My Love and Hate Relationship with Internet Marketing

I hate the term "Internet marketing," but there's no better way to say it. Today will be my last regular post here on “Internet marketing.” I’ve been writing weekly for more than one-and-a-half years about the role of “Internet marketing” and I’m still uncomfortable using these two words in the same breath as ...medicine.

Synonyms can often hide the cross connotations of some words. I am generally more comfortable using terms such as website performance, social media, content marketing, and medical SEO.

Regardless of what we call it, the message I’ve tried to convey is that we (docs) must admit that the Internet, via social media, has become the most powerful way to market, to transmit and share information. If we do engage, we’ll get rewarded by forming stronger relationships with our present patients and showered with requests to take on new patients.

In short, “quid pro quo,” Google has transformed the Internet to a legitimate medium in which to share and obtain information. Those that participate by providing relevant information get rewarded by receiving the most visibility, e.g. high page rankings.

In “doctor speak” this means that if you take the time to engage and produce relevant health content on your blog or website, you will be rewarded by getting great exposure on the Web (your Web page gets great visibility and thus grows your practice). In return for producing authoritative and relevant health content, you get patients!!

Imagine if all of us did this ...imagine how credible and good the quality of information (health) would be on the Internet. It’s a “win-win.” We win by getting marketing exposure, but more importantly, the public wins by the improvements we can make on the Internet.

The majority, and soon to be all, of our patients are searching the Internet for answers about their health. There is a dearth of doctors taking advantage of this unique opportunity. More of us need to acknowledge that our patients want us to be on the Internet: start a blog, publish health-related material ...start a conversation.

I’ll be writing less often as I just don’t have time to do everything. My “work” schedule is barely 20-25 hours a week and I spent countless hours on my blogging, websites, and my new company.

My wife Amy and I started a business to teach medical practices how to engage the Internet and promote themselves via Social Media and web optimization. The demand for what we do may have been underestimated. In just a few short months, we will be addressing the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) on the power of “Internet marketing,” and will be formally teaching on the subject as well.

In short, I will try to write here quarterly, but I’ll continue to write regularly elsewhere (put on your Google thinking caps and find me!).

I guess I hate the terms Internet and Marketing, but I love what they can do for healthcare and medicine.

I wish you all the best in your practices. To your success!

Learn more about Randall Wong and our other contributing bloggers here.