5 ways to improve your practice’s digital marketing efforts in 2022
The need for a consistent and professional digital marketing strategy is universal.
While each practice’s business priorities vary, the need for a consistent and professional digital marketing strategy is universal.
Here are five moves that practices should make to level up their strategies in 2022.
The first step to making any changes starts with an assessment, in this case, of existing Internet presence. When a physician’s practice searches for itself on Google, Bing, or another search engine, what happens? How far down the first landing page does the practice show up? How many stars show up in a rating?
Answers to these questions can help a practice get a sense of how it is faring. Also, as part of a comprehensive inventory, a practice should also look at the insights from its digital assets such as social media accounts. How many and what kinds of posts are generating high click-through rates to the practice’s site? While these are only basic examples of a full-blown inventory, they’re important metrics.
Competition is a constant reality for owning any business, whether a small practice or a Greek restaurant. Too often, the Michelin-star-worthy eateries — or hidden-gem physicians — aren’t getting the buzz and business they deserve. How does your practice’s web presence compare with those other similar practices in a particular community (or a 10-mile radius)? What kind of social media presence do the top practices in a particular area have?
The easiest way to improve online reputation is to ensure current clients (i.e., patients) are satisfied with the services, care, and treatment they receive. One way to do this is using proactive patient surveys (e.g., text-based surveys) after every patient encounter. This way, practices are alerted to problems such as poor customer service before they turn into poor online ratings. Practices should also follow ratings outlets like Yelp and respond to poor reviews or complaints quickly. This demonstrates to potential patients that a practice is paying attention and committed to resolving issues.
Inevitably, what a practice does with its marketing budget should be tied to specific growth goals. What do you hope to accomplish in one year, two years, or five years? Maintain the status quo? Grow business revenues for a particular procedure by 20%? Every goal influences the direction of marketing efforts and budgeting decisions.
Resource-strapped practices often lack the ability to fix everything at once, so it’s better to tackle the most glaring problems first, such as a website that’s hard to navigate, or poor or nonexistent local SEO. A third-party expert, or digital marketing consultant, can help a practice maximize its resources, and improve any weaker areas of its digital strategy.
To generate new business in 2022, practices need to consider the evolving preferences of consumers and clients. Having the right digital marketing expertise and growth strategy tailored to consumers’ preferences is essential for moving forward and staying profitable.
Shawn Miele is the Founder and CEO of MyAdvice.
