Content is the lifeblood of an effective digital healthcare marketing strategy. It informs, it engages, it spreads the word, and it gets people talking about your practice, hospital, medical device and can be a strong lead generator for new patients opportunities.
Trying to build your digital presence can be pretty daunting and even overwhelming. Where do you start? What do you say? Where do you share your content? How do you engage people? How does HIPAA and FDA regulations impact your strategy?
In an effort to help guide your content marketing efforts, here’s a look at some things that you should avoid. Knowing what to avoid can give you a clearer picture of what will actually make your healthcare content marketing strategy work.
In the past, having an undocumented marketing strategy may have worked; however, times have changed. In the 2015 edition of their B2B Content Marketing Report, the Content Marketing Institute reported that the biggest key to successful content marketing is having a specific writing strategy.
While the Content Marketing Institute does mention that having a verbal strategy is better than not having a strategy at all, it indicates that having a written strategy – and using it – is the best way to achieve success.
It found that the majority of B2B content marketers – 83%, to be exact – had a strategy; however, only 35% actually documented that strategy.
It also found that 60% of businesses who had a documented strategy said that it was extremely effective. On the other hand, of those who only had a verbal strategy in place, only 32% said that the strategy was effective.
Another big no-no is not being consistent with your content. In order for your content marketing strategy to actually be effective, you need to post content, and post it regularly. Use an editorial calendar in order to keep track of blog posts, Facebook status, and Tweets. This will ensure that you are posting regularly.
Social media plays a huge role in marketing, and not using it to promote your business and your content could have a dramatic impact on your success. Whenever you write a new post, make sure to share it on the social media outlets that you are using. Doing so will encourage more interaction with your business, which will obviously lead to increased success.
Whenever someone expresses interest in your business, make certain that you know what channel produced the interest and you take the appropriate follow up actions. Not tracking your leads can both cost you marketing budget by not knowing which channels produce, and, potentially, cost you satisfied customers who will return to you again and again to do business, or even provide you with referrals.
Don't fail to educate your potential leads about your technology (in use at the practice/hospitals) or medical device, including its features, benefits, and usage. There are a variety of resources that can be used to do this, including posting videos to YouTube, sharing articles and white papers, and publishing eBooks.
The entire point of content marketing is to inform your potential patients with valuable information about the products or services that you offer. That said, your content needs to be useful to your intended audience, otherwise it won't serve its purpose, which is to let potential patientsknow about your products/services and how they can benefit from them.
Always make sure that each content piece has a clear call to action, or a statement that informs your visitors about a certain topic or teaches them how to achieve a certain goal. Without a call to action, the chances of your patients following through with whatever it is you are hoping that they will do (book an appointment or order a medical device, for example.)
Anytime your are producing content at your healthcare organization, it is important that you are following the guidelines to keep your content compliant with the appropriate regulations. Social Media has many healthcare companies nervous about the uncontrollable nature of the channels. Being aware of what can (and can not) be shared is vital to your success as a marketer and organization.
Not making these eight healthcare content marketing mistakes can be a game-changer when it comes to a successful digital marketing campaign. Are you sure you aren’t making one or more of them?