Give your medical practice’s web presence a boost with medical marketing videos. The web 2.0 experience is all about interacting with site visitors, and videos help you grab their attention and connect with them on a more personal level. The most successful medical websites include video. Videos can be used to introduce a practice to visitors, play patient testimonials, provide valuable information about treatments you offer, etc. Videos engage visitors and help to build your credibility. Today, videos form an integral part of medical marketing campaigns.
Videos enable your prospects to better understand the treatments and services you offer. Furthermore, videos allow your prospects to see what you, your staff, and your practice look like, which helps to build trust. Video is a highly effective promotional tool, and prospects are more likely to view your marketing message if you use video. On the other hand, if you rely solely on the written word, you are less likely to reach the majority of your target audience. In this day and age, a lot more than just text is required to capture and retain people’s attention.
Video engages the senses more than the written word. You can create videos about your practice using sound, music, and compelling visuals. And thanks to advancements in technology, your prospects can easily view your videos on their laptops, iPods, cell phones, and other electronic devices. Video is far more accessible than it once was. As a result, it is also much easier to promote video. You can post videos to your website, blog, and video sharing sites, such as YouTube. You can post links back to your videos on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook in order to spread the word.
When you consistently create high quality videos, people start to consider you an expert in your field. If you’re having trouble coming up with fresh content for videos, simply repurpose your written content and make a video version. You can appeal to a different type of audience if you create video content because there are people who don’t enjoy reading content and would rather watch it on video. There is also no need to worry about the duplicate content penalty when you repurpose content for video.
The more professional your videos look, the better. In order to create visually appealing videos that look highly professional, consider hiring a medical marketing firm with experience in video production. A qualified medical marketing firm with video production expertise can help you create videos that form an integral part of your medical marketing campaign. It is ideal to work with a medical marketing firm who can spearhead your entire campaign in addition to producing your videos to ensure that your marketing message and branding image remain consistent across all types of media.
Of course you can also opt to purchase an HD cam and produce your own videos, but let’s face it; most doctors don’t have time to meddle in video production. When you hire an experienced medical marketing firm to create videos for you, you can leave the logistics to the experts. The result is professional, quality videos created in a timely manner that will blow your competitors away and position you as an authority in your field.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
SEO Tips for Medical Marketing Campaigns
Even if a medical practice has a great website, it’s pointless if no one can find it. To ensure that your medical website has great search engine visibility, it’s essential to plan a medical marketing campaign that includes an effective SEO strategy. SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, consists of optimizing websites through link building, content creation, and on-site optimization techniques so they rank better on the search engines.
According to statistics, approximately 8 million Americans search for medical information online each day. To ensure that even a small portion of those 8 million people make it to your medical website, you need to increase your site’s search engine visibility with SEO. In order to develop an effective search engine optimization strategy for your medical marketing campaign, work with an internet marketing firm that specializes in the healthcare field. Medical SEO poses unique requirements that only a specialist marketing firm can fulfill.
Keyword Research
SEO primarily starts with keyword research. To start, medical practices can list relevant keywords related to their specialization, treatments, services, geographical area, and diseases and conditions treated. After brainstorming a broad range of relevant terms, you can use web-based keyword research tools to determine specifically what relevant words and phrases your potential patients are actually searching for online. You can target as many keywords as pages that your website has. In general, it’s effective to optimize each page for one to two primary keywords. You can also use several other related terms on each page.
Link building
Another important and effective way to bring traffic to your website is through linkbuilding. Search engines judge the importance, authority, and relevancy of your website based on the number of other websites that link to your site. The more relevant the websites are that link to you, the stronger those links are considered. In the early days of medical SEO, it was not uncommon for SEO companies to buy links and submit websites to various directories in order to generate links. However, as search engines continue to evolve, they increasingly devalue directory links. They have gone as far as to blacklist websites that pay for links.
In order to generate legitimate links for your website, your best bet is to focus on a content marketing strategy. People are attracted to great content, so if you build great content throughout your site and on your blog, you’re bound to attract links eventually. However, content marketing is not a “build it and they will come” strategy. You have to write great content and then market it like crazy in order to spread the word. One great way to build links organically is through social media marketing. So, once you create a blog and website content, you can market your content via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Another way to accumulate links is through contacting other websites in your field and asking them if they would post your link. You can ask big bloggers and webmasters in your field for links politely by telling them how much your content would benefit their readers. You can also ask bloggers to exchange links with you, but this practice is generally frowned upon in the blogosphere. Another way to get good links is by researching your competitors’ backlinks and finding out if you can get backlinks from the same sites.
It’s important to update your website regularly in order to attract links and traffic. Furthermore, search engines tend to value websites that are updated frequently. Keyword research should also be something that you make a constant effort to do to ensure that your site is optimized for the latest keywords in your niche. Keywords may also change depending on the season, so make sure you create content with seasonal trends in mind.
