7 Quick and Easy Ways To Generate Leads For Your Practice


Getting enough leads (new prospects) is a problem many small health care business owners face. It seems like there’s a billion different marketing strategies nowadays.

But how do you know which ones will actually be effective?

Here’s 7 of our favorite quick and easy ways to generate more leads – FAST!

  1. Tweet!

    Twitter is a goldmine when used properly. Reach out to local influencers in your market or industry and get involved in conversations with them. A lot of their followers are potential patients will likely see your interactions and click through to your website
  2. Infographics

    Infographics have become a content marketing staple for a lot of practices over the past few years.

    Why?

    Because people love to read and share and comment on them. A good infographic will help position you as an expert – so get started on yours today!

  3. Create a Great Video

    There’s no better way to showcase your product or services than by video.

    Don’t worry about being promotional, rather come up with a great idea that engages your audience!

    How To.. and Q&A??

    Videos are topics that resonate and will result in a much better click through rate to your website!

  4. Ebooks

    Ebooks aren’t just for Best-Selling Authors and Dog Trainers anymore!

    You can write an ebook about any industry (and people love them!)

    So show off your expertise and get to writing! Your ebook doesn’t have to be long, but you’ll want to write from a neutral perspective and give actionable tips and insights.

    Build your status as an authority by providing value to the reader. Then – share it socially and ask your network to spread the word!

  5. Newsletter

    If you don’t have a newsletter yet, it should be your first priority after reading this blog post!

    You’re missing out one of the simplest ways to generate more leads! Email newsletters are a great way to stay in touch and avoid getting lost in all the internet noise.

    Keep in mind, it’s NOT just about you…

    Share industry news, recent wins for your patients and other insights your audience will appreciate.

  6. Networking Events

    This strategy is so effective yet these days (as a result of the shut-downs and pandemic) everyone seems to forget how beneficial offline marketing can be – even a networking event (yes be safe with Covid)!

    You’ll meet people, expand your network, gain valuable referrals and build your brand at the same time.

    Then…after the event, you get back online and find all your new contacts on LinkedIn and Facebook!

  7. Local Media

    Tap into local media outlets!

    A great way to go about that is to plan a charitable event – a food drive, clothing donation, the sky’s the limit. Just make sure you’re helping out the local community in some way!

    The local charity should be something that you have a personal interest in!

    Get in touch with your local news and media stations directly and invite them to come out!

    You would be surprised how easy, and how effective it is!

There you have it!

7 Quick and Easy Ways To Generate Leads For Your Practice 

Take Action today and see the results happen for your business.

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


How to Handle Patient Complaints About Your Practice


Patient complaints are a reality of running any health care business. While receiving negative feedback can be unpleasant, it is essential for making noticeable improvements to your company and holding onto patients and…. bringing in more new patients too. 

 

One way you can mitigate the sting when people take time out of their day to complain about your product and/or services? 

 

Acknowledge them! 

 

When they feel heard, more than likely they will go away happy- even if not satisfied with what was done in response. 

 

In the best-case scenario, your patient may even have a more positive view of your practice after a complaint is resolved than before they even had an issue

 

What Are Patients Complaints?

There’s always a chance that a patient can be disappointed with the product or service delivered, even if it matches your expectations. That can lead to patient complaints and unhappy patients overall.

Patient complaints demonstrate that there’s a mismatch between the product or service delivered and the patients initial expectations. 

When complaints are one-off occurrences or mistakes, they can be interpreted as negative feedback and the relationship between the health care practitioner and patient can usually be salvaged. When they’re consistent trends, they need to be addressed at a more fundamental level.

This conflict in expectations and results can be associated with several different reasons: 

  • Unreasonable expectations that are hard to meet. Occasionally patients have a long list of demands that are difficult for any health care business to meet. They may have unreasonable expectations regarding pricing, the level of service, time spent with patients or they may have misunderstood one of your practice’s purposes. 
  • Scenarios that are outside your control. Sometimes things go wrong and they have nothing to do with your practice or your care. 
  • Misleading marketing around the healthcare business’s offering. Sometimes health businesses misrepresent their products or practices through their marketing and social media campaigns, and prospects may feel that they’ve invested in an offer that didn’t meet their expectation
  • Operational failures. Sometimes a practice has great providers but there is an issue that takes place before or after care. This can happen when health care businesses that don’t fully train employees.

Where Are Patients Most Likely to Complain? 

Depending on your health care business model and location, patients may have multiple options for lodging a complaint.  Patient feedback can appear in two different ways, public and private. 

Naturally, if you’re providing channels for private negative feedback you’re more likely to be able to handle these issues outside of the public eye. 

Here are some of the top ways patients usually choose to complain: 

  • Frontline staff. If you own a patient-facing practice, your patients may be more likely to complain in-person to a staff member who happens to be on duty.
  • Surveys. If you send out regular patient satisfaction surveys, they may use it as an opportunity to share complaints about your health care business or offers.
  • Online reviews. Sometimes dissatisfied patients will use 3rd party review sites for complaining about your health care business. If you do receive online negative reviews, remember it is really important to acknowledge the feedback and be empathetic.
  • By phone or email. Health care businesses that provide a more personalized service to a smaller group of patients, may receive more complaints directly to their phone lines or through email.
  • Social Media. It’s becoming more common for patients to leave comments and reviews on health care businesses’ social media profiles. It’s critical to have a policy in place because social media is so public.

What Do Patients Typically Complain About? 

Regardless of industry, health care businesses will be met with some form of complaint at one point or another. Whether it’s as a result of an error you made or due to something they felt was impossible for your patients to overcome, there are certain scenarios that tend to provoke complaints the most.

Having an awareness of what your patients typically complain about will not only help you improve your health care business’s offering but also help your employees prepare for handling common complaints.

If you want to save time and make your patient happy, then don’t hesitate to collect feedback from them. It takes just a little bit of work every day for both the patient and health care business owner alike in order to avoid confusion or conflict.

Here are some areas that patients typically complain about and plausible solutions to those complaints.

Slow Patient Service 

Whether you run a telemedicine or brick and mortar practice, patients appreciate efficient service. Patients like to feel that their time is respected and they don’t want to waste any of it waiting in line while talking on the phone with your company’s team.

Long wait times mean that your practice does not prioritize practice experience and may be unable to deal with patient flow efficiently.

Here’s what to do: 

  • Training! Helping your staff understand how to communicate with patients when wait times exceed expectations can decrease complaints.
  • Improve your operations! Adjusting processes, adding staff, being aware of inventory or signage are also good ways to pre-emptively address potential bottlenecks

Long Wait Times or Unavailable Services

In the world of marketing, an out-of-stock product or fully booked appointment is better than a sold one. Your health care business must be doing something right if patients are willing to wait for you for long periods of time between patients. 

However, outdated inventory and no available bookings can make potential patients lose interest in your company quickly so it’s important that these items stay on hand at all times.

Patients may keep calling and emailing your health care business for updates about these unavailable services and products. 

Ultimately they may leave you negative feedback either online or in-person. 

Here’s what to do: 

  • Training your staff to communicate empathetically with patients for the inconvenience is a good start…
  • Setting realistic expectations via communication of wait times in the office. 
  • Setting realistic expectations by communicating when you next expect to have these products or services available is ideal.

