Like most industries, the healthcare marketplace is competitive. Between traditional advertising and ever-evolving online marketing methods, it’s challenging to find the best way to reach your potential clients. That’s where healthcare content marketing comes into play.

As more people go online for answers, it’s essential to optimize your healthcare lead generation strategy for the internet. Digital marketing trends can far outreach your past brick and mortar methods. A robust healthcare content marketing campaign can ensure you reach your target audience consistently and help turn those contacts into profitable leads.

The Need For Healthcare Content Marketing

While content marketing is standard practice in most industries, many healthcare providers struggle to implement it in a way that is both effective and caring. Scientific terms, confusing procedures and a long list of preventable measures make the healthcare industry a hard topic to write about.

According to Greystone.net, healthcare content marketing isn’t up to par compared to most other industries. Online strategies are becoming more effective. As a result, the healthcare industry is falling behind in brand development, traffic and lead generation.

So how can your practice pull forward digitally? With a better understanding of healthcare content marketing, you can start ranking higher on Google. This will not only improve healthcare lead generation but also help you get ahead of competitors.

With a well-organized plan, content marketing and healthcare can be beneficial for both providers and their patients. Here are just a few examples of what a good strategy can do for your company:

• Improve engagement with patients and leads
• Develop brand image and voice
• Educate readers on hard health topics
• Increase traffic and expand online reach

In any digital healthcare marketing plan, it’s essential to start by understanding the overarching goal. You likely want to improve your lead generation and also provide your audience members with tools to manage their health. There are several healthcare content marketing strategies that can support both goals.

How Do I Generate Digital Healthcare Marketing Leads?

Healthcare lead generation isn’t as robotic as it sounds. Success requires hard work and genuine care for patients.

Healthcare marketing leads are people interested in using the services of an advertising practice. With the right amount of effort, they can become patients. Potential customers are looking for practices that fulfill their needs, and ultimately the needs of their friends and family.

So how can you help leads choose your practice over other competing healthcare providers? It comes through trust, dependability and transparency. As you use the SEO tools available to improve your search results, also incorporate sincerity and care with each article, web page and social media post.

Now that you are ready to get started, here are five of the best healthcare content marketing strategies that you can begin to master today.

1. Use Local SEO To Find Healthcare Leads

Healthcare lead generation is all about giving potential clients reasons to choose you over competitors. As a healthcare provider, you must ensure patients know which services you offer and understand how you can help them. Before that, though, they need to know where you are. In the majority of cases, potential clients aren’t going to find your practice through a phone book; they are going to open an internet search engine.

Most people use a search engine to find local businesses, including healthcare providers. Google’s research about consumers’ local search behavior shows that users have requirements in mind when they search, the two most common being location and proximity. Even if your healthcare service is exceptional, potential patients may choose a closer provider for convenience.

It’s crucial to improve healthcare lead generation closer to your brick-and-mortar business. Fortunately, Google has made it even easier for people to find local services. All they need to do is type in the service they need and add “near me” or similar terms, and Google shows local results, including contact information, reviews and directions.

Local search engine optimization through healthcare content marketing is a golden opportunity for local leads to find your practice. You simply need to get on the local radar.

How To Improve Your Local SEO Search Rankings

Like normal SEO tactics, the biggest way to move up the ranking scale is by optimizing your content, specifically to local searches. This means using location-specific keywords in your blog posts. Not only should you pepper those keywords in your articles, but also focus your content about the area. Talk about your town, mention local news or create a guide that highlights the best features of the area. Although keywords go a long way, quality content includes both local depth and breadth as well.

Don’t forget to update your contact information on Google My Business. Google’s handy promotion tool is a key resource for ranking higher. You can add information, photos and offers to your profile to attract digital healthcare marketing leads. The simplest use of this account is listing your address and contact information clearly on your website and in online directories, such as Google Maps. Garnering online reviews from current patients can also help boost your search engine ranking.

2. Post on Social Media To Build Your Brand Image

While you may be hesitant to discuss serious healthcare topics on social media, the fact is that most of your healthcare marketing leads are spending time there, so it’s a great way to reach them. Establishing profiles on the main social media platforms can improve lead generation and make your practice seem legitimate and modern, especially to younger clients.

And, as said before, healthcare providers struggle to improve their digital strategies. Break the stereotypes now and dive headfirst into social media. This incredible resource can reach patients of all ages and significantly develop your brand image.

How To Share Your Healthcare Content

Healthcare content marketing can take place on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. Get creative with what you share, and don’t be afraid to be personal with your audience.

Different types of media can be a great tool on social media. Here are how you can use some of the most popular media types to engage readers and share information in a unique way:

• Infographics: List statistics and other important information in a colorful way. You could list foods that support the immune system or display data about breast cancer.
• Videos: YouTube is 2^nd of the top 500 most popular websites. Provide tutorials or stay on top of healthcare trends.
• Surveys: Give digital healthcare marketing leads the opportunity to take a survey about something that will help them understand their health needs better.
• Posts: Write something small and catchy that will grab the attention of readers. You can also give an inside scoop by including pictures of team members and courageous patients.

You may want to use healthcare marketing trends specifically for social media platforms, but you can also use your profile to create links to your website. Make sure your contact information and operating hours are correct on all your social media profiles.

