Healthcare organizations that rely on a combination of what are considered “tried and true” marketing tactics – referrals, direct marketing, trade shows, and telemarketing – are discovering a problem. These traditional tactics no longer work. At least, not well enough. Which is why we are sharing with you four new healthcare marketing trends that are changing the way this industry does business.
Recent marketing statistics make it clear that a new approach to healthcare sales is necessary:
- 44% of direct mail is never opened
- Outbound leads (such as advertising, cold calling, or trade shows) convert into sales at the meager rate of 1.7%
- 85% of people skip TV advertising
Today’s healthcare marketing trends demonstrate that the future lies in inbound marketing: producing or curating content and making it available to customers. Inbound marketing tools such as blogs, podcasts, video, eBooks, enewsletters, whitepapers, SEO, and social media marketing position a company as a useful resource for its customers, establishing a relationship of mutual respect.
Inbound marketing gives customers reasons to come to you, rather than you chasing after them for a sale.
Think Like Your Prospective Customers
Of course you know your customers. But do you think like them? The key to capturing your customers’ attention within a sea of digital content is to speak directly to their challenges, concerns, questions, and needs.
How can you do this? Create something called a buyer persona. Imagine your typical customer as a person. Give him/her a name, age, geographic area, occupation, family, and hobbies. Put a photo with the description, so you have an image to focus on. Now every time to write marketing content, write it for your persona. You will find this approach helps your language and content more successfully engage with potential customers.
Offer Compelling Content
Instead of spending money on outbound marketing that simply chases down prospects to make a sale, now you can give your targets reasons to come to you with informative, helpful content – that you can create for free. This content should be posted in the places that your customers frequent: do they read blogs, use Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to email newsletters? Find out where they like to get their information – meet them on their own turf – and establish your presence to offer expertise and guidance.
Exchange Expertise for Qualified Leads
Continue the conversation with your prospects and customers on your website, where you can promote premium offers (such as ebooks, guides, checklists and other tools) for free in exchange for their email address. Once you have an email address, you have a way to continue the sales process with a prequalified lead. Bold calls to action on your site will make it easy to see your offers, and help convert visitors to leads.
Use Digital Data to Refine and Improve Results
Using online marketing tactics to fuel your sales engine provides you access to extensive analytics tools that can be used to assess how well your inbound marketing efforts are working. You can see which topics are viewed and shared most, which offers deliver the most qualified leads, and which lead generators result in the highest percentage of sales. By reviewing the digital data, which is easily accessible through variety of tools, you can continually tweak and improve your marketing strategy.
Today’s healthcare marketing trends are an idea fit for an industry that is focused on helping people. By understanding your customer’s questions and concerns, and providing answers and solutions in a non-invasive format, you can grow your business simply by being helpful – in a strategic way.
For more in-depth guidance on how to successfully carry out inbound marketing strategies for your healthcare business, click here to learn about our free ebook: “Digital Healthcare Marketing in a Nutshell”.
source: 44% of direct mail never opened.