Digital Marketing During The Global Pandemic
Overview
The globe is on high alert, struggling to deal with the pandemic as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is spreading rapidly. National and local governments all over the world impose mandatory social distancing and self-quarantine. The fight against the pandemic calls for everyone to stay inside their homes. In return, a global economic recession looms in because of businesses shutting down. This is a dire time where people need you the most for consultations and your medical assistance. However, people are avoiding public places and are mostly staying inside their homes but spending more time online. This is why digital marketing is the best key for your practice to reach out and help more potential and existing patients.
Healthcare Digital Marketing
To adapt more, your online services need to be upgraded to cater to the needs of your patients and their safety. An example of this is offering teleconsultation services to them while observing a user-friendly process on your website. But how can you lure in patients visiting your website? How can they know you exist? How can your clinic help more people during this pandemic? You can achieve this with an adaptive healthcare digital marketing strategy. The healthcare industry needs to focus more on producing more content marketing to drive more traffic to their websites and for people to know about them. It will also deliver an online continuous patient engagement. Content marketing is now more than just a simple blog or an editorial strategy. It involves a vary of digital marketing strategies like social media posting, email marketing, SEO, and online advertising. Your content marketing efforts will ensure consistent, informative and timely communication with your patients.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a type of digital marketing in which brands develop an on-going relationship with customers through content that is non-promotional and provides value at every touch. Over the years, content marketing has evolved from being just blog posts and editorial strategies but a holistic approach that relies on a broad range of digital marketing tactics such as email, social media, SEO, and paid distribution to reach a target audience.
Unlike advertising, content marketing is not overtly promotional. Rather, content marketing allows brands to become storytellers and provide important information especially during times of crisis. Your customers and prospects seek out content that entertains, inspires, educates, and informs. Content marketing tactics will help keep you create an on-going relationship during, and even after, the coronavirus pandemic.
Importance of High-Quality Content
According to statistics, 80% of internet users search for medical or health-related content online. Being in the healthcare industry, your content shouldn’t just be catchy or thought-provoking, it should always be informative and factual. Content is king. That is why it is important to always ensure high-quality content from your social media posts to your website blogs. Having a strong content marketing is an effective way to engage with your patients and increase patient volume during this pandemic.
Your online presence will provide awareness to your prospective patients about your practice. You will also gain their trust through content marketing that inspires, educates, and informs especially during this time of the global pandemic. Coronavirus diseases give a challenge for healthcare marketing to depend on strategies outside traditional marketing channels. Let people know that you are still available and ready to help them. Here are more benefits of ensuring high-quality content to your digital marketing strategy:
- It will drive HUGE traffic to your website
- It establishes a sense of trustworthiness to your practice
- It helps set up a high-standard for healthcare information online through ensuring evidenced-based and verified information for your content
- It creates an opportunity to get to know more about your potential patients as it encourages interaction through comments and feedback.
- It greatly enhances your ratings and credibility with high-quality content reflecting your practice
- It boosts up your search ranking, consistently converting prospects into patients
Competitive Ranking
Medical SEO serves an important role in driving relevant traffic to your website. It let people find your practice first over your competitors if you have a great SEO strategy. More traffic is bound to find your website especially during this time where the majority of people are spending more time online. Here’s why SEO is important to your digital marketing during these dark times of looming recession:
- It leads to better user experience
- It is the primary source of the traffic to your website
- It converts prospects into patients
- Heightens your credibility
- Establishes brand awareness to your target audience
SEO Opportunities
People nowadays consult their phone first when they are not feeling well for natural remedies or to know when to go to a doctor. Upgrade your SEO strategies and rank higher by:
- Doing More – now is a great time to do more link building and producing more content to educate your website visitors about COVID-19. Fix those links, research what people are searching, write informative blogs. It is the best time for you to focus on your online presence and patient engagement.
- Provide new services – People are living in fear to leave their houses because of COVID-19. You may want to offer them medical online services like teleconsultations for you to help them get through this crisis.
Your online presence as a medical provider is more important than ever. People need someone reliable to get information from and have guidance during this time. Online traffic is skyrocketing as people turn to digital for connection. Make sure to be there when they’re looking for you.
What to do
With people stuck indoors, digital marketing plays an even more important role. Reshaping your marketing strategies also is vital for your clinic to survive this crisis. Here are some digital marketing suggestions for your practice:
1. Improve your digital presence
You may want to consider a website redesign. Also, a website enhancement is recommended too with additional functionality and new services. You may also want to put up an e-commerce site for your wellness products. Lastly, there are more ways on how you can improve your online presence with new technology like:
- Chat functionality
- Product configurators
- Augmented Reality
- Personalization
Take time to think more about how you can improve your digital footprint. Also, looking for more ways to provide your patients with a better user experience as they engage more with your practice online.
2. Increase social media activity
COVID-19 has changed the world and will continue to affect all businesses and practices for the incoming months. Thus you should be more active with social media to reassure your patients that you are active and present. Maintain your connection with your patients and let them know that you are there for them. You can do this by engaging with them through social media platforms. It will let your patients be knowledgeable about COVID-19 from you, a reliable source. Finally, you can consider advertising your health and wellness products and services on social media to reach a wider audience.
3. Engage with your customers via email
Send out a weekly email to your patients to reassure them that you are there whenever they need help. You can send out a video-series or email campaign on how they can cope with the changes and about COVID-19.
4. Marketing for a cause
You may consider raising money for your local hospital or for people who are greatly affected by the pandemic. Cause marketing has become very popular for it also shows your care for your community. You can also provide them discounts on your consultations or a percentage of the sale of your products be given to charitable organizations.
Takeaway
You can still be profitable and help more patients during this time of crisis. Get more patients together with us in DrCatalyst. Let us help you re-engage with your patients through our medical marketing services.
