Do you think that you’re so busy with patients now that marketing isn’t necessary? You’d be surprised at how fast a practice could tank if a few referrals dry up or an insurance company that covers most of your patients, goes out of business themselves.
Growing your practice means investing in content marketing- investing time, attention, money. You really can’t turn a blind eye to it any longer.
Content marketing
Content marketing is one of the key techniques to establishing your brand, showing your personality and compassion, getting your message out and distinguishing yourself from your competition.
I get that marketing is not your forte; medicine is your concern. It’s not always easy to figure out where to begin, especially if this is new to you.
I would like to share with you an article from Forbes which puts out an easy to understand, actionable tip sheet.
Tip 1: Be a better writer; tell better stories
People won’t remember your advice, they certainly won’t remember your statistics but most people will remember your stories- the ones that elicit emotions, whether it is fear, happiness, sadness.
Tip 2: Answer the questions your prospects and customers ask
Let’s face it, people are only going to be receptive to information that is relevant to them.
Tip 3: Tell a consistent narrative campaign to keep your audience moving through the marketing funnel
Present the problem, the history of the problem and the solution you present as well as the success of your solution. Then present the action steps that you want your readers to take.
Tip 4: Make an appointment with your audience
“Instead of inviting people to sign up for your email newsletter or blog posts, invite them to sign up for a specific piece of content delivered at a specific time”- Andrew Davis, author of Brandscaping: Unleashing the Power of Partnerships
Tip 5: Think about content promotion first
“Think of who would help amplify your content and why. If you can’t answer this question first, don’t bother creating it.”
Tip 6: Invest in Participation Marketing
“Look beyond our own subject matter expertise to the wisdom of your community for content ideas, content co-creation and promotion.” Go into forums and chat rooms dealing with conversations that are in sync with what you do, your specialty or niche. What are their problems? What is trending? What are the questions that they want answers to? You could be that guru that supplies it.
Tip 7: Build out your content funnel with EGC- Employee Generated Content
“Content is an ongoing activity, never a one-off campaign”. Think of your staff. What can they discuss? They certainly can talk about the process that patients go through when coming to your office for a particular procedure or how to navigate through their health insurance.
Tip 8: Collect and create “content chunks”
“We are becoming more systematic with the way we collect and create ‘content chunks’.” Your information can be repurposed in several ways from your published articles to your podcasts, videos, teleseminars, blogs.
“Not only do we have examples at our fingertips for our Facebook content example of week, but becaue of the way we are collecting the data, we can now look at examples by segment (e.g. by tactic type, industry, etc.) The information is all ready for any future formats or projects as well.”- Michele Linn, Vice Prsident, Content Marketing Institute
Tip 9: Learn the skill of writing headlines
85% of readers will make a decision as to whether to read your information based solely by your headline. This is the sensational or relevant points that scream out at you by newspapers, magazines, media news and ropes you in. Having a boring headline will surely get your article deleted as quickly as the finger can hit the key.
So, are you weak in the knees at the prospect of attempting these steps? No worries. Let’s discuss your needs.
Get a free consultation. Give me a call – 561-325-9664. Speak to you soon!