It isn’t always easy to market yourself as a healthcare expert. On the other hand, it doesn’t have to be impossible, especially if you take these tips into account. Here are just eight ways to improve your advertising efforts as a doctor or dentist.
1. Increase Your Keyword Density
Keywords are the bread and butter of SEO, but if you’re not using them effectively, you’re missing out on tons of clicks. The ideal keyword density is typically agreed to be somewhere between 1-5 percent. If you’re worried about overly-obvious “keyword stuffing” to reach this quota, try to sneak your most important words and phrases into your meta text. Your keywords will still count towards your page total even if they’re hidden in your alt tags. If you still feel unsure, ask an expert in medical and dental SEO to help you out.
2. Integrate Social Media
Social media integration is a key component in modern-day marketing. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to do it. One option is including links and buttons on your website that lead to Twitter, Instagram and Facebook; another option is to prompt users to “share this with a friend” whenever they click on an article. You can also generate leads by advertising your website on your own social media accounts. By increasing your visibility on popular platforms, you’ll increase the odds of attracting new patients. As a bonus, they’ll be media-savvy customers who are more likely to review your practice on sites like Yelp.
3. Encourage Reviews
Speaking of Yelp, their website can be a big boon to your business. It’s seen as a trustworthy source of information that isn’t controlled by the companies that it features, so customers are willing to heed its reviews. Even negative reviews can help you as long as they’re rare: Customers are more likely to trust a brand with a few naysayers than a brand with a suspiciously spotless reputation. Just make sure that you always respond to your negative feedback with clarification and restitution.
4. Identify Your Demographic
What does your average patient look like? Consider the following:
– Age
– Gender
– Nationality
– Income level
– Preferred social media platforms
These things can be used to fine-tune your advertising strategies depending on the likes and dislikes of your target market. For example, if your neighborhood has a large Hispanic population, it might be worth creating a commercial in Spanish. If most of your patients are older, you can drop the colorful children’s ads and shift your budget towards something else. Knowing your demographic is good for both your finances and your future marketing tactics.
5. Start a Blog
Blogs get roughly twice the hits of regular websites. We can only guess at the reasons, but they probably have something to do with the casual, informal nature of blogs, especially when it comes to medical knowledge. Patients who are worried about a bloody cough don’t want to wade through an academic journal full of scientific jargon. They want an easy-to-read list of what the cough might mean and whether or not they should go to the hospital. By including this information on your website in an informative blog, you’ll increase trust in your brand while also boosting your overall visitor statistics.
6. Update Your Website
Offer holiday greetings from the staff. Shoot informative videos that include data on germs, viruses and vaccinations. Create posts with titles like “7 Brushing Secrets from Real Dentists” and “No More Tissues: Surviving Flu Season.” Not only will these actions prioritize your site in Google’s algorithms, but they’ll also encourage people to come back to your website and engage with your brand. You don’t want them to only check your site when they have a medical or dental issue. You want them to regularly check your site for new content.
7. Start an Email Newsletter
Some people think that email newsletters are no longer important in the age of social media, but the truth is the exact opposite. They’re more critical than ever for reaching in and grabbing people’s attention when they’re surrounded by social media marketing all day. For one, newsletters will go straight into the patient’s inbox instead of existing on the periphery of their attention. Newsletters can also contain relevant links, videos, articles and images that are hand-picked to intrigue the masses.
8. Ask for Feedback
The easiest way to know if your marketing is effective is to simply ask your patients what they think about it. What’s their opinion of your website? How often do they click on your social media posts? Do they like your ads, or do they think that they’re annoying? On a scale of 1-10, how would they rank your ads when compared to other practices in the area? Use this feedback to improve your marketing strategy overall.
These are just a few ways to sell your brand as a healthcare expert. Good luck!
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