Health Care Trends in Digital Marketing

Posted on by ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT

Digital marketing is an essential tool in many industries, and health care is no exception. Utilizing digital marketing tools such as search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media, targeted outreach and analytical tools will help boost patient engagement—a critical factor in your long-term success. You’ll have to look beyond the basics (an easy-to-navigate website, informational blogs and emails, keyword research, etc.) in order to truly stand out from the pack. 

Meeting the Demands of Today’s Consumers

Woman using cellphone in a group

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Health care is evolving in order to keep pace with today’s rapidly-changing technological landscape. An increasing number of consumers have come to expect digital solutions for everything from appointment scheduling and reminders to finding physicians and accessing medical records. As a result, practices are adopting new strategies to meet this demand. They include:

  • Prescription medicine is difficult and costly to market. Health care providers who manufacture and sell drugs are expanding into over-the-counter medications and holistic health services—part of an overall attempt to have patients view them as “lifestyle brands.”
  • Patients are empowering themselves to manage their own health. This proactive approach to health care has led providers to focus on telemedicine and artificial intelligence-enabled diagnostic and treatment tools in order to meet consumer demand. Another component of this strategy is to provide easier access to personal health data. In order to be successful, health care organizations must make an effort to support patients throughout their entire health care journey.
  • Patients rely more and more on mobile devices to manage their own health, picking up their phones to research providers, look up medical information, and more. It is essential that providers focus on improving their mobile offerings or risk alienating large segments of the population. 
  • Patients desire a personalized experience. With technology providing the ability for individuals to monitor and track their own health and activity, they will respond more positively to health care providers who offer targeted, personalized marketing campaigns that address their unique health concerns. 
  • Life expectancy rates are on the rise worldwide. This translates to an increased need for long-term health care; providers who focus on the needs of the large aging population and focus on developing relationships in order to build loyalty will emerge as winners in the long run.