Are You Prepared for 2018?
Goodbye 2017 and hello 2018!
Over the course of 2017 we posted a number of blogs about improving your digital marketing. To ensure you hit the ground running this new year, we recommend reviewing these topics to make sure you are taking advantage of all our tips and tricks.
Below are the top three topics about digital marketing.
How to Spend Your Ad Budget
Our previous blog Where Should I Spend My Ad Budget points out that there are an infinite number of ways to spend your advertising budget, including:
- Social Media
- Online Newspapers or Magazines
- Printed Publications
- Radio
In order to figure out where to spend your money, you will first need to decide what your goals are. Do you want to grow your patient base or are you interested in cross-marketing your services to current patients? Once you determine your audience, you can then focus your ads on the platforms these patients visit.
Approaching your advertising budget strategically will help you target the areas where your advertising dollars will get the most in return. Choosing platforms where your targeted audience is looking will help you reach the most people with the highest probability of conversion to appointments.
The Importance of a Marketing Plan
Our previous blog post about marketing plans explains their importance. Unlike a business plan, a marketing plan focuses on winning and keeping patients in your practice. It spells out all the tools and tactics you’ll use to achieve the growth goals of your practice.
Here are four great reasons to take some time to develop a marketing plan:
- A marketing plan puts your goals into action. Your marketing objectives should align with the goals of your practice. The objectives described in the marketing plan will ideally help you achieve the goals of your practice by putting your ideas into motion.
- A marketing plan formalizes all your great ideas and concepts. Don’t keep your marketing ideas in your head – write them down and organize them into a plan and you’ll be much more likely to bring your great ideas to life.
- A good marketing plan will keep you focused. As life happens, it’s easy to become distracted and lose sight of your intended goals for your practice. If you are like most practice owners or administrators, you are constantly being called on by vendors hoping to pitch their latest solution to reach new patients or brand your practice. A well-written marketing plan can help keep you focused on what you really should be doing so that you don’t waste your time.
- A marketing plan helps you establish tasks and timelines. Marketing your practice can be overwhelming. It’s easy to miss seasonal opportunities and deadlines because you didn’t think far enough in advance. A good marketing plan lays out clearly defined objectives and makes it easy to identify the tasks that need to be done, as well as the timelines necessary for completing those tasks.
What is Content Marketing?
Our blog about content marketing explains what it actually is. Basically, it is a specific marketing approach that focuses on creating and distributing relevant and consistent content throughout a business’s digital properties that attracts a new and maintains a current audience.
Content marketing focuses primarily on digital properties such as social media or websites, and this can make a huge impact. A 2013 study reported 81 percent of shoppers research businesses, products and services online before ever making a transaction.
Before you run out and begin sharing content on your digital properties, you should have an agreed upon brand or image you want for your practice. Here are some tips for getting started:
- Know your brand.
- Share and/or create content with your brand in mind.
- Monitor your content to see which pieces are performing best (e.g., receiving the most engagement or attracting new audiences).
- Repurpose your best performing content on your other digital properties.
Start 2018 with a plan to help your business grow.