 

No Follow-up

Even if you have the best intentions of resolving a patient’s issue, they may feel anxious about your progress and want to know how it is going.

If patients are in need of help with time-sensitive requests or complaints, then they’ll be looking for updates on what information you’re able to find.

It’s important to be upfront about expected response times and stick to them. This way, you can give all patients the best service possible without disappointing some people just because their expectations are too high.

Here are a few follow-up best practices:

  • It’s ok not to have the solution right away. It’s a good idea to communicate with the patient that you are actively trying to solve the issue. 
  • Set patient expectations with realistic timelines for resolution. If you know it will take a few days to resolve the problem, don’t promise a solution for the next day. 
  • Think about the channel through which the patient made the complaint and the acceptable response time. 24 hours is acceptable for a negative online review or an email, but a few hours or less is generally expected for in-person or phone complaint
  • If a complaint is time-sensitive, reassure patients by providing a few regular updates.

How Should Any Health Care Business Handle Complaints?

Your practice will be able to turn complaining patients into loyal advocates if you are aware of the issue and resolve it, as well as effectively communicate throughout. This is a great way for both sides to win!

 

  1. Make it Easy for Patients to Complain

Patients will not feel inclined to go through the hassle of complaining when they know that their feedback is only going to be met with a formality.

To help create a solid patient experience, patients need to feel that the health care business cares about their thoughts and feelings and their overall health. When patients complain, it should be easy for them to share their honest opinions and thoughts with a health care business. 

You could encourage patient to share their thoughts by:

  • Putting a form on your website to encourage feedback and complaints.
  • Posting a feedback link in your newsletter, social media platforms, and in-office.
  • Actively ask your patient for their opinions.

Proactively asking your patients for honest feedback is a great way of preventing complaints from escalating. Sending out patient satisfaction surveys at regular intervals helps you gauge how they feel about your health care business and if there are any problems that need to be addressed before it’s too late!

 

It can be used as an opportunity for uncovering valuable insights such as what may not be working for your health care business. 

 

When patients complain, ask valid questions to dig deeper into what caused the issue in the first place. 

 

When a patient registers a complaint, consider asking the following questions:

  • Could you elaborate on that point more? 
  • Could you clarify what you mean by that?
  • Help me understand how we can meet your expectations?

Here’s the thing, although patient complaints are never comfortable, it’s also a good time for some self-reflection. 

 

Ask yourself:

  • Do I need any further details? 
  • Why is this complaint significant for my business? 
  • What happened to cause the patient to complain?
  • How can we prevent this from recurring?

Asking the right questions will help you uncover the root of a problem so that it can be resolved. Depending on how your health care business is structured, you may choose to assign one team member as a patient complaint specialist who handles complaints and uncovers insights about what needs improvement in order for clients to have an even better experience with your company.

  1. Respond Proactively and Efficiently

Acceptable response times depend on the nature of the complaint.

 

Here are some complaint response time best practices: 

  • Respond promptly.Negative feedback requires a swift reply and resolution to show care and action from your health care business.
  • If the feedback is public, respond publicly. It’s an opportunity to show future patients you’re responsive, capable and willing to right a wrong.
  • Read through the complaint thoroughly. Use the patient’s own words to personalize your reply. This goes a long way to display empathy!
  • Offer a solution.  Showing empathy for the situation and being respectful is vital to successful response management, but a solution is at the core of what the patient wants. Providing a solution that’s appropriate to the complaint, whether that be compensation, a refund, or replacement. 
  • Put the right person in charge. Make sure that the person replying to negative reviews has the authority to offer solutions.

Taking time to regularly monitor your patient complaints is important to ensure you don’t miss one. 

 

  1. Follow up to Verify You’ve Solved Their Problem with a Suitable Solution

When you’ve found the cause of a patient complaint, identified an appropriate solution and proposed it to them, don’t forget about follow-ups. It can be hard for patients to let go so make sure they feel heard by following up on your proposal in order to see if their problem has been addressed or not.

 

Patients appreciate health care businesses that care about their experience and their overall satisfaction. 

You can then follow up with patients by: 

  • Asking them if there’s anything else you can do to help them.
  • Simply asking if the solution worked out for them. 
  1. Record the Complaint and Analyze Patterns

When you receive a complaint, it’s important to record the type of complaint and who it came from. 

The complaint could come from: 

  • A regular patient
  • A one-off patient
  • A high-value patient

 

If you receive multiple complaints about the same issue from a similar type of patient point, you can identify trends in your operations!

It’s important to identify high-volume complaints as these can point to dominant issues throughout your health care business. 

Identifying repeat complaints and taking steps to address the root cause, it’ll become easier to prevent future complaints! 

Here’s How You Can Support Your Employees to Properly Handle Patient Complaints? 

Health care business owners should provide employees with the proper training to help them resolve patient complaints in a timely manner.

Clear guidance and policies will help ensure that each patient complaint gets a standardized level of attention from staff members, while those complaints are recorded properly.

Create a Clearly Written Complaint Handling Document

Writing a guide to handling patient complaints professionally and effectively is a good idea. This document should be comprehensive so employees know how to deal with different situations as they come up, both on the job training-wise and in a pinch when no one else is around for guidance.

As we mentioned earlier, if you’re consistently collecting feedback, you should be familiar with common patient complaints and have a specific way for your employees to be able to handle them. That way, employees will understand what’s expected of them as the complaints arise. 

Try to provide guidance on how they should react, how to escalate the complaint, and provide possible solutions.  

To avoid complaints, make sure your complaint handling document is easily accessible to all staff members. After reading the document you should feel confident in making judgment calls and tackling different situations on your own.

Give Your Staff Resources to Resolve Complaints

If you want to make your employees feel confident in handling complaints, consider providing interactive training sessions. You could incorporate role-play situations where we show them the potential set of patient problems that can occur and force trainees to come up with solutions on their own.

Re-evaluate How Your Health Care Business Handles Complaints Routinely

Handling patient complaints is one of the more difficult aspects of working in a client-facing role. It’s important for employees to feel well-equipped when handling these types of cases, so it’s necessary that managers check on their staff quarterly and provide high quality training sessions if needed.

Final Thoughts On Patient Complaints

Complaints are inevitable when running any health care business but they can also provide useful information about where improvements need to be made which will ultimately benefit patients as well!

Patient Support is a big part of your health care businesses’ marketing! It tells a story of how your health care business values your patient sentiment. Take it seriously!

It is important to make the effort to work on the issues that patients complain about, and proactively improve how your health care business deals with negative feedback. You might want to try implementing a few of our suggestions for handling complaints and see if you can retain more loyal patients.

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


How To Add Your Health Care Business To Apple Maps


Apple Maps is the third most popular map service on the market today. With 23 million monthly unique visitors, they are right behind Google’s 154 million and Nokia HERE’s 27.7 million

Is Apple Maps worth the time for a health care business and your practice? 

As you’ll soon discover, it’s a worthwhile investment and a key part of your local search and review management strategy. 

