With the rising numbers of Covid-19, multiple industries have been severely impacted coping with the new normal. Healthcare has been non-stop rushing to supply the demand, private practices and medical students have been questioning how to maneuver the recent changes. Before we start discussing the top marketing tips for the healthcare industry, we as WCA Technologies Inc. would like to take a moment to pause and appreciate all of the hardworking and dedicated healthcare heroes that have been working endless to help save lives during the pandemic.
As many private practitioners have shifted their in-person consultations to Zoom calls, medical students prepare for virtual residency interviews, and must conduct clinical virtually, digital communication and ones’ online presence have been critical now more than ever. Building long term growth strategies, demand generation, investing in high quality content creation, brand reputation management and awareness, lead generation, virtual patient and partner education are topics we specialize in for our healthcare clienteles. For one of our clients the Carewell Health Group our strategy is to help increase their efforts in patient outreach, lead generation, and to connect patients with facilities that meet their needs.
Below are the top two most important digital marketing tips for the healthcare industry in 2020.
Building & Managing Online Reputation with Testimonials
Reviews of a practice and provider are one of the top-ranking factors that will increase brand visibility on Google. It takes 1-6 online testimonials* for a potential patient to form an opinion regarding your brand. Online reviews are submitted through strangers have similar impact as receiving reviews from ones’ friends and family according to SearchEngineLand. We highly recommend healthcare providers to create Google Alerts to keep themselves up to date regarding conversations in their industry as well as follow-up on reviews regarding their practice. It is important to strategize how a healthcare practitioner should position themselves online without violating PHIPA/HIPAA. Setting up alerts on associated keywords with your brand will also increase your opportunity to gain timely control on a potential communication or brand crisis. It will make managing your online reputation much easier if you have a head start on catching reviews as they first go online. It is advised to respond to any review regardless of the sentiment and to transparently to address concerns and provide solutions to any issue. Potential patients will recognize the intentions of the practice which will leave a positive remark regarding the provider.
Great testimonials also make up for the ultimate key content idea as they can be repackaged and redistributed on brands all other social accounts to help spread the word on positive patient and provider experience for lead generation purposes.
Video Content is King
We highly recommend practitioners who aim to grow a loyal clientele to invest in high quality content creation in rich media format. Especially providers in the aesthetic and med spa space, as well as Plastic Surgeons who aim to show the patient transformation (before and after’s) need to capture their essence of work through video content to capture new leads. Videos have become the most influential form of healthcare marketing tool as the community reacts well to visual storytelling. One of our approved vendors client who provides a software service for International Medical Graduates has increased their leads and converted them into sales
through investing in their YouTube channel. As Covid-19 has impacted multiple industries across the board, there are a lot of unknowns and recent updates within the IMG community. Our client’s strategy is to focus on capturing leads through answering pivotal questions in video format through their employees or other affiliates (healthcare providers with strong online presence) to help increase brand credibility and provide social proof behind their software. Video content and testimonials are also key in engaging and evoking emotions between provider and patients. Without violating PHIPA/HIPAA, we can repackage patient testimonials with patient permission granted (and any other comprehensive information regarding brand can be utilized as well) in video format as a lead generation tool. We promote the content on multiple assets through paid social advertisement and hyper-targeting strategies. This approach in return helps to grow patient volume faster.
Need some more direction?
At WCA Technologies Inc., we provide support to healthcare brands and professionals to help connect providers with patients and vice versa. We assist in transforming their digital marketing efforts into a profitable business approach. If you are interested in building lead generation strategies to help increase your client volume and build loyalty, we highly recommend signing up here or emailing us at business@wcatechnologies.io for more information.