On-Site Optimization
To ensure that search engines can crawl and index your site properly, you have to use on-site optimization techniques. Some basics of on-site optimization include create a site map, alt tags, header tags, and internal anchor text links that contain target keywords. Another important aspect of on-site optimization is content creation. Your site must be content-rich in order to rank better on search engines. Hire a qualified search engine optimization company to help you optimize your medical practice’s website for target terms. Furthermore, make sure that your site is designed with SEO in mind. For example, avoid creating a site purely with Flash because Flash websites are very difficult to optimize.
An effective medical SEO strategy requires constant care and effort. Hire an experienced medical marketing firm to help you achieve and retain high search engine rankings. Search engine algorithms are constantly shifting, so it’s more important than ever to invest in an ongoing SEO strategy.
According to statistics, approximately 8 million Americans search for medical information online each day. To ensure that even a small portion of those 8 million people make it to your medical website, you need to increase your site’s search engine visibility with SEO. In order to develop an effective search engine optimization strategy for your medical marketing campaign, work with an internet marketing firm that specializes in the healthcare field. Medical SEO poses unique requirements that only a specialist marketing firm can fulfill.
Keyword Research
SEO primarily starts with keyword research. To start, medical practices can list relevant keywords related to their specialization, treatments, services, geographical area, and diseases and conditions treated. After brainstorming a broad range of relevant terms, you can use web-based keyword research tools to determine specifically what relevant words and phrases your potential patients are actually searching for online. You can target as many keywords as pages that your website has. In general, it’s effective to optimize each page for one to two primary keywords. You can also use several other related terms on each page.
Link building
Another important and effective way to bring traffic to your website is through linkbuilding. Search engines judge the importance, authority, and relevancy of your website based on the number of other websites that link to your site. The more relevant the websites are that link to you, the stronger those links are considered. In the early days of medical SEO, it was not uncommon for SEO companies to buy links and submit websites to various directories in order to generate links. However, as search engines continue to evolve, they increasingly devalue directory links. They have gone as far as to blacklist websites that pay for links.
In order to generate legitimate links for your website, your best bet is to focus on a content marketing strategy. People are attracted to great content, so if you build great content throughout your site and on your blog, you’re bound to attract links eventually. However, content marketing is not a “build it and they will come” strategy. You have to write great content and then market it like crazy in order to spread the word. One great way to build links organically is through social media marketing. So, once you create a blog and website content, you can market your content via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Another way to accumulate links is through contacting other websites in your field and asking them if they would post your link. You can ask big bloggers and webmasters in your field for links politely by telling them how much your content would benefit their readers. You can also ask bloggers to exchange links with you, but this practice is generally frowned upon in the blogosphere. Another way to get good links is by researching your competitors’ backlinks and finding out if you can get backlinks from the same sites.
It’s important to update your website regularly in order to attract links and traffic. Furthermore, search engines tend to value websites that are updated frequently. Keyword research should also be something that you make a constant effort to do to ensure that your site is optimized for the latest keywords in your niche. Keywords may also change depending on the season, so make sure you create content with seasonal trends in mind.
On-Site Optimization
To ensure that search engines can crawl and index your site properly, you have to use on-site optimization techniques. Some basics of on-site optimization include create a site map, alt tags, header tags, and internal anchor text links that contain target keywords. Another important aspect of on-site optimization is content creation. Your site must be content-rich in order to rank better on search engines. Hire a qualified search engine optimization company to help you optimize your medical practice’s website for target terms. Furthermore, make sure that your site is designed with SEO in mind. For example, avoid creating a site purely with Flash because Flash websites are very difficult to optimize.
An effective medical SEO strategy requires constant care and effort. Hire an experienced medical marketing firm to help you achieve and retain high search engine rankings. Search engine algorithms are constantly shifting, so it’s more important than ever to invest in an ongoing SEO strategy.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
10 Essential Components of a Medical Marketing Campaign
In order to get the word out about your practice and differentiate it from the practices of competing physicians, you need a medical marketing strategy. In this day and age, a lot more than just word of mouth is required if you want to attract new patients and build a strong medical practice. Although many doctors are reluctant to advertise and market their practices, they must do so if they want to survive in today’s marketplace. Here are 10 essential components of an effective medical marketing campaign.
1. Professionally-printed appointment cards
Professionally-printed appointment cards serve as a reminder of appointments for your patients. Make sure that your practice’s appointment cards are branded and consistent with the image of your other marketing materials.
2. Business cards
Business cards should reflect the essence of your entire practice. As such, they must be printed on quality paper and be designed by a professional. Business cards represent your practice and will make a lasting impression on people. Hand them to your patients so they can pass them along to their friends and relatives.
3. Coupons
Branded coupons offering potential customers discounts and specials serve as a great way to attract new patients to your practice. You can feature coupons with advertisements in magazine and brochures or mail them directly to your target market.
4. A logo
A logo is not an absolute necessity, but it is recommended to have one designed for your practice in order to set it apart from those of competitors. Logos form an integral part of a memorable branding campaign. Patients and potential patients are more likely to keep your practice at the forefront of their minds if you use a professional logo to market your practice.
