The healthcare space is incredibly saturated these days, so you’ll need to up your game to build your practice. Ensuring you’re medically at the top of your game is a significant piece of the puzzle. But you’ll also want to think about how you can connect more people with the critical health services you provide.
A well-planned marketing strategy can help you reach (and maintain) new patients by demonstrating expertise and leadership in your specialty, promoting health and wellness, and making it easy to book an appointment.
Below, learn more about the benefits of marketing for doctors and how you can use digital channels to meet your strategic goals — and, just as importantly, empower more people in their health journeys.
Digital marketing ideas for doctors
Billboards and paper mailers can be effective ways to get the word out about your practice — but in this increasingly digital age, it may be time to reconsider your fully analog approach to advertising. Digital marketing, or promoting yourself and your services online, enables you to reach more potential patients, all at a minimal cost.
Using digital channels such as your website, search engines, social media, email, and text messaging, you can create content that establishes you as an expert in your field and helps people learn about the services you provide as a doctor. Then, you can collect data to better understand which approaches attract patients and which aren’t as successful.
Still, trying to figure out where to start? Consider these five simple-but-effective methods for building your marketing strategy.
1. Identify your target demographic
Marketing is most effective when you’re targeting the right audience. Like any other business, you’ll need to identify the demographic you want to reach, which can vary depending on what specialty you practice. For example, if you’re a gynecologist, you’ll most likely want to market toward people with ovaries.
Your target demographic can also determine which channels you use going forward. If you’re hoping to reach a younger audience, you may want to focus on using platforms like Instagram or TikTok. Older audiences may spend more time on Facebook or reading emails, which could impact your approach. Either way, you can tweak how you’re dispensing information about your business depending on where your target demographic connects with you most.
2. Build an appealing website
Your website is often the very first place people meet you and your business. Creating an aesthetically appealing, easy-to-navigate site is essential to establishing your reputation and making it quick and simple for people to take the leap and make an appointment with your practice.
In addition, consider optimizing your website to help people find you online. Using keywords related to your specialty in your web copy and blog content is a great way to boost your search engine ranking. Try regularly publishing content on your site to rank high in search engines (which is also an excellent opportunity to share your expertise and promote health online). Some physicians also purchase Google ads, which position your site at the top of the search results for your chosen demographic.
3. Get patient reviews
As you know, word of mouth is a crucial way to gain new patients. People are busy and don’t want to spend all their time searching around for a trustworthy and professional doctor. Now that marketing has primarily gone online, you can establish your reputation and credibility with patient reviews. Encourage satisfied patients to rate your practice and share positive feedback about you, your team, and your overall practice.
Patients searching for a new doctor will be more likely to entrust their care to you over other providers if they can quickly see others view you as a reputable professional. To streamline the process, encourage your existing patients to post on sites like Google and Zocdoc by sending a text or email reminder with a link after their visit.
4. Invest in content marketing
Content marketing, or using articles, videos, and graphics to reach your intended audience, is another way to establish your credibility as a provider while promoting health and wellness online. Your blog, email, and social media sites are good places to post content that helps people learn from you and connect with your practice before making an appointment. Content marketing can also keep existing patients engaged so they continue working with you throughout their healthcare journey.
Consider posting informative content on your website and repurposing content on other channels to drive people back to your site. For example, if you’re a dermatologist, you could create a blog post about topics like acne or sunscreen. Publish excerpts or link to these posts in your email campaigns so people can stay up to date on important health topics and, ideally, book appointments at your practice.
Overview: Marketing ideas for doctors
When you’re focused on providing the best healthcare possible to your patients, switching gears toward digital marketing can feel overwhelming. The good news is, if you’re strategic, your online content does most of the heavy lifting for you. By establishing yourself as an expert in your field and gaining the trust of potential patients, you can build your practice over time and help more people meet their health goals.