There is no question that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed most practices. Since most people are cutting back on spending, it’s important to improve your clinic’s marketing strategies as soon as possible. Here are five things you can do to get more patients and adapt to the new normal.
Establish Your Practice as an Essential Service
Since the implementation of COVID-19 legislation, the majority of households around the world have grown financially conservative. Even after the limits were eased, many patients still exercise caution when it comes to their booking appointment. This is why it’s critical to position your company as necessary.
A service that is considered vital is one that people cannot live without. The term “essential” does not always imply that people are physically reliant on your services. Your service could offer emotional or mental support, valuable knowledge, or simply make routine tasks easier.
If your practice offers health services (hand planted over face – OF COURSE), for example, you can customize your offerings to staff who now work from home and want greater organization. You may offer an online consultancy service for everyone.
You can also position your service as a necessity in your patient’s daily routine. Some websites gain greater traffic just by being the first to publish lottery winning numbers or the weather forecast for the week. You can drive daily visitors to your site by pairing your services with an app that assists with tasks such as cooking or exercising.
Bottom line: Examine your service and come up with a fresh, useful, and relevant application for it. Adapting to change is critical for any practice’s survival, and now is the time to figure out how to make your services distinct in the post-COVID world.
Create a Cheaper Option
During a recession, practices frequently create smaller, more discountable versions of their service. Some practices provide limited versions of their complete service. Creating a less expensive choice for patients should both attract new and maintain existing patients.
Do you have any service to offer? They should be available online. Consider offering your services singly if you normally offer them in packages. If you’re a professional service, break down your packages, price each service separately, and let the patient pick and pay for the one they want.
Bottom line: Do whatever you can to assist your patient in affording your services.
Improve Your Relevance on Social Media
People will dismiss your social media ad no matter how shiny and well-spaced the graphics are if it isn’t relevant. Posting a neutral ad for your services on a popular subject page won’t cut it either.
This new climate necessitates the attentive management of social media accounts. To put it another way, you’ll need a committed staff to scour digital places, find out what others are saying about your company, and communicate with potential patients in a meaningful way.
Responding to Patients
Your social media manager’s work entails not only responding to patients but also interacting with angry patients, “trolls,” and your clinic’s competitors. This entails communicating with individuals across the board, from Twitter to Reddit.
As a result, your social media manager must have a thorough understanding of internet tracking technologies. He/she/they must also be selective in their responses to persons and posts with huge audiences, interacting in a way that is not insulting to others or detrimental to the firm.
Creating Content Based on Popular or Trending Topics
This strategy necessitates both patience and speed. Be patient because you may need to wait for the proper issue to become popular. And once it works, you should be able to easily develop relevant content.
A topic can be used as a marketing opportunity in a variety of ways. It could be an opportunity to provide individuals with clarity on a difficult topic. You may start a conversation, respond with solid facts to correct a misunderstanding, or make lighter material like a Tik Tok video or a brief infographic.
If you do, don’t include any external links. Unless the material is highly significant, users prefer to stay within the social networking platform they are logged into.
If a competitor’s practice is in danger, you can gain recognition and profit. With a joke or a furious commercial, add your two cents to the debate. Your clinic can also take a stand on a contentious issue, but this should be done with caution and taste because it has the potential to backfire.
Ordinary Heroes Need Your Help
Yes, leveraging influencers to promote your services can be beneficial, but investing in regular individuals who accomplish exceptional things can also be profitable. When it’s appropriate, you can use stories about local heroes and events to make a financial or other significant contribution.
Airbnb, for example, frequently donates lodging to people in need, such as Ukrainian refugees. Similarly, you can make a public donation by following a famous hashtag (ideally one that is still active). It’s even more powerful if you have the evidence in the form of photographs.
Bottom line: It’s best to think of your organization as a person when traversing digital areas like social media platforms. Using relevant material to engage users can help your company stand out. But, as they say, “the internet never forgets,” so be careful with the stuff you generate.
Referral Programs Should Be Restructured
If you don’t already have one, you should think about starting one. Although referral schemes are not new, their importance is frequently neglected. Launch a referral program regardless of the size or type of service your clinic offers.
A referral program provides you with an army of sales staff that are prepared to promote your clinic in exchange for a monetary reward. How much should you pay for referrals, though? Are people eager to promote your practice for something other than a monetary reward?
It’s a bit of a paradox to offer big prizes or compensation for referrals. You will generate less money if you pay people more for bringing in practice… unless you raise the price of your item… which may be less appealing to budget-conscious patients.
Limiting your referral programs to your staff or creating one exclusively for your personnel could be a viable option. Employee recommendations might allow you more flexibility in terms of the benefits they earn. Some staff may be ready to forego monetary compensation in exchange for days off, a brief vacation, or a free service from your clinic.
Bottom line: Consider creating special referral programs specifically for your staff members. That way, you will have more control over the rewards, and your employees will be motivated to bring in new patients. Ask around to find out what they would be willing to receive as payment other than cash.
Keep Your (Old) Habits
While the world has changed, some traditional marketing principles should still be followed. Make sure that all of your company’s communication channels, such as websites, social media pages, and blogs, are up to date. Continue to write keyword-rich content and follow other tried-and-true SEO methods.
For positive ratings, brand your service, keep your promotion offline, and provide excellent patient service. If you still have a clinic, make it look professional and easy to find.
Bottom line: While the world has changed dramatically, keeping established practice standards remains critical for trust.
For your clinic to thrive, you must relearn why it is necessary, and provide less expensive solutions that are more suited to your patients’ budgets. Take use of digital spaces and referral programs, as modest modifications in your practices to help you keep up with the pandemic’s huge developments.
So… if you are a private practice healthcare business owner and you are looking to grow and scale your practice or generate more new patients for the practice – we are here for you! Drop a comment below if you have questions or if you’d like to set up a call with us go here: https://chat.practiceinsidersedge.com/PIE-Triage-Call