Gain Healthcare Content Marketing Success With These 5 Tips

Hospitals, clinics, and other medical practices that need a push online can benefit from a strategic healthcare content marketing campaign that generates targeted leads, retains patients, and improves sales.

This post shares the top five tips for a successful healthcare content strategy.

• Zero in on your branding to create a tight content marketing plan
• Get specific with your audience to match content marketing with intent
• Diversify content to increase engagement and reach
• Showcase authenticity to enhance your credibility
• Stay compliant to avoid legal issues

How do you execute these? Read on to get more detailed tips.

5 Medical Content Marketing Tips for Massive Online Growth

A well-thought-out content marketing plan builds the best foundation for the rest of your digital marketing efforts, from medical search engine optimization (SEO) to paid advertising. And these strategies will help you achieve it.

     1. Zero in on Your Branding To Create a Tight Digital Marketing Plan

You'll have a cohesive online content strategy that tells your story, resonates with patients, and attracts the right leads.

Get better clarity of who and what you are by answering these critical questions:

• What are your core values?
• Who are your ideal patients?
• What does your practice offer that others don't?
• Why are you in the business?
• How do you see your company a few years from now?
• Where do you want your practice to be?
• What is your specialty?
• What is your story?

     2. Understand Your Sales Funnel To Align Your Content With the Customer’s Journey

The most effective healthcare content marketing plan supports every level of the sales funnel and illustrates the customer's journey. To understand this point, here’s an example.

Patient Rob has been sick with the flu for several days. He is currently looking for an urgent care clinic near him. Content marketing ideas may include the following:

• Awareness stage. In this phase, Rob needs content to educate him about the flu and its symptoms. He's looking for answers to questions like "What is the flu?" or "How do I know if I have it?" Consider creating blog posts or even a video series addressing these questions.
• Interest stage. The patient now knows more about the flu, and he believes he should see a doctor right away. But he requires help in finding a clinic. Your job is to tell him yours is the best choice. Use patient testimonials, lists of services you offer, or a virtual tour of your facility to your advantage.
• Decision stage. Rob believes your business is amazing, but he finds other possible options. Further convince him with content types such as comparisons, case studies, or a detailed FAQ section.
• Action stage. Time to turn that lead into a patient! Provide him with appointment-scheduling options, coupons, or discounts as an incentive to visit your facility.

      3. Diversify Your Content To Increase Engagement and Reach

If content is king, diversification is its consort. A mix of content types helps you better engage your audience, tap into less-explored and competitive markets, and open opportunities for conversion.

When you know your audience and your customer's journey, you're already one step ahead in creating diverse content. Additional content pieces may focus on the following:

• Format. Think beyond the blog post and experiment with e-books, infographics, webinars, or even podcasts.
• Medium. How will you deliver your content? Will it be through an email newsletter, social media posts, or downloadable PDFs?
• Distribution channels. After you've created the content, how will you get it in front of your target audience?
• Access. Publishing gated content, such as reports or webinars, is one of the best steps to generate healthcare and medical leads in exchange for access. But ungated ones, like social media posts, also have an intrinsic value. For example, they can create organic brand awareness.

     4. Showcase Authenticity to Enhance Your Credibility

People relying on Dr. Google to make a self-diagnosis is nothing new, but it has gotten worse. For instance, more people are turning to TikTok to diagnose mental health disorders.

Easy access to misinformation is one thing. The other is the growing lack of trust in healthcare due to medical errors, rising costs, and plain old misinformation.

How do you convince your leads that you're trustworthy? Showcase your authenticity by sharing your brand's story, emphasizing transparency, and building trust. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Be personal. Have a face (or faces) for your brand and let them interact with patients online. Create content that addresses their concerns and offers solutions.
• Embrace vulnerability. Being open about your challenges helps you connect with patients personally. Talk about your lessons and how they made you a better healthcare provider.
• Stay consistent. Consistency in your branding, whether online or offline, allows you to build a solid reputation.
• Address issues. When problems arise, such as a data breach or negative review, don't shy away from them. Acknowledge the issue and take responsibility for it. Make sure you have a communication guide for handling a crisis.

     5. Stay Compliant To Avoid Legal Issues

Getting caught up in lawsuits is one of the strongest predictors of the downfall of your hospital content marketing efforts. Avoid it by all means by knowing the rules and following them to a T.

Number one on the list is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This federal law protects the privacy of patient information, including their medical records and health insurance.

Other regulations to adhere to include:

• Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) guidelines on off-label promotion
• Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) code for pharmaceutical marketing
• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for content targeting minors
• State laws, such as those related to physician self-referral and kickbacks

To stay compliant, create a content style guide that includes the dos and don'ts of your healthcare organization’s content marketing. Assign someone to review all content before publication, particularly those that mention specific treatments or drugs.

Make sure everyone on your team is up-to-date with the latest compliance regulations by conducting regular training. You may also want to consider working with a healthcare attorney to avoid any legal hiccups down the road.

Summing Up

Healthcare content marketing is no walk in the park. With the right strategy and execution, you can turn it into a well-oiled machine that produces quality leads and conversions. But to increase your chances of success, work with a healthcare content marketing agency.

Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) today. We specialize in lead generation and conversion strategies for hospitals and other healthcare providers.

We don't just churn out copies. We also understand the nuances of the healthcare landscape, analyze your audience, and track your progress to ensure we hit your content marketing goals.