Medical Marketing: How to promote your practice
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Doing medical marketing with quality is quite a challenge, mainly because many physicians and health professionals are concerned about breaking some standard when promoting their practice in order to gain new clients.
As in other segments, the sales funnel technique can be applied in the healthcare segment. After all, how do people make the decision to schedule an appointment or discover an office or clinic?
No wonder, realizing the need for the health sector to use marketing strategies, the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) produced a Medical Advertising Manual, with the objective of clarifying the rules for the dissemination of medical matters and marketing campaigns in this area. Verify the regulations in your country.
Investing in the marketing of your office or clinic is the key to attracting patients and gaining visibility. In this article we are going to talk about the main challenges and tips on how to do medical marketing. Read on!
How to do medical marketing and what are the reasons to invest in this strategy?
The production of specialized content that offers relevant information and adds value to people's lives can help physicians and health professionals to build a position of authority in their specialty, being one of the main influencing factors in attracting new patients.
Content marketing is much more than creating content with relevant information.
When properly applied, it brings advantages such as:
- – Generate authority on the internet;
- – Increase the credibility of the office or clinic;
- – Greater chance of being found on Google's search engine;
- – Improve engagement with the target audience;
- – Create a connection with patients;
- – Increase website traffic;
- – Attract and retain new patients.
It is extremely important that the creation of content, regardless of its format, is based on strategic planning that prioritizes the medical specialty, the profile of patients and the volume of searches on the topics on Google.
How the sales funnel works in medical marketing
A good sales funnel strategy is essential to conquer, retain and transform customers into brand promoters and the same line of thought must be followed when promoting clinics and offices.
In the healthcare sector, the sales funnel is formed by stages that the patient goes through until reaching the final decision, which is the scheduling of an appointment or procedure.
Each of these stages is one which works as in other buyer's journeys, in which, through informative and relevant content, the patient discovers a specific need and continues the path towards the solution of the problem.
The most important part in the sales funnel is precisely the production of rich, informative and relevant content for a specific audience, which in the health sector is the patient - or persona (a term used in the marketing area, idealized in detail in a planning of strategic marketing.
This persona searches the internet for answers and guidance regarding health and well-being and it is at this moment that the content draws the patient's attention to the clinic. It's the first stage of the sales funnel.
The more the patient travels the journey, the more knowledge he will find in the published content, and thus the clinic or office will be establishing authority and strengthening the relationship with the persona.
The last step of this journey is when the patient is convinced that the service provided by the office is the best to meet their needs and will schedule an appointment or procedure.
The content can be offered in different ways, including blog posts, e-books, infographics and webinars, which can be adapted according to the funnel stage.
How to start medical marketing
Health professionals interested in investing in the medical marketing area and leveraging the business need to create a strategic plan that includes the following points:
Follow the determinations of their country's Council of Medicine
The first step to start doing medical marketing with ethics and quality is precisely to know the rules, which involve everything regarding the disclosure of the work of the doctor or clinic or office.
Define the target audience
To define the profile of the people who will be assisted by the clinic, it is necessary to understand their needs, problems and interests in order to plan actions that attract, win and retain these new patients.
Evaluate the competition
Observe who are the professionals who are part of the segment and operating region. Analyze what they are doing in terms of marketing strategies such as information-rich content promotions and offers.
This assessment is essential to position yourself and stand out from the competition.
Create a visual identity
Create a pleasant and objective visual identity that is the same in all communication channels so that potential patients recognize the brand and know what the business is about.
Create a site that is search-optimized and ready for conversion
The showcase of the clinic or doctor's office is the internet and, therefore, it is necessary to have a complete website that offers a good browsing experience. For this, it is necessary that it includes an impeccable visual identity, harmonious design, information distributed in a clear and concise and optimized (SEO) for search engines like Google.
Sign up on Google My Business
Google My Business is a free service offered by the search engine and aims to help the user find places that offer products or services in the region where they operate.
Advertise with Google Ads
Ads is Google's paid advertising platform and is widely used by professionals or companies who want their business to appear among the top positions in the search engine.
Conclusion
With the increasing competitiveness in the healthcare sector and the emergence of the internet, the market is increasingly competitive and the patient has many options to choose from.
Investing in the production of strategic content aimed at the sales funnel, in addition to attracting and retaining new patients, also helps to better define the audience segmentation and improve the focus on the application of resources, generating savings and greater efficiency throughout the process.
Therefore, relying on a digital agency specializing in medical marketing that knows the specifics of the sector, such as Able Healthcan be a good solution to build the promotion strategies of offices and clinics in an ethical way.
Learn more about this type of strategy by downloading our free e-book about Medical Marketing: How to do it ethically and in accordance with CFM regulations