Now more than ever, patients are taking an active role in their healthcare by accessing the many resources they have available. From conducting Google searches on their smartphones to accessing medical records through apps, technology has revolutionized healthcare. Consequently, the content your practice shares online has become more crucial than ever before. With everything at their fingertips, patients are researching the latest procedures and what cutting-edge technology is being used to deliver the best outcomes for their treatment needs.
Meet your patients where they are -- that is, online. Consistently creating and publishing content on your website is an effective way to engage potential patients, build trust, and establish your practice as a leader in this space.
Blogs are a great way to reach your potential patients because they are highly effective in driving purchasing behavior. Google stats indicate that the average patient will visit 12 web properties before choosing a healthcare provider and the Content Marketing Institute indicates that 61% of consumers will make a purchase after reading a blog.
Why Invest in a Content Marketing Strategy?
People Follow Thought Leaders
Blogs allow you to showcase your practice and establish yourself as a thought leader. A blog post is the perfect place to share how you’re delivering great outcomes for your patients, what their expectations should be for certain types of treatment, and insight into the patient experience that your practice delivers.
Keep New Patients Engaged
Consistently publishing new content (we recommend 2-3 times a month) helps nurture new patients. You can address Frequently Asked Questions, dispel common misconceptions, and highlight patient testimonials and outcomes. Blogs can also be distributed across your social profiles, through email newsletters, and even through paid channels like Google Ads.
Improve Your Search Rankings
Finally,consistently publishing relevant content can also help your search rankings. And the better your organic rankings are, the more traffic you’ll get to your site. Consequently, the more consults you'll ultimately book and that will help you win more new patients.
Where Should I Start?
Having a content marketing strategy is important for driving practice growth. So where should you start?
Answer these 5 questions and you're on your way to a successful content marketing strategy:
Who’s your ideal customer?
First, know your audience and that means developing your ideal patient profile. Start with your current patients’ demographics. Are they male or female? Where do they live? What are their health inclinations or characteristics? And what is their financial situation?
What problems do you solve?
Next, you’ll want to define the problems that you solve for your best patients. What specialty are you most known for in your local market? What problems do your high-value procedures solve for patients? Why are they looking for these services? And ultimately what is your unique offering? In other words, why do patients choose your practice?
What motivates your patients?
Finally, you’ll need to understand what motivates your ideal patient as they decide on a healthcare provider. What are their needs or desires? Why are they seeking treatment? What questions do they typically ask on their path to a decision? What do they value most when choosing a provider? And how do they typically first engage or interact with your practice?
How often should you publish?
Next, you’ll want to develop a content calendar. Once you’ve developed your ideal patient profile, you should really have a good understanding of who your best patient is, the problems you solve for them, and what ultimately motivates them to choose a provider. This should serve as the foundation for the content you will create and give you a good base of ideas that you can write about. Our recommendation is to build out a calendar for 5 or 6 months starting with the most common questions that your ideal customer will ask.
What's holding you back?
Just start writing! Don’t worry about editing as you go. Just get your primary ideas and thoughts on paper. Once you have the main topic down, you can go back and start to refine the content. And don’t feel like you have to go at it alone. Bring in other team members to help with grammar, typos, and even finding additional resources to support your topic. Tools like Grammarly can also assist you with catching mistakes.
When you finish the piece, publish it! Then, be sure to share on your social media accounts. Consider including it in future email newsletters to current patients. Ask your staff and current patients to share the piece on their social media accounts.
Following these steps will help you develop and execute a content marketing strategy that will position you as a leader in the market, help you engage potential new patients, and ultimately drive growth for your practice.
