If you’re a healthcare provider of any kind, you’ve probably already realized the importance of having an online presence. Whether it be through your own website, and/or your social media usage, being active online has probably garnered your practice increasing popularity and patient interaction, and likely resulted in increased revenue as well.
Having a marketing company on your side makes a world of difference when trying to expand your reach. Not only do they handle any and all of your marketing needs, they eliminate all the stress of having to do it yourself and free up your time so that you can focus on doing what you’re great at; providing top-notch health care services to your patients or providers. That being said, not all marketing agencies are a good fit for your specific organization, and hiring the right healthcare marketing agency is very important to the overall success of your brand.
Common Issues Healthcare Practices Have with Digital Marketing Agencies:
- Standard digital marketing agencies lack the industry-specific knowledge necessary to help practices grow to their full potential.
- Ex: Most digital agencies only focus on the D2C segment, targeting patient who search online. They may not know that between 33%-50% of patient volume is coming from referring physicians. That needs to be a part of your overall digital strategy, or you’re missing a huge piece of potential growth and revenue.
- Lack of transparency in reporting and ambiguous ad spend data, resulting in the inability to accurately report ROI and conversion data.
- Poor communication with digital marketing arm leading to a marketing disconnect - PPC/SEO must have a synergistic approach and also work collaboratively with social media, content marketing, sales, email marketing etc.
Furthermore, most digital agencies who don't have a specific niche in healthcare have little to no knowledge when it comes to the ins and outs of the healthcare industry and what makes us tick. While they may be able to carry out general marketing projects and have an understanding of traditional marketing tools, they won’t be able to understand your specific needs as well as a healthcare marketing agency will. A traditional digital agency might not know that for a radiology center, the radiologists aren't usually on-site and leads aren't going to become fully converted users (aka: patients) unless they have a script for an imaging procedure.
An SEO specialist who doesn't know the difference between Dysport and Botox isn't going to be able to drive qualified visitors to a plastic surgeon's blog. A social media guru who has never worked with a hospital before is going to have a hell of a time getting even the simplest of posts approved because they aren't used to the inner workings of hospital marketing teams; so they won't know what is necessary in order to get campaigns off the ground.
Read More: AHS Case Studies - Includes Radiology, Plastic Surgery, Pulmonary, Dentistry & Startup Studies
To put it simply, healthcare marketing agencies are just like any marketing agency, except for the fact that they exclusively specialize in marketing for the healthcare industry, including hospitals, practices, physicians, startups, nonprofits, and organizations.
Many healthcare marketing agencies have spent decades working with people and companies in the healthcare field. Some healthcare marketing agencies may even specialize in marketing the same specialty your healthcare business practices, for instance, certain agencies specialize in working with plastic surgeons or dentistry locations.
So What Sets Atlantic Apart?
Hybrid industry experts in both healthcare and digital marketing
Customized reporting capabilities to allow for full transparency between Atlantic and Advanced Dermatology internal marketing and management
Insight into bid adjustments, keyword optimizations, ad copy updates and the influence these daily optimizations have on the website’s success and campaign conversion rates.
Consultative and strategic approach to multi-channel digital and traditional marketing
Transparent and affordable management fees
Dedicated Google Adwords & Analytics certified digital marketing experts
- Ability to scale services when appropriate (ex: Social Media ads, Website redesign etc.)
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People who work for healthcare marketing agencies also have specialized knowledge in the healthcare field. They understand the tone and the patient audience, as well as the many approaches to launching healthcare marketing campaigns, including those concerning sensitive medical topics.
They will, of course, know all the general practices and tools that make marketing, but in addition to that they will be able to advise you specifically on the best healthcare marketing practices available for your specific industry, whether that’s a patient or provider-facing email campaign, a paid search campaign that’s specific to driving patient volume, tips on how to manage a physician's business social media accounts to promote positive patient reviews or tactics on how to increase patient satisfaction and drive increased volume to your practice.
Send us your email address by filling out the form below and we'll send you custom information on how our group would help your practice or healthcare company reach your marketing goals.
The best part about having a knowledgeable team of healthcare marketers on your side is that you don’t even have to lift a finger but you can be as involved as you want to be. Sure, the major decisions will be up to you, but all of the work will be taken care of by people who know and understand you and your practice on a personal level but specialize in the nitty-gritty of marketing.
Whether your marketing strategy or implementation needs are small or large, long-standing or only for a short period of time, talk to a healthcare marketing agency to find out how they can help you pave the way to your goals.