Did you know that 66 percent of internet users search for medical information online in a regular manner? This provides an opportunity for medical practices to gain visibility and build trust using the best marketing strategies.
If you want your practice to grow and expand its reach, you need to market it correctly. There are many medical practice marketing mistakes to avoid, however, so how can you ensure you have the best ones in place?
Let us look at the most common mistakes medical practices make in marketing and how you can prevent them.
1. Medical Practice Marketing Mistakes: Website Issues
Not having a website at all or having one that is not attractive is one of the most common marketing mistakes medical practices make. Even if you do have a website, you have to ensure it is mobile-friendly, since many potential patients are likely to view it on a mobile device.
You do not want to have a cluttered site with images that load slowly. This can lead patients to click out and go in search of another medical practice.
It is important, though, to first have an idea of the content and the strategy you want for marketing the practice. To give you the organic visibility you need, content is key. Think about the kind of content you want people to find, whether research information, health guidelines, FAQs, symptom checklists, and more.
Having a digital marketing strategy before you create your website can ensure it has the right focus.
You also need to make certain your medical practice website is not outdated. Keep phone numbers and other contact information updated and consider how long it takes someone to find what they need on the site. The faster they can get the information they need, the likelier they will reach out to you.
2. Not Considering Marketing Important
If you run a medical practice, you probably do not want to have to engage in a medical practice marketing strategy. You may even think you can rely on local word-of-mouth. That may have been a possibility in the past, but it is no longer the case.
You need people to be able to find you if they input services you offer into a search engine. People are likelier to do this now than ask for recommendations from people in the area. If they do not find you online, they will find another medical practice and you will lose out on a patient.
Making a half-hearted effort at marketing is also not going to cut it in today’s competitive market. Having a stack of brochures in your waiting room is not enough to attract the visibility you want for your practice.
Look at your competitors and see what they are doing. You do not want to copy them, but you can learn what works and what does not. When looking to grow your functional medicine practice, keeping a close eye on the marketing competitors use is vital.
3. Wrong Marketing Budget
Underfunding your marketing strategy can be just as bad as not attempting one at all. An example of this is television ads. If your budget would only allow you to create a low-quality ad to play occasionally, this may not be the best strategy for your business because you do not want potential patients to associate you with something unprofessional.
When setting a budget for your digital marketing strategy, you have to be realistic in the cost of the option and what you can afford. If you create a PPC ad that runs out of money in an hour, then you will not be able to get the meaningful data you want to know if it is effective.
You also want to remember that if your competitor is spending double the amount of money you are on ads, people will be twice as likely to find them and not you.
To set the right budget, you want to evaluate what you can afford and what will actually create the results you want.
4. Not Focusing on Reputation Management
As with any other business, you need to have reviews about your services out there. Before engaging with a medical practice, people will do some research on the physicians and the overall experience. If you do not have reviews they can read, they will not know if they can rely on your services.
Reputation management ensures your business maintains the reputation you need it to have to instill trust. You want to ask patients for reviews but you also want to have someone active on social media sites to engage with concerns or questions people may have.
If potential patients see that your practice goes the extra mile to interact with patients, they will find it easier to reach out to you.
5. Expecting Instant Results
Marketing takes time. If you expect to get quick results, you will be disappointed and might not try other marketing strategies. Many times, it can take 4 to 6 months to see active results.
Having patience in marketing, including adding regular quality content to social media and your website, can allow you to focus on the strategies that will rank you higher in search engine queries.
6. Inconsistency
Something as simple as not having a consistent name for your medical practice can harm your marketing efforts. Be sure your practice’s name, location, phone number, and email are all the same through the different social media platforms, on review sites, and on Google maps.
Inconsistency also refers to the kind and quality of content you may provide on your site. If you tend to offer serious medical information on your blog or site, adding something with a lighter tone can confuse patients.
Grow Your Practice
How can you offer your medical services if people cannot find you? To grow your practice and offer the quality services you know you can provide, you want to avoid these medical practice marketing mistakes. By offering consistency, managing your reputation, and having a realistic marketing budget, you can get the visibility you need.
If you want to know more about how to market your business, you can turn to our Business page for more strategies!
