The beginning of the year is the perfect time to take stock of our medical marketing practices during the previous year. It is time to review our successes and failures. Review this information to enhance what has generated results and what will not allow us to make a plan to achieve the medical marketing objectives for 2019. As in any other area of our life, the new year must also be the time to make good marketing purposes.
For our part, we are going to give 5 recommendations for this beginning of the year, which will help us to start and especially to finish 2019 with an improvement of results.
Let’s Audit The Actions Taken
To start the year it is advisable to do so with a thorough audit of all our marketing channels. It’s time to evaluate and screen what works and what does not. The priority must be to know where to invest our time and resources to achieve the highest possible return by 2019 end.
The best way to measure it, of course, is by calculating the return on investment. How much have I invested in Social Networks, SEM campaigns, SEO maintenance ..? How many clicks have I assumed? How many have become contact? And in clients ?, how much have I billed? It’s time to get the numbers of each type of traffic and get an investment/benefit ratio. We may be surprised by what we had in mind.
Only with objective data, we will be able to make sound investment decisions in medical marketing by 2019 for this new year. We must put aside subjectivity. What good is it for me, for example, to have a high number of followers on Facebook or readers of my blog if they do not become real contacts afterward? Sometimes what we perceive as a channel in which we are successful, does not correspond to a profitable channel with respect to the time and resources we dedicate to it.
Many times, what does not have the expected return does not mean that it is not an appropriate channel. If the results are not as expected, it may be time to optimize the content, design or accessibility.
We must bear in mind that the medical sector is a peculiar sector, in which digital marketing actions do not work in the same way as in other sectors of activity.
Another important point to be audited is the subject of personal data protection. As we all know, in May 2018, the new data protection regulations with stricter requirements came into force. These requirements are even greater if some health information is exchanged. This beginning of the year is also a good time to be well informed (if it has not already been done) and to check that we comply.
Only with objective data, we will be able to make sound investment decisions in medical marketing by 2019 for this year. We must put aside subjectivity. What good is it for me, for example, to have a high number of followers on Facebook or readers of my blog if they do not become real contacts afterward? Sometimes what we perceive as a channel in which we are successful, does not correspond to a profitable channel with respect to the time and resources we dedicate to it.
Many times, what does not have the expected return does not mean that it is not an appropriate channel. If the results are not as expected, it may be time to optimize the content, design or accessibility.
We must bear in mind that the medical sector is a peculiar sector, in which digital marketing actions do not work in the same way as in other sectors of activity.
Another important point to be audited is the subject of personal data protection. As we all know, in May 2018, the new data protection regulations with stricter requirements came into force. These requirements are even greater if some health information is exchanged. This beginning of the year is also a good time to be well informed (if it has not already been done) and to check that we comply.
Marketing Based On Data And Objectives
There are not a few companies in the sector that have never established or followed up on key performance indicators (KPIs). It’s time to change this. Investment in marketing without data is a “toast to the sun”. Check measurable objectives and follow up on them to see possible deviations. It is better to correct a short-term strategy than to be at the end of the year that has not yielded as expected when the total investment has already been made. Having this information is important and can help us decide which strategies work and where.
Using tools such as Google Analytics is a simple way to discover what is behind the numbers and to track not only the statistics but also the quality of the visits.
Review The Optimization Of The Web
Each of the digital channels of communication with users and customers, represent our company and our brand, and each of them must do it their way. It’s time to make sure you’re taking advantage of the purpose for which each channel is intended and the specific characteristics of each platform.
Our website is the main showcase of our brand. It must transmit a clear message and generate confidence immediately. We have to take care of the images we put to make an impact. We have to optimize the user experience. This beginning of the year could be the time to revisit the hierarchy of our site, see if what we have been adding in 2018 does not cloud the logic of the web and to be able to find the contents quickly and intuitively or if errors have been created like broken links, etc.
The blog of our website is a medical marketing tool for 2019 and above all for SEO. When I have published an article in 2018, it will continue to work for us in 2019. This should not be missed. Let’s take the opportunity to include a call to action (CTA) with most blog posts, for example, if we do not already have one, take users to another page when they finish reading a post, and offer them to subscribe to our newsletter.
Since we invest resources in the blog, let’s do it following the best SEO practices. If we do not do it, no matter how good the publication is, it will not find readers. Make sure you are achieving a balance between getting traffic to the web and encouraging the interest of readers.
Let’s take care of the efforts dedicated to peripheral actions to our Web. Our website must be the center of the digital ecosystem, but around there are many actions that should generate traffic. For example, Instagram can be this 2019 a compelling tool to share patient stories and promote events. Make sure your content is visually interesting or attractive, and do not neglect the hashtags in the subtitles. The campaigns of Google Ads continue giving a result with a very attractive ROI in most cases in the medical sector if we know how to manage correctly.
Let’s Focus On The Mobile
If our website is not compatible with mobile devices, we have to redo the design without loss of time. Smartphone users are already an overwhelming majority and want to use them to communicate with healthcare providers just as they do with an airline or buy from Amazon.
In use of the mobile has already been normalized in our society, there is no longer a fear of using it for any service, and health is no exception. Recent studies have shown that approximately 58% of Smartphone users had recently downloaded a health application. If you are not participating in platforms or mobile apps, you are losing potential patients in all demographic groups, but especially in young patients.
Neither let us neglect the ads thinking specifically about mobile devices. Functions such as geolocation make smartphones a powerful tool to bring relevant content to patients.
Let’s check that our contact information, schedules, and services are updated in databases that incorporate mobile map searches, such as Apple Maps and Google My Business.
Let’s Take Risks In Our Medical Marketing Strategy For 2019
If 2018 was a good year, or even if it was not, we may be tempted to follow the same medical marketing strategies in 2019 that are known to us. But it is not always “best known bad” nor a strong year really means that we are well positioned for next season.
Clients increasingly demand services and information online, and healthcare providers must be prepared for it. For example, there is a growing number of secure instant messaging platforms so that patients can communicate with doctors or request an appointment without lifting the phone. These tools can be an excellent way to differentiate from the competition and increase customer access and loyalty while saving us work by automating tasks. We have to consider, for example, having an app for our clinic that has an added value compared to what other companies do.
The beginning of the year is the perfect time to review all these points. We have to bear in mind that the sector is increasingly competitive and our competition also works to improve its position.
