It’s back to school time, and for our clients in the medical industry, it’s about to get really busy … as if it’s not already! But statistically, August is one of the busiest months for doctors. With all the kids going back to school, wellness appointments for pediatricians, dental cleanings, and eye exams are probably booked.
And with being completely booked, some tasks might fall to the wayside like your digital marketing. This is crucial because – although you’re booked solid this month – getting new clients in the door and keeping yourself fresh in your patients’ minds is still a priority.
Although we can’t tell you how to get patients to keep their appointments (we wish we knew too!), we can let you know how to keep them engaged with your practice when they’re not in your office.
Your community is online
Doctors, dentists, and optometrists strive to be family doctors, taking care of generations of families and neighbors in their community. In the olden days, if people needed medical advice, they’d seek it out from their doctor during a wellness visit or a house call.
Then, the internet happened. As the digital world grew, so did the landscape of medical advice. Sites like WebMD provide articles about a myriad of diseases, symptoms, and ailments. You already know this because of the number of patients who come into your office and utter the phrase “I found this online.”
Unfortunately, you can’t beat Dr. Google, even though you’re the expert and the internet is not. However, you can use this digital space to join the voices of medical professionals that are using this new reach to keep their clients informed.
Reach your patients with great content
You’re in a unique position where you can create content that your patients are interested in hearing, and that’s information. Whether you’re taking on doom-and-gloom internet searches or giving your patients information on your specialty, they want to know.
For example, if you’re a pediatrician, you can write an article about questions parents should ask before a back-to-school wellness exam or a sports exam. If you’re an eye doctor, let your patients know about the warning signs of glaucoma. To your patients, you’re still a trusted source of information and if you meet them where they’re at, they’re more likely to go to you.
There’s another reason: we don’t need to tell you that medical care is pricey, turning patients off from seeing their doctor as often as they should. You can use your platform to educate your potential and current patients on these issues so when they see you’re helping them save money and get healthy, they’ll schedule with you.
Your personal spin
There are three main solutions to marketing yourself as a doctor that we offer: content marketing and writing, targeted landing pages, and social media. The first is broad and can encompass blogs and eblasts. Targeted landing pages help you with SEO and reaching patients in nearby cities, where you don’t have a brick and mortar office.
The third one can get neglected when it gets busy: social media. Social media is becoming more relevant when it comes to engaging with your patients away from the office. From announcing mask and waiting room policy changes to reminding patients about cancellation fees, social media is a great way to let your customers know what’s going on. It’s also a great place to post tidbits about health, and share longer form content like blogs.
Although it can seem like it takes no time to post, curating what to say and posting it at the right time can take some finessing. And if you have a full plate, posting regularly to social media can fall to the wayside. Therefore, if your August is already booked, planning posts ahead of time and scheduling them is a must. If you’re doing this yourself, we recommend taking some time to look at your social media engagement: what times are people liking, commenting, or sharing your posts. If your patients are usually scrolling social media in the afternoons, schedule your posts for 3-4 PM.
However, if you’re already crazy busy and don’t have the bandwidth to keep posting, let us take care of you! We’ll do the posting, put some posts up with a schedule, and collaborate with you on how to best reach your audience. Call us today and see the difference!