been able to get away with a non-responsive website in the past, but not anymore.

Now, a staggering 52.4% of all users of  the web come from mobile platforms, so you could be missing out on significant marketing opportunities if you were to exclude these people from your strategies.

Not only that, but forgoing mobile responsiveness also has a negative impact on your SEO marketing efforts as Google has started to prioritise mobile users.

Most pre-made themes are mobile responsive, and you should be able to view a demo of this in action before you make a purchase.

If you’re struggling to find something you like, hiring a web developer can ensure you’re being ADA compliant and mobile responsive—both of which are important when it comes to healthcare marketing in 2019.

Your Online Reputation Can Make Or Break Your Healthcare Marketing Efforts

In a world where people often research a healthcare business before making an appointment, a bad online reputation can severely impact your healthcare marketing efforts.

If you have bad reviews or press coverage, you are really going to struggle to change people’s opinions about you, or convince people to choose you over competitors using traditional marketing methods.

The good news is there are ways around this.

By increasing your brand awareness and encouraging people to leave positive feedback, you are counteracting the negative reviews that may have built up over time.

Making a press release a part of your marketing strategy if your online reputation is really struggle may also be beneficial.

Traditional Marketing Methods Are No Longer Effective On Their Own

According to Digital Authority Partners, who have a lot of knowledge in the marketing side of the healthcare industry, medical marketing is largely carried out online in 2019.

This means that traditional marketing methods like word of mouth and coupon mailers don’t have the same effectiveness as they used to, and therefore should not demand too many resources from your marketing strategy.

This doesn’t mean that traditional marketing methods should be completely abandoned, though.

Instead, focus on increasing brand awareness and the visual aesthetic of your brand so that it is instantly identifiable.

This will help you to cross the lines between traditional marketing methods and digital ones, tying the brand together and helping your marketing strategies to be more effective all round.

Lastly, to showcase how popular medical marketing has become in the online space, one has to only look at the plethora of doctors who are putting their names out there, doing interviews, writing opinion editorials, providing online advice. Only recently, I read an interview with famous cardiologist Simon Stertzer talking about his businesses and advice to entrepreneurs. Online marketing is the future of medical visibility and exposure. It’s that simple!

Summary

The marketing side of the healthcare industry has changed dramatically over the course of the last few years, and with the change in rules, keeping up can seem difficult.

This article shows, however, that keeping up doesn’t have to be as difficult as it’s often made out. Often, all you need to do is adapt your current strategies so that they relate more to a modern audience. Not sure where to start? You can always begin by consulting a marketing company with deep experience in the healthcare space (check out this list, for example).

Whether it’s changing your advertising strategies to include more content marketing, or including more digital marketing over more traditional methods, the smallest of changes can make the biggest difference.