Content Marketing Strategies for Healthcare Providers
Marketing in any industry is a tricky endeavor. When it comes to your own practice or an independent clinic where gaining and maintaining a customer’s trust is paramount, the task is especially challenging.
And when we’re talking about the marketing of content, that challenging task becomes even more difficult, due not only to the ongoing need to create compelling new material on a regular basis, but the need to remain accurate, transparent and careful enough as to avoid any legal issues in the process.
When done correctly, however, content marketing can be a powerful tool in setting a company apart from competing practices. What’s more, many healthcare companies rely exclusively on traditional means of marketing, such as print, radio, and television advertising, so there is a lot of growth potential.
In the independent healthcare market, a plastic surgeon in Nevada has been regularly using content marketing as a means of trumping the local competition. Not only is this man writing great, non-salesy advice on his blog on a weekly basis, but he’s working just as hard to let people know about that advice—and it seems to be working in his favor.
Let’s take a look at a few well-tested strategies you should be using once you’ve established a blog, and are creating useful, interesting content, and are guest-blogging on a regular basis.
- Establish Authority
There are hundreds of choices out there when it comes to health-related questions, and people (for better or worse) are finding the answers themselves online. Even the first step of having a blog sets you apart from most of the pack, and gives you the opportunity to engage your customers in new ways as an authoritative resource. - Reach a Wider Audience
Writing a blog and guest-blogging are ways to increase the number of eyes that see your website. Most blogs and websites have some strict guest-blogging policies, so familiarize yourself with these prior to reaching out. One of the most common requirements when guest-blogging is that the material you’re offering be exclusive—meaning that it hasn’t been published anywhere else, including your own blog. So consider reserving some posts specifically for the purpose of guest-blogging.
- Content When They Need It
The healthcare industry changes rapidly with new advancements in technology and medicine. Sometimes it isn’t necessary to be an expert on every single emerging trend and advancement; often it’s the people who are able to act as a filter that are the most valuable resource. What’s important for the public to know? What “news” is simply extraneous and distracting? Use your blog to cover trending topics so that when people search, they find you.
Remember that you want to gain your readers' trust and keep them coming back to your website. Establishing and maintaining your reputation as a quality healthcare company or provider is most important when creating this material.
Guest Post by Mickie Kennedy
Mickie E. Kennedy is founder of eReleases and author of The Advanced Guide to Writing Powerful Press Releases. A resident of Baltimore County he holds an MFA in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Poetry from George Mason University.
