In the medical industry, as in any other, successful marketing is about being known for something specific that motivates people to seek you out. Examples abound in the realm of consumer goods and services. You say “Nordstrom” and I say “service.” You say “FedEx” and I say “reliable.” You say “Volvo” and I say “safe.” You get the picture. Each of these companies has built a powerful brand by owning a quality that people want or need.
The following real-life example illustrates how this strategy, when managed well, can deliver spectacular results for a hospital or medical practice. For the past five years, my public relations firm has worked with a surgeon to help build what is now his booming practice. Our job is made particularly gratifying by the fact that this doc really “gets it” when it comes to media and marketing. The cornerstone of his marketing is a blog that now gets 5,000 visitors per month, an astounding number by any measure. The people who find him from around the world are looking for a surgeon who specializes in difficult cases and has a concierge-style practice. That’s the bullseye on our target.
Getting Started
Our goal was, and continues to be, increasing the surgeon’s visibility in the global marketplace as a medical expert for specific types of patients and thereby helping his practice grow.
Before launching this type of long-range marketing initiative, you can save time and money by knowing what will not work. For example, unless a physician has a true claim to fame as a recognized medical pioneer, inventor or best-selling author, it will be unlikely to garner frequent media publicity in newspapers, magazines, television and radio. These days, local media have shrunk their staffs and often pull medical stories from news services such as AP. Occasionally our surgeon is tapped for a local story, due to his reputation as a leading expert in his specialty, but that is not enough to maintain the momentum and control we want.
What Works
Successful marketing delivers information that your patients find useful and interesting. If it is of no benefit to them, then it is useless to you. That is why we focus on providing the information that patients are searching for online.
We capitalize on the reach and scalability of digital marketing. An up-to-date website, responsive to mobile and tablet, is our home base.
Working with the doctor, we write fresh blog posts at least twice a month covering the topics that are most important to prospective patients seeking his particular expertise and type of practice. This requires a significant time commitment by the doctor, but he continues to do it because he is thrilled with the results.
We jump-started the outreach with a Google Adwords campaign to enhance search engine optimization. After about 18 months, the blog became so popular that we were able to stop the Adwords spend.
The blog now drives constant traffic to the surgeon’s website from people searching online for medical treatment, medical students and even other doctors. Several medical publications and industry websites have asked permission to share content, which is additional publicity. The blog has become truly interactive with 5 to 10 comments a week from readers, which the surgeon answers. He understands that empathy is the underpinning of successful medical marketing.
The “ah-hah” moment is realizing that your marketing actually needs to be about the patient, not about you.
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