The healthcare landscape is in a constant state of evolution, and its marketing strategies need to keep pace. To stay ahead of the curve, you need an arsenal of cutting-edge tactics and a deep understanding of the digital terrain. This guide delves into the hottest trends, proven case studies, and actionable insights to propel your healthcare marketing to new heights.

Emerging Trends: A Glimpse into the Future

  • AI and Machine Learning: These transformative technologies are revolutionizing healthcare marketing. Imagine AI-powered chatbots answering patient queries, personalized treatment recommendations based on machine learning algorithms, or sentiment analysis of social media data to gauge patient satisfaction. The possibilities are endless.
  • Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR): Immersive technologies are finding their way into healthcare marketing. VR simulations can educate patients about procedures, while AR apps can help healthcare providers visualize anatomy or even guide surgery.
  • Voice Search: With the rise of smart speakers and voice assistants, optimizing your content for voice search is crucial. Focus on natural language keywords and long-tail queries to ensure your healthcare information reaches the right audience when they ask.

Case Studies: Learning from the Best

  • Cleveland Clinic: Their “Ask the Doctor” video series on YouTube, featuring real doctors answering patient questions, garnered millions of views and established them as a trusted source of healthcare information.
  • Mayo Clinic: Their interactive symptom checker tool, available on their website and app, empowers patients to take control of their health and drives traffic to their website.
  • Johnson & Johnson: Their “Our Story” campaign, showcasing the human impact of their products, resonated with audiences and fostered a positive brand image.

Advanced SEO for Healthcare:

  • Local SEO: Claim and optimize your Google My Business profile, build local citations, and target location-specific keywords to dominate the local search results.
  • Content Marketing: Create high-quality, informative content that addresses patient concerns and educational needs. Utilize blog posts, infographics, and videos to establish yourself as a thought leader.
  • Technical SEO: Ensure your website is mobile-friendly, has fast loading times, and adheres to Google’s webmaster guidelines for optimal visibility.

Social Media Savvy:

  • Targeted Ad Campaigns: Utilize social media platforms’ advanced targeting options to reach your ideal patient demographic with laser precision.
  • Engaging Content: Share informative and visually appealing content that resonates with your audience. Encourage interaction through polls, Q&A sessions, and live videos.
  • Patient Advocacy: Partner with patient advocacy groups and influencers to amplify your reach and build trust with your target audience.

Mobile Matters:

  • Mobile-First Design: Ensure your website and marketing materials are optimized for mobile devices, considering factors like screen size, loading speed, and user experience.
  • Mobile Apps: Develop a user-friendly app that provides patients with convenient access to appointment booking, prescription refills, and health information.
  • SMS Marketing: Leverage text messaging for appointment reminders, promotional offers, and patient engagement campaigns.

Measuring and Analyzing:

  • Track Key Metrics: Monitor website traffic, lead generation, engagement rates, and other relevant metrics to assess the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
  • Utilize Analytics Tools: Leverage web analytics platforms and social media insights to gain deeper understanding of your audience and adjust your strategies accordingly.
  • A/B Testing: Test different headlines, calls to action, and website layouts to identify what resonates best with your audience and optimize your campaigns for maximum impact.

Navigating Regulations:

  • HIPAA Compliance: Ensure all your marketing practices adhere to HIPAA Compliance regulations regarding patient privacy and data security.
  • FDA Regulations: Be mindful of FDA regulations governing the marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Seek legal counsel if unsure about specific regulations.
  • Transparency and Truthfulness: Maintain transparency and accuracy in your marketing materials to avoid misleading patients and potential legal repercussions.

Trying to market healthcare products and services can be challenging due to the intangible nature of online marketing. You can’t physically rub an ointment or give a patient medication in order to show them the effectiveness of your product/service, so one must rely on other marketing and web design methods for promotional means. Some marketing and web design tactics include:

Healthcare Content Creation

Content for this industry tends to follow the narrative of the patient’s journey; it should tell a story of how your brand is responsible for the patient’s healing and newfound wellness. The industry itself is very patient-centric, so the content will focus on the patient’s improved quality of life that your brand has provided. Some of the types of healthcare content your brand could create include:

Patient Testimonial Content for Healthcare Promotion

Patient testimonials are a great source of content for strengthening the credibility of your brand. Sharing patients’ real-life experiences increases the brand’s authenticity and removes any bias from your brand that consumers may be cautious of. It’s the perfect opportunity to demonstrate the positive impact of your product/service on your patients’ lives.

