Inexpensive medical marketing seems difficult to imagine. That is because traditional marketing (TV, radio, newspaper and direct mail) methods are expensive, and depending on the market, are often ineffective. Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or ineffective. In fact, the most effective marketing today is actually economical. Patients gained through Internet marketing cost 60% less than those that come from traditional methods. Here are some tips to keep your marketing costs down while increasing your patient reach through the Internet.
Blog Regularly
Blogs provide your facility a way to reach out to the masses by providing relevant, accurate medical information on a regular basis. Search engines like unique content. They like websites to be updated regularly. Blogging provides both. Over time this helps increase your search engine ranking. The biggest expense with blogging is time. But don’t let that keep you from blogging. It is well worth the investment. If you do not have the time, hire someone to write for you.
Use eBlasts
Hopefully you are collecting the email addresses of your patients as well as those who inquire with your facility. If you are not, you should start now. Once you have a contact list you should reach out to them via eBlasts regularly. eBlasts are email messages that are sent to a contact list as a way to share information such as promotions, newsletters and blogs. When done properly, eBlasts can turn prospective patients into patients. It can also turn existing patients into repeat customers for different services or procedures offered at your facility.
Create Landing Pages with Forms
A landing page is a page on your website that traffic is directed to for a specific purpose. This can be to fill out a contact form, schedule an appointment, ask a question, download a white paper, etc. When used in conjunction with an eBlast or social post, you can increase the likelihood of converting a visitor into a lead, which can then turn into a patient. Each landing page should be as simple as possible and should have a specific call to action. It should tell your visitor what you want them to do and how they should do it. There should also be a lead capturing form on the page.
Nurture Your Contact List
A contact list is a very important tool in your marketing arsenal. Not only should your list contain existing patients, it should also contain the contact information of everyone that has inquired. Nurturing your contact list means staying in touch with the people on it via newsletters, practice updates, blogs and promotional announcements. Depending on the unique needs of your leads, you should customize how you reach out to them. What services are they interested in or do they qualify for? Find out this information and use it each and every time you reach out. You will stay in the forefront of their mind so when they have a need you can meet, your facility will be the one they remember and call.
The Internet provides an exceptional tool for reaching potential patients. While it takes time to reap the benefits of Internet marketing, it works and is inexpensive. If you want to grow your practice, but have a limited marketing budget, consider Internet marketing. For a free Internet marketing assessment, click here.