What we’re covering in this presentation:

  • What is Apple Maps?
  • Apple Maps vs. Google Maps
  • Siri with Apple Maps
  • Apple Maps and CarPlay
  • Who uses Apple Maps
  • How does Apple Maps handle Ratings and Reviews
  • How to get your health business listed in Apple Maps
  • The future for Apple Maps
  • Why Apple Maps should be a Priority for your health care business

 

Apple Maps is a web mapping service exclusive to iOS, iPadOS, WatchOs and macOS. As the name suggests it’s built by Apple Inc., but before launch in 2012 they announced that their app would include turn-by-turn navigation, 3D maps with Flyovers from your phone or tablet (or computer), as well as Siri – all of which are designed exclusively for you!

 

Apple Maps offers a variety of features:

  • Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken instructions for vehicles, pedestrians, and public transportation.
  • Apple patients can use the app while driving via CarPlay, and via Siri, Apple’s voice assistant app.
  • It can also be used to see real-time traffic information. Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, is integrated into navigation.
  • Maps display points of interest provided by approximately twenty companies, including Booking.com, Foursquare, TripAdvisor, and Yelp.
  • Users can drop pins on the map to save places for later retrieval.
  • The satellite view features Flyovers, three-dimensional satellite views in designated locations.
  • The Nearby feature displays points of interest for each category. Points are shown with their names, distances, and reviews on Yelp.

 

Apple Maps integrates with many third-party providers, such as Yelp and Booking. This means that you can use Apple Maps to find a restaurant or hotel without having to switch back and forth from one service’s app to another.

 

Apple Maps vs. Google Maps

 

Apple Maps is an exclusive application to Apple devices, while Google Maps is available for both Android and iOS. There are some important differences that you should be aware of before installing either app on your device:

 

  • Apple shares data contextually taking a subtle approach. Google gives the user everything.
  • Apple has flyover mode, a 3D landscape of buildings and structures. Google has Street View.
  • Apple integrates Siri tightly with Apple Maps, and other apps in your phone (e.g., location data for your photos) tell Siri where you’d like to go, and navigation is seamless.
  • Google Voice Assistant works in a similar fashion but isn’t as tightly integrated with the rest of the software and hardware in your device.
  • Both Apple and Google integrate Maps with mobile devices, vehicles, watches, and smart speakers.
  • Apple Maps doesn’t hold onto your data!  Apple goes out of their way to protect your privacy. According to Apple, “When you use Apple Maps, your route from A to B is scrambled into sections on Apple servers because nobody else should know your entire route.“

 

If you want a navigation experience that’s seamless, one where your Apple Maps app is natively integrated with all of our products? Then it may be the best fit.

Google Maps is the best mapping tool on the market, providing you with detailed data and giving you access to a wide variety of information.

It’s a smart idea to add your health care business to both Google and Apple Maps. 

Siri with Apple Maps

 

Using Apple’s voice assistant, Siri, you can perform several types of searches starting off with the activation keyword “Hey Siri.”

For Instance, 

  • Hey Siri, take me home.
  • Hey Siri, where is the nearest Pizza shop?
  • Hey Siri, where is the nearest (local business)?
  • Hey Siri, what’s the traffic like in Philadelphia?
  • Hey Siri, what time is the Phillies game tonight?
  • Hey Siri, show me Independence Hall in Philadelphia?

 

Siri is remarkably intuitive, handling searches with several variables.

 

Apple Maps and CarPlay

 

With CarPlay, iPhone users can now start their car with a simple touch of the screen. And even better than that, you’ll never have to look down at your phone again – just take advantage of Siri’s voice control!

It’s all hands-free of course. 

CarPlay with Siri voice control gives you the hands-free experience and navigation of Apple Maps without ever taking your eyes off the road. You can use both car controls as well or report issues using Apple Maps.

Who uses Apple Maps?

 

If you’re an Apple user then your maps are on apple’s map service. It was the default mapping app for all of their devices until Google Maps replaced it in 2012.

Here’s why Apple Maps is important.

Apple says 1.65 billion Apple devices are in active use overall and 900 million to 1 billion+ users in 2019 with a total of 4.66 billion internet users worldwide as of 2021

Here’s why this matters.

Apple Maps is more popular than Google Map on iPhones and Apple devices, as evidenced by its 3x greater usage.

There’s more.

DuckDuckGo uses Apple Maps to display maps and navigation data in their search results. 

Although DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect user information, it’s difficult to pinpoint an exact number of users. 

However, earlier this year they hit an important milestone: 100 million searches per day! 

This may not seem like much but it’s significant because Duck Duck Go’s new users come from Google and Bing. It’s indirect competition!

This should be a real reason to consider getting your health care business on Apple Maps!

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How does Apple Maps handle ratings and reviews?

 

Initially, Apple Maps relied on third-party providers like TripAdvisor and Yelp.

Apple has decided to start rating health care businesses in their Maps app. For now, these ratings are being provided by third-party sources but it is only a matter of time before Apple decides to offer them themselves.

 

Apple’s rating system for products, services and businesses went live in 2019 with the MacOS 14 beta 6 update. This thumbs up/down ratings system allows users to rate their favourite things – it is a work in progress!

 

Apple’s new rating system will allow users to leave reviews about local, regional and national businesses.

The company has not shared the specific timeframe for adding content to their ratings and reviews yet. They have, however, mentioned that they hope “to add more services and features in future.”

Here’s how to get your health care business listed in Apple Maps

 

You can add your Apple Maps listing via Apple Maps Connect. A free Apple ID is required. Here’s how you do it.

 

  1. Head over to mapsconnect.apple.com
  2. Sign in with your Apple ID (you’ll need to create an account if you don’t have one)
  3. Search for your health care business using the search fields above. If you don’t see your health care business, you can also add it
  4. Once you’ve found your health care business, you’ll be prompted to verify your account
  5. Once verified, you’ll be able to edit the content on your page

 

You can add the following information to your Apple Maps listing:

 

  • Business Name and Phone Number
  • Clinic Address
  • Hours of Operation 
  • Place Status (Open / Closed)
  • Links to your apps, website, Yelp, Facebook, Twitter Profiles
  • Apple Pay Accepted (or Not)
  • Categories

 

Apple makes this a simple and straightforward process. Just follow the prompts, provide the necessary info, and your health care business should be ready to go!

 

The future for Apple Maps

 

Apple Maps is an essential part of the Apple product ecosystem, and it’s a service that offers marketers something different than Google does. Where other platforms want to lure in advertisers with slick marketing campaigns or free services like Waze, Apple prefers focusing on developing groundbreaking new products instead. As their line-up matures, they have moved into creating subscription plans for many features within its map app – such as traffic updates and satellite images.

Apple seems to be taking on Yelp and TripAdvisor with its own ratings service. The features of the reviews will most likely look very different from what we’ve been accustomed to in order for Apple to make a name for itself as an innovator.

This means the time to prepare is now.

Apple Maps should be a priority for your health care business

 

One of the biggest mistakes health care businesses make is putting all their eggs in one basket. Not only does this risk your health care business, but it can also be an inconvenience for patients who want to leave a review with another site and need you to sign up first before they do so. 

 

This means that while Google receives the lion’s share of reviews, enough negative or mediocre ones could cost them potential new patients down the line if patients associate these past stories as current occurrences instead of just bad luck or timing-related incidents.

In order to put a new spin on your marketing strategy, take the time for review management. If you notice iOS users in analytics surveys and follow-ups, make sure that Apple Maps is part of your plan moving forward. Particularly because Apple makes it super easy!

