Today, consumers are exposed to a wide range of information, treatment options, and updates from their healthcare providers. Most of this information is distributed and accessed digitally. Health-related searches on Google form about 7% of total daily searches based on a report by The Telegraph.
Traditionally, health information has been presented from the organization’s perspective and not from the patient. But increasingly, healthcare providers have been putting patients at the center of their services and marketing communications.
In other words, most healthcare organizations are now using a patient-centric approach to communication and marketing. Find out why and how to incorporate this strategy into your patient marketing.
Benefits of patient centricity in healthcare marketing
Patient centricity is seen in how healthcare organizations take patients’ needs, goals, backgrounds, and lifestyles into account and give them individualized care. In terms of marketing, they have shifted from talking extensively about their workers and services to discussing how these services can positively shape people’s lives.
As a result, patients are more engaged, trust health providers more readily, and experience improved outcomes with their treatment. In addition, with personalized medication and messaging, patients make informed decisions about their health. Ultimately, this reduces costs and improves satisfaction for both practitioners and patients.
The case for adopting patient-centric marketing is strong. So, here are marketing strategies and patient engagement tactics you can implement to upgrade your patient marketing strategy.
How to make patient marketing work
With the abundance of user-friendly tools for health businesses, it shouldn’t be too difficult to keep up with the trends in patient marketing. This article focuses on content marketing because it plays an important role in healthcare. Specifically, it is a way to provide useful and engaging information to prospects and clients. It’s also great for building awareness, retaining patients, and improving one’s reputation.
Here’s how to make content marketing work while putting your patients first.
- Understand the patient journey
Beyond understanding where clients are in the marketing funnel, healthcare providers should understand the unique experience of patients on the journey to wellness. For example, from pre- to post-diagnosis, considerations about patients’ emotional state and need for financial or social support should be made. Afterward, health providers can make accommodations, including information about the applicability of Medicare or the availability of financial aid for certain treatments.
Sending a brand message to a prospect too early is off-putting. Instead, gain prospects’ trust and attention by supporting advocacy groups and spreading relevant information about different diseases. Tools for preliminary diagnoses, such as assessing patients with a learning disability, can also be helpful if built and presented carefully. These efforts will lead patients along in their journey more smoothly and conscientiously.
- Present useful information straightforwardly
The importance of content marketing in the health industry cannot be stressed enough. Many healthcare providers struggle to get important messages across because of language and regulatory constraints. But brands need to strive to present health-related information in the simplest way possible. Content marketing best practices also include using images and infographics to supplement the text. For example, in dental patient marketing, supplemental videos and images about taking care of one’s teeth are quite useful.
Paying attention to content marketing trends is also crucial. Changes like increasing educational material, producing more videos, and improving inclusivity in the content are all instrumental in connecting healthcare professionals with patients.
- Seek and maximize customer feedback
Even if your content is easy to read, customers won’t benefit from it if the content is laid out poorly or your website is hard to navigate. Always make sure that your website itself isn’t giving your customers a hard time. Check if your web pages are loading quickly and if the information or support your clients need are available when they need them.
One great way to assess your website’s user experience and general usefulness are to ask for customer feedback. Ensure that your contact information is displayed prominently on your website and social media. Provide constant customer support, too.
Read customer reviews and respond to each one as much as possible. Give special attention to negative comments and reviews, as they can be detrimental to your reputation if left unaddressed. Reputation management is vital to healthcare companies, and it involves more than replying to a poor review. Follow-up actions that prove that you are working on issues raised by unsatisfied customers are more critical. Remember, the goal is to enhance website performance and your products and services.
Key points
Putting customers first applies to both patient marketing and treatment. Connect to your patients through content marketing, understand their journey, present relevant information, and listen to customer feedback.
