A surprising amount of hospitals still rely on traditional TV and print advertising as well as word of mouth referrals for marketing purposes. While these tactics are an essential part of every health care organization’s marketing strategy, they are now overshadowed by the impact of technology-based marketing solutions, such as social media and personalized email campaigns. Because many patients are used to traditional care formats, it is difficult at times to convince them of the beneficial alternatives.
Social Media Marketing Strategies
A surprising amount of hospitals still rely on traditional TV and print advertising as well as word of mouth referrals for marketing purposes. While these tactics are an essential part of every health care organization’s marketing strategy, they are now overshadowed by the impact of technology-based marketing solutions, such as social media and personalized email campaigns. Because many patients are used to traditional care formats, it is difficult at times to convince them of the beneficial alternatives.
Social Media Marketing Strategies
The first step in marketing new technologies to existing patients is to establish and maintain an active social media presence. Social media platforms are the replacement of word of mouth referrals. Health care organizations can instantly reach thousands of potential patients through social media platforms, which each have their own advantages. For example, LinkedIn is the best tool to connect with potential B2B and provider partners, Twitter is best to share briefly relevant health care tips and Facebook is a great way to ask patients to share posts about positive experiences. In fact, Facebook allows hospitals to create interactive communities of followers who can indirectly promote new technologies through sharing their own medical journeys and experiences. Touching personal stories from former patients who have successfully recovered from serious illnesses through the power of technology are ideal. Current patients who use new technological solutions to manage their health conditions are also very influential.
Host Marketing Events
To be successful in social media marketing, hospitals and health care organization systems need to host engaging events that include in-person calls to action. Sometimes referred to as actionable events, these marketing opportunities allow companies to engage with patients while offering valuable solutions. For example, health care providers who want to promote innovative technological solutions can run an event booth that allows potential patients to ask questions about services and benefits.
Ideally, this will result in them committing to attending an informative seminar or scheduling an appointment with an actual provider. In order to be successful, health care marketing events can no longer simply offer freebies and brochures, they must provide actionable events for both patients and providers. There are numerous opportunities to create online actionable events, such as automatically sending patients post-visit emails that include recent visit information and introductions to target technologies.
Personalized Hospital Communication
The best way to keep patients on track while providing friendly marketing reminders is through personalized communication templates and strategic planning. Hospitals must not only provide on-site personalized patient care, but also individualized communication experience. New health care software allows health care providers to send out messages regarding patient needs and history, which may include medication and appointment reminders. These are also excellent chances to include seasonal health information, preventative health care advice and overviews of new technology solutions.
Automated software programs will send messages based on the patient’s profile and the hospital’s specifications. This means that health care marketers can compile a list of patients who may potentially benefit from specific new technologies. These may be cardiology patients who will benefit from using mobile apps to track diet, exercise and medication requirements. Handy apps like these synch with hospital software programs and allow patients to send and receive messages. Because many hospitals use outdated software programs, a health care organization can use a vendor neutral archive (VNA) to migrate old data to new database systems.
As a final note, health care organizations must always remember to combine consistently successful marketing tools with new technology solutions. This is because traditional media is still the best option for large-scale marketing campaigns, while new media is primarily useful for engaging individual patients.