Those that are new to digital marketing can find it overwhelming, especially in an arena like medical care where you are likely to be targeting a local segment of the population. After all, who cares how many hits you can get on an article from a thousand miles away when the person you want to reach is 2 blocks down the street?
There are ways to make sure your digital efforts are appropriately targeted, though, and these 4 local healthcare marketing strategies will help you achieve your goals.
1. Emphasize location on your pages
Let’s say you’re a medical clinic in the Boston area. Make sure you specifically include that geographic reference on your pages. We aren’t referring to just having the contact address. That won’t necessarily give you an SEO lift.
But if you’re a cardiologist and you describe yourself as a “Boston-area cardiologist” or one of the “top cardiologists in the Boston area,” you’ll be far more likely to gain a strong search engine position when people look for someone with your expertise. When it comes to medical services, people are inclined to enter their geographic location in the search box, or at least ask for something “near me.”
2. Have a Google My Business page
Ever wonder how Google’s search results produce such detailed and accurate listings for local businesses? You’ve probably entered in a local restaurant to find a phone number or store hours and it all pops up, nice and neat on the right-hand side. It isn’t magic and it isn’t all on Google’s end. The reason is that those businesses set up their Google My Business pages and made sure it was filled with complete and accurate information.
When you set up Google My Business (GMB), you’re not just getting the benefits that come directly from the world’s top search engine. GMB’s information is also automatically picked up by several other major directories, making it a force multiplier for your local marketing efforts.
3. Claim and optimize all your major listings
Whether you’re aware of it or not, you probably have a page for your office on LinkedIn. This prominent social media platform for professionals has auto-generated pages for businesses large and small. It just sits there, waiting to be claimed by the owners.
If this is an area you’ve neglected, go in and claim the LinkedIn page. Spruce it up and fill it with detailed and accurate information about your office hours, location(s) and services provided. Do the same with other major professional directories. All of this will be noticed by the algorithms that produce search engine results.
4. Monitor your reviews
Directories and social platforms generally offer users room to comment on your services. Of course, this is a double-edged sword that can seem like a negative—human nature is such that unhappy people are more likely to talk than happy ones are. But you can turn that into a positive for your marketing efforts.
Review the comments and take the time to reply. If someone is unhappy, invite them to call your office and discuss the problem. If a reviewer pays you a compliment, thank them. All of this is going to be noticed by the vast majority of people who read these reviews and don’t comment.
Studies show that over 70 percent of patients consider online reviews important in their decision-making process. Most people are reasonable and are aware of the aforementioned dynamic about unhappy people commenting. If you reply to these with grace and courtesy, it will be noticed—and it will be noticed if you let a negative charge go unanswered.