Technology has become an integral part of the modern healthcare business. This means that the whole dynamic has transformed and patients have changed their ways of interacting with healthcare services. That is why healthcare should change the way how it represents itself and this can only be done through using the latest digital marketing trends in this digital age.
Since healthcare is all about treatments, care, and providing diagnosis, this means that communication channels need to strengthen the link between patients and care providers. The virtual marketplace and tech advances are an amazing opportunity to be used to provide solid communication channels, advertise services and make patients feel safe and that they can trust you. So, if you want to improve your marketing strategy, here are the digital marketing trends in healthcare that you should follow in our digital age.
Make the Digital Experience a Priority
It goes without explanation that you will put your patients’ wellbeing and your services first, but digital experiences have become important, too. When setting up your business or your website, you will have to provide a good online experience for your patients. A vast majority of people who would like to book any treatment and appointment go online and look for services, prices, experiences, etc. That is why it is crucial that their online experience is good in order for them to decide to book an appointment with you.
Improve Your Transparency and Privacy Measures
With digital marketing increasing, customers start to become more sceptical of the information they find online. They are also concerned about how companies are using and protecting their data, and they have started blocking accounts, and unfollowing pages and they have become uncomfortable with online searches.
Due to all this, the healthcare industry has to do its best to make sure to handle everything in a more transparent way and be honest about how they use people’s information. There are three things to talk to your patients about in order to gain their trust:
- What type of data is accessed when they are using your online services?
- Are they comfortable with sharing their personal information with you?
- What is the purpose of data collection?
When you are transparent about all this, people will feel more comfortable with using your site to book appointments, for example. They will also trust you more and will follow your pages on social media. What is more, you can use your social media accounts to be transparent about your services, how the procedures are done, etc.
Video and Telemedicine
Speaking of being transparent about your services and procedures, the best way to showcase them is the video format. Social media channels are highly populated with video content, and people tend to enjoy them more than just images or text. So, it is a good idea to provide a short video on your website about a certain procedure, for example, and then share it on your social media for people to see it. A nice example is the LASIK eye surgery procedure where the clinic made a short, sort of promo video of their procedure and how it works.
With such short videos, your potential patients can see how everything works, and they will feel more comfortable with your services. This comfort comes from you giving them an insight into how you work and how they will feel when in your hands.
Another huge trend is telemedicine. This is a remote healthcare delivery system that is done through telephones or video calls. Your patients can call you and get an examination or consultation via Skype or other video call services, and this is highly popular with people who don’t need urgent interventions. Plus, they get to avoid standing in lines and you can organize your office hours better.
Improve Your SEO
Believe it or not, search engine optimization and user experience depend on each other. That is why you should find a way to implement a good and effective SEO strategy that can help make your business and website more visible online. You can find an agency or an expert that will help you create a Google-friendly website that will support small and long-tail keywords to rank you higher in search results.
You can also dedicate some time to location-based SEO. This is also called geo-targeting and it will make your brand name and website visible to users of a particular city or country. This can help you target more than one group of people or you can target more than one location with Google’s Local Map Pack.
We live in a highly digital age and that is why more and more businesses are implementing online marketing strategies. Likewise, the healthcare industry is jumping on the same digital marketing trends, and these are the ways to improve your visibility and get more ROI in the long run.
