Digital marketing for doctors? Sounds odd? But then with the tremendous growth of internet users, digital marketing is nowadays necessary for each and every sector. There are various online marketing strategies for doctors that can be planned with deep research. As the healthcare industry is coming with newer technology every other day, it has become vital to let people know about it. Internet marketing for doctors does hold a lot of importance. But it might be a daunting task at times.
Marketing a doctor’s face in such a way that the patients should find it trustworthy enough to make a visit. According to Patient Gain, only 4.3 percent of doctors and physicians are making use of digital marketing strategies to promote themselves. The number is definitely less. There are ample doctors out there, but the patients do not even know. So in order to make yourself identifiable, the online presence is necessary.
Let’s have a walkthrough on 10 winning digital marketing strategies for doctors and physicians
1. Easy-to-navigate website
If you are planning have an online presence then it is the basic thing to have a website. Digital marketing without a website is like a pizza without cheese. So yes, build a website and make so easy to navigate that whatever the patient is looking for will be able to find it quickly. Be it booking an appointment or reading a blog or knowing about various medical conditions. Keep it handy.
If you look at Dr. Batra’s website, then everything is visible right on the front page. He has also included live chat option on the website.
Provide the exact address of the clinic so that the patient will be able to find it easily.
2. E-mail marketing
Patients are always in need of information and opinions. And email marketing is the best tool to keep them informed about various things. How much it is good if a patient finds a piece of information right in the inbox without even searching it? Well, planning email newsletters twice a week can reap good results for the doctor or physician.
It is also a wise idea to personalize emails based on the interest of the audience. This will make them receive the relevant information every time. Always plan the email marketing campaigns well in advance.
3. Power of Facebook
Social media is the key to promote any brand or face. If a doctor jumps into the pool of social media and creates a good impression on the audience then there are high chances of getting recommendations. Facebook makes it easy for the doctors to share information with the patients. All the clinic updates can be shared on Facebook.
According to Infographics Archive, around 60 percent of social media users are most likely to trust social media posts and activity by doctors over any other group. So being a doctor you have already fought the half battle of digital marketing.
Below is the screenshot of a Pune-based famous heart surgeon, Dr. Rahul Patil. He has maintained his Facebook page in a very decent manner. The page has all the updates.
4. Produce your own videos
Doctors are always busy due to their work schedules. But in order to have a good reputation and a face value in the market, they have to use such tactics. Create videos that are engaging and informative. Audience these days are turning towards visual content, so give them that. If for instance, an orthopedic surgeon talks about bone health and share his or her expertise with the audience, the audience will find it interesting.
5. Encourage patient reviews
Patient feedback counts a lot. It helps in building trust among the patients. It is a usual practice of everyone to ask about a particular doctor before visiting them. They are doing what? They are taking reviews from the customers. So if as a doctor you are able to produce the reviews from your patients and put it on the website, then the prospective patients will be able to read and decide what to do.
Also, video recording of the reviews can create a powerful impact on the audience. If your patients are ready to face the camera and share their experience then you just have to shoot the video and put it on your website or YouTube or any social media channel.
6. Pay-Per-Click Ads
Being a doctor and your field is concerned, you can trust heavily on Google’s pay-per-click advertisements. It enables you to display ads only to those who are using the keywords that you have targetted. This allows you to avoid the general public and target the apt people.
Make sure to use the terminologies and search terms that your patients will use while searching.
7. Write blogs regularly
This acts as a bridge between you and your patients. Writing blogs on a regular basis can help in increasing volume of the patients. Create content that users want to read and they will share. Writing blogs is not about writing anything, write something related recent update in your expertise area.
You can also share various experiences of the patients that you have come across. If you are writing about some serious disease then make sure that you make it such that the patients won’t be scared or worried after reading it. Say if you are writing about cancer then make sure you mention about keeping strong willpower to fight with it.
8. Local SEO and personal branding
It is necessary to have a strong local SEO as the people from your city will be searching for your clinic. So make sure that you have a Google My Business Page which has all the information right from address, contact number etc along with the reviews.
Also if you are working in a hospital then never forget to do the personal branding as people look for the doctor and not the hospital. That is secondary to them. Once people know about you then you will automatically start getting more patients.
9. Directory listings
It is important to have yourself listed in all the local directories like Justdial, Sulekha etc. but along with it, you should also be listed with medical directories like Practo, HealthGrades, DoctorsDig.com, BookofDoctors to name a few. This will not only help in building a good presence but you will be reachable from everywhere.
10. Event coverage
Doctors usually attend a lot of conferences but no one knows what they are about except the medical fraternity. Therefore as a doctor, it is your responsibility to let people know where you went. Therefore, provide a proper coverage of the event or the conference through Facebook updates or blog.
You can also start a Facebook live or Instagram live to give a direct message to the audience. Share the picture of the events on social media. This helps in building your reputation and trust among the audience. The audience also thinks that you are staying updated with the new technologies.
A strong digital marketing strategy for a doctor is well defined when all the above factors come in proper conjuncture. Marketing a hospital or a medical institution is different and branding a doctor is different. So the strategies also differ here. Therefore, with all the above pointers, if executed in a proper manner your medical practice will catch the attention of the audience and you will start receiving good leads.
In today’s time, digital marketing for doctors has become a must. Doctor’s are always short of time, so hire a good digital marketing agency. These agencies are good at creating online marketing strategies for doctors. Doctors are as equal to God for the patients, so make sure you keep up the promise and work hard!
