Marketing for Doctors: 10 Best Proven Activities for Your Practice

Marketing is a fundamental concept for all businesses, including those in the medical field. To be successful, you have to market your medical practice in various ways – online and offline.

There are plenty of reasons why you should take your marketing strategy seriously. Marketing raises cash flow, gives you an edge over competitors, increases your market share, advertises products and services, and helps you venture out into new markets. Implementing all of this enhances your reputation – ultimately steering to new leads and potential sales.

Here are 10 best-proven marketing activities for your medical practice:

1. External Signage

This strategy makes the list because – if done properly – signs are the first and best marketing tools for a doctor’s office. This approach tends to get overlooked in healthcare but highly-visible signs attract an audience to your office meaning a high return-on-investment (ROI).

If you can come up with a well-designed, eye-catching sign, it captures the public’s attention and promotes your brand and location.

2. Receiving Reviews

The best way to get this strategy in place is to ask your clients for feedback. Not only does this help you improve as an organization but it also allows others to see the positive reviews your practice is generating – potentially bringing in a lot of new clients.

When it comes to patients who require a new practice, online reviews are exceptionally influential in their decision making so having enough reviews online has the potential to draw in a lot of new interest.

3. Video Marketing

With video content dominating online traffic, there is no denying that this particular type of marketing needs to be considered. There’s a reason why YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google – and it’s down to the number of people who want visual content rather than something to read. An additional bonus to creating and posting videos is that it enhances your website’s search engine rankings across the board.

To gain an effective video marketing strategy, you could create videos that show patient testimonials or even a website welcome video. Ultimately, you want to draw those who want more information to your services as quickly as possible.

4. Social Media

When it comes to marketing, social media is always a necessary part of the puzzle because its influence is so powerful. A majority of healthcare patients suggest that they find information about a new practice via social media so gaining a presence on this platform is heavily significant.

To have a great presence on social media, make sure to upload frequent and engaging content for your clients and potential customers to come across. It’s important to know that not all social media works in the same way, though, so it may take some time to figure out which one is right for your medical office.

Social media advertising, like Facebook, can be a great way to get in front of potential patients.

5. A Well-Designed Website

First impressions always matter so having a professionally designed website is key to your organization’s marketing. Regarding the design and layout, it’s important to have integrated search engine optimization (SEO). Your site needs to load fast and it needs to be secure and easy to navigate. Plus, it has to be mobile-friendly as smartphones and tablets have become the number one source for internet browsing.

To enhance your conversion rate, consider the below options:

• Online patient portals
• Videos
• Contact forms
• Scheduling and billing

6. Business Directories

It is vitally important for doctors’ offices to be listed in local directories. As a result, people nearby see your information right when they perform a Google search. Placing your information on Google Business and Yelp gains more viewers which ultimately produces more leads.

Not only does this type of advertising create more leads and further sales but it also makes your practice look more professional. This is a key factor when it comes to how you appear to your target audience and the general public. Enhance your status by using business directories.

7. A Source for Journalists

Being mentioned in the media is an excellent way to gain exposure in your field and in your local area. It further establishes your organization’s professional appearance and gets potential customers interested in your services. There are journalists out there who seek medical professionals to provide context and legitimacy to their stories that would likely be happy to talk to you. If you take up this strategy, you could have your services mentioned online, in print, and even on television.

8. Deliver Unexpected Care Packages

Everybody likes freebies. By following this marketing strategy, you’re getting your contact information and a little bit about you out on products such as magnets, pens, and water bottles. This helps you build solid relationships with your customers who will then be inclined to spread the word about your customer care and professionalism.

A bonus to this approach is that some customers may be influenced to post images of this care package on social media. In hindsight, this promotes your brand without you needing to lift a finger. Your customers do it for you.

9. Referral Program

When it comes to businesses associated with the healthcare industry, referrals should always be a top priority in your marketing efforts. Word-of-mouth is extremely important to grow your practice and your reputation so it’s beneficial to make sure this strategy is in place.

The best way to have a successful referral program is to provide your clients with little cards that contain a simple message. Something like, “Share the gift of good health” along with the contact information for your practice. 

10. Preventative Health

If you focus on ways to educate patients on prevention rather than treating disease, you’ll notice a significant difference in your leads and sales.

Why? It gives your patients some control over their health and the prevention of diseases. This leads to a happy and healthy patient – something that will build your brand’s image. If they see positive outcomes while using your services, others will see that, too.

If you encourage all of your patients to get regular check-ups and give them the information they need to help them live healthy lives, you’re not only helping them have control over their health, you’re also encouraging them to come back to see you again and again.