Speaker 1: Because of the internet, finding doctors and talking to them has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Over the past few years, the internet has become a great place to find information about health and well-being. Today, things like how easy it is to get in touch with a doctor, and how quickly an appointment can be made, as well as reviews of health care providers on Google, Facebook, or rating platforms, and how social media is used, like using hashtags on Twitter to raise awareness about breast cancer, and get people to sign up for mammograms, affect how patients feel and what they decide to buy. A health care marketing plan with a budget is very important for medical professionals and organizations. Marketing can help them reach potential patients, keep current patients, win back former patients, and stay top of mind in their community. Just look at how content marketing has made the Mayo Clinic a top medical institution, a household name around the world, and how a small dental practice in California uses Instagram to find over three-quarters of its patients. Read on to learn how health care providers can improve service delivery, change how their services are seen, and set themselves apart from other providers without spending a lot of money. What is marketing for health care? Health care marketing is the process of making, sharing, and selling knowledge about health care. It uses ideas from many different fields, such as communications, marketing, health care data, and, of course, patient care. It's a practice that uses both traditional marketing ideas and science-based ways to avoid illness and promote health. Marketing is an important part of modern health care. Practitioners in schools have many of the same marketing goals as any other business. Getting people to know your business by showing that you are a thought leader. Getting leads through well-thought-out marketing plans. Making the process of getting patients stronger. Giving area searchers the right information at the right time. Getting in touch with present and former patients to show social proof. How does marketing for health care help meet these goals? It includes educating, informing, and motivating people about health, showing a link between health care and people's needs, and using technology to provide seamless health care. What marketing can do for health care. Marketing is a key part of making the most of a business's potential. In general, health care providers don't make the most of their marketing platforms, which lets them find even better returns. 1. Showing your knowledge and building trust. Content marketing is a great way to collect the information of experts. Content marketing includes making and sharing things like blogs, videos, social media posts, forum messages, and more. It's used to get people interested in a business's goods and services, but it doesn't push the brand like advertising does. Accurate, useful information can make your brand stand out as a leader in the industry and help you connect with customers. If content marketing is done right, it can even lead to more sales and meetings. 2. Making people aware of a brand. Like other businesses, health care providers rely on brand recognition to help people make good decisions. It's the same as picking Amazon for online shopping, YouTube for watching videos, or having a favorite brand of cell phone. Cohesive brand messaging helps companies stand out from their competitors, explain what makes them unique, and create a presence in the digital world. For building company awareness, things like the website and social media are very important. This is why health care giant AdventHealth, which used to be called Adventist Health System, rebranded itself in 2019 on almost 50 hospital sites. 3. Managing reputation. It is important to keep track of your image online and in print. Bad press coverage and bad reviews can hurt the image of an institution, which can affect how potential patients and people in the medical community see it. This can easily lead to fewer customers and less business from other doctors. A bad impression can even make a person more likely to have a bad encounter. 4. Health care technology. The digital revolution in health care is changing quickly how people talk to their doctors and how they are tested, watched, and treated. Even older people are more likely to use technology that makes health care easier to get and makes their lives better. Health apps and telemedicine are important parts of health care marketing because they improve the way health care is delivered and the market position of health care. 5. Strategies for marketing in health care. Some estimates say that 4 out of 5 people use the internet to look for health tips and health care providers. And Google answers more than a billion health questions every day, which is about 7% of all the searches it does every day. Questions can be about symptoms, diseases, medications, insurance, the closest doctor, and more. Because there is so much health information online, health care providers not only have to compete with other area providers, but also with sites that offer alternative medicine and health information. Social media has also become an amazing way to sell health care. By encouraging healthy living, practitioners can build a group of followers, gain power, and sell their services in a sneaky way. Find out how to meet more people online and get more leads. 1. Consistent design for health care. Online, it's hard for health care workers to stand out from the crowd. Branding that is consistent helps create a unique character and gives a project a wider reach. People are much more likely to remember a company's unique selling point if they can link it to a brand. 2. Improving the way patients are treated. Digital tools like websites can be complicated and hard to use, which can make the patient's experience bad. Form and function must be in balance for a polished user experience. A modern-looking website that puts the most important information in the front and center. 3. Site that works well on mobile devices. Did you know that Google indexes a website's mobile version before it indexes its desktop version? A responsive website and health care app are a must-have if you want to offer the best health care experience on any device. Users will have a much better time on a mobile-friendly website, and search engines are more likely to rank it higher, which could lead to more people visiting the site. 4. Optimization for search engines. Search engines are the main way that people find health care providers online. Because of this, providers must fully optimize their websites so that search engine crawlers can scan them. Search engine optimization, SEO, prepares a website in a subtle and strategic way so that it can rank higher than competing content for related searches and searches in a specific area. 5. Getting the most out of online advertising for health care marketing. Pay-per-click, PPC. Advertising is one of the least expensive and easiest track ways to advertise. With PPC, providers can reach people who are more likely to be interested in what they have to give. Search engine marketing, SEM, which is a part of this, helps companies show up at the top of search results. In addition to bringing in new customers, PPC helps increase brand recognition by showing ads to users. 6. Taking advantage of social media. Social media gives practitioners and health care institutions a very powerful way to connect with people, promote goods and services, share news, and do a lot more. A well-thought-out organic, non-paid social media plan will help build a brand, give users a way to talk to you, and grow a community. The best results will come from putting some of your marketing budget toward paid social media to boost posts and run ads. 7. Getting feedback and recommendations. Social proof, like reviews, comments, videos, and ratings, is one of the main reasons why people decide to buy something. A method for getting active reviews lets providers get feedback from patients, make content for the website, and interact with people on social media. A plan for automated reviews in health care facilities is easy to set up. Just ask patients to leave a review as they leave the building or send them a follow-up email. 8. Getting feedback and taking action on it. If you give patients a way to leave feedback, they won't have to leave negative comments on other, more public sites. Talk to patients to address their worries, teach them, and give them information. Being open to feedback and showing that you want to improve can stop many complaints before they turn into a PR problem. 9. Spending money on old media. Many health care providers have stopped using standard ways to get the word out, like TV, radio, newspapers, and billboards. But these can be helpful and the best choices should be looked into. These are great for reaching a local crowd and spreading the word about a brand. 10. Target referrals. Referrals from doctors are an important way to get new patients that are often forgotten. Plan a strategy to reach out to doctors. Don't just rely on face-to-face talks to get referrals. 11. Getting to know current and past patients. Checking in with current and past patients is a great way to make friends and build trust. A complete marketing plan for health care should include follow-up calls, mail, and email marketing. It's much easier to keep a friendship going than to start a new one. Keeping lines of conversation open also makes it more likely that people will tell their friends about your business.