The healthcare industry has gone digital to keep up with the technological trend. If your practice has not done so already, it is time to look at healthcare solutions using digital marketing.
In the U.S. alone, there are about 275 million internet users according to the 2018 Statista Digital Market Outlook. It’s expected to grow by 13% in 2022. Majority of American use mobile devices. In fact, 81% own smartphones.
Patients can access most health information online even before they see their providers. Google searches can range from simple questions like “What is thyroid eye disease?” to questions that provide options for decision-making like “Clinical interventions for exophthalmos.” In minutes, the search results give information and even show healthcare providers and healthcare facilities near them.
Why Healthcare Marketing Solutions Involve Digital Marketing
If you want to stay on top of the game, you need to boost your healthcare digital marketing strategy to keep up with the marketing trends. Most healthcare organizations hire third-party digital marketing agencies to take care of their marketing campaign.
Why go through the steep learning curve of knowing different digital marketing strategies when it only takes 4% of your revenue to outsource your digital marketing?
What can a digital healthcare marketer and strategist like The Steeplechase Company offer you?
We at The Steeplechase Company can guide your healthcare organization on the right healthcare marketing strategy that will bring patients into your practice.
We do this through the following steps:
- conduct a marketing program review
- identify problem areas
- come up with a transition plan to get rid of the problems
- use data analytics to measure outcomes
- adjust strategy along the way
We have simplified the process for you. Don’t waste time learning about digital marketing when you could use your time learning about your patient’s problems and addressing them.
Would you want to siphon your staff’s energy to learn:
- best search engine optimization (SEO) practices for your website?
- how to create landing pages?
- how to write effective e-newsletters and maximize email marketing strategies?
- plus, how to create social media platforms and campaigns?
- and how to use data analytics?
More Reasons Healthcare Digital Marketing Is Important
If you have a website, you’d know by now that a website can only be useful if it has visitors. Someone has to do the work of driving traffic into your website. It’s like having a vendor stand by the door of the mall to draw passersby with discount flyers or freebies.
We’ve got tips on how to make your practice’s websites work for you. Read our blog on how to plan your healthcare marketing strategy using data analytics. You can also analyze your healthcare marketing using metrics. And did you know that there are digital pitfalls you can avoid, so you don’t waste time, money, and resources?
But beyond marketing, you can use digital technology to provide healthcare solutions to your patients.
How?
Ways to Use Digital Technology as Healthcare Solutions
1. Improve the quality of your care
How long do you spend talking to your patient?
Sometimes, the patient may wish he had more time to discuss his overall health and understand his health status. It can be frustrating at times, for patients and providers when things are rushed up. Digital technology can supplement care through access to FAQs on the website, blogs and vlogs, infographics, downloadable patient education materials, and links to other resources that the patient can tap on.
For example, the Mayo Clinic website includes Patient Care and Health Info tab where the patient can read about symptoms, diseases and conditions, tests and procedures, drugs and supplements, and even billing and insurance.
An automated survey can assess overall patient satisfaction and get their suggestions on how to improve the overall quality of care. You can be surprised at how much insight you can get from your patients.
2. Enhance patient safety
You can market digital technology products that enhance patient safety in your facility through your website.
Real-time monitoring of blood sugar or the ability of the patient to access her labs to show to another provider can fill in the gaps in healthcare and improve safety. Or what about your diabetic patients who may need the routine HbA1C blood draw?
Sending out the email reminder with a phone number or email link to the laboratory for easy scheduling can ensure better monitoring and timely care.
3. Improve systems and processes in your practice
If your website can accommodate same-day online patient scheduling and fill in the vacant slots, that can ease scheduling workload and maximize your productivity.
Data analytics will give you hard evidence of what’s working and not working by tracking trends and shifts in your data. In our last blog, we tackled three important digital metrics that help gauge the effectiveness of your digital healthcare marketing strategy. These are:
- Unique visitors
- Bounce rate
- Average time on site
How does this translate to providing healthcare solutions to your patients?
Unique visitors
If your website content adds value to patients’ lives, many will visit your site.
In effect, your website becomes an extension of your practice. Give preventive tips so your patients can stay healthy and get back on track. This proves that your digital marketing is not only meant to increase your profit but also profits your patient’s well-being. Post actionable blogs that your readers can apply in their daily routines and share with family and friends.
You’ll get even more unique visitors from patient referrals. Inform colleagues of the many resources on your website, which they can easily link to. Patient education is everyone’s mission, after all.
Bounce rate
The last thing you want to do is draw the wrong set of readers to your site. Having clear headlines with keyword-optimized contents will ensure that those who visit your site intend to read your blog. Cheap tactics of drawing readers with misleading headlines and useless keywords will only serve to increase your bounce rate.
What about spammy emails? Certainly, they are a bad idea. If you keep on sending hyped up promotional email campaigns, your click-through rate won’t improve either. Most will either trash your email or worse, block you. Use email marketing judiciously. You want to provide a healthcare solution, not a headache.
One useful way of using that email is reminding your patient about her annual mammogram or health check-up with a link to your online scheduling. Don’t you think you just solved her appointment scheduling problem by making it easy on her with a click of the mouse?
Average time on site
Create content and blog posts that engage your patients. You know your website is worth visiting and contains valuable information when patients stay on the site and navigate through the pages.
Where do you find great content? Ask your patients. Listen to the most commonly asked questions. Provide in-depth answers and videos on your website. The more time they spend reading materials that you may have missed during the visit, or the patient may have forgotten to ask, the greater value your blogs will have.
You can give healthcare solutions directly or using digital marketing strategies. Why settle for less when you can have more?
And why engage in DIY digital marketing when there are experts at The Steeplechase Company who can help you get your healthcare marketing back on track?
We can help: Get started and schedule your free practice review here!
References
https://www.statista.com/statistics/325645/usa-number-of-internet-users/
https://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/mobile/