Why Your Practice Needs a Content Marketing Strategy

Digital consumers today have innumerable online options to research providers before booking an appointment. To swim through the ocean of competition, content marketing can be used as an effective tool. Not only does it provide an opportunity for healthcare companies to deal with competition, it can be leveraged to create transparent communication with patients/potential patients.

Here are some convincing reasons to create a content marketing strategy:

It increases brand awareness and positions your brand as a leader

More people are using social media to obtain health information. Digital holds promise for improving patient engagement and empowers them to make better health decisions. Regularly posting content that educates patients establishes credibility for your brand on the web. Over time, this practice can position your brand as a one-stop destination for key health information over the internet. Patients can benefit from scientific, easy-to-understand content through networking, performing research, receiving support, goal-setting, and tracking personal progress.

It gives a sense of assurance to prospective patients that your brand is the right solution for their healthcare needs

According to a research from the Pew Research Center, about one in three American adults have gone online to figure out a medical condition and 72 percent of internet users have looked online for health information within the past year. A key study by Google Think states about 77 percent of patients used search prior to booking an appointment. These soaring numbers clearly demonstrate that patients have taken responsibility for their health and the decisions that affect it.

If channeled strategically, an effective content marketing strategy can give your patients new prospects for patient engagement and communication. Scientifically accurate, valuable, useful information from trusted sources is definitely valued by digital healthcare consumers. If they trust the information your brand is providing, chances are high they will consider you as a top priority before booking an appointment, whenever the need arises.

It boosts your website’s results in organic searches

The healthcare industry is progressively adapting to the online marketing era, and there is stiff competition for search traffic. An effective content strategy increases your search engine ranking and overall web presence, which allows you to be found when a potential customer conducts an online search. The more patient-centric content you provide on a topic that readers want to gain information about, the greater is the likelihood of your web site page ranking higher. Make sure that you keep posting fresh content on a regular basis so that your online presence is refreshed with every post you make. Search engines love informative, up-to-date content and give a friendly ranking to those sites that update regularly.

Build brand advocates

Content marketing is a place to build relationships with your patients and create new ones with others who could be your future patients. To enhance your brand exposure and visibility, you need to actively engage with your audience by replying to their questions, sharing informative posts, posting videos about various important health issues and so on. Regularly post articles, messages, tips and blogs to educate your patients and schedule them to be posted on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or in emails. You can be in touch with your patients even if they aren’t visiting you in person. High-quality, easily shared content helps build loyalty along with a positive reputation, and these can be the determining factors for growth of your practice. An engaged and satisfied set of patients are more likely to become loyal and ultimately brand advocates for your practice.

Always remember, your patients are the new-age healthcare consumers - they are customers who have a lot of choices. It’s crucial to embrace the change that digital channels have brought to nurture and nudge leads. Content marketing can be the most effective and cost-efficient way for physicians and hospitals to market their practice to healthcare consumers. So strive hard and create the best possible content to become the “physician of choice” among people in your community.

Manish Chauhan is Digital Marketing Manager at myPracticeReputation which is an easy-to-use reputation management solution for physicians to help monitor, protect and promote their medical practices at all times in the simplest way possible.