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10 Tips for Effective Medical Marketing: Reach More Patients in 2024

Discover strategies to enhance your medical marketing efforts in 2024. From SEO to PPC to content marketing to social media, learn how to attract more patients and boost referrals.

10 Tips to Improve Medical Marketing for Doctors in 2024

In today’s fast-paced, technology driven world, potential patients are searching on the web for local physicians and healthcare services. They want to know, research, like, and verify through other patient reviews, their chosen doctor before they walk through those doors or book an appointment online!

“I’ve been in medical marketing since 1997. Until about the last 10 years, the senior and boomer generation went off trust and word of mouth referrals, but that world has shifted significantly. With more competition in the marketplace and information at our fingertips, the ‘old’ way of medical marketing simply does not work any longer,” says Josh Cates, Hero Marketing Agency’s Founder.

Doctors and medical clinics are always looking for ways to improve their marketing. Whether it’s getting new patients through the door or increasing referrals, finding ways to reach more people is always a top priority. In this blog post, we’ll share 10 tips that you can use to improve your medical marketing strategy. Keep reading to learn more!

Develop a local search engine optimization strategy

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the practice of increasing the amount of free traffic that sites get from search engines. Keywords are particularly important here—they’re words or phrases that potential patients might type into a search engine when looking for medical services or a specific type of practice in their area.

When you have the right keywords in place, and the correct amount of content, metadata, along with strategies in place for strong organic search, the result is more visibility and higher search rankings for your practice. This is not something we recommend a practice or medical clinic tries to task internally, as there are many factors and strategies that go into a strong SEO plan. This is the absolute first strategy to put in place for more website traffic.

Invest in your website design and content

Your website is the foundation of your online presence, your practice, and your medical marketing strategy. It’s where patients learn about your services, read your blog posts, and contact you to schedule an appointment.

If your website looks outdated or doesn’t have enough information, potential patients will look for a healthcare practice elsewhere. Investing in a modern website design is one of the best ways to get an immediate return on your marketing. Ensure your website is easy to navigate on both desktop computers and mobile phones.

Make sure your name, address, and phone number (NAP) is correct across all listings

Google Business Profile is a valuable tool for healthcare providers to reach potential patients. With the majority of people using Google as their primary search engine, having an optimized profile can greatly increase your visibility and attract more patients to your practice.

Not only does your Google Business Profile provide basic information such as location, contact information, and hours of operation, but it also allows you to showcase your services, reviews from previous patients, and even post updates or promotions.

Online directories are a great way to reach new patients. Make sure your clinic is listed in the major online directories, such as Google Maps, Yahoo! Local, and Yelp.

Are you listed in all the right places on the web? If not, you’re missing out on potential patients. Make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is correct across all of your online listings. This includes directories like Google My Business, Yelp, and Healthgrades, as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

If your medical clinic isn’t getting the online visibility that it deserves, it’s time to take a look at directory listings and review sites. If you have any negative reviews or outdated information listed, make sure to get it corrected and make sure your information is up-to-date and accurate.

Invest in social media marketing for doctors

Social media is a powerful marketing tool for doctors and medical clinics. It’s a way to connect with potential patients on a personal level, and it’s a great way to share news and information about your clinic.

Make sure you have a strong social media marketing strategy and presence on the major platforms important to your practice and patients. This includes Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Make sure your social media profiles are complete and up to date. Your posts need to be interesting and engaging. Provide educational content that is interesting and informative to your patients and do so on a regular basis.

Have an active content marketing strategy

Start a medical blog and post fresh content at least twice per month. Make sure you’re posting interesting, engaging content patients will love.

Medical content is important for your medical marketing strategy. Make sure you have medical blogs with information related to the services and treatments offered in your practice. Not only does a good content marketing strategy make it easy for patients to get needed information, but it also increases search engine rankings and improves medical SEO.

