Times have changed and no one can deny that healthcare has become a very competitive business. Now, being a traditional marketer is unprofessional. Most physicians are realizing the importance of digital marketing to grow their business.
The first rule of marketing is to be where your patients are. In the era of technology, it is very easy to achieve this. The Internet has changed the way we communicate and how we search for things. 77% of patients use search engines before booking an appointment with the doctor; to learn about treatment options and information about health concerns and the various clinic options. This means that as a physician you should be on search engines by medical search engine marketing and SEO.
Creating a digital marketing plan can be difficult for anyone, especially if they are not familiar with the full range of options available online today – such as websites, social media, and online ads.
Here are five misconceptions about digital marketing in healthcare, as well as some advice on the first steps to using digital marketing to promote health services.
The First Myth: Digital Marketing Costs A Lot
Compared to the costs of traditional advertising, it has been found that digital marketing, including websites, social media, and search engines, is much less expensive than traditional methods such as TV and radio ads, magazines, and even paper publications.
Today, advertising via social media is the least expensive form of digital marketing. The impact and spread can be multiplied by carrying out an integrated advertising campaign on different digital means at the same time.
The Second Myth: The Return on Digital Investment Is Not Measurable
When it comes to digital marketing, everything is measurable. There are a lot of programs that measure the number of clicks on a specific link like the PPC and another for the number of views of a particular site and the geographic distribution of viewers. As for social media, they have easily trackable metrics like the number of people who have shared the post or pressed the like button.
Read also: Healthcare Marketing, When Doctors are the audience
But investing in marketing campaigns aimed at reaching a special criterion of potential customers and building real customers is a more professional choice than relying on marketing based on the number of impressions that a customer is required to watch advertising. While professional marketing campaigns aim to reach potential real customers more accurately and build a base of audience interested in follow-up, also, the professional online presence of the doctor, makes him a brand on social media.
The Third Myth: Online Marketing Is Ineffective
One of the best things about online marketing is that the results can be immediate. For example, a client might decide to commit to social media and focus on Facebook, publishing daily content with a small paid advertising campaign to get new followers, the audience over time become visitors to the clinic. Another client may decide to focus on his website and improve his ranking on search engines. Only with the right strategy can digital marketing have a direct impact on the growth of your business. Working with strategies with long-term effects will be a smarter choice.
Read also: Digital Marketing for Hospitals – Episode 1 – The Basics
The Fourth Myth: The Website Must Be Full of Content
The website is a representation of the services you provide on the internet. The more user-friendly and accessible it is, the better. Do not make the customer find it difficult to access information about you or get lost on your website. Use easy designs and nice colors that bring comfort to keep him longer on the website. Put clear and direct icons to request an appointment or leave an inquiry. Your phone number inside the page should be easy to find and preferably positioned at the top of the page.
The Fifth Myth: Doctors Don’t Need Digital Marketing
Isn’t the presence of most of the public who search through the internet and social networks for the symptoms of their diseases, and methods of treatment, as well as good options from doctors a good enough reason to draw the attention of any doctor to the power and importance of digital presence? In addition to the reviews exchanged between patients online regarding their medical experience with doctors. You must be amidst this massive audience of potential customers and earn their trust and engrave your name in their minds.
Patients have become very selective and to be always one of their choices, you have to embrace online marketing as an effective strategy as it is the future of marketing, especially for the medical field. To commercially express it visually and create an audience around this name, then move gradually to interact with this audience and attract new customers.
How does Balto Medical Marketing help in achieving marketing goals for clinics and medical centers?
