Digital marketing is constantly evolving, so how can you be sure your digital strategy is effective? A website is a great first step but optimizing that website to create the best experience for patients, and maximizing opportunities across the digital landscape will help you help more people hear better.
Having a digital marketing strategy allows hearing healthcare practices to connect with their target audience at every stage of the patient’s journey and deliver the right message at the right time. By understanding and leveraging changing consumer behaviors, businesses can stay ahead of the competition and drive conversations.
For you, it can make your business more visible online, and visibility is key to a good online presence in 2023. For patients, it makes it easier to find your business and allows your business to highlight key features and services that may be specific to your patient’s needs.
The Five Pillars of a Digital Strategy
Businesses must have a strong digital presence to remain competitive and achieve their goals. To accomplish this, you must understand the five pillars of a strong digital strategy: content, technology, design and user experience, process, and organization.
Content
Informative, relevant, and unique content is important to describe your business and provide patients with the information they are looking for. Not only does this type of content lead the patient to follow through in getting help, but it also helps to improve your ranking in the search engines.
Technology
It’s always good to have technology features on your website. The more you can provide for patients, the more they can get out of your website. Patients will also be accustomed to features that they experience on the websites they frequent the most.
Design and User Experience
The process of creating your website and making it accessible and easy to navigate is good user experience. If the user can find what they’re looking for quickly, it’ll make their experience more efficient, and they’ll be more likely to schedule an appointment.
Process
If there’s a clear process on your website or even an online search, it makes it easier for the patient to find your practice, schedule an appointment, and convert to a customer.
Organization
Organization requires buy in from your whole team. Keeping your business assets organized will help you scale at a much faster and professional rate.
Within each of these pillars, there are different strategies and tools to help you optimize your strategy.
Components of an Effective Digital Strategy
Some of the key components to an effective digital strategy in today’s digital landscape include tools and practices designed to build awareness and trust among patients and break down barriers to care.
Paid Media
Paid media allows you to promote your practice through sponsored social media, paid search and display ads, and other multimedia. It’s an effective way to expand your practice’s brand reach and generate more traffic to your audiology practice website, resulting in more new patients.
It can be tricky to determine how much you should spend on paid media. The United States Small Business Administration recommends spending between 7% and 8% of your gross revenue on marketing. There is also a general rule of thumb among marketing professionals that you should aim to spend 2% to 5% of your sales revenue on marketing. There are few factors to consider when determining the specific ad spend that will help your practice cut through the market including your geographical location, your competition, and the keywords you’re competing for.
Video Content
Video content is very important to your digital strategy, especially in 2023. Studies show that the average internet user spends 88% more time on a website with video. When patients feel more comfortable and informed about their care, they’ll be more likely to trust your practice and become loyal patients. Creating video, content that explains what to expect from different treatments, how to prepare for procedures and other relevant topics can be an invaluable resource for patients. Video platforms like Vidscrip make it easy to create and share video content with current patients, leads, and website visitors.
Reputation Management
Online reputation management, or ORM, is the process of managing online information about a person’s company or a brand. The primary goal of RM is to establish an accurate, sustainable, and controllable search landscape that represents the full arc of the organization or the business leader.
For your practice, it’s critical to have a search landscape that makes it easy for satisfied patients to leave positive reviews, and for potential patients to see them. Managing your reviews is a key part of ORM, and it will help you solidify your brand in the eyes of patients. It’s helpful to respond to reviews, both positive and negative, in a timely manner.
Business Listings
Business listings give your practice visibility and boost your online presence. A business listing with up-to-date information, reviews, and imagery attracts local users and helps them convert into real patients. Whether they are on Google, Yelp, Facebook, or elsewhere, it’s important to make sure that the information stays consistent across the board.
Technology Features
Telehealth options, like CQ Virtual Office, have been proven to reduce emergency room visits and lower cost per patients and providers. Portable diagnostic tools such as handheld cameras and laptop cameras make it possible for providers to treat patients in their community instead of having to travel to an office.
Efficient online patient scheduling helps healthcare providers to optimize their resources, reduce wait times, and enhance the overall patient experience that also plays a critical role in ensuring that patients receive timely and appropriate medical care, which is essential for their wellbeing.
Effective marketing may be a moving target in today’s world, but a comprehensive digital marketing strategy will set you up to be able to increase appointments scheduled, boost sales, break down barriers to care, and help the most patients possible.
Iris+ by CQ Digital is the most comprehensive, effective digital marketing platform in the hearing healthcare industry. In addition to giving you a team of digital experts to help you, Iris+ provides exclusive partnerships and tools that go above and beyond your basic marketing strategy to connect more patients with your practice.
About the Author
Steven Reith has spent the past five years helping members help more people by leveraging the best digital practices to convert as many new patients as possible. Steven accomplishes this goal by managing practices’ online reputation, researching their competitors, and implementing that research onto their websites to help them become the leading hearing healthcare clinic in their area. As a musician, healthy hearing is a priority to Steven. He is endorsed by JH Audio and has worked closely with their team to get in-ear monitors and has been using them for the past five years. Steven combines his experience as a freelance website developer, his education in computer science, and his passion for helping other businesses succeed to deliver high quality digital solutions to CQ Partner’s member practices.
Sources: CodeFuel, United States Small Business Administration
