Marketing Strategies

Top 12 Most Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Healthcare Providers

Top 12 Most Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Healthcare Providers

In this tech-savvy world, whenever we have any health-related issues, the first thing many of us do is Google the symptoms.

Just like any other industry, the healthcare sector must implement digital marketing strategies to create a strong online presence. Why? Because a survey reveals, that 90% of patients use online reviews to evaluate professionals and physicians.

But, one thing that is distinct for the healthcare industry is its heavy regulatory standards to protect the privacy of patient data. So, how can hospitals and healthcare organizations adapt to ever-evolving marketing trends? How can they reach a wider audience, build their online presence, and boost patient engagement?

In this article, we are going to dive into the Top 12 Effective Digital Marketing Strategies for Hospitals and the Healthcare Industry.

12 Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Healthcare Centers and Hospitals 

12 Best Digital Marketing Strategies for Healthcare Industries

  1. Content Marketing

Content is King. Creating engaging, relevant, and highly informative content for patients will help you establish authority, build your brand, and engage with your audience. Deploying compelling content such as infographics, videos, blog posts, articles, webinars, eBooks, podcasts, newsletters, etc. on multiple sales channels will help you with lead generation, nurturing, and eventually conversion.

Visual content is highly engaging, and most effective in attracting leads. 91% of marketers use video as a marketing strategy in 2024. Hence, healthcare firms should create video content such as animated illustrations, doctor’s interviews, patient reviews, hospital tours, etc.

  1. Social Media Marketing

Leverage social media channels like Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to strategically and consistently engage with the audience and foster relationships.

Answer patients’ questions, address their concerns, create relevant and informative content (video/infographics), share the latest medical-related news/research, repost patient testimonials, and build a strong community on social media handles.

  1. SEO 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ongoing effort to attract leads/patients organically to your website. With robust SEO strategies, your website has a higher chance of ranking at the top in SERPs (search engine result pages) and improving your brand presence. Better ranking in search results boosts brand awareness, provides an authoritative advantage in the industry, and builds a reputation.
search engine optimization for healthcare

Hospitals and healthcare firms can even leverage local SEO strategies such as creating a Google My Business Profile to engage with local patients.

Some of the most effective SEO strategies for the healthcare industry are:

  • Healthcare-related keyword research and optimization
  • Creating valuable, informative, and high-quality health-related content
  • Website that is intuitive, easy-to-navigate and mobile-optimized
  • Building high-quality backlinks from reputed medical associations or healthcare websites to boost authority
  • Faster page loading speed
  • Implement Technical SEO strategies such as using HTTPS (SSL certificate), using XML sitemaps, Structured data, URL Structure, SEO-friendly website structure, 404 Page, fixing broken links, fixing duplicate content, using CDN, Image Optimization, minification of CSS/HTML/JavaScript files, and more.
  1. Email and SMS Marketing

SMS and Email are highly effective marketing channels for healthcare providers to connect with patients instantly and deliver the right message at the right time. This could be health-related tips, appointment reminders, follow-up targeted messages, personalized offers, taking surveys, etc.

Segmented email marketing increases click-through rates by 50% and opens by 30% compared to unsegmented emails.

Source: Hubspot

Hospitals and healthcare firms can collect patient data when booking appointments and segment patients based on their demographics, medical history, healthcare needs, or age and send relevant and targeted SMS/emails. Such personalized targeting boosts engagement and fosters patient relationships. You may even leverage automated systems to send alerts, thereby streamlining the workflows.

  1. PPC Advertising

PPC (Pay-per-click) Advertising is when you pay a specific amount to search engines like Google, Bing, etc. every time a user clicks on your ad displayed on these platforms. Healthcare providers can use PPC Ads services to target audiences searching for medical-related keywords on search engines.

Generally, PPC Ads yield faster results and attract more leads in a short period. You may even use paid Facebook Ads or Instagram Ads to reach new audiences and quickly boost engagement.

  1. Map Patient Journeys

Patient Online Journey Mapping

One of the effective ways for better targeting is creating patient personas to understand who you’re interacting with, and how can you meet their expectations. Begin with the existing patient base and document their personas inclusive of their pain points, occupation, age, health issues, income levels, payment methods preferred, etc.

The next step is to map their journeys to understand their preferences, concerns, perceptions, what factors affect their decision, etc. This will give you valuable insights into how you can target them with the right messages through the right channel at the right time to meet their needs.

  1. Intuitive Website 

Your website is what truly represents your healthcare facility. Hospitals and healthcare providers must build a fast-performing, intuitive, and easy-to-navigate website that delivers exceptional user experience. Having a good website is one of the effective ways to attract, engage, and nurture existing as well as new patients.

Most importantly, make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices and loads within 2-3 seconds.

  1. Chatbot

AI Chatbot providing 24/7 patient support on healthcare website
With the advancement of AI, deploying a Chatbot on your website makes it easier for patients to find answers to common questions and perform simple tasks. These virtual assistants not only save time and effort but also boost team productivity. Further, chatbots are also able to book appointments and are available 24*7. 64% of marketers are already using AI to meet customer expectations.

  1. Google Business Profile

When a local patient searches for a healthcare facility on Google, the results display the most relevant Top 3 Google Business Profiles within that area.

To appear in these top results, healthcare firms must create and optimize their Google Business Profile with precise information. This includes website links, appointment links, working hours, addresses, services available, open/close hours, directions/maps, patient reviews, contact details, photos, etc.

Google Business Profile is a free local SEO tool that can effectively help you capture high-intent BOF (Bottom-of-funnel) leads within your target location. BOF leads are those patients who are ready to see a healthcare provider.

  1. Build Geo-targeted Landing Pages

Build Geo-targeted Landing Pages
Apart from having an intuitive website with great UX, creating new landing pages is one of the effective ways to attract local leads. Such landing pages often focus on your healthcare facility’s specific service with a CTA (call-to-action) button to push leads further down the sales funnel. You can even launch PPC ads for specific landing pages to reach local audiences.

  1. UGC (User-Generated Content)

Social proof is a key factor in building reputation, brand awareness, and authority in the industry. Seeing reviews, testimonials, and ratings is often the first thing new patients do when finding a new physician online.

Make sure to ask the existing patients to write reviews via follow-up emails/texts. Or, you can conduct satisfaction surveys when they visit your facility.

  1. Leverage Analytic tools

Leverage Analytic tools
To build secure, improved data structures, it is a MUST for healthcare providers to leverage analytic tools. Advanced tools such as Google Analytics, SEMrush, Ahrefs, healthcare CRM (Salesforce, Zoho, etc.), and more not only provide insights into KPIs but also help improve ROI in the long run through better data-driven decisions.

Wrap Up

It can get overwhelming for healthcare providers and hospitals to thrive in this hyper-digitalized era where leveraging digital marketing strategies has become a necessity.

Most users are relying on the internet to search for new healthcare facilities, and physicians, and look for medical information. Hence, your healthcare center must strive to create a strong digital presence. By implementing the strategies listed above you can boost business growth. Hope it helps!