3. Answer Questions That Healthcare Leads Ask

The Pew Research Center states that 35% of people have used the internet to look up medical symptoms or try to find a diagnosis. Additionally, over 70% of people have used the internet to look up health information. This means that providing answers to common health questions on your website could be an excellent source of lead generation.

There are several healthcare content marketing methods you could use to cater to these common questions. The first option is to have a section of your website where you discuss common health concerns. Call it Health FAQs or have a catchy title for this section so people can find it easily. You could post about a new topic every week or month. As you share it on social media, it can pick up a large following.

You can also branch out to other types of healthcare content marketing beyond text-based posts. Use your YouTube account to make short videos discussing health issues or symptoms. Video format is often the easiest way to describe certain topics. Keep in mind that you are targeting regular people who aren’t familiar with big medical terms or theories.

A podcast is another great option to engage your audience. You could discuss topics focused on your local community, such as health fair events or flu outbreaks in neighborhood schools. If you want to reach a slightly different audience, consider hosting experts to discuss healthcare topics or current medical news.

Ask the Right Questions

If you don’t know what questions are being asked about your healthcare specialty, this should be top priority. Consider using SEO tools like Serpstat or SEMrush to find popular questions in your niche. You can play with keywords to see what questions pop up, and then use those in your healthcare content marketing strategy.

Perhaps the easiest way is to ask your followers what questions they have. Ask former patients, readers and healthcare marketing leads about their search inquiries, and how they would search. Don’t forget to monitor your social media accounts for potential FAQs you can highlight.

4. Build a Healthcare Blog

There’s a reason why best healthcare content marketing strategies include blogging: it’s where you put most of your content. Creating a blog on your website, like this example of Mount Sinai, can have countless benefits, from increased lead generation to improved search engine rankings.

Posting well-written, useful content can help you establish your healthcare practice as a reliable, caring resource people can trust. Regular blogging also gives you the chance to address healthcare issues that are important to you and your staff.

How To Use Blogging in Your Healthcare Content Marketing Plan

One of the main keys to a successful healthcare blog is consistency. Before you post your first article, decide how often you want to create new posts. In most cases, you should aim for at least once a week. Regularly posting new content can improve lead generation in healthcare and encourage your target audience to make return visits to your website. You can also use blog posts in an email campaign and link to them on your social media accounts.

Another important key is relevancy. Blogging is much more than an opportunity to share knowledge, it’s all about SEO. Optimized blog posts should be relevant to your practice and include keywords that will rank highly on your readers’ search queries.

Format helps your rankings and reader retention. When there’s too much to read, poor grammar or unattractive design, you might lose viewers faster than you find them. As a healthcare marketing writer, keep in mind these three formatting tips:

Create White Space

The space between your text and pictures does a lot more than you may think.

UX Planet found that using white space promotes both elegance and balance in all kinds of situations, especially as part of your healthcare content marketing plan. It gives enough space for readers to enjoy the post and adds to the design. Make sure to leave enough space between text blocks and make your paragraphs shorter and more concise.

Use Headers

Health care blog posts are a popular type of reading material, which means it’s important to format the text in a way that the readers can follow along naturally. A great way to organize your writing is with headers. Headers help define what is most important, both to the reader and to Google. Throw some keywords in your headers and make them catchy to attract more visitors.

Find Relevant Images

White space and headers do a great job to break up the text, but images bring a whole new level to healthcare content marketing. The pop of color and change of media can do a lot for your article. In fact, BuzzSumo found that an image every 100 words doubled the number of shares. Sounds like a powerful tool, doesn’t it?

Another benefit of blogging on a regular basis is having the ability to quickly build up a library of articles. This gives visitors to your site ample content to read, encouraging them to stay longer. Archived posts can also generate healthcare leads; in fact, optimizing “older” posts can drive traffic and garner high click-through rates. Consistently updating your blog can also lead to a good search engine ranking.

5. Develop and Market a Healthcare Website

Along with a quality blog, there are other parts of your website that can benefit from healthcare content marketing trends. In fact, your entire website can use a little optimization.

As a healthcare provider, you need to be as trustworthy as possible. You can do this by portraying your brand identity clearly on your website.

How To Improve Your Brand Identity

The qualities, values and experiences that make up your brand identity can create an impression on healthcare marketing leads. You can begin to form your brand from the very beginning by making your specialties and ideals visible from the moment a visitor lands on the page.

Start by making your website look and feel like your practice. As a healthcare provider, you can help readers understand your mission through your healthcare content marketing. Use pictures of your team and include a strong mission statement that helps potential leads know what to expect from you.

Focus on creating a site that loads quickly, looks professional, and provides visitors with a positive experience. After optimizing your website, you may want to include an online contact form or allow patients to request appointment times through the website. Offer to let patients sign up for texts to remind them of appointments.

The blog section of your website isn’t the only place where you need engaging, error-free copy. Your site’s landing page often creates the first impression visitors have of your practice. An eye-catching and interesting landing page can also encourage visitors to access other parts of your site and fill out a contact form. Strong headlines and concise writing are keys to an effective landing page. It’s also a good idea to incorporate some images or other visual elements.

Get Started With Your Healthcare Content Marketing Plan

A well-defined healthcare content marketing strategy can help ensure your practice remains relevant and successful in the internet age. Reaching out to potential patients and providing helpful content can result in consistent lead generation. You may find the most efficient way to update your landing pages and maintain your blog is to outsource the writing. Check out our content shop and get customized, professional articles for your healthcare site.