Online Marketing for Clinics: 10 Tips

Online marketing for clinics has a lot in common with online marketing for private practices and hospitals, but there are differences. Here are ten tips for building your clinic’s online authority and visibility

1. Keep your website up to date. A modern website with regular fresh content is your #1 strategy for effective online marketing. Even when you rely on ads, having a high quality web page to send people to is key for success.
2. Focus on local search. Chances are, most of your patients will be local people, and their searches for your services will often include terms like “after hours clinic near me” or “women’s clinic in Fayetteville.” Showing up in the three pack with a map increases the chances that prospective patients will see your website.
3. Showcase your doctors. Some of your patients will relate more to the clinic and some will relate more to the specific doctors they see. Capture the attention of both groups by including plenty of information on your doctors, as well as your clinic. Your website should come up first when you Google the doctors’ names, as well as the clinic name.
4. Make sure your website is useful. Why do your patients come to your website? They may want to check hours, book an appointment, ask for a prescription refill, or get in touch with a doctor or nurse. If you’re not sure why they visit, ask. Staff at the reception desk can easily ask and track answers. Once you know why people visit, make sure that your navigation makes it easy for patients to find the pages they need.
5. Add a blog. Your patients want to know what your team members are up to, and prospective patients and current patients alike will appreciate having access to information on their own schedule. Research tells us that health information is one of the most common searches online — make your website a trusted source of that information.
6. Include your patient portal at your website. This is easier than you might think! It also makes it easy for your patients to use the portal, and increases patient use of this important service.
7. Build a mailing list. Your patients have already given you permission to contact them. Invite visitors to your website to sign up for a newsletter with a pop-up. When they get helpful information, they’ll be more likely to think of you when they need your services.
8. Create a great newsletter. One of the fastest ways to build a terrific newsletter is to link to great blog posts. When you use a blogging service, the time to create the newsletter is minimal.
9. Add email marketing to the mix. Send a monthly newsletter to your mailing list, reminders to patients who are due for a check up, and notices about events to active patients. Your patients like to hear from you, and reminders will help keep them coming back.
10. Use social media. Research confirms that patients appreciate connecting with health professionals on social media. Having clinic pages allows your patients to feel engaged with your doctors without adding to their workload. 

Pooling resources to support online marketing for the clinic makes sense for the health professionals working at your clinic. Multiple doctors with various specialties and skills gives you more to work with, too. Take advantage of these factors when you plan your online marketing.