Use email marketing to reach targeted patients

Make sure you have a medical practice email list and start sending regular emails to your subscribers. Develop a medical marketing email content strategy, and make sure you’re not spamming your patients with irrelevant medical information.

An email newsletter is also a great way to keep your patients in the loop about what’s going on at your medical clinic and stay top of mind for loyalty and patient referrals. You can use it to share new blog posts, upcoming events, or special promotions that you’re running.

Make sure these emails are educational, easy to read, and engaging. You can also include a call-to-action that encourages patients to visit your website or contact your clinic for more information.

When you create an email newsletter, make sure it’s designed for mobile devices as well. This is important, as more and more people are reading emails on their phones and tablets.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the medical marketing tasks at hand, it might be time to partner with a medical marketing agency. These agencies can help you develop a comprehensive email marketing strategy, and they can help you implement and manage your marketing campaigns.

Build trust with online reviews on Google and other trusted review sites

Medical professionals love it when their patients leave good reviews on Google or Yelp. These reviews allow potential patients to get a feel for what it would be like to receive medical services from your clinic or practice, and it will build trust and confidence.

This is actually one of the most important medical marketing tasks to complete. However, most satisfied and happy patients will not leave a review unless they are asked to.

It is possible to automate the review request process, or manually request reviews via email or text with review software. Remember, it’s equally important to reply to all reviews within HIPPA guidelines, a process a medical marketing agency can also automate for you.

When a user searches on Google Search or Google Maps, a practice that obtains consistent, organic reviews and responds to those reviews in a personal, timely manner will have a better chance of appearing higher in the search results.

Start creating videos with your doctors and staff

Videos are a fantastic medical marketing tool. They can be used to introduce patients to your medical office, doctors, and staff. Videos can also get patients excited, visually demonstrate the patient experience, help them get information faster, and even give them the chance to see medical procedures in action.

You can also post these videos on your website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, emails, and your blog. With video content marketing, medical practices have the opportunity to reach targeted patients with educational content that provides medical information.

A medical marketing agency can help you get started with medical videos, and even provide video production for you. They can also help you share these videos through your medical website, social media channels, YouTube channel, LinkedIn page, and other medical marketing channels.

Generate leads with Google Ads and Social Advertising

Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) is one of the most effective medical marketing tools available because it allows medical practices to target people searching for medical-related terms and attract new patients.

“Google works! Just one example is a dental practice that we deploy Google advertising for. We were able to track and generate a 5x return on their ad spend. Not only is it bringing in actual patients, but the added exposure also provides great awareness for their doctors,” says Cates.

It’s important for your digital marketing to focus on medical-related keywords that have a high search volume and low competition for the products and services you offer. Equally important is to define and constantly refine your target audience.

There are also medical ads for medical practices that appear on Facebook and Instagram. These medical ads can target people who live in your specific practice area, or even target people attending specific events in your area.

Targeting medical professionals is another good option for medical marketers who want to increase referrals and give their medical practices a significant boost in leads. This audience is already actively looking for medical information, so medical marketers can reach them just by doing medical marketing on the platforms they are using.

Depend on marketing analytics to make decisions

Medical marketing analytics is the process of measuring, analyzing, and reporting on the performance of medical marketing campaigns.

This data can help you answer important questions about your healthcare marketing, such as:

  • Which ads are generating the most leads?
  • Which ads are generating the greatest ROI (return on investment)?
  • What social media sites are patients visiting?
  • What types of content are patients most interested in?

Medical marketing analytics can help medical professionals make better decisions about their medical marketing, so it’s important to have a medical marketing agency that can provide you with these services.

Tracking codes that are embedded on your website and website URLs can let you know how many appointments were booked or phone calls made from your marketing efforts.

If you’re not currently using medical marketing analytics, now is the time to start. This data will help you feel confident in your medical marketing strategy.

Where do I start with my Medical Marketing Strategy?

If you’re serious about medical marketing and growing your practice, you need a medical marketing agency with the experience to offer sound advice specific to your industry. Agencies have the experience and knowledge to put together a medical marketing strategy that will help you succeed online. They can handle your SEO, medical blogging, reputation management, social media presence, and more!

