If there is an indelible mark that the 2020 pandemic has made in the medical profession, it is the fact that digital medical practice is here to stay. Teleconsulting and telemedicine will become regular routines for doctors. With more and more patients relying on the internet for their healthcare needs, doctors should also consider jumping on the inbound marketing bandwagon.
What Is Inbound Marketing?
To understand what inbound marketing is, it would probably be better to start by knowing what it is not. It’s not advertising on radio, billboards, newsprints, TV, or telemarketing to get customers or patients.
After crossing out the traditional marketing avenues, that leaves us with none other than—digital or online marketing. Inbound marketing simply means using social media, content marketing, search engine optimization, among others, to generate leads.
Why Is Inbound Marketing For Doctors Important?
Doctors are extremely busy professionals. They spend most of their waking hours checking on patients, studying new medical trends, and attending conferences for continuing education. Some of them even delve into training, teaching, or research. So, it made sense that traditional marketing methods, such as word of mouth, print ads in newspapers or magazines, or even giant billboards, used to be go-to marketing solutions in attracting new patients.
But times have changed. Traditional marketing media are losing steam, so doctors should consider jumping ship and use digital marketing instead. In fact, many doctors are even using healthcare apps to serve their potential or existing patients. If you don’t take advantage of the digital marketing strategies for healthcare providers, you may be losing out not just in terms of income, but also the opportunity to serve your patients.
If you remain skeptical about doing inbound marketing, read on to understand why doctors of today must start marketing online.
- It Promotes Two-Way Communication
Engagement is a vital component in every successful advertising campaign. It includes inbound marketing for doctors. People are craving to be heard. They want open communication with businesses and professionals who provide the services they need. Moreover, being listened to makes people feel that their voice matters. They want to have the convenient means to ask questions, provide feedback, and receive answers and comments on time.
How can you engage with your patients, potential or existing, through a TV commercial or a billboard? You can’t. The best way for you to provide your target market a way to communicate with you is through digital platforms, such as websites, social media accounts, and email.
- It Is Where Your Patients Are
Internet users have been steadily increasing in recent years. However, internet use has surged even higher to as much as 70% because of the pandemic. Although the rise may be due to the demand for entertainment and other streaming services, data still show that people rely more on the internet to provide them with information and entertainment.
This means that if you want your patients to find you, you also need to establish your presence and reputation online. Inbound marketing is vital to your practice because it will enable you to connect with people and discuss their problems, diseases, and conditions you’re in the best position to help.
- It Is Cost-Effective
Most doctors won’t mind spending a sum on advertising and marketing because they earn well. However, for all types of businesses, including the medical profession, return on investment is an important consideration. It means that even doctors want to get the best value from each penny spent.
Inbound marketing is an economical way of attracting patients and customers. Every dollar you invest in your digital campaign has a better chance of getting a return on your investment. The main cause is the visibility of your ads to your niche market. These are people surfing the internet to look for information about the conditions or diseases they are suffering from.
- It Runs Faster Campaigns
Time is essential for everyone, but more so for doctors. Every minute they save means having more time for more important matters, such as saving lives and curing life-threatening diseases. Inbound marketing campaigns don’t usually take much of your time. Most often than not, it only takes minutes to launch a digital campaign.
In traditional marketing, such as creating TV ads or press releases for newspapers, you’ll have to wait hours, days, or even weeks before you can circulate the final version of your ad or press release.
Takeaway
As more people use digital tools in their daily lives, it makes sense for doctors and other healthcare providers to also reach out to their patients using the same tools. With digital marketing, doctors can send their messages to their patients instantly, promote two-way communication with them, and run cost-effective and fast marketing campaigns. Truly, effective inbound marketing for doctors can help grow the number of patients and build better health awareness.
Throughout the year, our writers feature fresh, in-depth, and relevant information for our audience of 40,000+ healthcare leaders and professionals. As a healthcare business publication, we cover and cherish our relationship with the entire health care industry including administrators, nurses, physicians, physical therapists, pharmacists, and more. We cover a broad spectrum from hospitals to medical offices to outpatient services to eye surgery centers to university settings. We focus on rehabilitation, nursing homes, home care, hospice as well as men’s health, women’s heath, and pediatrics.
