Digital Marketing in the Healthcare Industry

Did you know that 77% of patients start their search for medical information and solutions online? According to the Pew Research Center, what people find on the internet heavily influences their decisions. If your medical solution is not properly optimized and positioned online, there’s a great chance those patients and customers won’t find it. Why have a great project if no one will know about it?

This is where marketing shines! Having a solid strategy will not only boost your solution’s reach, but it will also help patients’ experience with it.

Marketing is about communicating your value proposition to the right people, in the right way. It’s about discovering what people need, offering the right solutions, and building relationships through those exchanges. But how?

Digital marketing uses online channels and platforms to extend valuable resources about products and solutions to the right audience. This boosts brand awareness, lead generation, consumer engagement, and ultimately, drives revenue. The New York Times states nurturing your leads through inbound marketing can help you generate 50% more sales!

So why is marketing so important in the healthcare industry? Digital health solutions are usually catered to people with specific diagnoses. This makes targeted content and strategic marketing essential for the growth of your project and business. Without a focused strategy, even the best products may go unnoticed organically.

Furthermore, in this industry, your consumers will be patients who want to improve their health. Therefore, your healthcare marketing strategy should always be patient-centric, meaning your efforts should always try to ease patients’ minds, many times by providing them with resources, support, and community.

Pillars in Healthcare Digital Marketing Strategies

Discovery, Strategy, and Planning

The first step to building a robust and effective marketing strategy is knowing your company’s goals, vision, and value proposition; as well as your target audience, demographics, behaviors, and pain points. Once those key aspects are identified, you’ll be able to direct your efforts much more effectively by personalizing your content and having it reach the correct people.

Understanding who you’re talking to and what you need to help them with aids in decision-making, prioritizing efforts, and budgeting.

Web Design, Development and Optimization

Every aspect of your website needs to carefully designed with your target audience in mind. For example, if your health tech solution is catered for physicians, you need to ensure you’re communicating your value proposition in a way that resonates with them. Instead, if your solution is tailored for children, you’ll need to present it differently: adapting the language, wording, and graphics.

Throughout this process, you will need to consider aspects like accessibility, UX/UI, and run quality assurance tests. Having a strong online presence nowadays is imperative, and brands who manage to do so stay in consumers’ radars. For healthcare professionals and practitioners, this might not come as an easy practice, which is why working with healthcare marketing experts and partners is a must!

Adapting your website to your target audience and personalizing your messages will improve their user experience, and websites with a superior UX have a 400% higher conversion rate. In the healthcare industry, conversions can mean anything from app downloads to contact messages, to online purchases and scheduled meetings.

Content Creation

Now that you know who you’re talking to and how to present your solution, it’s time for content creation! This is one of marketing’s easiest and cheapest strategies, but it does require time and creativity. Nevertheless, it’s important to know what channels your audience uses.

What do we mean when we say content? Even though you might think so, content marketing is not exclusive to social media (although a strong presence on LinkedIn, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube and others is also necessary). Nowadays, you can create and share content through blogs, mailings, and webinars, among other channels.

According to a CMI report, 76% of marketers say content marketing helped generate demand/leads. But why? Content creation helps increase brand awareness, show expertise, and educate consumers! Basically, by posting about your industry or solution, you’re positioning yourself as a strong, expert competitor.

SEO Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of orienting your website to rank higher on search engines with the goal of driving more organic traffic. Studies say 67.6% of all clicks go to the top five organic results in search engines, so ranking in those first link options is a must.

Incorporating healthcare SEO best practices in your marketing strategy will improve your website’s traffic, competitive advantage, and positioning in the long run. For medical professionals, this is extremely important. A robust SEO strategy means having a safety net of users who’re organically visiting your website, thanks to the quality of your content. Just think of what this means for your solution!

Tracking Results

Every marketing strategy needs to be data-driven so that teams can focus their efforts effectively. Marketing without analytics is like sailing without a compass. A tracked and thought-out plan leads to optimized campaigns, improved decision-making, and more effective budgeting.

Depending on your goals, you’ll need to choose the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to help you analyze the most effective actions. Once this is set, you should set periodical reports (monthly, quarterly, annually) to ensure you record those analytics and use them to improve your strategy. This applies to all marketing actions, not just digital ones.

Deciding which metrics to analyze and how to do so will help you better understand your target audience, and tailor your value proposition to their needs. Tracking results will also help you discover new opportunities!

Case Study: CompliantChatGPT

CompliantChatGPT, is a platform that allows you to use OpenAI GPT models in a HIPAA-compliant way. Its AI Agent can assist you with your healthcare-related work while keeping your patients' data safe, secure, and HIPAA compliant by tokenizing protected health information (PHI).

A few months ago, our team revamped its marketing strategy. We worked on defining their target audience, improving their website design and SEO, and using their analytics to define new valuable opportunities. The results were incredible! The total website traffic grew 314% from Q1 to Q2.

Final Thoughts

Marketing in healthcare is crucial! A robust, patient-centered, thought-out, and data-driven strategy will improve your brand’s awareness and presence.

A strong website in terms of user experience, keyword solidification, SEO, performance, and accessibility can attract and retain quality leads, and personalize customers' experience.

In healthcare, there’s the added bonus of improving people’s quality of life! A great marketing strategy will increase your company’s reach. This will lead to more patients discovering your solution, and more lives being improved.

Researching and understanding your target audience, their pain points and channels; designing the correct strategy for communicating your value proposition; and learning how to analyze and use the results to your advantage will ultimately improve your company’s reputation and drive more leads. But doing so is not as easy as it sounds!

That’s where we come in… our team can help with your Healthcare Web Development & Marketing Strategy. We strategically design, develop, and optimize your website, ensuring it serves as the primary manifestation of your brand, driving engagement and converting leads. We can help out with every step of the process - from strategy to implementation and optimization.