How To Drive Patient Demand Digitally?

Many businesses struggle with the challenge of keeping customers engaged and informed whilst also appealing to the rapidly growing number of digitally-savvy patients who now expect more convenience, choice and ease in how they want to be cared for.

Whilst traditional methods of advertising, marketing, and getting in touch with customers remain important, it is more effective to use digital tactics to connect with individuals, engage them, and drive them to action.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, nearly three out of every four respondents (74%) use digital methods to stay connected with patients and engage them in conversations about their health and wellbeing. In addition, nearly half (48%) use digital methods to gather information about their patients’ needs and preferences.

When businesses rely solely on traditional methods of marketing, they often struggle to reach the growing numbers of digitally-savvy patients. But by utilizing digital tools and adopting a digital mindset, you can more easily reach and engage with patients, and ultimately grow your practice.

Adopt a Lead-Generation Approach

Traditional methods of generating leads include advertising, SEO, and social media. However, as patients now expect to be able to find exactly what they’re looking for online, you can’t simply rely on SEO and traditional advertising to grow your practice.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, when looking for health-related information online, patients prefer to use search engines rather than go through pages of text-based content. As a result, you can’t rely on SEO to drive patient demand for your practice.

On the other hand, social media is crucial to grow your practice. According to HubSpot Blogs research, almost nine out of ten (87%) patients use social media to connect with others on a similar medical journey. And as these channels are easily accessible and engaging, you can use them to inspire, educate, and ultimately drive patient demand for your practice.

Create Great Content

When it comes to attracting patients and driving patient demand for your practice, content is everything.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, the vast majority (87%) of respondents look at online reviews when researching health-related topics. In addition, almost half (48%) cited articles or blogs as the second most useful source of information after talking to colleagues. Clearly, patients value trustworthy, evidence-based information and are motivated to seek it out.

In order to attract patients to your practice, you’ll need to create high-quality and valuable content that is both informative and fun to read. If possible, you should aim to create content that is both original and well-researched.

Use Personal Stories

As humans, we are naturally motivated to care for and help those who are similar to us. But according to HubSpot Blogs research, the vast majority (81%) of respondents would rather read about or learn from someone else’s experience rather than only reading about the experiences of the author.

By telling your own personal story as part of your content, you can engage with and inform patients of the unique challenges and opportunities that you’ve faced as a provider. And for a healthcare practice, telling your personal story can give your patients a sense of connection, trust and authenticity that might not be present in other types of content.

Run Effective Email Marketing

With the ability to easily reach billions of people with the click of a button, it’s now possible to connect with potential patients even if they’re hundreds of miles away. Whether you’ve got a permanent practice in a rural area or you’re expanding into a new market, you can use email marketing to keep in touch with existing and potential patients.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, email marketing is one of the most-used channels for marketing and engagement with patients, and nearly half (48%) of respondents use it to gather information about their patients. In addition, 24% use it to stay connected with patients and 13% said they use it to promote their practice.

One of the most effective ways of using email marketing to grow your practice is by building a list of engaged email subscribers. With these individuals, you can expect to receive a high level of interaction from the outset, and over time, grow your list to include more and more engaged individuals who are willing to share their contact details and be sent regular valuable information from your practice.

Invest In Technology

If you’re a business owner or manager looking to grow your practice, it is essential to understand how technology can help you. One of the best ways of doing this is by investing in the right technology and taking the time to learn how to use it effectively.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, nearly three out of every four (74%) respondents use technology to gain better insight into patient behavior and performance, and 40% use it to manage their work more effectively. In addition, 28% use technology to monitor patient activity throughout their journey, and 26% use it to gather feedback from patients.

As a healthcare provider, you’ll most likely already have a computer or smartphone at your fingertips. And whilst this may be more than enough to get the job done, you may find that being tech-savvy and utilizing technology to it’s fullest helps you gain a competitive edge. For example, if you’re looking to create a patient database or store clinical records, having a fast, reliable, and highly-secure database is crucial.

In addition to technology being useful, it is also crucial to remember that proper healthcare IT security is necessary when utilizing it. As a result, you must consider investing in proper security controls and training your staff in order to ensure that patient information is kept secure at all times.

Measure And Optimize

When utilizing digital methods to grow your practice, one of the most important things to do is measure and optimize. Without careful measurement and the use of metrics, it’s difficult to know if your efforts are resulting in the desired impact. In order to grow your practice using digital methods, you must be rigorous in your approach and use solid metrics to determine the effectiveness of your efforts.

According to HubSpot Blogs research, only 12% of respondents say they’ve measured the success of their digital marketing strategy, whilst 14% say they’ve used metrics to determine the effectiveness of their SEO strategy. But when it comes to the use of social media to drive patient demand for their practice, over one-quarter (27%) of respondents have measured the success of their strategy and nearly one-fifth (19%) have used metrics to determine the effectiveness of their SEO strategy.

If you’re looking to grow your practice using digital marketing, it’s important to remember that you can’t look at one metric (e.g., number of website visits) to determine the success of your strategy. You should look at multiple metrics (e.g., website traffic, social media presence, and engagement) to get a full picture of how effective your strategy is and make any necessary adjustments. This way, you’ll be able to drive the right patient demand at the right time and make the right sort of impression on the people who are most likely to become new patients.

In summary, the most effective way of driving patient demand digitally is by taking a lead-generating approach. Create great content that is both informative and engaging, and use email marketing to keep in touch with existing and potential patients. In doing so, you can increase your practice’s overall revenue, grow your list, and better serve your patients.