In today’s competitive medical environment, marketing has become an essential tool for any successful rheumatology practice. It’s important to remember that marketing is an investment. A good marketing plan and a robust online presence can be expensive. Not only that, it requires constant maintenance, which can be difficult for a staff that is already stretched thin.
Because of this, it’s best to focus your efforts on a few useful places, so you can maximize your marketing budget and reach your audience with fewer dollars. Below are four areas that will help you accomplish just that.
Add a blog section to your site.
One of the most suitable ways to create fresh content that an audience will want to read is to publish blog posts on your website consistently. When you update a blog section with well written and informative content, you can improve your site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO refers to strategies that will help your medical practice end up on the first page of Google results, which is very important since most people do not click past page one.
A blog is also an excellent opportunity to establish your physicians as experts in their field, share knowledge, engage with patients through wellness tips, and create original content to share on social media.
[Check out some blogging 101 tips for rheumatologists!}
Promote your practice on Facebook.
The good news is that it’s free to create a business page on Facebook for your medical practice, and senior citizens are the fastest-growing user group on the site. Unfortunately, the bad news is that it can be tough to get anyone to see your posts unless you put a few advertising dollars behind them.
Luckily, a little money goes a long way on Facebook, and the ability to target particular groups of people makes it an excellent investment. For example, you can narrow your audience so that your ads and posts are shown only to women in your city over the age of 65 who are interested in arthritis.
Send regular email newsletters.
Capturing email addresses and regularly emailing patients drive traffic to your website, blog, and social network pages. This, in turn, will drive appointment requests and referrals. Start by collecting subscribers from your existing client and referral base as well as from your social media followers. Then create a newsletter template with an inexpensive mailing service. Unsure of what to include — try starting with excerpts and links to your blog posts, highlights of your recent work, and information about upcoming events or holidays.
List your practice in local search results.
Another way to help your rheumatology practice be the first one that potential patients see when they conduct an online search is to add it to local business listings and online directories.
To do this, you can run a scan to see where your practice is currently listed. If your practice isn’t showing up, you can submit it to an online business directory of your choice — don’t stop at one.
We hope these ideas help you make the most of your marketing budget this year and beyond!
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