11 Healthcare Marketing Mistakes That Are Costing You Patients: A blog about marketing mistakes in healthcare.
Introduction
Your marketing strategy is a huge part of your success as a healthcare professional. It’s what drives patients to you, and if it isn’t working, you’re missing out on potential revenue. However, even small mistakes can have big consequences for your practice, so it’s important to get them right. In this blog post we’ll explore some common mistakes that healthcare professionals make when marketing their business online. If you find yourself making any of these mistakes, don’t worry—we’ll show how easy it is to fix them!
You’re not focused on your ideal patient.
It’s important to have a clear idea of who your ideal patients are. You need to understand their needs and wants, and make sure you have a marketing strategy in place that will attract them.
You can’t just try to sell everything to everyone. You need to be specific about the kind of patient you want, and tailor all your marketing efforts specifically toward that kind of patient.
You don’t have a unique value proposition.
Here’s a question for you: what is your value proposition?
In the marketing world, the term “value proposition” refers to an idea or promise of value that your practice offers to patients. If you’re having trouble with this concept, think about it this way: if someone wanted to buy a house and they were considering yours, what would make them choose yours over others? It could be size or location—for instance, maybe you’ve got a really big yard that’s great for kids. Or it could be quality—perhaps your house has been renovated extensively and looks modern while other houses in its price range are older and more run down.
You need a unique value proposition that differentiates you from other healthcare providers in your area (and if there are no other doctors nearby who offer similar services as yours). The goal is not just to get patients through the door; rather, it’s to get them excited about coming back again and again! So how do we create an effective value statement? By crafting one tailored specifically for our ideal patient base
Your marketing materials are inconsistent.
Consistency is critical to building trust with your audience. When you have a consistent brand message and style across all of your marketing materials (including web, print, social media, etc.), people feel like they know who you are and what to expect from you.
When it comes down to it, this also helps with SEO rankings as well as overall branding efforts because Google prefers consistency in the content of a website over inconsistency.
The bottom line: Be consistent!
Your website isn’t user-friendly or engaging.
Your website is your online storefront and it’s important to make sure it’s user-friendly, engaging and easy to navigate.
Make sure your website has a call-to-action on every page that encourages visitors to take action. The more actions you encourage your visitors to take, the more engaged they will be with your brand and that means more opportunities for conversions.
Make sure the content on each page is easy to read and understand so that anyone can find what they’re looking for quickly without having to scan through unnecessary text or spend too much time trying figure out what you’re saying in one paragraph when you could have said it in two sentences instead (or vice versa). It’s also important not only that the content be clear but also interesting enough so people want visit again – otherwise why would someone come back? Using images or videos where possible will help keep visitors engaged because they are visual mediums which require less effort from viewers than other forms of media such as written articles which can sometimes seem boring after awhile because there isn’t enough variation within them – this applies especially when writing technical documents like those found within medical offices where most tend not pay attention unless something dramatic happens!
Your content marketing strategy is stale and ineffective.
Content marketing is one of the most effective ways to generate leads and build your brand. Unfortunately, a lot of healthcare marketers are under the impression that content marketing is a short-term strategy that can be completed in a few hours each week.
Unfortunately, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Content marketing is an ongoing process that requires consistency and regular attention throughout its lifespan. It takes time to develop and refine your message so that it resonates with your target audience; without this effort, you’re missing out on some serious opportunities to grow your business!
Your calls-to-action aren’t effective.
When it comes to healthcare marketing, calls-to-action are one of the most important aspects of your website. If a visitor is reading an article, they should have no doubt as to what that article was meant to accomplish and how they can get the most out of it.
As you may know, there are many different types of calls-to-action:
- The link call-to-action is a link with text directing traffic where you want them to go (e.g., “Click here for more information”).
- The button call-to-action uses buttons instead of links; buttons make it easier for visitors who are unsure about what they want from a page but still want something (e.g., “Get Started”).
- The newsletter subscription call-to-action allows users who love what they’re reading on your site sign up for your newsletter so they can get more content like this sent straight into their inboxes (e.g., “Sign up now!”).
