Marketing a healthcare facility is no easy task. You need to not only find a marketing message that’s sensitive and appropriate but one that’s legal. On top of that, there are so many different online marketing channels available, that it’s often hard to know which ones to pursue.
If you’re the owner or manager of a private healthcare facility, you may be wondering how you can go about promoting your services in the best way possible. Below are some tips you can use to market your healthcare facility’s services in an ethical and effective manner.
Hire an Outside Firm
To start, your best option is typically to hire an outside firm to handle your marketing for you. Marketing a healthcare facility is a big task and it’s not something you can typically leave to one employee on your team. When you hire a marketing team, you’re getting their years of experience and knowledge, allowing them to skip the learning curve.
On top of that, if you hire a marketing firm that specializes in marketing healthcare facilities, you’ll get a team that knows the ins and outs of your industry, which includes the right way to market your facility. Spend some time exploring the costs of hiring an outside firm and compare this with the benefits you can get from their expertise.
Know the Legal Requirements
Whether you decide to market your facility on your own or work with an outside firm, it’s important that you’re aware of the legal requirements. For example, there are many things that you’re not legally allowed to say within an advertisement. If you were to violate any of these legal requirements, you could find yourself facing some stiff penalties, not to mention a loss of trust with your audience.
As an example, let’s say you’re looking to do some drug rehab marketing. In your advertisements, you likely can’t include personal stories from your previous patients without their permission. You may also be barred from making certain promises related to outcomes of drug rehabilitation. You’d want to know what these requirements are before you start crafting your ads or before you start working with a marketing firm.
Start a Content Marketing Strategy
One of the best strategies you can use to promote your healthcare facility is a content marketing strategy. A content marketing strategy is one in which you create high-quality content online, such as articles, blog posts, or videos. You then use this content to draw in people who are looking to learn more information about a topic. From there, you can promote your services related to the topic.
For example, if you run a physical therapy clinic, you could create a video on the process of rehabilitating a shoulder. This would be helpful for people dealing with shoulder pain or who want to know what to expect after shoulder surgery.
They then learn valuable information from your video while simultaneously learning about your services. Creating high-quality content helps your facility to establish a reputation within your community while also giving your audience more avenues to find you.
Utilize Social Media
Social media is another powerful tool you can use to reach your audience. Through social media accounts on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you can connect with your audience quickly and easily.
You can use these platforms to promote recent success stories, introduce your audience to staff members or even answer direct inquiries from your audience.
Just be sure that whoever is running your social media accounts knows what they can and cannot say. For example, you don’t want a social media manager to provide medical advice over Twitter.
Focus On What Sets You Apart
Finally, whatever strategies you decide to promote your facility, try to focus on what sets you apart. There are likely other healthcare facilities in your area that offer similar services.
Ask yourself why someone would choose your facility over another. It could be your helpful and experienced staff, your affordable prices, or your location. Whatever the reason, be sure to promote it throughout your marketing channels. This will help to convince your audience to explore your services rather than going somewhere else.
Start Marketing Your Healthcare Facility Today
Building up a strong marketing strategy takes time. The best thing you can do is start as soon as possible so that you can start seeing results faster. Start today by either looking for marketing firms that can assist you or researching the marketing strategies you want to pursue on your own.
Then, make sure you know all the legal requirements surrounding marketing to ensure you don’t make any mistakes throughout the process.