Learn How “Digital” Is Powering Incredible Results on Marketing Investment By Doctors & Hospitals

Doctors & hospitals discover 5 essentials on how to use digital technologies to get amazing results from their marketing.

Why is marketing essential for doctors?

Physicians have mixed views on Marketing – Some are vehemently against any kind of marketing while others believe that it is essential for establishing and growing their practices. From my healthcare experience of 35 years (a clinician in a mega government hospital, private practice in a village, CEO of the largest private hospital chains in India, Advisor to PE funds on investment in Healthcare and running my own company) I can confidently say only one thing- Today, Doctors have to market and establish their own brands, they have no choice.

To doctors who work in private “corporate” hospitals and believe that marketing is the responsibility of the hospital and their job is to merely treat the patients who come to them, I have one simple message – Start marketing now. That nice marketing head and CEO have actually no interest in investing in you or your brand, they do it out of compulsion. Given a choice they would not spend a penny on you and once they find another (less expensive) physician they will drop you like a hot potato. I have seen senior consultants (with more than 20 years of practice) being asked by hospitals to leave or denied OPD rights because they are no longer pulling in patient volumes and revenue as per “their” expectations. The “poor” physician finds themselves left high and dry with no patient base, no brand, no practice. It is heart breaking to see their fear, frustration and dejection! Unfortunately, I foresee an increase in the number of such incidents in the near future. The solution lies in understanding this –

“Dear friend, nobody I repeat nobody is interested in promoting you, start doing it for your own self, protect your professional pride and earning capacity by investing in your own systematic ethical marketing”.

How to market ethically yet powerfully?

Remember to build your practice on these two foundational pillars of powerful ethical marketing – Patient education and establishing a deep lifelong Doctor- Patient connect!

In this article I will discuss the 5 top marketing trends in healthcare marketing that can help doctors to develop a better understanding on how to market effectively.

As a doctor or hospital manager/owner your main interest is to gather new leads (enquiries) and convert them into patients who come back year after year while at the same time PROACTIVELY refer your services to their friends and relatives. It is not easy, and will get tougher each year as competition increases, technology changes, and new regulations are introduced. You just cannot afford to continue with these 4 Don’ts :

1. Know how to market
2. Have a plan
3. Have a budget
4. Know how to monitor results

However, don’t be disheartened. In this article I will provide you with basic understanding and tips on how to start or update your marketing strategy to stay ahead of the competition. Establishing and executing a marketing plan that is in line with these current trends will not only help you to outperform your competitors, convert more leads, get more referrals but continue to increase patient satisfaction and retention.

Tip 1: Place the patients experience first

In line with other consumer trends, the expectations of Patients expectations are increasing to the extent that they now evaluate healthcare on the basis of their total experience. So, as I have mentioned earlier in my V-Log, every patient has a journey with multiple touch points (moments of truth) and each encounter defines their overall experience. We must ensure that this experience is not just great but exceptional.

Specialist doctors who do elective procedures, I would like you to ponder on this trend – we have seen in some doctors’ practices that 30 – 50% of new patients are now coming via the digital route, up from 3-5%, three years ago? This statistic itself tells a very clear story – You need to ensure that you have a powerful and effective presence in the digital space!

So, what is this digital experience? What are the must haves in order to be effective and powerful? The first and foremost is to have an effective website.

Tip 2: Get an Effective Website

A website is your virtual clinic cyber clinic which will have far more traffic (visitors) than your physical clinic. Most probably the patient’s first experience with you or your clinic or your hospital will be on your website which will define their future action on whether they come for a consultation. Imagine the loss- spend money to get the patient onto your website and then not being able to convert them to a consultation, thanks to a lousy website experience. Hence ensuring that you have an effective website is crucial for marketing success.

Think, while we are willing to spend millions on our physical clinic – its decor, furniture, equipment etc. we look for the “cheapest” solution with regard to the website. What is a good website?

