Hospital marketing is nothing short of challenging, and there are two main reasons why:
First, no one willingly wants to visit a hospital in the first place. If patients are coming to you, it’s because they need medical attention so they can improve their quality of life.
And second, medical services are used by everyone. They’ve become something of a commodity, making it difficult for patients to understand what to look for in-hospital care and what makes your facility stand out over other options.
In either case, how your market your hospital can help you connect with new and prospective patients and ensure a healthy, profitable future.
10 Simple Hospital Marketing Tricks
Take a look at our best hospital marketing tips and techniques you’ll want to use in 2023:
1. Create a Patient-Centric Website
Websites should be informative, but they also need to be useful. For many patients, your website may be the first experience your future patients have with your brand, so it’s important to create the right image from the start.
To better cater to your patients, make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices. Studies have found that 46% of all online searches are for local products and services, and more than half of users will visit a business the same day. What’s more, more than 95% of users rely on a local business’s website to find out more about them.
Ensure your design is clean, user-friendly, intuitive, and easy to navigate. Contact information should be prominently displayed, along with multiple options for patients to get in touch. In addition, you should include a patient FAQ that addresses the most common questions and allow for self-service.
2. Ensure you rank on search engines
Make it easy for your audience to find you online. For your awesome website to translate into business, people need to be able to find you first. Spend some time doing keyword research for your field. Go on tools such as Moz, SEMrush, BuzzSumo, etc to figure out what your target audience is searching for.
Don’t forget to analyze your competitors as well to find out what they are ranking for. Then devise an SEO plan and create content with the aim to rank on Google. This makes your hospital easy to find.
One more thing: don’t forget to do local SEO. This would simply mean ensuring that you register your hospital with GoogleMyBusiness. Then, you’d turn up on people’s searches when they use terms such as, ‘Hospitals near me’ or ‘Pediatricians near me’. Ensure you claim your address and use keywords that are relevant to your hospital/clinic.
3. Exercise Your Brand on Social Media
We touched on this earlier, but social media is becoming an increasingly powerful tool in hospital marketing. Historically, hospitals have been slow to adopt social media as part of the mix, but it’s been shown to be a highly effective and free channel to build your brand. In October 2022, 4.74 billion people worldwide were actively using at least one social media platform.
Interestingly, only about 13% of marketing budgets are allocated to social media marketing, even though 97% of marketers have adopted some form of social media presence. However, in 2022, social media accounted for approx. 33% of the average marketing spend.
Marketing on social media has its own unique approach. Rather than promoting products and services, you should focus on building trust and community with your prospective patients. Focus on delivering value with each post, such as helpful health-related content. If you can sell your brand effectively, patient visits will become a natural by-product.
4. Run Paid Campaigns
Organic is all well and good, but it comes with two major issues: it is slow and unpredictable. Cracking Google’s code is not so easy, as the algorithm keeps changing. Though the benefits are long-lasting if you want quicker results that you can try out PPC campaigns.
Almost all social media platforms offer ad services, right from Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even the new kid on the block: TikTok. You can run campaigns on these media and try to attract more traffic to your website or just increase your visibility to your audience.
5. Add a Human Element to Your Brand
Most people associate hospitals with white, sterile environments and brand images tend to follow this trend. However, you know you have much more to offer than a clean environment and top-notch care, so infuse the human side into your hospital marketing.
It’s essential to build trust with your patients. After all, their entrusting their health and well being to your facility, and you want them to feel confident about coming to you. In fact, one PwC study discovered that one in three consumers feel that trust is the most important element that influences their decision, even more so than price.
Focus on highlighting your providers, community partnerships, events, and other elements that will connect people to your brand. Social media can be a powerful outlet for humanizing your facility by letting patients see the people that make your hospital so special.
6. Engage in the Community
Most local hospitals focus on serving niche or local communities, and the best way to reach them is simply by engaging with them. Stay active in your community by sponsoring events, participating in or hosting health fairs, provide free wellness information, talk to local schools, and build your own community from within.
7. Build Long-Term Relationships for Short-Term Care
As a general rule, hospital marketing delivers short-term care, but shouldn’t focus on short-term results. Rather, the majority of patients you reach with your marketing won’t need immediate medical attention, but they’ll be glad to know you’re on their side when they do need your expertise.
Focus on long-term investment rather than immediate results. Building a positive brand image is a never-ending process, but with consistent effort over time, you’ll become the biggest celebrity in town.
8. Patient reviews
According to a study by Neilsen, 92% of people trust recommendations from family and friends more than any kind of advertising that they see. With this in mind, you should try to get your existing patients to sing your praises.
Have some sort of referral program that incentivizes your patients to recommend your hospital to their social circle. For example, you could offer a small discount on their next checkup or a voucher for an add-on service, maybe.
9. Use Traditional Media
Though going digital is all well and good, the old school method still has some magic. Try running ads on newspapers, TV, or even the radio. The downside of using traditional media is that it can get difficult to track where your revenue is coming from.
However, traditional media increases the recall value of your brand. In times of emergency, you might very well be the first hospital that pops into the minds of your prospects.
10. Get referrals from doctors
Build a good relationship with the local doctor community. A lot of doctors own private clinics or work in smaller healthcare outlets. Letting them know of the amenities that your hospital has or the treatments that they provide will help them recommend you to their patients as well.
LeadSquared can help you navigate all the leads that you get from your hospital marketing like a pro! With our user-friendly, intuitive platform, we help you collect and maximize your leads to ensure a seamless, responsive experience.
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