Physicians and healthcare workers don’t always see the need for medical marketing.  They know that the practice is a business but they don’t view it the same way as the promotion of other businesses.

Does that describe you?  Do you feel that the promotion that insurance companies do, is good enough?  Do you feel that patients will come when they need care?  Well, that may be but they don’t have to come to you…they can go to another physician in the community!  So, how will you succeed or prevent financial failure?  How will you differentiate yourself from your competitors or colleagues?

The answer is medical marketing!

The foremost tool for medical marketing and the one that reflects mainly on you is your medical practice website.  You do have one don’t you?  It is an absolutely huge, I mean gigantic mistake if you don’t have a website.  In today’s day and age, if you don’t have a website, you might as well not exist!  Statistics show that now 8 out of every 10 prospective patients look for the website before scheduling their first appointment.

Maybe you consider the website that Yelp or insurance companies you participate in puts up in your name to be sufficient.  The problem with this is that you have no control over the content on these sites.  In addition, if you no longer participate in the insurance plan, the website goes away overnight!

Your Awesome Website

When you have an impressive website with lots of relevant and interesting material that engages the reader, it is most likely to convert someone that is on the fence about whether to see you or your colleague down the street.  One appointment may not mean much, you might think.  How wrong you would be!  The lifetime value of that patient is considerable!  Maybe you never looked at it that way.  Consider the number of friends and relatives that she refers to your practice in addition to the number of times that she seeks your service.  Think of the word-of-mouth referrals she is giving to your practice and the testimonials or raves.  All gone…poof, when you don’t have a website.

On your website, you should have a way that prospective patients can ask questions online.  This is another way that viewers can interact with your practice before being convinced that making an appointment with your office is a good idea.

Website design is important so that you don’t come off as an amateur and it strengthens your brand.

Optimize your site with SEO (search engine optimization) by defining your keywords and using it liberally in your content.  Not only will the search engines recognize who and what you are about, but the prospective patients searching for you will as well.  With higher ranking, you are more likely to be seen.

Unethical?

Years ago, health professionals were not allowed to advertise or do medical marketing.  It was seen as being unethical.  That is sooo last century! The medical community relied on word-of-mouth for their marketing.  Things are different now.  With decreased reimbursements and bundling along with increases in expenses, there is no doubt that the old business model no longer works and a practice will no longer be financially solvent unless some marketing is done!

Are you ready to start your medical marketing?  Give us a call at 561-325-9664 and we can discuss your needs!