Times change and you have to change with them or you may not be here in five years. This isn’t so much about changing the way you market your healthcare business but more about changing the way you think.
I’m going to show you why what you are doing is not working anymore and what you should be doing to grow your healthcare business in 2015 and beyond.
So take a look at some of the most common marketing tactics I see healthcare businesses use to grow, if you are doing any of them then maybe you must look at alternatives or you are going to see diminishing returns in 2015.
Pushing your marketing message won’t work in 2015.
The death of print?
The daily newspaper market is shrinking by 8% a year Over the last 10 years the Sunday newspaper market had shrunk by 47%.
Magazines are not immune to this either UK magazines lost nearly 1 million in print sales in the first half of 2014. The writing is on the wall. The problem with print is that people no longer read newspapers and the ones that do are going to ignore your disrupting messaging.
Google Advertising is only a small slice of the pie
Although advertising on Google is a great way to attract people who are actually looking for a clinic or your services, it may still be yielding a poor return.
The problem is that too many healthcare businesses are missing out on a large untapped Google audience that may not be reading to buy but are still interested.
Why people tune out of radio ads
Lots of talk about radio and how many people you can reach but not much about how effective it is at bringing in sales.
It may give you reach but are people even listening?
What was the last radio ad you remember?
TV Ads, a real money sink?
No one watches TV ads anymore, people will record using sky+ or a free alternative. They will watch TV online and skip any advertising.
As the TV audience has shrunk then so has the return on investment. If you are a large brand and just want to be front and centre with consumers at all times then this kind of spray and pray marketing can be effective.
However if you want to fill your clinic, sell more products or get more patients then this may not be your best way to reach them and build trust with them.
Trade shows too expensive with little return
Trade shows can be expensive and can be very ineffective. They are good at reaching people who are in attendance, but again we want to build trust and this is very hard to do across a busy trade show floor.
You could give them your card but that would add to the dozens they already have.
So what is the answer?
We all know in business that we need to build trust and from that trust comes business and in no other industry is it as important to build trust than in healthcare.
How do you build trust?
You can’t build trust by disrupting people and this is what all of the above do. Sales talk doesn’t build trust, being helpful and showing you are an authority does.
The best way you can do both of these things is through content, content that helps and educates.
Is your blog full of articles that talk about you?
or
Do you not even have one?
Then now is the time for you to start talking. Create content that answers the questions that your customers and patients are asking.
This will build trust and lead to more sales and clinic visits.
Conclusion
Times are a changing and 2015 should be the year that you embrace this change. Create the content that your patients are looking for.
If you don’t then one of your competitors will.