During these uncertain times, many physicians have had to change their standard practice operations, including adding telemedicine and limiting or rescheduling patient visits.
In order to rebuild under these challenging circumstances, practices must not let their marketing strategies take a backseat. Here are three strategies practices can use to ensure they stay top of patients’ minds, courtesy of the Texas Medical Association-endorsed website service provider Officite.
Make your practice website the core of your online presence
As the web has evolved, so have patients’ expectations. In fact, 75% of consumers admit to judging a company’s credibility based on its website design. Your practice’s online presence should be built on modern, mobile-responsive design, follow best practices for visual design, and contain engaging content with a clear call to action.
Understand the patient journey begins with a search
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing your website so it appears higher in search results. According to Forbes, 93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine. SEO can be supplemented with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. These are paid advertisements that are displayed at the top of search results when patients make a related search. Combining SEO and PPC maximizes the return on investment of a search strategy. PPC ads are displayed instantly, while SEO builds value over time.
Building your website on secure technologies and ensuring your content is relevant and optimized to appear high in search engines will likely increase your practice’s reach.
Manage online listings for your practice
Being listed in online directories such as Google or Healthgrades is crucial for many reasons, not the least of which is patient intent. When patients are actively searching online for a practice, it’s likely they’re ready to make an appointment as soon as possible.
However, errors in your listings can prevent new patients from connecting with your practice. For example, a survey of 1,800 physician and health care facilities’ online listings found almost half (48%) contained basic address errors.
It is also important to keep your listing updated on payer websites so patients are seeing correct information. This includes adding telemedicine as a service – if you use it – so your patients are aware of everything your practice offers.
If you would like more information, tips, and tools to help your practice, take a close look at TMA’s Practice Viability Toolkit, and TMA’s COVID-19 Resource Center, which includes a section on telemedicine.
Officite is trusted by over 8,000 practices, 20 leading health care associations, and is one of the largest providers of websites and digital marketing solutions for medical professionals. Learn more at www.officite.com