Healthcare marketing is a broad concept that includes all aspects of the interaction between their provider (the doctor, nurse, other specialists) and the consumer (the client of a private clinic). The objectives of healthcare marketing are to promote, increase visibility, find new patients, and meet their health care needs.

A successful healthcare marketing strategy involves improving the brand of the clinic, using technological solutions, and supporting the impeccable reputation of physicians. Healthcare marketing in 2021 is aimed at attracting new customers, investing in online reputation, expanding artificial intelligence appliances and analytics. The most important thing for medical institutions is an investment in SEO (as of today, Google processes more than 3.5 billion searches per day).

Offline promotion: is it relevant or not?

The offline marketing of medical services includes advertising on radio, television, and in the press. One of the tools is outdoor advertising. To choose the right marketing channel, you should know your target audience well. To attract the attention of older people will be suitable advertising on the radio, in the press or on TV. To attract the attention of young parents, it is enough to arrange a party at the playground with the distribution of flyers. 

Other channels for offline marketing promotion of healthcare services and products are:

• Advertising in transport.
• Outdoor billboards.
• Street signs.
• Indoor advertising.
• Stands and signs.
• Lightboxes, steles. 

Traditional offline marketing tells customers about products and services. This method of marketing is still relevant, but to achieve better results it should be combined with digital marketing.

What are the trends in digital healthcare marketing?

The most current trends in healthcare marketing 2021 are:

• Search Engine Advertising.
• SEO promotion.
• Patient portals – used to provide patients with convenient and secure 24/7 access to their personal health information, medical advice and assistance.
• Clinic’s or physician’s brand development.

The peculiarities of the healthcare business determine the approach to the promotion of healthcare services. If they are not taken into account, it will not be possible to effectively promote a private clinic.

Search Engine Advertising

Healthcare marketing via the Internet follows certain rules. For example, Google is prohibited from targeting ads that are relevant to medical topics. Representatives of healthcare institutions can advertise only in search results. As an option for search engine advertising, you can register your healthcare clinic website with search engine directories.

SEO promotion

SEO promotion of the healthcare clinic starts with the collection of search queries. Collecting the semantic core manually takes too much time. It is better to opt for special programs and services. Such programs can be used for free. All keywords are divided into groups, which relate to:

• Clinic services or specific diseases.
• Queries for the location of patients (city, street, region).
• Information queries.

Also, improve the usability of your website. Search engines have long learned to evaluate the activity of visitors to the website. If there were errors in the creation of the site, then it will not take 1st place in search results. Show that you understand the problems of patients, but do not forget about SEO promotion.

Clinic’s or physician’s brand development

Clinic brand development is a strategy aimed at promoting the company’s values. The strategy is suitable for network projects with great staff and without obvious leaders. If the clinic has branches in different cities, there is a need for new employees. Developing the clinic’s brand is the most appropriate solution.

This strategy allows centralized management of the clinic brand, using different channels for its marketing. Healthcare companies that have already used branding have received a new influx of customers. 

Developing a physician brand is a strategy designed for single clinics with well-known specialists. In medical institutions with a large number of branches, there is no point in developing a physician brand.

The advantage of this strategy s is the high level of patient trust. The doctor will be able to find and attract his or her patients. The importance of the doctor is increased, the emphasis is placed on the personal achievements of the professional. As a result, the flow of patients increases, the image of the doctor among his or her colleagues is created, and the profit of the clinic increases.

Conclusions

We have considered the main trends in healthcare marketing 2021 for acquiring patients. Priority areas – investment in content marketing, reputation management, SEO, and work with negative feedback. Combine offline and online marketing methods.