I am not sure whether you know it or not but let me tell you healthcare industry is not as advanced as other industries when it comes to marketing. In fact, the industry as a whole tends to lag behind other industries by about two years.
Of course, there are a lot of allegations in the healthcare industry on how they market their products as per the HIPAA compliance regulations. So adapting to the changing marketing trends could really be very difficult in such a heavily regulated industry.
At the same time with the advent of digital marketing, there is a big relief for hospitals/practices, pharmaceutical companies, insurance providers, medical device manufacturers, or other organizations in the healthcare space as reaching and engaging techie patients & physicians of today has not remained a big deal.
In fact, a recent study revealed that 84% of patients use both online and offline sources for hospital research. In the same way, search engines drive 3 times more visitors to hospital sites compared to the number of visitors not coming from search engines.
Moreover, as per the report, 44% of patients who research hospitals on a mobile device fix an appointment.
So, if you belong to the healthcare industry and hunting for ways to leverage digital marketing, here are 3 most crucial digital strategies of all for healthcare industry.
Work on search engine optimization
It’s about just a few days ago when I was searching for a homeopathy doctor and the first thing that I did was Google it. I think this is what most of us do when it comes to searching for a hospital or a doctor!
Right? This is what! With the increasing number of consumers searching to find medical & health-related information through the web, it has really become crucial for your organization to develop a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
This will enable your website to be visible when a potential customer searches for something that you provide.
When we say SEO, it doesn’t only mean the website but that includes your landing pages, social profiles, blog posts, or just any other content your organization creates and publishes.
Gear up for an all-so-better content marketing
Just now we were talking about search engine optimization but remember it is not possible to develop a winning SEO strategy without the right content especially when it comes to the healthcare industry.
The companies need to consistently create new content as that would not only help them get found easily but also build rapport with their target audience and generate leads for them.
As discussed, the right crafted content will enhance your search engine rankings and drive new traffic to your website. Not just that it will nurture and nudge leads throughout the sales cycle, compelling them to buy the product or service that you provide.
Have a responsive website
We talked earlier in this article about a report that released 44% of patients who research hospitals on a mobile device fix an appointment. The same report also unveiled that nearly one-third of patients use mobile devices or tablets everyday for research and/or to book appointments.
Even the physicians routinely make use of them in-office for helping their patients learn about procedures & medications and for accessing the information instantly irrespective of the location.
So, the way rate of mobile web usage is increasing in comparison to that of desktop, healthcare companies should consider the benefits of getting a responsive website design.
The Bottom-Line!
Strategize and execute these three requisites of digital marketing for healthcare, you’ll be all set to outrival the competition online!