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


Here’s How to Use Google My Business for FREE to Get More Patients


Google! It’s a massive search engine and it’s become synonymous with searching for information online. It’s even become part of our everyday lexicon.

Just ‘Google It’! 

If you are trying to give your health care business the advantage and leverage of being found when someone does a search for your type of health care business, it makes sense to use as many Google products as you can!

Google is more than a ‘search engine’ these days. 

People use Google to navigate and explore their local areas, discover answers to common household problems, painful problems with their body, seek out product and service recommendations by reading reviews as well as writing their own reviews about their experiences with businesses!

As a health care business owner, there is a lot you can do to improve your visibility on Google.

Setting up your Google My Business (GMB) is probably the most advantageous of them all. 

As a side note…it’s totally FREE!

 

What is Google My Business?

Google My Business is a free listing service that literally puts your business on the map!

It was created to help businesses manage their online presence and connect with local consumers/patients.  

Quite literally your health care business gets a location-specific listing in the biggest directory in the world. 

These listings help curious prospective patients discover the important information about your healthcare business, such as your address, online reviews, and where they can find you online!

What are the benefits of Google My Business?

There are a number of benefits to your health care business for setting up and getting your Google My Business listing optimized.

Getting your Google My Business listing set up properly is all about visibility for those closest to your business! 

As a local health care business, you want to get in front of as many prospective patients as possible, right?

The whole idea is to show up in the search engine for your type of health care business locally!

Here are the main benefits of putting a concentrated effort into Google My Business.

Rank better than #1 with the Local 3-Pack

Here is a subtle but important thing worth considering. 

When you search for a local health care business (chiropractor/physical therapist near me), even before the SEO-driven search results come up, Google shows you a list of nearby practices that it considers to be the most relevant to the search. (Read that again)

These results show up on a map, complete with star ratings and all the health care business information that is important to searchers (also known as your potential patients).

Does that get your attention? It should!

The exciting news about this is by filling in your Google My Business profile as much as possible, and getting Google reviews, it will help boost your chances of being included in the 3-pack!

Show up on Google Maps searches

Achieving 3-pack visibility is definitely a great accomplishment but it’ll only work for you when the patient is already in your area. 

So that raises a question, “What about when searchers don’t happen to be in your local area?” 

Setting up your Google My Business account helps you come up on Google Maps when people search locally.

These days, 86% of people are searching for businesses on Google Maps with 30% of all mobile searches are related to location! 

More searches mean more traffic, which means more sales.

Over 50% of “____ near me” searches result in a visit and a chance for a sale or a new patient!

It’s Easy, Fast and FREE!

Marketing and SEO can be complicated, super expensive, and time-consuming. 

Setting up a Google My Business account is a fast and free way to get your health care business found on Google. 

It’s easy to update your health care business details so that patients trying to reach you have the right information.

Local SEO delivers great ROI…

Google reported that 46% of searches have local intent! That’s HUGE!

That means almost half the searches on Google are specifically looking for a nearby business! 

Within that 46% of searches, 60% of those people are searching from a mobile device, which means the map search result is going to pop up and they are ready to buy.

Leveraging that would be a huge advantage for your health care business!

Build trust and social proof with reviews

It would stand to reason that having (positive) reviews of your health care business would be favorable! 

When someone searches and discovers your health care business, seeing positive testimonials and reviews are a great way to display social proof that your business is reputable. 

We all like to do health care business with those whom we know, like and trust! And patient trust is critical for a successful health care business! Reviews on your Google My Business listing makes your health care business that much more legitimate and trustworthy!

It’s been said that 73% of consumers will trust a health care business based on their positive Google reviews!

Access the smartphone market

Do you know how much time the average person spends on their mobile phone?

4 Hours! 

That is a massive amount of time! And a lot of that time is spent searching for businesses!

Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile phones! 

Considering that information and the fact that 78% of local mobile searches lead to an in-store purchase, it’s clear that a winning formula is literally at your fingertips!

A FREE Website!!

While many health care businesses already have a functioning website, there are so many more that may be just getting around to moving online.

For health care businesses that prefer to sell offline but want to be found on the internet when someone searches for their type of health care business, they can get a Google My Business page set up in minutes!

A Google My Business page is a simple website that shows off your health care business, helps searchers know where to find you.

A Google My Business Page also helps facilitate things like placing orders, sending messages, and calls to your health care business! 

How to start using Google My Business

The best part about setting up a Google My Business listing aside from being Free is how easy it is to do.

 

To create a Google My Business listing for your health care business:

  • Head over to Google.com/business (or log in if you already have one)…
  • The page will prompt you to provide information that makes it easier for potential patients to get in touch such as your phone number, website URL, your clinic address (which will show on the map), business hours, and photos of your clinic…
  • Make sure to complete your business category…
  • Click ‘Finish’ to verify! 
  • Google will send you a postcard with a code to the address you entered to make sure it’s your actual address. 
  • Don’t miss this last step! Once you get the postcard (it should only take a few business days), log back in, enter the code, and you’re done!

Is Google My Business right for you?

 

Some health care businesses don’t have a clinic or storefront. 

If you don’t want everyone online to know your home address or if you are an online practice, you’ll still have to put it in during the Google My Business setup process to get the verification postcard but you can change the settings so people don’t see it.

You can choose what information is visible to searchers. 

You can also select the areas you service. 

And this is ideal for health care businesses who want to specify the locations where you offer delivery or if you have a service rather than a product.

As a local health care business, this should sound interesting particularly if you want more customers!

Here’s what to do next…

If you want new or more customers, go set up your Google My Business profile today and start tapping into all those extra searches!

By the way, if you need help with this Google My Business stuff and don’t want to deal with all the technical aspects, we would be elected to help you.

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


6 Local Lead Generation Tips For Your Healthcare Business


For healthcare business owners, lead generation (attracting new prospective patients) can be the difference between success and failure. You need repeat patients to stay afloat but you also have to look for new leads online if you want your practice to scale.

In the age of technology, it seems that everyone has a computer in their pocket. 97% of people learn about local health care companies through the internet so if you’re not online to meet your patients’ needs and wants, they’ll go elsewhere for what they need!

Local lead generation strategies provide a way for you to capture prospective patients from these searchers. It doesn’t require much cash up-front to generate leads and local patients who want your services. 

This is the most efficient strategy if you have small resources and can’t afford expensive advertising, but still need more people walking in through the door!

If your audience is localized in a small area, and competition can be high. But you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on ads or marketing strategies when there are other ways for your practice to get the attention it needs without spending more than what’s already allocated.

 

Here’s are 6 Lead Generation Tips for Local Healthcare Businesses:

 

  1. Build an Email List Through Localized Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are a creative way to get contact information of prospective leads. But since you’re a local healthcare business, there’s no point in sharing a generic lead magnet that will attract people across the globe. 

Instead, create one specific for your target audience and localized so it only attracts patients who live around this area!

 

  1. Use Targeted Social Media Ads

Ads are an excellent way to get your practice in front of the right people. These targeted search results will allow you to reach potential patients no matter where they go online, making sure that more eyes on what you have to offer and improving revenue as a result!

