With new healthcare marketing trends rising this year, your team is going to have to make some changes to your strategy. Evolving your marketing practices will help you reach more patients as their behaviors change, leaving your non-evolving competition in the dust. Last year, we saw a huge spike in patients turning to the internet for health information and that is a trend that is certainly not going away, so let’s take a look at some of the mistakes you might have made in regards to your internet marketing efforts so you can improve this year.
1. Massive Marketing Collateral
Gone are the days of successful E-books. They take far too much time to create on your end and now patients are being drawn to more bite-sized content pieces. Smith & Jones calls them “info snacks,” giving patients with decreased attention spans the opportunity to easily consume the most important information you can provide.
TIP: Buzzfeed has become wildly popular because of their funny and topical content, but also because of the way they display their content with easily consumed lists and quizzes.
2. Data Overload
Last year the most consumed forms of content were videos and infographics. Due to the short attention spans of online readers, healthcare marketers have to be able to deliver important data in a concise and easily consumed way. Showcasing medical data in infographic format is proven to make it more memorable and more impactful.
TIP: Canva has some great infographic templates which you can easily import into a simple video format.
3. Website's That Aren't Mobile Optimization
People are using their smartphones and tablets more and more to search online for services, so if your website isn't mobile responsive you could be losing valuable leads. Your marketing team needs to focus on how your website content appears on phones and whether or not your content is driving potential patients to connect with you. You should also keep mobile optimization in mind when it comes to your email campaigns.
TIP: Squarespace websites include free mobile optimization and you can preview and test your web pages and mobile sites with the click of a button.
4. Unemotional Messaging
With healthcare marketing it can be scary to show too much emotion and be disruptively different, but if your marketing is too general and surface level, you'll go unnoticed. It is a huge mistake to avoid using personality in your marketing or to be too clinical. Some of the best doctors are the ones that get personal with their patients, share stories and can be seen as a shoulder to lean on; as opposed to those that are detached and unemotional. Let your content marketing reflect the kind of care you want to deliver to your patients.
TIP: Connect with patients by sharing information about your staff or physicians on your pages. Go beyond where they got their training; focus on the parts of their personalities that patients can connect with, like favorite movies or inspiration quotes.
(Read More: How to Grow Your Practice's Twitter Audience)
5. Blah Branding
There are few industries where brand loyalty is more imperative than health care but it is often over-looked. Let your brand speak to the kind of care your organization delivers and be sure to focus on branding in your social media content, blog posts and advertising efforts. This is your chance to stand out from the competition and in medical marketing, people are often afraid to deviate from the norm. Be the one who isn't afraid to switch things up!
TIP: Run a social media campaign or contest to get your patients and community involved with your brand by asking them to come up with a new tagline for you.