To put it bluntly, medical marketing is tough. Doctors are not marketers by trade, and this leaves many of them struggling to get their message out there in the way that’s most effective for them. At Hero Marketing Agency, we know how difficult it can be for doctors to keep up with all the latest trends. When you hire us, you are hiring a team to be an extension of you. Allow us to do what we do best, and that’s helping grow your practice.

We have compiled this list of 10 ways to improve medical marketing for doctors using these marketing tips. Give us a call today at 830-388-8110 to start planning for success or fill out our contact form if you would like more information about any of the tips from this article. We will be happy to perform a free marketing audit for your practice, then answer anything you may need help with and provide useful insights into what might work best for your practice.

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Meet the Author

Josh Cates

Chief Executive Officer & Founding Principal

Throughout my 25-year career as a multifaceted and data-driven entrepreneur and senior marketing executive, I have amassed a wealth of business knowledge by starting up five companies, three of which were successfully acquired. In addition, I have consulted in over 70 industries, giving me a unique and multidimensional perspective on business growth and development.

In my current role as Founder and CEO of Hero Marketing Agency, I understand the importance of strong relationships—our agency exists to help companies achieve transformational long-term success. I have a deep passion for working directly with organizations to realize real marketing returns and provide the best and most strategic services available.

I carry a DoD Top Secret Clearance, effective 17 April 2020, received a nomination for the Colorado Springs Advertising ICON award, recipient of multiple ADDY awards, and was honored to be nominated for Businessman of the Year by the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce.

Kurt Cannarella

Director of Paid Media

As veteran of the NYC & Dallas Advertising Agencies, Kurt has managed paid media for many of the top brands within the country including DIRECTV, Charles Schwab, Ralph Lauren, and the NBA.

His focus involves designing a fully integrated paid media strategy tailored to each business’s goals and objectives. After moving on from the larger Ad Agencies, Kurt shifted his focus on aiding small and mid-sized brands craft their integrated paid media strategy. Outside of his paid media interests, Kurt spends his time rooting for his beloved NY Mets as well as traveling with his wife Lauren and two daughters Chloe & Camille.

Our clients at Hero Marketing Agency consistently praise Kurt for his high-touch communication style, thoroughness, integrated media knowledge, and his strategic approach.

Josh Cates

Chief Executive Officer & Founding Principal

Throughout my 25-year career as a multifaceted and data-driven entrepreneur and senior marketing executive, I have amassed a wealth of business knowledge by starting up five companies, three of which were successfully acquired. In addition, I have consulted in over 70 industries, giving me a unique and multidimensional perspective on business growth and development.

In my current role as Founder and CEO of Hero Marketing Agency, I understand the importance of strong relationships—our agency exists to help companies achieve transformational long-term success. I have a deep passion for working directly with organizations to realize real marketing returns and provide the best and most strategic services available.

I carry a DoD Top Secret Clearance, effective 17 April 2020, received a nomination for the Colorado Springs Advertising ICON award, recipient of multiple ADDY awards, and was honored to be nominated for Businessman of the Year by the Greater Boerne Chamber of Commerce.

Joanna Brown

Creative Director

Joanna is a creative director, an art director, and a designer with 20+ years of experience delivering world-class creative content. Her career has taken her from London (UK) to New York City, then down to the heart of Texas with her family.

She is a creative leader with proven strategic thinking, problem-solving, effective communication, and management knowledge who forges meaningful connections with internal and client teams. In her role with Hero Marketing Agency, Joanna collaborates with brands, content makers, and storytellers to formulate and bring to life the creative vision through compelling human-centered, results-driven user experiences.

Joanna has worked with various startups to global giants, including J.P. Morgan Chase, Google, Unilever, and Norwegian Cruise Line.

