Let's face it, as busy medical professionals, you often find yourself too strapped for time to work out all the details of a successful healthcare marketing strategy internally.
And these days, people are talking to Dr. Google to self-diagnose more than ever. Yes, this certainly isn’t the best practice generally speaking, but curious individuals searching for solutions or answers to their questions doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
As healthcare professionals, you have the opportunity to change people’s lives through your practices, and there are many ways, including online marketing methods, search strategies, and traditional marketing methods that will help you get your message and services in front of people who need it most. We’ll outline some of these strategies below…
Perfect Your Message
Take a moment to think about the one message or statement you want to communicate to your audience, that describes not only what you do, but also the difference you strive to make for your patients. By first establishing your message and mission, you will be better equipped to produce marketing materials that are generally more aligned with your goals and objectives. More traditional advertising methods are a great way to establish your brand’s message and voice, as well as build your medical practice’s brand awareness in your local area.
Radio Advertising
Radio stands strong to this day, reaching more Americans each week than any other platform, including television and smartphone devices. Because of its broad reach, radio advertising is all about frequency and getting in people’s heads, which makes it perfect for establishing awareness and gaining interest in your practice’s brand. So, don’t neglect to consider it, as you can easily custom-tailor these creative ads to best suit your practice.
Magazine Advertising
Magazine advertising gives tremendous flexibility, targetability, and credibility to medical practices. You have the ability to tell a story visually, share testimonials from happy patients, show before-and-after photos, feature physician profiles, and more. Another extremely effective advertising option that magazines offer the healthcare industry is an advertorial - the ability to write an article within a paid ad, usually a full page, that is branded for your business. Education is important, especially with elective procedures, and an advertorial helps share vital information for potential patients to make informed decisions for their healthcare.
Connect with Your Audience
Choosing to personalize and humanize your practice’s brand, no matter what you specialize in, is a fantastic opportunity to connect with and draw in your audience. So what are some ways to implement this regarding your marketing efforts? Well, one way is by producing marketing materials that are relatable, genuine, cohesive, and pleasing to the eye. You will need to develop your target persona in order to do this properly. So not only do you need to connect with your audience through your ads, but you must also reach people where they are in order to truly reach them in order to make that connection. Here are some ways to do so:
Social Media Advertising
It’s difficult to meet someone in your day-to-day life that is not on social media to some extent. That is exactly why it is a great way to stay connected with your current patients with regular posting. On the flip-side, social media advertisements are a great way to reach targeted individuals in your area, for prospecting new patients.
Digital Advertisements
And speaking of targeting prospective patients, using digital advertisements in the form of display ads, SEM, online video ads, and CTV ads are all fantastic ways to reach who you want, where they already are. You can be both creative with these advertisement strategies while also being highly specific with the type of people you want to target.
Establish Your Credibility, Build Trust & Provide Answers
In the medical community, credibility is absolutely everything. Many patients and customers will need to see more than your MD to put their trust in you and your practice.
When medical and healthcare professionals meet with patients, especially new patients, there are always a lot of questions involved. There are of course questions that, as providers, you must ask your patients. But what about questions that patients have for their providers? They may feel comfortable asking these questions in person, but they might not. Not to mention that allowing time for these questions can eat up precious appointment time. That is where inbound marketing can help. 
Inbound Marketing
The all-encompassing world of inbound marketing is comprehensive, and it's hard to fully explain all the wonderful things it has to offer in just a couple of sentences. But in short, inbound marketing is a fantastic way to draw in customers to your website, convert those customers into leads (in this case, prospective patients, and then nurture these leads until they become customers (in this case, patients, or at the least, to visit your location/clinic). This is all done through a content strategy that includes quality blogs, landing pages, email messages, eBooks, and more.
When it comes to branding, and thus advertising your medical practice through an effective marketing strategy, you will need time, support, and dedication. Many practices do not attempt to even embark on these efforts because of the overwhelming and stressful nature of taking it on on their own, internally, thus missing out on key business over time. That is why it is imperative to consider partnering with a trusted agency to help you reach your specific goals and objectives for growth.
At Zimmer Communications, we’ve developed a wide variety of custom marketing plans for medical practices of all kinds, effectively growing their local patient base while bringing awareness to their brand and presence in the community. Reach out today to get in touch with one of our marketing consultants today to get a conversation started to find the best solution for you and your business.
