Integrating Patient-Centric Strategies: The Fractional CMO’s Blueprint for Healthcare Success

Healthcare marketing has shifted, focusing more on patients than ever before. With more patients taking an active role in curating their healthcare journey, providers are formulating marketing strategies centered on patient preferences. 

Using this information as a focal point in driving campaigns is called patient-centric marketing. A patient-centric approach empowers individuals to take charge of their healthcare, be knowledgeable about available options, and make informed decisions about their treatment. 

Healthcare companies are pivoting their operations and marketing to cultivate a mutually beneficial relationship with their patients. Adopting a patient-centric approach to marketing takes planning. A healthcare fractional CMO can help steer your healthcare business to success through efficient patient-focused campaigns. 

Find out more about fractional CMOs with Jason here:

What Is Patient-Centric Marketing? 

Patient-centric marketing is when marketing initiatives are geared toward patients as individuals. It takes into account their unique medical needs, preferences, and demographics to create campaigns that resonate, influencing where people choose to seek medical care. Thanks to the recent technology boom, patients have more access to medical information online, which is a major factor influencing their healthcare journeys.

The goal of patient-centric marketing is to cultivate engagement with patients through initiatives that capture their interests and educate them about healthcare. Patient-centric CMO strategies often include initiatives like personalized ads, content, and videos about relevant topics that nurture a patient’s interest and convert them into regulars. 

Diverting your marketing efforts to the right path can significantly grow your patient base and enhance your overall performance. There are many ways to conduct effective patient-centric marketing to boost your healthcare business.

Design a Patient-Centric Website

Let’s talk about a great example of a patient-centric website: Geode Health. Digital Authority Partners (DAP) led this campaign with new page designs for providers, locations, and more. This content (blogs and landing pages) is relevant, easily digestible, and a breeze to navigate. 

Now, patients can find information relevant to them. Whether they needed services provided or insurance partners, the site made it easy for them to find. The mental health provider sphere is highly competitive, and with a site to match their first-rate offerings, Geode Health had 11 locations in the number one spot on Google and saw a 26X increase in organic keywords ranking year-over-year.

One of the most effective patient-centric CMO strategies is doing an overhaul of a company website. Experts in healthcare website development can improve your website through search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, like high-quality blog and landing page content. 

Likewise, user experience improvements to think about include faster page loading times, easy navigation, and user-friendly patient portals. Your fractional CMO can also provide invaluable guidance on designing accessible websites as outlined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Plan a Simple, Digestible Content Strategy

A strong healthcare marketing plan gets your content in front of more people, making it more likely for web users to associate you with industry expertise and opt for you as their provider of choice. Local and national campaigns can differ. For example, if you are selling medical devices, your content might be geared toward a national audience (you'll also want to speak to a fractional CMO for medical device companies). 

One of our local patient-centric CMO strategies at work can be seen in another DAP client, Oklahoma Interventional Spine and Pain, a pain management clinic in Tulsa. With careful keyword research, DAP created personalized content based on what people experiencing chronic pain might be Googling. This started with very careful market research and target audience investigations. Without knowing your buyer personas, you can’t identify the right type of healthcare content marketing strategy.

DAP’s Oklahoma Interventional Spine and Pain case study showed a 293% boost in leads, thanks to our local SEO work. Our content strategy included landing pages for each location and blogs, and dozens of guest posts featured in magazines, newspapers, and more. 

PPC Campaigns for Healthcare Companies

Our next offering in our list of patient-centric CMO strategies is paid advertising campaigns. In pay-per-click (PPC) models, advertisers pay a small fee each time their ad is clicked. You’ve likely seen these ads on Google and social media. 

Advertisers bid on keywords relevant to their target audience, and when users search for those keywords, the ads appear in the search results. This is a smart way to reach customers and be the first name they see, hopefully driving significant traffic to your site. 

This advertising model can be effective among a wide variety of healthcare agencies; PC for hospitals, PPC for medical device companies, and everything in between can benefit. A healthcare PPC agency can pinpoint keywords that communicate your mission, message, and unique position to find high-quality leads.

Run HIPAA Compliant Email Campaigns 

One outreach technique to include in your strategy is email marketing. Email marketing is especially powerful when you segment your audience based on demographics, health conditions, or interests. Reach more people by sharing informative articles, health tips, and educational content relevant to your target audience. 

Outreach emails are sleek, simple, and straightforward—which takes a lot of sweat and hard work. Ensuring that emails are mobile-friendly, engaging, and HIPAA-compliant is critical. A healthcare email marketing agency can help with that. They also know how to analyze metrics and execute A/B testing. From drip campaigns to nurture leads to re-engagement campaigns targeting inactive patients, a fractional healthcare CMO can do it all.

Maximize Patient Reviews and Testimonials 

Patient-centric FCMO strategies fully account for the incredibly high number of choices available and use social proof to establish credibility in their community and nationwide.

Reviews, testimonials, and ratings play a big part in influencing patients to choose your healthcare company. A stellar track record, awards, and exceptional online reputation management for doctors help medical professionals retain a steady flow of clientele. 

Generate positive reviews and testimonials by training your staff to ask patients for reviews and ratings after their consultation. You can use scripts like, “I hope you had a great visit today! If you have a free moment, we would really appreciate it if you took the time to leave us a review." This is also a good opportunity to use email marketing to your advantage—send follow-up emails (or follow-up SMS texts) that make it easy to leave feedback.

Earning positive reviews and testimonials not only gives your practice a good reputation but also improves your online presence. Good reviews and high recommendation rates increase your online engagement and impact local SEO. (A healthcare SEO agency can help with that.)

You can also include testimonials on your website and in email campaigns, social media posts, and other marketing materials. 

Patient-Centric CMO Strategies Customized to You

Patient-centricity has revolutionized healthcare. With more patients preferring to take the lead in their healthcare decisions, many healthcare facilities have shifted to a more open, adaptive, and communicative approach in their operations and marketing. 

Amplify your healthcare enterprise’s market presence with expert marketing leadership from a fractional CMO. Using their extensive experience in marketing and innovation, they develop patient-centric marketing campaigns to attract and convert leads.

Talk to an FCMO about what’s next for your healthcare company by contacting us today.

Resources:

Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments | ADA.gov

Technology Is Changing The Game In Healthcare—Marketers Must Change With It | Forbes

Innovating to Provide Patient-centric Care | Corporate Learning at HMS

19 Innovative Ways To Use Interactive SMS To Engage Customers | Forbes