You’re not using email marketing effectively.
Email marketing can be one of the most effective ways to reach your patients. It’s easy to set up and cheap, too.
If you’re not using email marketing, it’s time to reconsider its potential. Here are some reasons why:
- Email marketing is easy to set up and cheap compared to other forms of advertising. You can start small with just a few emails, then gradually expand your list as you see fit.
- Building an email list helps increase online presence for your practice since people will have easy access to all your latest news, promotions and special offers via their inboxes rather than having to sift through social media feeds manually on Google or Facebook all day long.
- Email subscribers are also likely loyal followers who may share posts about their favorite office in various online communities—a win-win situation for both parties!
You’re not using social media effectively.
Social media is a big part of our marketing future. In fact, 92% of marketers are using social media to promote their brands, and it’s the most popular platform for healthcare marketers.
The good news is that there’s no shortage of channels to choose from—and until recently, the landscape was pretty wide open. But now that Facebook has pivoted from its initial mission statement (a place where people connect with their friends) to instead become a place where brands can advertise directly to users’ feeds, competition is fierce: Users are growing more and more weary of seeing sponsored content in every post they see on their feed. One thing’s for certain—if you’re not using social media effectively yet, you need to get started ASAP!
You’re not managing your online reputation or responding to reviews.
Responding to reviews on social media is probably the easiest way to get new patients. Patients are likely to Google your name, and if they see positive or negative comments, they’ll be more likely to check out your business in person.
It’s not always easy to respond well though. You want to be polite but firm when dealing with negative comments from patients who were unhappy with their experience at your office. But if it’s a positive comment, don’t just thank the patient for taking the time—ask them how you can make them feel even better next time!
You have no analytics in place to track the results of your marketing efforts.
Your marketing efforts are an investment, and you need to know if they’re paying off. Analytics should be a cornerstone of your marketing strategy, allowing you to measure ROI and optimize accordingly. You can use Google analytics or other services to track where people find your website, how long they stay there, which pages they visit first and so on. This information helps you determine what works best for your audience—whether that’s a certain page or piece of content or even which type of social media posts get the most interaction from followers.
It’s also important to track conversions (i.e., people who come from one channel but then fill out a form). If someone clicks through from Facebook but doesn’t end up making an appointment with us after all, we’ll want to know why so we can make adjustments for next time!
You’re not measuring ROI.
In order to know how your marketing is performing, you need to be measuring ROI (return on investment).
The best way to do this is by tracking the amount of revenue that comes from each marketing source. If you’re not tracking this information, it becomes difficult to determine strategies that are working and those that aren’t. The data will help you make informed decisions about what channels work best for your practice.
If you don’t have a clear idea of which channels are generating the most revenue for your practice, try recording information about your patients’ demographics and behavior before they come into contact with any type of outreach material. After comparing these numbers with the ones generated after each campaign was released, see if there’s a correlation between different types of outreach materials and lifetime value (LTV) per patient.
Even small mistakes can cost you patients so it’s important to get them right!
The healthcare industry is a competitive one, and mistakes can have a huge impact on your business. Even the smallest mistake could cost you patients. That’s why it’s important that you get things right! Don’t just do something; do it right!
It’s also crucial to not be afraid to ask for help in this area. One mistake many businesses make is thinking they have to do everything themselves; but if there’s something you don’t know how to handle or if there are parts of the process that could be improved, don’t be afraid to ask for help from professionals who know more about these things than you. And if someone gives feedback on what they liked/didn’t like about your website or other marketing efforts, listen carefully—it can reveal major flaws in your healthcare marketing strategy that will cost real dollars over time if they aren’t addressed immediately!
Conclusion
We hope we’ve given you some insight into how to avoid some of these common marketing mistakes. The last thing we want is for you to lose patients because of something that could have been avoided with a little planning! Marketing is an important part of running your healthcare practice, so take the time to get it right and make sure your ideal patient finds you first.