Tips for Clinic Set Up – Planning & Designing
August 23, 2021
“Top Tips for Caring for the Elderly: Expert Advice”
August 26, 2021You have strived hard to realize your dream of creating a top-notch medical set-up equipped with advanced technology and manned by top-tier professionals…you are sure that you have provided world-class facilities to your patients and that expertise sets you a class apart from others. But if you do not have a well-planned and thoughtfully budgeted marketing strategy, the footfalls that you expect may not be achieved.
In times begone, there was a concept of a family doctor…the one-stop person whom a patient would rely on in health crises, come what may. This concept has become obsolete because today’s patient is exposed to a plethora of medical information online. One word search for any specialist healthcare institution on a search engine gives him/ her multiple choices in the area. It has become easy for a patient to choose or switch medical service providers namely doctor shopping. Unless it is an emergency, the tech-savvy patient prefers to make his healthcare institute decision after taking inputs from several sources. Perception matters foremost when it comes to brand recall. To gain and retain your core patient base, along with providing the basket of cure and care, you will have to invest in a sustainable marketing strategy for your healthcare set-up. This marketing strategy will be based on several factors. We have enlisted some of these.
1. YOUR USP
Each healthcare set-up has its own USP that is its unique selling point. Some may have the most advanced machinery, some may house the latest equipment, some may provide a home-like environment, yet others may offer a 5-star ambience. You and your marketing team will have to figure out what sets you apart from others and make a marketing strategy revolving around this core idea. Try to incorporate this idea in your tag line, mission statement, brochures and display ads too.
2. Online presence
Having an excellent online aura is essential in today’s times. Your website is usually the first point of contact between you and your patients; hence it should be constructed with due diligence. Every aspect including the colour, the images, the content, the banners should be in line with the ethos of your brand. Another thing to remember is that your website should be responsive. It should not just display information,
but should address patients’ questions, provide relevant contact methods and give general advice about wellness like prevention, nutrition, lifestyle modification and care. It should be enabled to function on any device, be it a tablet, laptop or a cell phone. Attention should be paid to both the content and the imagery to make it visually appealing and interesting. The user experience should be satisfying with prompt loading times and accuracy.
3. Garner the power of social media
Social media can help you interact with current and prospective patients and increase engagement.
Posting photos, updates, events, opinions etc. on sites like Instagram and Facebook can help you connect with your patient and build your hospital/clinic’s brand persona. You can take this one step further by investing in paid advertising which can help you reach the right target audience more speedily.
When your patient searches for best healthcare practice you want your website to appear among the top searches. That is what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) does.
Use tactics like search engine optimization with keywords and phrases to ensure that your healthcare organization comes in the top list of the search engines so that your brand becomes more visible. This will direct more traffic towards your website and ensure that you get more patients.
When your patient searches for best healthcare practice you want your website to appear among the top searches. That is what Search Engine Optimization (SEO) does.
4. Effective PR strategy
Building a legacy of trust between your healthcare facility and your prospective patients is essential. Design an effective PR strategy using tools like podcasts, press releases, interviews etc. to increase your visibility in the patient community. Use social media news feeds to stay in the top- of -the-mind remembrance of patients as they will remember interesting and informative news and its source too. Speak as an expert in public forums, webinars, conferences and seminars and post and repost this content on your social media sites. This can help you to establish yourself and your brand as the expert in your space or segment.
5. Bestimonials
Nothing works as well as word of mouth. Focus on giving your patients the best possible service and healing experience and they will have appreciation for you. Bestimonials meaning testimonials giving positive feedback about your services should be made a definite part of your marketing strategy. Patients tend to trust a healthcare facility when others facing the same health problem praise and appreciate a particular healthcare provider or service or institution.
6. Doctor Referrals
Growth is impossible without building a good network. Construct a core base of associate doctors who will give referrals and increase your volumes.
5. Bestimonials
Nothing works as well as word of mouth. Focus on giving your patients the best possible service and healing experience and they will have appreciation for you. Bestimonials meaning testimonials giving positive feedback about your services should be made a definite part of your marketing strategy. Patients tend to trusta healthcare facility when others facing the same health problem praise and appreciate a particular healthcare provider or service or institution.
6. Doctor Referrals
Growth is impossible without building a good network. Construct a core base of associate doctors who will give referrals and increase your volumes.
7. Follow-up
Establishing meaningful relationships with current patients is essential as it will ensure that they remain loyal and will return to your hospital in the future and refer your hospital to friends and family. Post-care should be an important part of your marketing strategy as follow-up procedures help in creating an impression of personalized care, retaining patients and also increasing word of mouth publicity. Other ways of follow-up can be through e-mails and phone reminders about appointments.
8. Focus on Internal marketing too
Use your team as spokespeople and ensure that they spread good publicity about your healthcare set-up.
9. Image building exercises
You can build the image of your healthcare organization by propagating awareness about prolong and voluntary activities undertaken by you for the benefit of the underprivileged. You can also promote a good image by the publication of newsletters, celebrating important health-related days like World heart Day for example and holding free camps etc. These will magnify your brand visibility.
To put in a nutshell, healthcare marketing strategy can help you proactively understand the needs of your potential patients and address them with the right promotion plan so as to achieve a brand presence and higher profitability. Getting professionals to design, maintain and manage your marketing strategy is a very good option that help you growto your full potential.
If you need the services of an expert healthcare marketing consultancy, we are just a call away.
Dr. Vishal Jadhav
+91 9820833149 / 9867712705
