The pressures physicians and practice managers face relative to managing their practice growth today are enormous. Uncontrollable forces, such as changes in payment systems, a shift to quality-based reimbursement, integration with healthcare systems and the use of technology in how patients choose their health care providers, have resulted in a dynamic change in how providers position their practice growth strategies.
What marketing strategies should providers focus their investment on today to yield the return they seek in practice growth?
Your Patients are Changing How You Position Your Practice for Growth.
I frequently hear, “I don’t need to market. I receive plenty of word-of-mouth referrals.” However, the reality is, the internet has forever changed how patients search and make decisions about their healthcare experience.
According to Pew Internet Research Center (2013), 59% of U.S. adult consumers research their alternatives online before making a decision on a service, including healthcare; 72% of internet users say they looked online for health information within the past year.
The transition to inbound digital marketing is quickly taking precedence among physician leaders. By reaching out to potential patients online, physicians are enhancing the overall personalized patient experience, which in turn drives patient decision making.
Physician Practice Growth Strategies
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Manage Your Online Reputation. Think that your online reputation doesn’t matter to future patients -- think again. According to Vitals, approximately 85 percent of consumers are now at least “moderately likely” to choose a doctor over another based on high ratings and positive reviews, and 47 percent of those who look up physicians online feel differently about the physician after viewing their profiles and reviews. Your online brand is your new word-of-mouth marketing, and having a strategy in place to elicit and manage reviews is an important facet of practice growth.
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Be Visible Online and Drive Traffic. If you want to get found by potential patients, then you have to develop a strategy that uses the ongoing right mix of tactical elements such as SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Directories, Content, SEM (Search Engine Marketing), etc., to ensure you meet the requirements of the search engines in order to have a favorable ranking.
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Deliver a Positive Website User Experience. Your website is often the first impression a potential patient has of your practice. Poor website usability causes confusion, frustration and even boredom among visitors when they are unable to find what they are looking for. It’s imperative that you demonstrate your expertise and earn the trust during this critical touch point of decision making for the patient with key messaging and conversion paths.
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Leverage Social Media. Social media creates connections and relationships. It’s a source of information sharing and trust building. It’s a significant source to demonstrate your expertise. Selecting the appropriate channel (Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.) and using the right mix of organic content and paid advertising within the channel is essential to growing your brand online and keeping your brand top of mind for prospective patients.
Will You Lead or Follow Your Competition?
Your digital marketing strategy for generating new patients online is more than just a good-looking website. It’s a combination of many tactics, determined based upon data, that when combined together elicit the measurable outcome for practice growth.
The reality is technology has changed how patients manage their health. In fact, a Google Think key study states about 77 percent of patients used search prior to booking an appointment. This data clearly demonstrates a shift in how patients make decisions and manage their healthcare.
This begs the question for physicians: are you ready to adopt the art and science of a data-driven approach to your digital marketing? If you’re ready to reach and educate patients and build your referral base, then it’s time to investigate how inbound marketing can enable you to reach today’s highly connected and informed patients.
