Tips for Developing an Effective Hospital Marketing Strategy
Marketing a hospital’s services is not easy. Hospital stays are generally not an elective activity. Nonetheless, a person who needs to go to a hospital, whether for overnight stays or outpatient procedures, will likely turn to readily available online information to choose the facility providing the services and care level that suits them best. Hospitals need to act like any other business by marketing to create brand awareness that attracts new patients, maintains past relationships and ultimately increases profitable investment return. Here are tips on what is needed to develop a strong hospital marketing strategy.
Implement Tech Solutions
Your hospital undoubtedly strives to provide the best technologies for patient care, so the same should be true when it comes to marketing the services you offer. Recognize how technologies like AI, big data, machine learning and mobile apps are being used within the healthcare industry and incorporate them as a part of your marketing plan. With consumer online usage so prevalent in our lives, digital technologies are essential for any hospital business marketing strategy. Whether it is search engines, social media, websites, email or video, each digital marketing platform offers hospitals access to identify and reach their target audience, while simultaneously gathering more data and research to improve their marketing focus.
Build an Informative Website
Your hospital website, which is often the initial contact point with patients, is an excellent way to market. The website must provide useful information about your hospital, the medical professionals that work there, and the types and levels of care offered. You want the interaction to be a positive experience. Visitors need to be able to quickly locate the information they seek. It should be easy to read, navigate and responsive. A successful website will showcase your hospital, assist with patient communication and help attract more business.
Connect With Content
Quality content marketing efforts can connect you with more patients and establish your hospital as an industry leader. Content in the healthcare industry builds trust and can help individuals. People turn to the internet for answers about their symptoms, diagnosis and treatment plans. They want to feel confident the information they receive is correct and beneficial. Create original content that educates your audience and makes your hospital stand out. Include perspectives about medical issues from physicians, patients, and caregivers. Your website provides a great place to display content, but post original content on social media outlets, as well.
Implement SEO Strategy
Search engine optimization can make your hospital website rise above the competition. A well-formed SEO strategy will get your hospital to appear near the top of the first page when potential patients do a Google search. Generating location-specific content with SEO keywords that naturally resonate with readers and relate to what they might search for when looking for your hospital is key. Include SEO in the metadata for your website pages as well as within content.
Leverage Social Media
A successful hospital marketing strategy must engage social media. More than 3.6 billion people use social media worldwide. Posting photos, events, content links and updates directly to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are easy and effective ways to interact with patients and build your hospital’s brand. Due to widespread use among consumers, social sites provide an open avenue to showcase your hospital environment as more than sterile and uninviting. Paid advertising represents another way of leveraging social media to get your hospital in front of your target audience.
Gather Feedback
Make it a priority in your marketing plan to collect and analyze reviews of your service. You want to hear the positive and the negative. The positive can be used for further marketing purposes, while the negative provides opportunity to improve. Follow up on feedback, because it shows your patients that you care about the quality of service you provide. Patients are likely to look online for reviews before going to a hospital, so make sure your website prominently displays positive feedback comments.
These are not all-inclusive marketing tips. Digital tools are essential in the marketing plan, but traditional media advertising, community sponsorship, and fundraiser events can also effectively increase your hospital’s exposure. Remember that just like a retail store, hospitals compete for consumers’ business, and you are promoting your services and brand in a world where the primary source for information and communication is online.