Heather Short-Davis

Client Strategist

Imagine it’s 2001, and you have a new, yet heavy, phone in your hand with the latest technology— get ready to be in awe — it has a single-color display! Instead of black text on a gray background, you get to look at black text on a blue background.

Yes, it sounds underwhelming, but that’s what level of tech we were excited about. It’s the same year wireless phone providers began to connect networks for text messaging. And it’s the same year Heather entered the marketing workforce.

She has had the benefit of experiencing first-hand the evolution and digitization of marketing tactics. From oil & gas to technology transfer, no industry has been left untouched from the vast increase in data now available at our business fingertips. As a data-driven marketer, Heather has not only an appreciation for, but also a solid understanding of tracking and analyzing data to devise strategies and evaluate performance.

At Hero Marketing Agency Heather collaborates with clients to help them achieve a sound strategy for marketing. First to define and distill their goals. Then to develop strategies for goal achievement, articulating objectives, tactics, and success metrics. Great strategists are dynamic storytellers who have the ability to make the incredibly complex feel simple.

A native Texan, Heather has recently moved back to Texas after 14 years in Northern Indiana. She graduated with a double major in marketing and advertising from Indiana University South Bend with scholarship awards. Her collegiate career began at the University of Texas at Austin, but life and her husband took their adventure north.

She is happy to be back in central Texas where they are close to family and do not need a snow blower in the garage. She enjoys emerging technologies and new consumer electronics. An avid runner, some of her best creative ideas have happened mid-run.

Bob Cates

Chief Financial Officer & Co-Founding Principal

Bob has always been an entrepreneur. He will tell you he has lived the American dream, starting and running his own businesses, which have included oil and natural gas exploration, healthcare, publishing, consumer electronics, e-commerce, franchise operations and marketing agency.

Graduating from the University of North Texas with an accounting degree, Bob received his CPA while an Audit Supervisor for the State of Texas. In 1983 Bob started his first business, an independent oil and gas exploration company, which he operated until 2007.

As the Co-Founder of Hero Marketing Agency, Bob is an invaluable part of the brand, and his talents expand beyond his dynamic abilities with projections and figures. Bob sits on the board and counsels on all matters relating to the brand’s financial well-being, in addition to consulting and handling the business management side for clients of Hero Marketing Agency.

In 2018 Bob added the title Director of Digital Strategy to his name, where his background in auditing and time as a CPA migrate perfectly to crunching data and making clear sense of the ever-changing world of digital strategy for Hero Marketing Agency clients.

Splitting time between Colorado and the Texas Hill Country, Bob is married to his high-school sweetheart of 51 years and loves volunteering in his hometown, where he serves on Boerne’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He also loves exploring the outdoors, bow hunting, cycling, and hiking.

Bob Cates

CFO & Vision Behind Hero Marketing Agency

Bob has always been an entrepreneur. He will tell you he has lived the American dream, starting and running his own businesses, which have included oil and natural gas exploration, healthcare, publishing, consumer electronics, e-commerce, franchise operations and marketing agency.

Graduating from the University of North Texas with an accounting degree, Bob received his CPA while an Audit Supervisor for the State of Texas. In 1983 Bob started his first business, an independent oil and gas exploration company, which he operated until 2007.

As the Co-Founder of Hero Marketing Agency, Bob is an invaluable part of the brand, and his talents expand beyond his dynamic abilities with projections and figures. Bob sits on the board and counsels on all matters relating to the brand’s financial well-being, in addition to consulting and handling the business management side for clients of Hero Marketing Agency.

In 2018 Bob added the title Director of Digital Strategy to his name, where his background in auditing and time as a CPA migrate perfectly to crunching data and making clear sense of the ever-changing world of digital strategy for Hero Marketing Agency clients.

Splitting time between Colorado and the Texas Hill Country, Bob is married to his high-school sweetheart of 51 years and loves volunteering in his hometown, where he serves on Boerne’s Planning and Zoning Commission. He also loves exploring the outdoors, bow hunting, cycling, and hiking.