Hospital marketing is the strategic process of promoting and advertising the healthcare services and facilities offered by a hospital or healthcare institution. This includes hospital branding, patient acquisition, community outreach, and digital marketing campaigns.
In 2024, more than ever before, patients are consumers of medical services and can choose from a variety of options for their healthcare needs. This means that hospitals and healthcare practices must create engaging and innovative marketing strategies to attract new patients and retain existing ones.
Hospitals should focus on a few key strategies to meet the demands of today’s healthcare consumers. First, they must make sure their website and social media profiles are easy to find online. They must also ensure their content is relevant to potential patients and reflects the hospital’s expertise in the areas that they specialize in. Finally, hospitals should use targeted advertising to reach specific audiences and connect with them more effectively.
People often associate hospitals with white, sterile environments, so it’s important for hospital marketers to humanize their brand and show what makes the hospital special. For example, a patient success story or testimonial can go a long way in building trust and showing that the hospital cares about its patients.
Another great way to build trust and show empathy is by inviting prospective patients into the content development process. Ask what topics they want to hear about in newsletters, webinars, educational videos, or ads and then include those themes in your content. This will show that you are listening to the needs of your audience and truly value their input.
Healthcare organizations should also leverage the power of digital marketing by optimizing their website and landing pages to improve search engine optimization (SEO). This will increase the visibility of their websites and help them rank higher in organic searches. In addition, hospitals can also target specific demographics using targeted ads on Facebook or Google to promote relevant content.
It’s important for hospital marketers to measure the ROI of their marketing campaigns. To do this, they should use call tracking software with conversation intelligence like Invoca. This will allow them to see the number of calls resulting from their campaigns, as well as analyze what types of content is driving phone conversations and appointment bookings. And because Invoca is HIPAA compliant, healthcare organizations can feel confident that their data is secure.