In this new world, reaching potential patients is as easy as creating a content marketing strategy that places your healthcare organisation in front of the right person at the right time – just as they are looking for information. The following article discusses the importance of communication in the medical and healthcare space and how it can really help to reach more people.
How does content marketing help you reach more patients?
Healthcare professionals are no longer the first port of call when someone is feeling anything less than healthy. In fact, as many as 75 per cent of people in the UK will search online for health information before they even consider speaking to a doctor.
In this new world, reaching potential patients is as easy as creating a content marketing strategy that places your healthcare organisation in front of the right person at the right time – just as they are looking for information.
So why is content king in healthcare, and how can you use it to reach and resonate with potential patients? Patient empowerment
The rise of ‘Dr Google’ has coincided with a global movement of patient centricity and activation, in which healthcare systems are working to empower people to take control of their own health. It means that potential patients will actively seek out good content marketing and use it when making their future healthcare decisions. In the US, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic have turned medical-based content marketing into an art form. Each provides an extensive library of health information and treatment plans that place the organisations, and their credentials, in front of thousands of potential customers every day. Planning for success Surveys have shown that 78 per cent of consumers prefer getting to know a company through articles rather than adverts, and 70 per cent believe organisations that provide custom content are interested in building good relationships with them. The key to success is understanding what content to provide and how to share it. When we work with healthcare clients to build a content marketing strategy, we start by talking about their goals and audiences. Whether the intention is to drive traffic to the website or raise awareness of a new procedure will influence the type of content we produce. Organisations offering a pioneering new intervention, for example, could attract significant press coverage. Target audience is another key determinant in helping our clients reach as many potential patients as possible. Different demographics are more likely to use different social media platforms, impacting on content distribution plans, for example, and concentrating on a centre’s geographical area can help us home in on the most likely leads. Building trust People also use the internet to thoroughly research the organisations they want to do business with. This is especially true in healthcare, where so much rests on choosing the right doctor. That’s why we always urge our clients to post content that builds a trusted picture of their organisation. Testimonials and patient stories, and videos introducing the staff or showcasing the facilities can all help ease the journey through the sales funnel. Optimise Of course, creating quality content is one thing, but getting it noticed is entirely another. That’s why SEO, or search engine optimisation, is crucial to ensuring maximum visibility. SEO is about getting your website as high as possible on search engine results pages, but it’s a lot more sophisticated than simply throwing a few keywords into the copy. Search engine algorithms look to direct people to content that is likely to answer their questions. All our healthcare clients understand this and, as such, prioritise providing people with the quality content they are looking for – and they reap the rewards.
Comments