Digital marketing is important for doctors and practices to get their name and brand out on the internet and build recognition among potential patients. People are online now more than ever, and most patients research their providers through the internet. By strategically promoting and sharing their services and differentiators, physicians and their practices can capture the attention of their target audience and convert them into loyal lifetime patients.
At the peak of the pandemic, Google searches skyrocketed for nearly all elective medial services, particularly cosmetic surgery procedures and treatments. According to Google Trends, this subsided in April of 2021, but demand has started increasing again starting in January 2022. Having a strong presence on Google searches ensures more people find your website and ultimately connect with your practice. Keep in mind, search-relate exposure reaches potential patients later in the buying cycle, while they demonstrate interest and intent. Thus, search traffic tends to attract higher-quality visitors, and reaching a wider audience can bring in a larger volume clientele, who may then recommend you to other potential patients.
Social media and its digital platforms offer highly effective paid advertising that targets specific audiences and directly tracks conversions from your investment. At the same time, organic social media marketing offers the opportunity to generate the highest volume exposure to showcase you, your practice, team, technology, and other interesting and useful information you wish to share.
During the highest demand for cosmetic surgery in April 2021, the Aesthetic Society published a research article that analyzed more than 2 million plastic surgery social media posts, 369 million likes, and 6 billion global views. The article outlined two key points: the United States had the most posts by far (26.8% of all posts out of 182 countries), and Providers accounted for 40% of all posts. These results show that plastic surgery content has a massive reach in social media and highlights the importance of showcasing your practice and competing for patients through social platforms.
Digital advertising has not only made it easier to target potential clients, but when done strategically, it can also be cost-effective for smaller practices. Although some of the best paid advertising platforms are Google Ads and Bing Ads, which covers the majority of search engines, practices should also consider high-reach and frequency display advertising. These ads appear on hundreds of news, informational, magazine, niche-interest websites and feeds that are part of Google’s ad network, where advertisers can target high-income locations, specific demographic profiles, consumers with special interests and behaviors; even geo-fence your biggest competitors’ addresses. The costs for display ads can be as low as $11 per 1,000 impressions. Practices need to constantly consider new digital advertising opportunities to boost their online exposure. Paid search and display ads offer increasingly accurate ways to target, and measure your advertising investments.
Practices should continually improve on their current digital marketing strategies using SEO, PPC, social media and display advertising, as well as look into other opportunities to build their online brand and business. Adapting to the ever-evolving technological world will ensure your practice reaches potential clients and digital visibility.