Medical practice marketing doesn’t have to break your budget. If you’re looking for inexpensive ways to promote your practice, you’ll find plenty.
Of course, even free medical marketing activities take time — and time is money! — but they’re worth the effort. Here are a few ideas to incorporate into your medical marketing plan.
Raise your profile with these "free" medical practice marketing activities
1. Publish blog posts
More than half of marketers (55 percent) cite blog content creation as their top inbound marketing priority, according to HubSpot. This makes sense, considering marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to see a positive return on investment (ROI).
Clearly, if your practice healthcare doesn’t already have a blog, it’s time to start one. Posting engaging, informative content that’s relevant to your patient base will improve your rank in search results and give patients a reason to regularly visit your healthcare site.
Blogging certainly isn’t the only form of content marketing. Medical practice promotion can also be achieved by submitting articles to publications that do not charge a fee — i.e. a medical journal or advice site.
Read: Getting started with blogging for healthcare marketing
2. Respond to HARO inquiries
Raise your profile by pitching yourself as a source on HARO (Help a Reporter Out). This site connects writers from a variety of media outlets — including Reuters, Time, and The Wall Street Journal — with sources for their stories.
More than 55,000 journalists and bloggers use HARO to find sources, according to the site. Simply create a HARO account, keep an eye out for source requests you’re qualified to respond to, and pitch yourself for any you think would be good for marketing a medical practice.
3. Share content on social media
Nearly three-quarters of American adults (72 percent) use some type of social media, according to the Pew Research Center. Specifically, 69 percent of people use Facebook, 37 percent are on Instagram, and 22 percent have a Twitter account, according to Pew.
Therefore, maintaining an active social media presence is one of the best marketing medical practice tips out there. Connect with your patient base by sharing interesting healthcare content and engaging with them.
Regularly appearing in their social media feeds will keep your practice on their minds. This will make it hard for them to forget to schedule their next appointment.
Healthcare social media 101: Getting started with social media marketing for practices
4. Email patients
Half of consumers cite email as their preferred form of communication with brands, according to Adobe. This isn’t surprising, considering people spend an average of 2.5 hours per weekday checking personal email.
There’s plenty of marketing tools that allow you to email patients for free. Take this opportunity to send a monthly email newsletter, let patients know about special offers, and educate them about new healthcare treatments they could benefit from.
This is a great medical practice marketing move because one email send can reach a significant portion of your patient base. You can also segment emails to target certain groups of patients.
Check out: Healthcare email marketing best practices for doctors
5. Establish a preferred partnership with another local business
No doubt, there are several businesses in your local community that offer services that complement your practice. Find one to team up with for a strategic cross-promotion. For example, a physical therapy practice might partner with a local gym. Each business could offer the other one’s clients a referral discount.
People are more likely to accept a recommendation from a business they trust. This is a great way to tap into a new patient base that will benefit from your healthcare services.
You might like: When and how to refer patients to a fellow physician
Don’t fret if there’s not much room in your budget for medical practice marketing activities. As long as you have the time and energy to devote to the cause, you can effectively promote your healthcare practice without spending a dime.
Like this topic? You might also enjoy the blog post “How to get more patients to our clinic — without draining our budget.”
