Avoiding the Top 3 Digital Marketing Mishaps Among Medical Practices

While customer retention is often dubbed the “bread-and-butter” of small businesses, recent research indicates patients are more likely to switch physicians than ever before.

The big driver? Digital technologies, which have enabled consumers to evolve into tech-savvy connoisseurs of care, empowered and willing to shift loyalties as needed—especially if they’re millennials (or younger). 

This is both good news and bad news for practices. With the right strategy, there is an opportunity to attract new patients, although the wrong strategy can have the opposite effect. And for practices stuck in a time warp with their digital marketing strategies, it can be downright catastrophic.

The pressure physician practices are feeling to market themselves effectively has never been greater. One 2020 survey indicates nearly 1 in 3 (28%) consumers “have switched or stopped going to a health care provider because of a poor digital experience, a 40% increase from 2019.”

Yet not all digital strategies are created equal. What constitutes good marketing in the digital age is more nuanced and strategic than just sending a group text or posting an article on Facebook. While these efforts are well-intentioned, health care leaders often miss the mark in terms of engaging with patients in the right ways.

No 2 medical practices are alike, but many target the same consumer base. And consumers, by and large, prefer smart, personalized, digital communications, whether they’re scheduling appointments, wading through reviews, or browsing a social media feed. They don’t want to be inundated with ill-timed, irrelevant information. 

Instead of leveraging desperate tactics to retain and attract patients, like sending an email blast or flouting deep discounts, practices must become smarter in their approach. This starts with understanding the most common digital marketing mishaps—then doing the exact opposite.  

Fortunately, it’s not as difficult as it sounds. 

Mishap #1: Overly Broad Outreach 

Now and then, marketing experts chide practices for doing old-school stuff like mailing letters to patients or calling them. But today, with consumer email inboxes more clogged than snail mail, the act of sending an electronic message may be less effective than a call or a postcard.

While email blasts may be necessary to get the word out about weather-related closures or emergencies, these generalized messages don't typically generate the kind of influence, open rate, and engagement that a practice counts on when marketing a medical service or campaign. 

The Solution: Personalized Outreach

Messaging needs to be more tailored to the communications preferences and interests of its recipients, or it will come across as spam. Segmenting outreach styles (SMS, email) based on preferred communications can increase the likelihood that a message will be received.

Also, sending consumer surveys directly to patients encourages them to offer direct feedback on their experience (so a practice can follow up and address any problems before the patient leaves a negative or one-star rating on a searchable outlet such as Yelp or Healthgrades).

Mishap #2: Stale Internet Landing Pages

Few providers are ignoring digital marketing altogether. But many are taking the path of least resistance—updating only on occasion, when it seems necessary, or when the mood strikes. This is understandable. We’re all busy, and the pressures of running a practice, from managing clinical and billing operations to ensuring regulatory compliance, are often overwhelming.

But it doesn’t change the reality that health care providers’ online personas—from their website and practice’s Google ranking to their reputation for feedback and social media activities—are increasingly tied to their professional credibility, and, in turn, their success. If a patient searches for a specialist in their community and can’t find recent reviews or sees a social media account hasn’t been updated in months, that reflects poorly on the practice (as it would for any business). 

The Solution: Consistent, Updated Messaging Aligned Across all Channels

Successful organizations use the same branding and taglines across all channels, from their Twitter account to their home page to actual brick-and-mortar locations. Practices should do the same, and, at a minimum, update their online properties on a weekly basis to ensure dated announcements (eg, weather closures) aren’t the first messages that greet patients when they go to a practice’s online hubs.

Mishap #3: Putting Too Many Hours Into Content Creation

Blogs and social media posts are great tools for engaging patients and starting conversations. And targeted content, such as blogs, can boost an organization’s Google page ranking. But many practices aren’t leveraging them correctly.

While practice administrators may be great writers, most aren’t professional editors trained to write clean, engaging, newsworthy copy that is interlaced with the best SEO/search terms, meta tags, and social/schema phrases. As a result, content that’s posted to a Website’s blog (such as a Wordpress or Wix site) doesn’t stir the desired outcome (enthusiasm and engagement among patients).

The same goes for social media. While Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are great tools for general messaging, posting content that is informative, engaging, and timely is an acquired skill. 

The Solution: Work Smarter

Streamline social media accounts and manage posts through a social media scheduling app (eg, OneUp, Hubspot, Hootsuite). If your practice doesn’t use a public relations firm, seek out independent blogs and media outlets (which optimize SEO) for editorial pieces on timely topics, which link back to your practice’s website.

These activities will do more to extend a practice’s reach than posting a blog and hoping it gets seen. Content can also be outsourced if it becomes too overwhelming. 

Building Better Connections

The need for a comprehensive, digital marketing strategy is not going to wane. In fact, it will only become more necessary as millennial and Gen Z consumers—who strongly prefer digital communications—gain buying power and enter their thirties and forties. 

Practices that don’t have the internal staffing or expertise to improve their digital marketing efforts in a meaningful way may find it beneficial to consider outside help. If hiring a salaried marketing professional to oversee these strategies is out of reach, outsourcing digital marketing to a third party might make more sense. 

The only thing a practice shouldn’t do is nothing at all. In 2021, patients are still loyal to great businesses. But they’re also consumers who expect to have great experiences online, whether they’re banking or buying groceries.

By investing more resources into digital marketing and staying conscious of potential mishaps, practice leaders will be well-positioned to market to new patients, without worrying whether current ones will take flight because the grass looks greener—or another practice’s web presence is stronger.