If you find Google ads expensive, start with a small budget, and gradually increase it once you understand what works and what doesn’t for your practice. 

Facebook ads are the next best local lead generation platform for small businesses with its 2.5 billion users and unmatchable targeting capabilities. 

When you run a Facebook leads ad, it shows in the newsfeed with a form for adding contact info right there in the newsfeed. This convenience gets you 20% more leads compared to Facebook ads leading to landing pages. 

 

  1. Create a Blog (and post to it)

A blog is a great way to communicate with your patients about your products, services, vision, and the commitment to serve. It allows you to attract your patients and involve them with your brand continuously. 

Your blog provides a way for your company to connect with patients in an honest and meaningful fashion. Blog on subjects that will interest your audience, while highlighting the benefits of working with you.

Blogs also allow you to target relevant keywords and help your website appear in the search engines for more related keywords and it improves the overall visibility of your business. 

Using your geographical location in blog titles and URLs also will be beneficial for your health care business as it contributes to improving local SEO (search engine optimization).  You can check out our blog here: https://practiceinsidersedge.com/blog/ 

 

  1. Build Localized Landing Pages

When you direct your leads to a landing page, it becomes the determining factor for effective conversion. When patients are looking for products or services in a specific location, they are much more likely to engage with a localized promotion than one that is not targeted at their needs and wants.

Localized landing pages also improve your local search rankings when someone searches with location modifiers such as “physical therapist near me,” or “chiropractor in Hershey PA” etc.

You’ll see more conversions with local Google or geo-targeted ads when they lead to the closest branch, rather than a generic landing page.

 

  1. Optimize Local Listings

With more than 96% of Americans owning a smartphone, you need to make sure your business is listed on local directory sites. 

You can expect competitors in the area to be doing this too so if they’re not already prepared for that competition then it’s time they start!

Mobile technology has taken over America and with mobile usage steadily increasing people are using their smartphones as an everyday tool.

In fact, 93% of adults use their phone daily or almost every day according to Pew Research Center data from 2016-2017. 

Because nearly everyone owns a smartphone these days, health care businesses should take advantage by listing themselves on at least one major online directory site like Google My Business (formerly known as Google Places).

Top local listings are:

  • Yahoo Local
  • Yelp
  • Bing Local
  • TripAdvisor
  • Foursquare
  • Angie’s List 
  • YP
  • Better Business Bureau
  • GlassDoor
  • Biz Journals
  • CitySearch
  • Manta
  • White-pages and more!

Optimizing your Google My Business page not only improves your visibility but also gives your SEO a boost. It ensures that your practice shows up when someone looks up the internet for related products and practices.

 

  1. Keep in touch with your leads!

This should go without mentioning, but after acquisition, one might agree the next step is to keep in touch with your leads!

It’s not enough to generate a lead by asking for their email address. Keep in touch with your leads and remember that they may be busy, distracted or forgetful when it comes to following up on your lead magnet! 

Sending them an automated follow-up sequence will help you build rapport and show that you care about what matters most – keeping these prospects engaged until they are ready to purchase from your practice!

Similarly, if you get some leads during an offline event, make sure to follow them up through email or a phone call to encourage them to take action or move one step down the sales funnel. 

Following up on cold leads is another excellent way to keep your cold leads in the loop. Create an automated email series to pull them back into the sales funnel. 

 

These 6 Local Lead Generation Tips for Small Healthcare Businesses are just a few proven methods!

If you need more lead generation for your business, try these tips!

By the way, if you don’t have time to implement these ideas into your marketing and need assistance with the technical aspects, we would be delighted to help!


Fresh Social Media Marketing Ideas For Your Practice in 2021


Social media marketing is no longer the new kid on the block. As a healthcare business owner, leveraging social media can be an effective marketing resource. Keeping up with what is working  and taking advantage of the latest trends on social platforms can deliver results for your practice!

 

There are still plenty of things you can do to improve your social media marketing this year! Here are a few things you can do to level up your social media efforts!

 

Poll Your Followers

 

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all allow users to create polls for the followers to respond to. In most cases, we’re talking about simple polls with just two or three potential responses.

 

A poll is a great way to collect feedback from your followers while simultaneously creating ‘engagement’ for your account. 

 

Polls can also be used to measure the effectiveness of your campaign. Because polls are interactive, they encourage engagement. In many cases, respondents won’t even need to leave their feed and they can respond by clicking their choice right within your poll!

 

You can also try using polls to split tests and leverage your audience to get invaluable insight. This method works by asking people to vote on which version of your website they prefer or eliciting feedback on variations of your creatives.

 

Engage in Social Listening

 

Social Listening can help your practice tap into trending conversations and get the gist of what your audience is talking about and the general consensus around the topic. 

You probably saw a brand respond to a news story in a tone-deaf way. That’s not a good look for your brand.

 

Does that mean you should never respond to anything topical? No – but it does mean you need to be careful.

 

The best way to avoid missteps is to engage in social listening. 

 

Before you post, scroll through relevant hashtags, and get a feeling for what people are saying and how it might relate to your brand or services. Then, you’ll be able to craft a response that is equal to the moment and will speak to the concerns and needs of the people who follow you.

 

Fine-Tune Your Twitter Voice  

 

Having a consistent brand voice is also very important on Twitter, where you only have 288 characters to get your point across. You can expand a thought over two or more Tweets (sometimes known as a Tweetstorm) but you still need to fine-tune your voice.

 

Your voice might be authoritative, funny, snarky, or highbrow. Whatever it is, you should learn how to get it across in a single Tweet. There’s nothing wrong with a bit of experimentation and trying a couple of different options will help you to get it right.

 

Deploying social listening and engaging on Twitter can be huge for your practice. 

 

Vary Your Instagram Content  

 

Because Instagram got its start as an app where people could share mobile photography, it’s common for healthcare business owners to get stuck in a rut, posting only high-quality photographs and never taking any chances.

 

Instagram’s options have expanded and it’s time for you to get on board with the changes. You can try any of the following to diversify your content.

  • Create short videos to share with your followers
  • Do an Instagram Live video
  • Create one or more GIFs from your videos or other sources
  • Get creative and make some memes that are relevant to your brand
  • Take advantage of micro-blogging and share your thoughts

 

There’s a lot you can do with Instagram and as users become increasingly sophisticated, they expect more from the brands they follow.

 

Start an IGTV Show 

 

Speaking of expanded content on Instagram, did you know you can create long-form television shows using IGTV? Content creators use IGTV to do Q & A sessions, live stream events, interview experts, share reviews and testimonials and much more. 

 

You don’t have to be an expert in video production or sound technology to start creating your own IGTV show.

 

The key is to get started. 

 

By creating long form content that is compelling and an insight into your business, it’s personality and culture, your fans and patients will likely get a better feel and deepen their affinity.

 

Use Custom Retargeting to Increase Conversions 

 

When you are marketing your services to a “cold” audience, it can be nearly impossible to make any money from your Facebook ads. That said, there’s a way you can increase your ROI without spending a lot more money: retargeting.

 

For example, you might run a video ad to people in your area featuring your service. You don’t need to run it for long – just a few days or a week. Then, you can create a custom audience of people who watched at least half of your video and show them a new ad designed to pique their interest and encourage them to buy your service or fill out your lead form.