Consumers find similarity and likeness with your patients as opposed to your brand, so they will look for patient reviews when assessing the value of your product/service. Your content should provide those reviews in the form of impartial patient testimonials that support your brand.

Healthcare

Documentary Style Content for Healthcare Promotion

Documentary-style content goes into a lot more depth about the patient’s journey with their condition. Within healthcare, much of your target audience will be able to relate to the patient’s journey, their trials and struggles. Patient documentaries are a great way to empathise with your audience and spread awareness of certain conditions and needs.

Patient documentaries tend to include some of the following narrative points:

  • The journey of getting a diagnosis
  • Cases of misdiagnosis
  • Coping with symptoms
  • Impact on everyday life
  • Trying different treatments
  • Discovering your brand’s product or service
  • Support with their condition

Patient documentaries are very personal and insightful for audiences to listen to. They highlight the importance of your brand in improving your patient’s quality of life and inspire audiences to seek similar treatment for themselves. It’s important for audiences to know that treatment is available for them.

Your content should include a documentary-style video highlighting your brand’s investment in the patient’s whole journey and overall wellness, positioning your brand as an expert and not just a plaster solution.

Infographics Content for Healthcare Promotion

The industry uses a lot of specialised terms and industry jargon, it can be difficult for audiences to comprehend this language, and it may lead to confusion about what your product/service does for potential patients and clients. Infographics use clear imaging and simple formats to explain complex healthcare practices.

Infographics can help audiences:

  • Understand complex process
  • Check for warning symptoms for certain conditions
  • Identify healthcare conditions
  • Promote a healthy lifestyle

Whatever you create an infographic for, the important thing to ask yourself is, “Would a novice understand this?” it shouldn’t be complicated and overload the audience with information; in the case of infographics, less is more.

Before and After Content for Healthcare Promotion

Much of its content focuses on how the products/service provided an improved result after using the brand. Clear before and after images show the impact of your product/service visually and are great for quickly conveying the value of your brand.

Some examples of before and after content for healthcare solutions include:

  • Surgery results (cosmetic and medical)
  • Skin rashes, irritations, burns etc.
  • Installed mobility equipment, e.g.) installed handle rails in showers etc.
  • Braces for aligning teeth
  • Clients weight loss

They are just some examples of impactful before and after images. They can take some time to create, but this type of content quickly grabs the audience’s attention; it’s a good source of content for that shock and wow factor.

Healthcare Digital Marketing

What do you do first when you experience a new ache or pain? You Google it and end up convinced that you’re going to die. It’s a running joke that many of us experience, but it also represents a modern trend of people relying on Google to tell them what’s wrong.

That’s why your brand needs to position itself as a solution to audiences’ online medical and health queries, especially in the realm of medical software development. It can be difficult to compete in the online market as there is so much healthcare information available from existing dominant sources e,g.) the NHS or Web MD. However, with careful digital strategising, you can compete online, increase your website’s traffic and improve your search engine rankings.

Some of the ways you can market your healthcare brand online include:

Research your Healthcare Audience

Occasionally, businesses can become accustomed to their siloed target audience, unintentionally ignoring unanticipated audiences that are engaging with their brand. It’s important to continuously monitor your audience and track who is engaging with your content.

Online platforms like Google and Facebook offer in-depth analysis of your audience’s demographics, and you should regularly monitor this information as it may show new areas of the market that your brand could enter. Take, for example, a local chiropodist; they might assume that elderly patients are their main target audience for foot problems, but unbeknown to them, local sports teams and dancing clubs are also viewing their content for advice on foot health and hygiene.

Collecting information on the demographics of all of your potential audiences should be continually performed, especially when creating a digital marketing strategy for promoting your service and product.

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation for Healthcare Promotion

SEO is the process of trying to improve your website’s appearance and position on search engine results. Traffic to your website increases the further up you appear in search engine results, which in turn increases brand awareness and business profits.

The industry uses a lot of niche terms and specific phrases that may be otherwise unknown to general audiences. Therefore you need to understand how people are describing your product/service and associated healthcare conditions. For example, your brand might provide nutritional plans and advice, but your general target audience isn’t going to know all of the vitamins and minerals that they specifically need for optimal health.

SEO research will uncover how people are referring to your product/service, and you should form content as a response to those queries. e.g.)

