In the healthcare industry, it’s not always easy to keep up with the latest marketing trends. These make it necessary for individual to have in-depth and effective healthcare marketing strategies. There are rules about what you can and cannot say. They often talk about sensitive topics, the power of the Internet means that when something is online, it stays there forever.
As a result, many healthcare companies we speak to are passionately searching for and simultaneously evaluating the latest healthcare marketing strategies. They want to find new ways to market their healthcare organizations and requires the best techniques for successful ideas.
This article outlines five ways to get to know your customers first and stick with them, even in the toughest hospitals and medical devices.
1. Using the messaging app
Your patient world is noisy. There are ads on TV and radio, email, and social media, and many out of them are just blocked. Do you know what doesn’t work? Message. Text messages are a messaging service provider that can be opened within minutes of being received. This makes it a great way to communicate with patients about the things that matter. This could be to notify them of an element of urgency (appointment time has just become available), a treatment deadline like a seasonal shot, or a reminder that they may be running low on medication.
As long as the information is actually helpful to your audience, they’ll likely be happy to provide their cell phone number. Likewise, messaging apps are a great way to build new target lists around niche communities. For example, a group of old-age patients concerned about the flu could be added to a WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger group to provide them with advice or weekly updates. According to some sources, 9 out of 10 doctors in Brazil already use this channel to communicate directly with patients.
2. Experimental Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a huge trend among commercial and consumer brands looking to increase the endorsement of their products or services. Influencers have traditionally been people who have built communities or audiences based on their brands.
A good example of how this might work in an NFP scenario is Boxed Water’s partnership with the National Forest Foundation. Using the hashtag “#ReTree,” Boxed Water promises to plant two new trees for every image featuring water posted on Instagram. They worked with hundreds of influencers around the globe to trend hashtags, encouraging more than six million photos to be posted.
3. Strengthen internal marketing
We often focus more on external healthcare marketing strategies that we forget about internal communication. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that productivity improves by as much as 205% in organizations where employees feel connected.
Then you have employee support. If you have 100 employees, all telling their friends and family how great your healthcare plans are, you can easily reach thousands of potential patients for free.
A Nielsen study found that recommendations from friends are still the most trusted form of advertising for consumers. Why invest your entire budget in advertising and brand campaigns when your employees can be the biggest source of untapped potential?
4. Create content for niche communities
Health is extremely personal. Unless an issue affects us personally, we are unlikely to want to read about it. The most effective healthcare marketing strategies are those that focus on a specific issue in a niche community. This could be creating an online landing page, a pre-printed symptom checklist, a brief presentation on condition management, or even a podcast for caregivers of those who need care, people with dementia or cancer.
Test different means for an appropriate community, and when you find the right ones, expand to other patient groups and areas. The more relevant your content is to the community, the more likely they are to use and share it.
5. Social Media Engagement
Studies show that 41% of people will choose a healthcare provider based on their reputation on social media. That makes a social media strategy much more necessary to your business goals, doesn’t it? Channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn only allow you to connect with clients outside of their appointments. Regularly creating and posting content to these channels keeps you at the center so that when you need it, your patients know where to go.
Social media also opens a door for your visitors to promote things for you. A good example is a contest run by Anne Arundel Medical Center, where patients are asked to share their best “stache” (mustache selfie) on Facebook.
The campaign aims to raise awareness about mens health during November, commonly known as “Movember” month, but it allows men, women, and children to participate. This, not only drives hundreds of selfie shares from potential visitors but also raises awareness and drives traffic to the center’s consultation page.
Creative campaigns like these are a great way to get noticed on social media and gather more shares, likes, and comments for your brand.
Bottom Line:
In this article, we’ve covered actionable steps that can help you create your healthcare marketing strategies. Ethics that health care providers may face so you can avoid them at all costs. Now is the time for you to embrace the torch and develop a hospital marketing strategy for your organization.
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