 

Retargeting is a good idea to help leverage recency and recognition of your practice’’ brand.

 

Find Micro-Influencers to Share Your Content

 

Another great way to leverage social media is through influencer marketing.

 

Few practices have the money to hire nationally-recognizable influencers. For that reason, unfortunately, some healthcare business owners have written off influencer marketing as something that’s a waste of time.

 

However, the rise of micro-influencer marketing has delivered substantial results for many practices. 

 

As a practice, considering influencer marketing is to focus on micro-influencers: people who have authority with the (relatively) small audience of people who are in the market for services like yours.

Micro-influencers may be industry superstars or popular local figures. In other words, they have influence over an audience who might also be interested in your practice. Focusing on them means spending far less money than you would on a celebrity influencer for a higher rate of return. You can find influencers by searching for relevant hashtags and looking for people who are sharing content to your target audience. 

Another great way to discover micro-influencers in your local area is to search under the geo-location tab on Instagram. There you will discover accounts who show up locally. Digging a bit deeper into these accounts might yield who commands the attention and engagement of an ideal local audience!

 

Optimize for Mobile 

 

Our final tip cuts across all formats and social media sites. At this point in our digital history, you should assume that everybody accessing your content is doing so via a mobile device. There’s no excuse for not optimizing your social media content for mobile users.

 

On Pinterest and Instagram, use rectangular pictures with a 2:3 aspect ratio. This method works great on mobile platforms.

 

Social media marketing has come a long way! It’s time to get caught up and try some new things. As we head into the second rest of the year, take advantage of the updates to increase your ROI and profits.

 

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


8 Social Media Forget Worthy Myths in 2021


There’s no question that social media marketing is, and will continue to be, important for practice. If we hold this to be true, there are also a lot of social media myths that are annoyingly persistent and believing them can hurt your practice.

There are a number of myths that you need to debunk if you want to grow your practice on social media.

#1: You Need a Presence on Every Social Media Site

The notion that you need a presence on every social media site is one of the most harmful myths for healthcare business owners. It takes time, effort, and money to maintain an active presence on ANY social media site and nobody has time for all of them.

What you need is an active and meaningful presence on the sites that offer you the best opportunity to connect with your target audience and engage your patients. Nothing else matters. Most practices should be on Facebook. 

Does this mean you should never try something new? Of course not! Set up a profile and give it a try. But if the site you choose isn’t giving you the results you want, cut it loose.

#2: Fans and Followers are Worthless if They Don’t Become Paying Patients 

Social media is a great way to attract new patients. But, it can also be a bit challenging for healthcare business owners to use it properly.

A common misconception we hear about is a lot of healthcare business owners who think that followers who aren’t paying patients aren’t worth having – and that’s not true.

Your fans and followers don’t need to buy from you to be useful. Having a large following can raise your profile and help new patients find you. If you’ve got fans or followers who have a lot of clout, you’ll get some of it by association. 

Most importantly, a follower who doesn’t buy your services could still refer their friends and followers to your practice. You should run ads designed to attract paying patients but don’t ignore the benefits of followers who aren’t your patients. They’re still helpful.

#3: It’s Useful to Have Your Friends and Family “Like” Your Posts

Another common mistake healthcare business owners make when it comes to social media marketing is asking your friends and family to ‘Like’ your posts. It would be more beneficial to find a way to engage with your posts instead!

It doesn’t mean that you should tell people not to like your posts. Instead, it means that you should always be asking people to engage with your content and share it with them.

#4: You Shouldn’t Schedule Posts on the Weekend

It’s a common practice for practices not to share new social media content on the weekend. While it’s true that some of your followers might not spend as much time on social media on the weekends as they do during the week, you shouldn’t assume that weekend content is unnecessary.

Instead, try scheduling a few weekend posts to see how they do. You can use Facebook Insights or whatever analytics tool you prefer to determine which days and times are the best for posting.

#5: You Must Respond to Social Media Comments Immediately

It’s important to respond to a question or leave a comment in a timely manner. But responding in a manner that doesn’t drop everything can be very time-consuming.

If you have a social media presence, then you should be sure that your patient support is done quickly. With the rise of Facebook Messenger, practices can now offer their patients a variety of chatbot solutions to handle their needs.

However, a comment that doesn’t require patient support involvement can wait a little while for a response. As a rule, try to respond within 24 hours.

#6: Social Media Posts Must Always Be Practice-like

Social media is social first and media second, but a lot of healthcare business owners forget that. Their social media posts are as dry as dust and don’t get any engagement. And they wonder why.

Don’t be afraid to inject some personality into your social media posts. Even if you offer a professional service, you can still use appropriate humor or compassion in your posts. This is the place to showcase your brand personality. Make sure that anybody who is empowered to post on your social media accounts understands the persona you want to project.

#7: You Need Endless New Content to Post

It’s good practice to publish new content regularly on your social media sites. However, there’s nothing wrong with repurposing or resharing old content if you don’t have time to write something new.

You can also find relevant content by sourcing it from industry publications and influencers. Curating content and offering feedback on the content you are sharing is a great way to position you and your practice as an expert or thought leader on your industry’s subject matter.

#8: Social Media Marketing is Free

This final myth is one that I hear often. While it is free to set up a social media account for your practice, you’re unlikely to get the results you want without spending some money.

The more you promote your content on social media, the more likely it is that your followers will see it.

The only way you can be sure that your followers will see your most important content is to boost it and or leverage paid advertising. Social media marketing can help you get your content in front of potential patients. The good news is that you don’t need to spend much to get the results you want.

The 8 myths I have listed here are all past their prime. Learn to navigate them and you’ll see your social media marketing results improve – and your business grow.

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


6 Proven Resources To Grow Your Email List


There’s no denying that email marketing is effective, but it only works if you have a list of qualified and engaged subscribers (prospects) who are eager to read your content.

Sounds easy, right?

Most practices have email lists that are not attracting new prospects. They are not doing anything to improve their email marketing efforts. They’re not sure where to start and as a result, the people who visit their website aren’t taking the extra step to opt in for emails.

You can do it all by making it easier for people to sign up. 

Here are 6 resources worth implementing:

#1: The Pop-up Opt-In 

Pop-ups have a bad reputation, and if they are used improperly, they can be a real pain to use. So, here are some tips to make sure that they are not abused.

The key to creating a pop-up that’s effective is to time it to appear when the person most likely to opt in is when they are reading your content. A great way to test this is with A/B testing.

#2: The Slide-In 

If you like a pop-up but not want to deal with the stigma of it, a slide-in may be the way to go.

Your slide-in can be timed to appear when a site visitor has finished reading a specific piece of content or has just finished watching a video.

#3: The Squeeze Page 

What if you have more than one lead magnet that you want to use? It’s common for practices, particularly those who have multiple audiences they want to target, to create multiple checklists or guides to give away. The key is connecting each visitor with the guide that’s most useful to them.

The solution is creating a separate squeeze page for each lead magnet. The sole purpose of a squeeze page is to “sell” visitors on your content and convince them to complete your lead form to get it. Think of them as mini sales pages and use direct response copywriting to get the results you want.

#4: The Header or Footer Opt-In 

Perhaps you’ve tested pop-ups and slide-ins and found that they don’t work for your target audience. If that’s the case, you might want to consider putting your opt-in form at the very top of your page or at the very bottom.

