While we enlist many different forms of advertising and marketing for clients in nearly every industry, medical marketing is something that Quaintise has always had a keen knowledge of. Every industry is distinctive, and requires unique marketing strategies that not only cater to the industry, but the client’s brand as well. Medical marketing comes with unique challenges, but also provides amazing opportunities. In this case, I’d like to dive into medical marketing online, and the simple steps that you can take to increase online brand awareness.
Medical Search Marketing
With many years in the medical search marketing field, we’ve become familiar with the marketing techniques that provide the highest results. Every brand, no matter what industry, needs to increase their online brand awareness to amplify their overall brand presence. With an integrated marketing plan, online strategies such as search marketing, online reputation management, social media marketing are essential. The 5 steps provided below are the foundation to a great online presence.
1. Brand Consistency – Like any advertising campaign, your brand message must be consistent across all forms of media. This includes your website and social media pages. You absolutely must remain true to your brand story and include the same theme in every aspect of your online marketing plan. This will build credibility among future brand advocates.
2. User Friendly Website – When it comes to building a website, many companies are torn between building a website for the search engines and building a website for their fans. In today’s search marketing environment, you actually have to incorporate both aspects into a website. Google now takes into account how ‘user friendly’ your website is, and how visitors react to the overall layout. If your site is ‘built for the search engines’ and your visitors bounce off the page as soon as they arrive, Google will penalize you for it. If you build a website for the fans, yet Google cannot access all of your content or files, they will penalize you for that. There is a happy-medium in web design and search marketing, and it’s a medium that Quaintise has become an expert at.
3. Engaging Social Media Pages – Just a few years ago, mediums like Facebook and Twitter were for the kids, not to be taken seriously by Google and other search engines. Boy have thing changed. Google now takes into account ‘social cues’ in terms of total search rankings. If you want your brand to have a strong online presence, you must have an engaging Facebook Page and Twitter account. These mediums are more than just something you toss up and forget about. Nowadays these pages must be updated consistently to create engagement with fans and brand advocates.
4. Brand Reputation Management – With user review sites and directories becoming increasingly more popular, it’s crucial that you have a constant eye on your reputation. In terms of online search marketing, you must have a presence on sites such as Yelp, MerchantCircle, YellowPages and SuperPages. In terms of medical search marketing, you must have a presence on medical review sites such as EveryDayHealth, HealthGrades and Vitals. It’s is also important to make sure that each of your practice locations is listed on each directory, as well as each of your physicians. These must be monitored at all times for ‘bad reviews’ and must be kept consistently updated with new ‘good reviews’ from brand advocates.
5. Establishing Yourself as an Expert – Creating a strong online brand presence is not only about making sure that your website is on page one, it’s about making sure you have immense credibility in the medical field. You can have all of the awards and certifications that are available, but if your target audience is not aware of those awards and can’t find any recognitions, your spitting into the wind. Establishing yourself as an expert in the field is a strategy that combines steps one through four. You must have a strong social media following, a following that recognizes you as an authority in your field, and engages with you often. You must also have a variety of positive reviews on many different review sites. Finally, your website must do more than just provide contact information; it must have an enormous amount of unique content in all the areas you claim to be an expert in. This can be in the form of articles, press releases, videos, or blogs, but the content must be consistently updated and must show that you know what you’re talking about. The content must also be free.
By following these five steps, you will have carved out a wonderful little online presence.