5. Posters
Posters non-intrusively advertise the services you offer to patients in the waiting room of your practice. A well-designed poster in a frame will tell your patients about the range of services you offer so they are aware of them. Many patients end up moving onto a new practice simply because they didn’t realize that their old practice offered the services they sought. To ensure that your patients are fully aware of the broad range of treatments and services you offer, decorate your practice with posters that tastefully advertise your practice’s offerings.
6. Website
A professionally-designed website with professionally-written copy is essential to your success in this day and age. The majority of adults search for medical information online. Furthermore, when people need to go to the doctor, they search online to find a doctor in their area. With a well-designed website coming up in the local search results to represent your practice, you will be far ahead of your competitors.
7. Promotional items
Promotional items that feature your practice’s logo are very effective in spreading the word about your practice. Anytime you attend a community event or trade show, give promotional items away freely to promote your practice. Furthermore, give your patients promotional items so they keep the name of your practice in mind. Encourage your patients to take several promotional items home so they can hand them out to their friends and relatives. Promotional items assist you in promoting your medical practice effortlessly.
8. Postcards
Sending out direct mail postcards to potential patients is a highly effective medical marketing method. Direct mail postcards are often more effective than TV or newspaper ads because they reach a targeted group of recipients. For example, you can select mailing lists for your postcards based on disease, age, and geographical area to ensure that the postcards reach your target audience.
9. Brochures
Use brochures that feature images and graphics to promote your practice and describe the treatments and procedures you offer at your practice to current and potential patients. Brochures help to convince potential patients of the benefits of choosing you over one of your competitors. Brochures provide enough space for you to explain the benefits of the procedures you offer in depth as well as showcase new treatments and equipments you offer.
10. Blog
Static websites that always display the same information won’t help your practice garner much attention online. The most successful medical websites online are constantly updated and provide useful, interesting information to users. If you want to take your web presence to the next level, consider establishing a blog for your medical practice. You can use your blog to discuss industry news, share the latest news about your practice, and provide information about the treatments you offer. If you don’t have time to update a blog on a regular basis, consider hiring a ghostwriter. A blog is a very effective way to attract attention to your practice because it increases your site’s search engine visibility and drives more traffic to your website.
1. Professionally-printed appointment cards
Professionally-printed appointment cards serve as a reminder of appointments for your patients. Make sure that your practice’s appointment cards are branded and consistent with the image of your other marketing materials.
2. Business cards
Business cards should reflect the essence of your entire practice. As such, they must be printed on quality paper and be designed by a professional. Business cards represent your practice and will make a lasting impression on people. Hand them to your patients so they can pass them along to their friends and relatives.
3. Coupons
Branded coupons offering potential customers discounts and specials serve as a great way to attract new patients to your practice. You can feature coupons with advertisements in magazine and brochures or mail them directly to your target market.
4. A logo
A logo is not an absolute necessity, but it is recommended to have one designed for your practice in order to set it apart from those of competitors. Logos form an integral part of a memorable branding campaign. Patients and potential patients are more likely to keep your practice at the forefront of their minds if you use a professional logo to market your practice.
5. Posters
Posters non-intrusively advertise the services you offer to patients in the waiting room of your practice. A well-designed poster in a frame will tell your patients about the range of services you offer so they are aware of them. Many patients end up moving onto a new practice simply because they didn’t realize that their old practice offered the services they sought. To ensure that your patients are fully aware of the broad range of treatments and services you offer, decorate your practice with posters that tastefully advertise your practice’s offerings.
6. Website
A professionally-designed website with professionally-written copy is essential to your success in this day and age. The majority of adults search for medical information online. Furthermore, when people need to go to the doctor, they search online to find a doctor in their area. With a well-designed website coming up in the local search results to represent your practice, you will be far ahead of your competitors.
7. Promotional items
Promotional items that feature your practice’s logo are very effective in spreading the word about your practice. Anytime you attend a community event or trade show, give promotional items away freely to promote your practice. Furthermore, give your patients promotional items so they keep the name of your practice in mind. Encourage your patients to take several promotional items home so they can hand them out to their friends and relatives. Promotional items assist you in promoting your medical practice effortlessly.
8. Postcards
Sending out direct mail postcards to potential patients is a highly effective medical marketing method. Direct mail postcards are often more effective than TV or newspaper ads because they reach a targeted group of recipients. For example, you can select mailing lists for your postcards based on disease, age, and geographical area to ensure that the postcards reach your target audience.
9. Brochures
Use brochures that feature images and graphics to promote your practice and describe the treatments and procedures you offer at your practice to current and potential patients. Brochures help to convince potential patients of the benefits of choosing you over one of your competitors. Brochures provide enough space for you to explain the benefits of the procedures you offer in depth as well as showcase new treatments and equipments you offer.
10. Blog
Static websites that always display the same information won’t help your practice garner much attention online. The most successful medical websites online are constantly updated and provide useful, interesting information to users. If you want to take your web presence to the next level, consider establishing a blog for your medical practice. You can use your blog to discuss industry news, share the latest news about your practice, and provide information about the treatments you offer. If you don’t have time to update a blog on a regular basis, consider hiring a ghostwriter. A blog is a very effective way to attract attention to your practice because it increases your site’s search engine visibility and drives more traffic to your website.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)