If your healthcare practice isn’t using content marketing in your overall marketing strategy, it’s time to reconsider. Content marketing involves sharing relevant and timely information to help prospective customers connect with your brand.
According to Semrush, 84 percent of businesses have a content marketing strategy. For healthcare practices, content marketing helps attract new patients, engage current patients, and even set you apart as a thought leader. This tool reaches consumers at nearly every step of the patient journey — starting from the point a prospective patient begins searching for a provider to when they book their first appointment and well beyond.
Content marketing isn’t just about acquisition — it’s a powerful tool for patient retention, too. Many healthcare providers only see their patients two to three times per year, and sharing content regularly keeps your practice top of mind in between visits.
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5 effective content marketing types for healthcare practices
1. Blogs
Arguably the most popular of all content, 92 percent of content marketers use blog posts as part of their strategy. For physicians, blogging provides a medium for showcasing your expertise or promoting a specific procedure or service. Blog posts are a great patient acquisition tool because they allow you to use keywords or key phrases that people are searching on Google or other search engines. If you’re writing a blog post on the benefits of teeth whitening, for example, a patient interested in teeth whitening may land on your website after conducting a Google search, and may become your patient.
Blog posts are also great places to share thought leadership or answer FAQs. Developing comprehensive FAQs that cover detailed topics, such as how to prepare for a procedure or what to expect from a new medication or therapy can help address your patients’ concerns and strengthen the patient-provider relationship. It’s also a good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy.
The content on your blog posts can be repurposed using social media and/or email campaigns, making it a great investment.
2. Videos
The use of video by marketers has skyrocketed in the past decade, making it one of content marketing’s most powerful tools. Video can help prospective patients get to ‘know’ your practice by seeing your office and hearing from your providers in a more memorable, interactive format. It’s a highly-effective medium for sharing complex information, such as how a procedure is performed or for providing details on a specific health condition.
Social media users are also more likely to engage with on social media or in advertisements.
3. Infographics
With so much information at our fingertips each day, patients can have a hard time understanding it all. Infographics help healthcare practices share a lot of data in an easy-to-digest, visually-appealing format.
Infographics condense complex information and make it engaging for patients, whether it’s a symptom comparison chart, metrics and guidelines related to a certain disease or condition, or a pathway to surgery graphic that outlines every step of the patient experience.
Creating infographics often requires a designer, but free design tools like Canva have templates that can help healthcare providers get started.
4. Patient testimonials or reviews
Consumers often seek word-of-mouth recommendations online, highlighting the importance of a positive online reputation. From patient reviews to testimonials, prospective patients want to hear directly from people who already have experience with your practice. In fact, 74 percent of patients find online reviews very or extremely important when choosing a healthcare provider, according to a PatientPop survey.
Whether you opt to use video testimonials or share online reviews via social media, highlighting those patients who’ve had an exceptional experience or outcome can help drive new patient conversion.
5. Email
Email is an effective content marketing tool because it remains a popular form of communication and boasts a high return on investment. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 87 percent of marketers use email to communicate with current and prospective customers.
In healthcare, providers can use email to drive practice loyalty, enhance patient retention, and increase appointment volume. By segmenting your audience and personalizing your emails, patients will receive information that’s relevant and timely. Targeted messages can also remind patients to schedule routine visits, annual physical exams, vaccinations, and/or health screenings, supporting your practice’s long-term growth.
What should you do next?
1. Schedule a free PatientPop demo.
2. Measure your website performance and web presence using our free scanner.
3. Learn how to “Boost search engine rankings with content marketing.”