The header opt-in is one of the first things visitors see when they visit your site. It should be positioned next to the content that they have finished reading. Having a footer opt-in makes it easier for visitors to find and subscribe to your email list. Consider something like FREE Weekly Health Tips in Your Inbox to capture reader’s attention and make it clear what they’ll get if they subscribe.

#5: The Exit Intent Opt-In 

One of the best times to capture leads is when a visitor is navigating away from your page. They’re at the point where they have finished reading your content and are, in theory, primed for a request to get additional content from you for free.

An exit intent opt-in is a pop-up that appears when a user tries to close out of the page. They can also appear when the user hits the back button.

#6: Blog Sidebar 

If you’ve got a blog that gets a decent amount of traffic, you can use its popularity to attract more subscribers for your list by adding a subscription sidebar to the main blog page. With a sidebar, people who read your posts have an easy way to see more of your content.

You could also allow people to receive emails when you post new blog content.

Building your email list is essential if you want to grow your practice. The 6 possibilities we’ve listed here can help you do it in a way that appeals to your visitors and help you attract the prospects and patients you deserve.

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


6 Affordable Marketing Methods for Your Practice


When a practice is pinching pennies, the marketing budget is often the first thing to go. For many healthcare business owners, it’s more important to continue paying employees and to pay utilities than it is to try to attract new patients.

However, eliminating your marketing altogether is a mistake that can cost you in the long run – and there’s no need to do it. 

Here are six ways that you can continue to market even if your budget is tiny.

#1: Make Cold Calls

There’s no way to attract new patients without having a “first touch” that introduces them to your brand and lets them know what you can do for them. That’s where cold calling comes in. WHAT….. COLD CALLS… No, we don’t mean to call people at home but what about reaching out to companies in your area that could benefit from your care.  They are always looking for ergonomic solutions and improvements and you and your practice would benefit from just reaching out to them via a cold call.

Some companies offer cold calling services but you can also do it in house if you want to stretch your budget. For the best results, do as much preliminary screening as you can and prepare a cold calling script for callers to use. It’s also a good idea to think about what time of day people will be most receptive to hearing from you.

#2: Start (or Optimize) Your Referral Program 

Referral marketing is one of the least expensive and most effective ways to get new clients for your practice. A referral can come from an existing patient or from another referral source such as a professional colleague or healthcare business owner.

You can also incentivize people to refer others to your practice by offering rewards, points and commissions (check the legal structure of your state). These are great ways to get people to refer friends and family members.

#3: Get Involved Locally 

One thing that the COVID-19 pandemic has done is to remind people of the importance of supporting practices in their communities. You can gain some good will and increase brand awareness by participating in community events.

Even if you don’t usually attend in-person events, you can still get involved in them through your local charity or organization. If events are planned, you can also offer advice and support.

#4: Create Useful Content

One of the best things about content marketing is that it doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg. You can write blog posts, create graphics, and even film videos without going over your budget.

The key to not spending a lot is to focus first on how your content will serve your target audience. A video that demonstrates various ways to use your service will be immediately useful and people who view it won’t need to connect any dots to understand how it has helped them. 

Keep in mind that the content you create can be shared on your website, with your email list, and on social media. Cross-posting is free and it’s always useful because the people who follow you on Twitter may not follow you on Facebook – or vice versa.

#5: Take Advantage of Free Social Media Features 

There are plenty of ways to get started with social media marketing without spending a lot of money.

Creating a poll and running a social media contest are both free options. Creating a poll and a contest are both effective ways to get people talking about your content without paying.

If you decide to go the contest route, make sure to incorporate Likes and shares into your contest rules. One common tactic is to give your followers one entry for Liking your post, one for commenting, and a third for sharing. You could even give additional entries for people who share your contest on multiple platforms. Track everything meticulously and articulate the rules to eliminate misunderstandings.

#6: Partner with Other Practices 

With a lot of small businesses struggling, it is essential for healthcare business owners to help each other out whenever possible. Cross-marketing is an effective way to help each other out during tough times. This strategy works by creating a campaign that benefits both of you.

For example, if you own a chiropractic and/or physical therapy company you would benefit from cross promotion with a massage therapy clinic or business.

The most important thing to consider when choosing a marketing partner is that they will appeal to your patients. There might be a good chance that the patient who bought a service from your cooperative marketing might also want to do practice with you…or vice versa.

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


How to Spy on Your Competitors’ Facebook Ads


What if I told you that you could be the James Bond of local marketing? How would you like to get the ‘other team’s playbook’? And by ‘other team’ I mean ‘your competitors’!

Would you be interested?

The truth is, you can really spy and do so legally! 

What we’re discussing in this post has to do with getting an inside look on your competitors’ Facebook ads. It’s one of the best ways I know to fine-tune your marketing and outpace your local competition.

The good news? It’s not hard to do! You don’t need a lot of money or a British accent (although that might be cool).

Here’s what you need to know.

What is the Facebook Ad Library? 

You’re probably aware that Facebook and its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, have come under some intense scrutiny since the 2016 presidential election due to the use of the social media platform for “fake news” ads. One of the tools that Facebook has made available to address the criticism is the Facebook Ad Library.

On the surface, its intended use is to provide transparency in advertising. You can plug in the name of any Facebook page and see the ads they’ve placed – with a special emphasis on political and issue-based ads.

How to Use the Facebook Ad Library  

The key to using the Facebook Ad Library is understanding how it works and what to do with the information you find there.

The first step is to make a list of your competitors. Make sure to note the exact name they use on Facebook – you’ll need that information to view their ads.

Next, go to the Facebook Ad Library. Then follow these steps:

  1. Click the “All Ads” option.
  2. Type in the name of the competitor whose ads you want to see into the search box.
  3. Choose their page from the list that appears.

Once you click the name, you’ll see a page that displays the Facebook ads the page is running. You’ll be able to see:

  • Whether the ad is active or not
  • When your competitor began running the ad
  • The ad content, including copy, images, and video
  • The ad’s ID number
  • The URL of the ad, so you can add it to your library for future reference

What I particularly like is that you can see every iteration of the ad that’s running. For example, you might notice that a competitor is running two similar ads with different images or slightly different copy. 

The one thing you can’t do is spy on their targeting, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make inferences from what you find. If your goal is to attract potential patients who live, work and play locally, it may then be simply using zip codes as part of your targeting strategy.

Tips for Using What You Find on Facebook Ad Library 

How can you use what you find with Facebook Ad Library? Here are some tips and best practices to help you make the most of your espionage.

  1. Save any ads you think are useful. As I mentioned above, you can easily get the URL of any ad by clicking on the three dots on the upper right-hand corner of the ad. Click on “Copy Ad Link” to get the Ad Library URL for the link. I keep a spreadsheet to track the ads that I collect.
  2. Look at the images your competitors are using for hints about what their target audience wants. If you know a competitor is doing well and you notice they’re using illustrations or infographics in their ads, it might be a good idea to emulate what they’re doing and upgrade your images accordingly.
  3. Make notes about the types of content your competitors are promoting. Are they using images? Videos? Quizzes? It’s especially useful to note the content that gets used most frequently. If your competitors are paying any attention to the ROI on their Facebook ads, the repeated content is also likely their most profitable content.
  4. Pay attention to how your competitors link the images in their ads to the copy. Most effective FB ads use images that are directly related to the offer in the ad, but there are exceptions. Paying attention to trends among your competitors can help you do a better job of choosing compelling images for your own ads.

