A wise man (or woman) once said: “We can’t control what happens, but we can control how we respond to it.” That’s never been truer for healthcare, which wouldn’t need marketing if it could only control everything. What we can do is watch these 4 big healthcare marketing trends, understand them as deeply as possible, and figure out how best to embrace them and put them to work for us.
#1: Optimizing for Voice Search
Being found on Google is still equally important, but consumers are now also using voice search to find what they want. Healthcare marketers will need to revisit their SEO efforts and make sure they are using voice-friendly, long-tail keywords, and that their websites are optimized technically. Voice search is more conversational and natural in tone, and the search queries tend to be longer than text queries.
#2: Professional Patient Portals
As healthcare organizations search for ways to increase care outside of traditional settings, patient portals need to provide easier access and better experiences for users and offer more useful features.
One company doing this well is Geisinger Health System, whose portal provides patients with medical records, health summaries, ability to renew prescriptions, request appointments and obtain medical advice on non-urgent concerns. The site gets 20,000 logins daily from the 40% of active patients registered to use it.
#3: Media Buying Makeover
Advertising is changing dramatically, with the ability of data-driven programmatic and addressable media to target specific households in the digital places they visit, at the time they visit them, with information related to recent purchases or research. The medium allows healthcare advertisers to reach consumers with personalized advertising based on their viewing habits, browsing data, and preferred devices.
#4: Wellness Initiatives
Consumers have always responded to the principle of “something for nothing,” and healthcare institutions are increasingly realizing how neatly patient wellness programs fit under this umbrella. To optimize these programs, it’s no longer enough to create content around wellness (although that’s still required for SEO purposes). Many leading healthcare organizations are taking it further by collaborating with market participants to offer exercise classes, nutrition courses, support groups, cooking classes and other options. These benefit both patients and organizations, and help to create a loyal client base.
Revamp your healthcare marketing plan by taking note of these major trends and responding to them while they’re current. Call 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com for more information.