In the age of the empowered patient, medical marketing best practices have changed dramatically.
There’s no denying that the rise of digital technologies has fundamentally altered the traditional sales and marketing process for nearly every industry on earth. Healthcare, of course, is no exception. As patients increasingly turn to search engines to conduct research and compare prices in order to make their own purchasing decisions, medical marketers have had to adapt their practices in order to maintain a steady flow of new revenue — and to hold onto their existing customers.
Because the sales process has become increasingly “hands-off,” marketers need to develop materials and messaging that corresponds to a given patient’s mindset at each stage of their path to treatment. This will help you guide patients along during their path treatment without overstepping your bounds and undermining your rate of success.
The infographic below outlines the “new” digital sales funnel, and provides some helpful tips on how to optimize your approach for each individual stage.
The Digital Sales Funnel
The Foundations of a Successful Campaign
When building a search engine advertising campaign, the goal is to bring prospective patients through the beginning and middle of the funnel by getting in front of the right readers, letting those readers know your services will meet their needs, and ultimately convincing them to convert. This can be accomplished by focusing on the following three areas:
- Targeting: Selecting relevant keywords and that will be searched by those users most likely to need your service, as well as choosing the ideal time and geographic location for each campaign.
- Messaging: Choosing the right message will decide whether your ad is an irritating distraction from users’ health research or an essential resource in it.
- Landing pages: What users see once they click-through to your ad will play a significant role in whether or not they ultimately trust you to play a part in their treatment.
Of course, each of the above requires a great deal of expertise, time, and attention to execute correctly; to learn more about optimizing your digital marketing efforts in accordance with the new patient path to treatment, download our free guide below.
Smart Design Creates New Patient Opportunities