SEO provides your brand with the opportunity to explain to audiences how you can help them specifically. Search engine optimisation provides you with the blueprint to create content. SEO key terms and phrases should be embedded within website content, blog posts, informational videos etc.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising for Healthcare Promotion

Due to the niche terms and technical jargon used within the industry, it might make profitable sense to allocate some pay-per-click advertising funds within your digital marketing budget. Take, for example, a healthcare brand that provides a specific product for a certain condition, i.e., psoriasis; they could purchase pay-per-click advertising for the term “psoriasis treatment” and appear to audiences seeking their specific product.

Pay-per-click advertising is also useful for targeting search queries with specific locations, e.g.) if your business offered sports massages in Belfast, then it would also make a business invest in pay-per-click advertising for the term “sports massage Belfast”.

You can set a maximum CPC (cost-per-click) which means you can cap the amount you’re willing to pay for each click. Google, Facebook, and Instagram all offer this service, but you will have to pay for each platform separately, which can increase overall digital marketing costs.

Healthcare App

Much of our personalised healthcare has become digitalised. Healthcare apps are extremely popular as increasing numbers of people seek the convenience and guidance that apps provide. Some of the current apps on the market include:

  • Calorie-tracking and nutrient-tracking apps
  • Exercise apps, e.g.) yoga guides
  • Meal prepping apps
  • Fitbit/fit watch apps
  • Mindfulness apps
  • Brain training apps

If it works within your digital marketing budget, you might want to think about creating an app that supports the management and consumption of your healthcare product/service. If applicable, you should also ensure that your product/service is compatible with existing apps, e.g.) if you are a local meal-prepping company, then you should ensure calorie and nutrient information is available for each meal to track on My Fitness Pal.

Healthcare Web Design and Development

Healthcare websites should be clear, unambiguous and informative as you’re dealing with an individual’s well-being. The benefits, risks and appropriate medical advice should also be easily accessible and displayed for audiences. A lot of consideration is given to the creation of websites as they are potentially important sources of information/ Some of the things to consider with web design and development include:

Web Design for Healthcare Websites

The design of healthcare websites tends to use colours that represent health and vitality, e.g.) green, blue and white. Alarming and warning colours such as red are avoided as audiences should feel that the brand is synchronous with aspects of healing and nurture.

The web design format also includes a simple layout and clear structure. Information is displayed in easy-to-read paragraphs and bullet point lists. There is a clear focus on healthcare websites to present information unambiguously and free of jargon.

Web Development for Healthcare Websites

The internal functioning of a healthcare website should operate smoothly and make for easy navigation for visitors. A poorly functioning website will frustrate visitors and may even damage the credibility of your brand’s healthcare product/service, and people tend to have high expectations for healthcare solutions.

You should ensure that your web development:

  • Checks that external links lead to the correct webpages
  • Ensures that web pages are updated with relevant information
  • Fix and maintain hosting issues
  • Create working and relevant URLs

There are different aspects to maintaining a functional website, but most importantly, it should work efficiently for users so that your brand’s solution to their problem can be easily highlighted.

Patient-Centric Content for Healthcare Websites

Much of your website’s content should be people-centric; this is particularly required on the website’s homepage and services pages. Take, for example, a brand that provides an ointment for sore joints and muscles. The website images are not generally going to be off the ointment itself but rather images of people enjoying physical activities with comfort and ease. Some of the website’s content may also include large snippets of client/customer testimonials. These reviews contribute to the brand’s authenticity and consumer trust; they should most definitely be included in the website’s design.

Booking Systems for Healthcare Websites

Many businesses that provide healthcare services offer a website booking platform. This is particularly useful for clients who may be in pain and discomfort, as they can easily view the next appointment that’s available. It may also be useful for clients who are potentially nervous about booking an appointment, as it’s an easy process and limits the contact needed between you and your potential client.

Online booking offers potential clients ease and efficiency when booking healthcare appointments. You should also ensure that the booking system supports consultation services if required and gives an estimated amount of time for each healthcare service offered. It also may be useful to extend these offerings for telehealth video conferencing appointments. At ProfileTree, we will ensure that your booking system explains your healthcare services efficiently and encourages clients to book an appointment with you.

ProfileTree Working with Healthcare Brands

At ProfileTree, we are proud to have worked with local healthcare businesses and helped them compete in the online marketplace. We understand how the healthcare market operates online, and we have helped create content and execute digital marketing strategies on their behalf. Some of the healthcare businesses we have worked with include: 

Our healthcare clients range from specific healthcare products like nursing beds and healthcare services such as hypnotherapy and life coaching to holistic therapies like reflexology and reiki. We have extensive knowledge in marketing in a wide range of healthcare markets; get in touch today to see how we can start marketing for your healthcare business.

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