Like many other segments within the healthcare industry, the market for
women's health services is extremely competitive today. Therefore, standing out
among the sea of women's health providers is key to long-term success. How can
you grow your business and acquire more patients to ensure you meet and exceed
your revenue goals successfully? It's important to approach your healthcare
marketing strategically and comprehensively - there is no one-size-fits-all
approach. Below are a few steps for working toward an effective healthcare
marketing strategy to grow your women's health practice.
Who are the women who are
most likely in need of the health services and products you offer? Conduct
market research and analyze your current patient mix to understand who your
ideal patients are and who is most likely to need and utilize your services. What
segments of the market are you already capturing well, and which segments of
the women's health consumer market could you expand in the future to acquire
even more consumers?
By first working to identify
the needs, preferences, and concerns of prospective patients and consumers,
you can then begin to build a healthcare marketing strategy that best speaks to
the prospective patients you serve. Providing the services needed most by
your target audience gives you a competitive edge, especially if you're
able to meet health needs that are otherwise unmet or unavailable in the local
community.
2. Develop a Strong Brand
Identity
How do you want people to
perceive your practice? What emotions do you wish to evoke when they think of
your business and the services you provide?
One of the first steps to successfully market your women's health services is to establish a unique, memorable brand that evokes a positive perception of your organization.
- If you haven't already, start by creating (or hiring someone to create) a memorable brand name and logo for your business.
- Next, develop a comprehensive style guide to help maintain consistent visual imagery and utilization of your logo including fonts, colors, and placement.
- Establish a positive,
consistent look, feel, and tone for your messaging to build a company brand
and image that is easily recognized and identified as trustworthy and
professional, thereby attracting more patients to your practice. Consistency is
key throughout all of your visual and verbal brand messaging.
- A user-friendly website with relevant, search-optimized content.
- Social media - Extend the reach of your content via appropriate social media channels where health consumers may interactively engage with your content and advertising.
- Content strategy - Your digital marketing efforts will be most effective with a well-developed, thorough content strategy that provides valuable, relevant information to your target market of health consumers via organic and paid content.
- Online advertising - banner ads, dynamic ads, and/or programmatic ads, if and where
applicable.
HIPAA/OCR Compliance: Digital marketing offers
many ways to target and track health consumers. However, healthcare
organizations must comply with all health marketing
restrictions set forth by the social media platforms, as well as the regulations of
the OCR/HHS. Failure to comply with these restrictions could result in HIPAA
violations, fines, or lawsuits. Therefore, it's recommended that someone on
your team is experienced and well-versed in health marketing regulations.
Otherwise, you may need to engage a professional consultant who can help ensure
that your health marketing efforts meet all regulatory requirements and are
HIPAA-compliant.
4.
Don't Forget to Utilize These Traditional Marketing and Advertising
Methods
- Print and direct mail campaigns are a great way to reach consumers today, as there is less competition in those areas now. Mailed flyers are much more likely to be at least seen by the target consumer vs. competing with hundreds of emails per week that often end up in spam folders.
- Radio and television offer countless advertising opportunities for women's health, with an
excellent market share and high-quality production assets.
- Community involvement in local events, such as health fairs, fundraisers,
and festivals. Getting in front of health consumers in person always creates a more
memorable and lasting impression than a virtual presence.
- Nurture a strong and active network of referring physicians to help grow your practice over time as well. Identify local health programs and medical practices that provide services which are complementary to yours and build a mutually beneficial relationship of cross-promotion, joint marketing, and referrals.
5. Advertise on Streaming
Networks
As of 2022, Nielsen
reports that Americans now watch more TV via streaming services (35%) than
either broadcast or cable TV. Therefore, advertising your women's health
services via streaming enables you to reach the most potential health consumers
for your organization. Additionally, advertising via streaming networks offers
many of the benefits of traditional TV advertising, plus some of the benefits
of digital marketing. Advertising via streaming allows you to purchase
advertising based upon your target audience rather than solely by zip code or by
show.
Incorporating streaming
advertising strategy as part of your health marketing efforts provides an incremental,
unique reach over other advertising methods alone, and helps you to find your
ideal audience wherever they are located and consuming media. Therefore,
streaming services and advertising packages offer an ideal way to stay ahead of
the latest trends and increase your reach to more consumers of women's health
services.
6. Optimize your Women's Health
Services to Attract and Retain More Patients
By striving to make your women's health services as comprehensive and high-quality as possible, you'll attract and retain more loyal consumers over time.
- Ensure an exceptional level of service, a positive patient experience,
and a wide array of services that are in the greatest demand by
women, to increase your chances for successfully building a larger patient base
of long-term repeat patients.
- Provide a top-notch patient experience from start (appointment scheduling)
to finish (payment, setting a follow-up appointment, etc.). Maintain a comfortable, welcoming, environment that makes your clients feel
valued and cared for throughout every step of their patient journey - from the
reception area and waiting room, to the procedure rooms, through the check-out
area.
- Utilize patient satisfaction surveys and open communication to encourage patient
feedback and address concerns. Conduct market research to determine what health
consumers want and need from women's health services.
Are you offering the women's
health services that are in greatest demand?
- Conduct market research to identify potential gaps in the market and areas where you could expand your services to meet more health needs and attract more clients.
- Consider adding complementary ancillary services such as nutrition
counseling/weight loss, mental health services, physical therapy, aesthetics,
etc.
- Research new innovative treatments or technologies and consider offering
them if it makes sense for your practice and for your target audience.
Ultimately, your practice
is only as successful as your staff. Therefore, investing in your staff members
is critical for long-term growth of your organization.
- Hire and train the right people. Ensure that your organization is
represented by the best, most experienced and compassionate clinicians,
providers, and support staff. Your staff will also help carry out your
organization's brand that you've worked so carefully and intentionally to
cultivate.
- Strive to make your staff members feel valued, while also providing a
great environment in which they can excel.
- Provide ongoing education and professional development opportunities for them to continue to
learn and grow professionally. These may include training sessions,
healthcare industry conferences, and membership in professional associations.
- Foster and maintain a culture of excellence, collaboration, and teamwork. Open communication, quality
HR management, and addressing staff issues promptly are a few ways to help
maintain a positive work environment.
There are many factors that contribute to the successful marketing of
your women's health services. A comprehensive, multifaceted approach to
growth and marketing is the best way to ensure your organization is as
successful as possible. There's no one single simple easy key to success - effective
health marketing requires all aspects of your organization to perform
consistently at the highest levels possible, online and off-line. That's
why it's often helpful to outsource some or all marketing and advertising
functions out to a professional expert - so that you and your team have more
time and energy to focus on providing great patient care, while someone else
handles the labor-intensive marketing and messaging tasks for you.
Related
reading:
6
Health Marketing Strategies to Know
Transform
Your Healthcare Marketing Department into a Revenue Driving Business Unit
How
to Navigate Digital Healthcare Marketing Restrictions and HIPAA Compliance