As competition grows in the medical field, practices must develop tactics to help them beat their competitors. One of the best methods for improving your online presence is through content, a reliable source of fresh interaction. It’s a low-cost method that will set your office apart, help you improve your Google results, and even develop trust among your current patients.

Most businesses, including healthcare providers, have established content marketing strategies. Only 65% of these businesses have an in-house content marketing team, although 84% report implementing content strategies. Smaller clinics use many of the same strategies that larger companies do to get patients to interact with them online, even when they do not have content writers on staff. Even a tiny bit of content may significantly impact your marketing efforts and function as a trustworthy resource that attracts new patients over time.

Understanding the various kinds of materials and how they function can help you narrow down your strategy and use the resources at your disposal.

What content may serve your organization? What kinds of content should you prioritize? Should you regularly create content?

It can be intimidating to answer these questions. We’ve outlined the five most effective content marketing tactics to help you get started.

Which Forms Are Most Effective for Healthcare Content?

In the wake of the digital age, patients’ dependence on online resources to inform their healthcare decisions has grown substantially. Patients commonly use online research on healthcare topics and information about your clinic. They should be able to access all your content tools online for this reason.

Your content should captivate visitors to your website and lead them toward using your services by offering helpful information.

• According to the most recent data, 7% of all daily Google searches are on healthcare.
• 71% of marketers believe reaching customers through content marketing is more crucial than ever.
• 43% of Millennials think they will likely switch healthcare providers in the following years.

We know that significant healthcare firms intend to raise their advertising spending. Smaller practices can use the low-cost content marketing tactics listed below to remain relevant and competitive in the coming year.

1. Blogs

Blogs are an effective tool for practices to engage patients. As medical practitioners, you already understand what your patients are concerned about. Using your understanding of your client base, you may create content that addresses their worries about your services and directs them to services that address their specific difficulties.

Relevant content is great content, and you know precisely why a possible patient would come to your practice. However, 94% of companies utilize this type of content marketing, and just 9% claim to be successful at it. The disconnect here comes from the quality of the material and how it applies to the person reading it.

This issue shouldn’t happen in medical offices, but it does because they need to write from the patient’s point of view sufficiently.

Your content strategy must be clear and include relevant information for your patients. By considering the factors that attract patients to your office, you will rapidly begin formulating a strategy for creating practical online journals that promote your practice. Your goal should be to take a problematic healthcare topic, simplify it, and then apply it to answer the following questions in your practice:

• What am I doing wrong?
• Why did this happen to me?
• Can this condition be treated, and how?

The solution is easier than you might think:

• Determine the most common health questions your patients ask.
• Create blog posts based on those questions.
• Answer such questions in your blog post.

This FAQ method will help you rank well in search engines because many patients Google these queries daily. Providing trustworthy information builds trust between a potential patient and your practice. As a result, it helps patients understand topics they usually need clarification on by giving them practical knowledge.

These blogs will boost your visibility with new patients but will also aid in retaining existing clients who may have similar questions.

2. Email

Patient engagement is increased through personalized emails. One of the best ways to reach customers is through email marketing. Use of emails is beneficial as long as you follow the proper email behavior rules:

• Allow patients to opt out of the list.
• Keep your communications consistent (deliver them on the same day each month or week).
• Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% helpful content and 20% (or less) marketing.
• Remain HIPAA-compliant.

When patients were fearful, anxious, and frequently misinformed during COVID-19, email demonstrated its potential to have a profound effect. Consider if your practice communicated changes to safety rules, hours, and other details throughout the crisis. The practices that achieved the highest levels of patient and community engagement were those that promptly addressed inquiries via email and made necessary updates to their websites to enhance communication.

However, email is just as effective today as it was then. Frequent emails and newsletters can:

• Gain patients’ trust by educating them.
• Increase traffic to your blogs, website, or practice
• Advertise goods and services
• Seasonal reminders about wellness services, back-to-school physicals, and flu shots
• Request that patients evaluate your practice following their visit.
• Ask them to follow your Facebook page.
• Welcome new patients to your practice.
• Send new patient forms in advance.

3. Informational Graphics (Infographics)

Infographics are a very effective way to communicate important information and show trends. The average person remembers 80% of what they see and 20% of what they read. The brain processes images more quickly than words, which is why informational graphics take advantage of this. Rich infographics use dynamic visuals to improve the legibility of important facts or intriguing information.

Infographics can: 

• Establish credibility and trust with existing patients.
• Capture the interest of prospective patients.
• Help patients remember information.
• Increase brand visibility
• Boost your website’s search engine optimization (SEO)
• Provide sharable content.

Infographics can be used across multiple marketing media and are very versatile tools. You can share them on social media, link to them on a blog, or even include them in a video. The only rule of thumb is to have your practice credentials in the infographic to broaden your marketing reach and avoid plagiarism.

4. Patient Testimonials

Two kinds of patient testimonials are beneficial to your practice:

• Video testimonials that use the powerful effects of visual communication and a patient’s approval
• Online reviews by patients

Video Testimonials

The combination of online video testimonials and online consumer reviews yields marketing benefits. Both will increase the impact of your practice. 84% of consumers say they trust online evaluations at least as much as a referral from a friend or family member, and videos now account for more than 82% of all web traffic worldwide.

These patterns demonstrate that the equation for marketing success is video plus testimonials.

Video testimonials are:

• Simple and easy to make
• Low cost of production and distribution
• Shareable by patients and staff
• Widely supported across several content platforms (social media, your website, YouTube)
• First-person testimonials from genuine patients express emotion and develop trust in your practice. The testimonial is an effective tool in your repertoire because it offers the social validation absent in standard content.

Online Reviews

The truth is that 94% of people looking for a healthcare business judge it based on online reviews. According to this study, your practice will likely lose clients and might fail to keep hold of current ones if its rating is at least four stars.

These patterns show how consumer reviews are becoming more and more crucial to your business.

The reviews left by patients primarily determine the patient experience and general satisfaction with your practice. Your online review can be a great tool to showcase the quality of your services and attract new clients to your clinic if you can establish good relationships with your patients and deliver exceptional care.

5. Social Media

With approximately 4.74 billion social media users worldwide by 2022, it’s difficult to ignore the influence of social media these days. Effective marketing channels must recognize social media’s effects.

To interact with consumers on social media, healthcare institutions are constantly refining their strategies. But it’s not a one-time tactic. Successful social media practices should publish and interact on these platforms frequently to establish a consistent online presence for their company. The more, the better.

But social media is just the cherry on top of content marketing. You can use any social media site to increase the reach of your current content marketing.

Infographics, for instance, are popular on websites like Pinterest and Instagram. You can repost and repurpose blog content on Facebook or LinkedIn. Video testimonials can appear on your website, social media, and local online business listings.

Marketing of Healthcare Content

These five low-cost techniques just take time and investment on your part. Even though it could be difficult for smaller healthcare firms to find the time for this task, it’s a beneficial strategy to expand your business. Every one of these content tools helps your firm make money by drawing in new clients and keeping hold of current ones.

If you have any concerns regarding how to use these content marketing methods, please contact our team at Insight Marketing Group. Our medical marketing experts can help you through the process and show you how to use these strategies to improve your online profile.