Content marketing is key for health facilities, hospitals and doctors.
The thing is, even though you may be new to it, content marketing has been around for many years.
It’s a way that you provide useful and engaging information, and benefits include:
- Increasing brand visibility
- Patient engagement
- Patient retention
- Attracting prospective patients
- Building and elevating your reputation in the community.
Internet and social media has made content creation and making it available much easier but we as physicians have been informing patients about medical care options from the onset of our medical careers.
An accepted definition of content marketing is the timely creation and distribution of pertinent and engaging materials that are of interest to—and influence the purchase decisions of—select current and prospective patients or prospects.
Formats
Content marketing and dissemination of your message can take the form of:
- Blog posts
- Websites
- Case studies
- White papers
- chat rooms
- Discussion Forums
- Ebooks
- videos
- podcasts
- eNewsletters (Ezines)
- Instructional articles/guides
- Technical reports
- Podcasts
- Print newsletters
- Research reports
- Teleseminars
- Virtual conferences
- Webinar/webcast
5 Tips for Effective Content Marketing
- Consider what interests your target audience
Find out what is relevant to your viewers and focus on that. Make sure that it is in sync with your services. Provide solutions to problems that they are struggling with.
***It’s not about you and your interests. It answer’s the question “What’s in it for me?”
- Be consistent
Ask yourself, how often and on what days your information will be published. It is crucial to be reliable, consistent and have fresh material with regular updates.
If you get a viewer who is interested and comes to your site on a particular day looking for information but you have neglected to put out new material, the viewer will be dissatisfied and you may have lost that viewer forever. Infrequent blogs or newsletters are not trustworthy.
- Be easily understood
Readers know that you are the doctor and you are the one with authority. You don’t have to use technical jargon or professional language that is hard to understand.
Studies show that the average person reads on a 6-8th grade level, so keep your information basic at this level and viewers will appreciate it. While you present your information in an authoritative way, it is also an opportunity to let your personality shine forth. Can you add images or videos to get a point across? How about illustrating your message with a story? Long after people forget statistics, they will most often remember stories and pictures.
- Content Marketing Develops Relationships
The reader gains a sense of trust and believability from material that is unbiased. An impartial and informative voice is convincing and reliable. Answering questions over time develops a relationship and gives you the perception of being the “go-to” person for helpful information.
- It takes time
Content marketing becomes effective over time which is needed to grow your audience and reputation. By adding value, you will attract prospective patients and increase word-of-mouth referrals. This is often done in conjunction with other forms of advertising.
Need help in getting started? Call 561-325-9664 for a free consultation.