A website is about the Patient’s experience, technically it is called User Experience (Ux). The design, colour, photos etc. is secondary. So here are 6 points to guide you on how to get a great website developed:

1. The website is about the visitor, in this case a patient – identifying with their problems, feelings and providing them with a solution. It is NOT about you or your equipment of your skills, they come later.
2. The website should engage with the patient – providing tons of text with liberal doses of medical jargon is not patient engagement. Effective patient engagement needs to be simple, visual, personal. Installing a smart chatbot with clinical content is the key differentiator.
3. The website should establish your credibility. Patient reviews are the most powerful.
4. Being Visual is the modern trend, in which making use of video content is most effective.
5. Having properly thought out CTAs (calls to action) will make or break your marketing! Provide multiple ways for the patient to engage with you- Message/Phone/Consult over video (Screen)/ Chatbot/ Book Appointment /Download your App/Mail/ FBM are just some of the methods that should be available on your website. Your patient will choose the one that they are comfortable with. Providing CTAs that are convenient for YOU guarantees sub optimal results.
6. Ensure that your website is designed for mobile phones! More than 80% will access your website on their mobiles.

Food for thought

Your website may be instrumental in getting more consultations or it may be turning away potential enquiries. Net, net there is much more that goes into a website than some colours, designs and photos. Don’t look for cheap solutions, look for effectiveness. If you want to know more feel free to setup a 10 minute call with me or my team.

Tip 3: Social Media

Reputation management is key to converting new patients and the power of digital is immense. It can establish and at the same time damage your reputation. Whatever the case, you cannot afford not to be there!

The essence of social media is to connect people and enable them to share. The sharing could range from their personal journeys to their experiences! Social media is tailor made for healthcare marketing. But it needs to be done properly!

It provides space for you to engage actively with your patients and potential patients. It helps to develop a deep connect between you and your patients. Every Social media platform is different and you will need to identify the platform that will be effective for your specialty, audience and expectation.

Social media can do the following for you:

1. Establish your presence and brand
2. Establish yourself as a thought leader and authority
3. Helps to educate patients
4. Helps to answer their queries
5. Create forums for group interaction and sharing by your patients.

Tip 4: Content

As mentioned earlier content is king! And the future of content is voice.

Using voice in different ways can guarantee amazing results. The best and effective medium is to have videos. Not fancy slick professional stuff, just nice real videos, where you are discussing problems and solutions.

Here are just a few ways to use video in marketing your clinic or hospital:

1. Doctor introductions
2. Patient stories and testimonials
3. Health education
4. Quick health-focused tips and tricks

Tip 5: Get Your own personalised Healthcare App

Your personalised App ensures independence, secures your patient’s data and establishes a powerful connect with the patients. However you should not be tempted to get your own App designed. It is tempting to do so as it appears to be cheap. However bear in mind the following:

1. It is a great hassle!
2. Will need maintenance
3. Will require upgrades and updates
4. In case of an individual developer they will lack bench strength to provide support

Your friendly tech friend or relative will entice you into this but my advice is stay away. You are a practitioner and need to focus on treating patients. Not get involved with SRS/Ui/Ux etc. It is better to identify a company that is well established and has clinical domain experience. Don’t get confused-Healthcare and clinical are not synonymous.

To conclude please keep in mind that the Patient experience is driving success for doctors and hospitals. By creating an excellent patient experience by combining clear simple communication with an excellent digital experience, patients are more likely to not only return, but refer you by mouth and online.

Digital space is increasingly where most of these experiences take place and hence is doing digital right is the key to get outstanding returns from Marketing spend. Your website, social media, content is no longer a “tick off” it is serious investment in your future. This is where your patients are going to come from hence do not take risk. In case it is done well it will guarantee success but done badly it can have serious consequences.

Realizing the crucial need of the healthcare industry across the world, we designed the “Patient Magnet Services”. The Patient Magnet is a one stop solution for individual doctors and hospitals that caters to all their digital requirements. We customise the solution for each individual doctor according to the nature of their practice, specialty and location. In case you are interested to learn more, you can book a free 10-minute call with me or a senior member of my team.