Running a healthcare practice is one of the most difficult things that can be done as there are so many factors that impact the success of the practice. Everything from the comfort of the waiting room to the personality of the staff can have huge effects on patient retention. Once a practice has perfected these details it is important to start perfecting the marketing end of the practice. This is what is going to attract new patients weekly and with high patient retention this can guarantee success for years to come. Content marketing in the digital age has become as competitive as ever so generic content will not be an efficient tactic and it will be a waste of the marketing budget. Educating patients can be a great way to retain them as well as cut down on the number of calls to the doctor about certain situations. An informed patient is much easier to deal with than that of an uninformed patient that panics anytime they are feeling a bit different. The following are tactics that will help empower patients through educating them via content marketing.
Write Content Around Common Questions Asked
There are going to be frequently asked questions by patients in healthcare practices like those of dentists and oral surgeons. Getting wisdom teeth extracted can come with a plethora of questions which should be addressed on the website as well as in a pamphlet provided to the patient after the procedure. This will save the administrative team a multitude of time as people call the doctor instead if not given aftercare instructions. There could be questions that commonly come up that are not addressed widely online so create a piece of content around this. Answering questions with content allows a healthcare practice to concentrate on attracting new patients instead of taking time to answer questions daily that could have been covered with a pamphlet or blog post.
Helps Reduce Worrying In Patients
There are those patients that are going to worry about any procedure even if it is extremely minor. These patients will repeatedly call the practice to ask questions as they feel like they might be the 1 in 10,000 that has serious complications from getting a tooth filling. Taking the time to create content that is interactive on the site much like that of WebMD can be a huge help. This can let a patient know not to worry as what they are experiencing is completely normal. Interactive webpages like this can become resources for many people in a niche of health which can establish a practice as a thought leader as well as helping search engine rankings when the resource is shared across the internet.
Images Can Be a Lifesaver….Literally
There are some areas of health that images need to be put on the practice’s website. These can include dermatology as certain growths can be misconstrued as minor or major by mistake. Seeing hemorrhoid pictures can help reduce stress if an uninformed patient might think it could be some form of colon cancer. Dermatology practices should have pictures of things like skin cancer or precancerous spots so patients can see if these areas grow or reduce. A specific picture could alert a patient to a major issue they are having that otherwise they would have just brushed off. Content in the form of images is not perfect for every type of healthcare but there are those that they are imperative to have on a practice website for the good of the patients.
Engaging Patients Makes For Loyal Patients
Patients might comment on specific blog posts with questions or simply thoughts. This is the time to engage with these patients as it will help build rapport that will increase patient loyalty. Of course nothing is going to replace high quality care with personable staff but engaging online does help. Social media is the perfect place to do this and it can even be a huge help as far as customer service goes. A patient might not call to complain but will flock to social media as well as review to sites to voice their complaints. Responding in a timely manner can help retain a patient that otherwise would have gone elsewhere for further treatment. At times people just want to be heard so hear and respond to them to create a sense of community among the patients.
Content marketing is here to stay in the digital age so it’s great to use content to educate patients going forward. A practice will find a myriad of benefits behind having patients that understand reasoning behind certain treatments as well as medications. How do you engage with your patient community via content?