Think of the ads you see as a textbook showing you how to connect with your target audience and pull patients away from your competitors.

Dynamic Creative Ads

One of the best ways to capitalize on what you learn from spying on your competitors is to let Facebook do some of the work for you. If you’re not already using Dynamic Creative Ads, which is Facebook’s automated ad creator, then you’re probably missing out on a chance to connect with your audience.

Dynamic Creative Ads will help you create ad combinations you might not have considered on your own. You’ll need to make sure you have the types of content you want to use in your library, but you can do that easily enough after you spy on your competitors.

Basically, Dynamic Creative Ads will mix and match your options to allow you to reach your marketing goals. You can choose goals that include:

  • Conversion
  • Traffic
  • Video Views
  • Reach
  • Brand Awareness
  • App Installation

I think of the Facebook Ad Library and Facebook Dynamic Creative Ads as a one-two punch that will help you to get the best of your competitors even if they have a bigger advertising budget than you do. By using both, you can eliminate much of the guesswork and uncertainty that comes with Facebook advertising.

Another way that I think about how to use Facebook Ad Library and Facebook Dynamic Creative Ads is to help me start building upon a model which your competitors have spent time, energy and money on building a foundation for you. Talk about leverage!

My suggestion is to dedicate some time to scoping out what your competitors are doing with their Facebook advertising. We’re not suggesting that you copy your competitors verbatim. Rather, use what you learn to create the kind of content that’s going to help you divert traffic from them, increase your conversion rate, and grow your practice.

 

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


How to Get the Most Out of your Practice’s Facebook Page


You might already have a Facebook Practice Page. If you don’t, you should – in fact, setting one up should be the very next thing you do after reading this article.

Why? Facebook has more than 2 billion active monthly users. 

Regardless of where your practice is located or what you sell, the chances are excellent that a solid majority of your patients and potential patients have Facebook accounts.

The issue that keeps coming up is that many of the practices that have Facebook pages aren’t making the most of them. And that is a tragedy. Your Facebook Page can be a substantial marketing tool for your practice!

Fortunately, there are some easy fixes you can make to turn your Facebook page into a powerhouse. Here’s what you need to know.

Choose a Recognizable Profile Picture 

Your profile pic and your cover banner are the first things most people will see when they visit your page or see your content. That means it’s got to be clear and easy to recognize.

The most obvious option is to use either your company logo or your picture for your profile. The former makes sense if you have a practice with a recognizable logo or one where people don’t automatically associate you with your practice.

Use a photograph if you choose to be more personally recognizable than your practice.

Either way, make sure your profile pic is the right size. You can find the details in Facebook’s guide, here.

Add a Compelling Cover Photo 

Your cover photo takes up more space on your Facebook Practice Page than anything else. For that reason, it’s got to be compelling and professional.

A lot of practices use an image of their reception area or gym as a cover photo. Others use a group photo of their staff – something that makes sense for a service-oriented practice.

Make sure to use the proper dimensions for your photographs. Facebook changes the dimensions frequently – you can double check here.

Tip: A better idea is to have a compelling design that leverages a call to action such as ‘Click Here’ to encourage others to click on the page’s cover to get more information or to give something away. 

What happens next when someone clicks on the cover banner is a lightbox or modal opens up on the screen with a sidebar. It is here where a practice can provide compelling text and link to a website to encourage others to opt-in to get something of value. 

Unfortunately this is a missed opportunity to leverage Facebook to funnel all of that traffic back to your business for the purpose of building a list or selling your services!

 

Minimize Admin Access to Your Page

You’re busy and it might be tempting to give an employee access to your Facebook page, so they can post content while you handle other aspects of your practice. There’s nothing wrong with that – until there is.

If you decide to delegate social media responsibilities to employees, make sure that you:

  • Provide proper training about the type of content to be posted, your social media strategy, and the “voice” you want to use in your posts
  • Make the parameters of their responsibilities clear
  • Lay out the process for dealing with negative comments and complaints
  • Limit access to one or two trusted employees at most

You can change your Page Access settings by clicking Settings > Page Roles.

Add a Call to Action Button  

You know that your social media posts and emails all need a call to action at the end that tells people what to do next. The same is true of your Facebook Practice Page.

In recent years, Facebook has added Call to Action Buttons for Practice Pages. The button appears on the right side of your Facebook Practice Page just underneath your cover photo. Some of the options available include:

  • Call Now
  • Book Now
  • Learn More
  • Watch Video
  • Sign Up

Choose the CTA button that is most suited to your Facebook marketing goals. You can add it by clicking the “Add Button” button on your Facebook Practice Page. If you already have a CTA button and want to change it, you can do it by hovering over the button until the “Edit Button” option appears. Click it and you’ll be able to select a new button for your page.

Don’t Neglect Your “About” Section  

The “About” section of your Facebook Practice Page is vital to your page’s success. People will click “About” to learn more about your practice. If you don’t provide them with the information they need, they may decide not to follow you.

You should make sure to at least include your full practice name, address, telephone number, hours, and the URL of your website. You should also consider optimizing the section that’s most likely to sell people on your practice. For example, you might:

  • Provide a detailed company history
  • Explain your key service you offer
  • Share your mission statement and company values

It’s also a good idea to add some company milestones to your profile, including your founding date, the launch of a new location or service, and key anniversaries.

Check Your Metrics  

One of the most common Facebook marketing mistakes is failing to use the free tools that you get when you sign up for a Facebook Practice Page. You might not know it, but Facebook Insights provides a ton of useful information about the people who follow your page and what they want to see.

The best way to use Facebook Insights is to track your engagement. I recommend focusing on:

  • The times of day most people see your posts
  • The kinds of content that get the most engagement

For example, you might look at Facebook Insights and discover that more people read your posts between 9 AM and noon on weekdays than at any other time. You might also discover that your video content is leaving other content types in the dust.

Using that information, you can then create a content strategy that will allow you to get the maximum organic reach for your content.

Promote Your Content 

Speaking of content, are you publishing content consistently?

Your potential and existing patients want to consume your content! When was the last time you posted something? 

How often are you posting? Once a month? Once every 4 months?

Recency bias has a big part in how much your audience engages with your Page. Posting infrequently just isn’t going to cut it. You have to have a content marketing strategy which incorporates consistent and ongoing publishing that helps you connect with your audience!

It is also worth mentioning that increasingly, Facebook has tweaked its algorithm to prioritize personal content and minimize the reach of practices. They say it’s because it’s what users want, but it’s also a way for them to maximize their ad revenue.

Either way, the only way to be sure that your content is seen by your followers is to promote it. I don’t recommend doing that with everything you post. But, if you’re sharing something important – like an event or a new service launch – it makes sense to drop a bit of money and promote your content.

Facebook marketing is like anything else – you get out of it what you put into it. Your Facebook Practice Page is where it all starts. Use the tips here to get the most from your page and turn your Facebook marketing into the powerhouse it should be.

 

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call 


Facebook Ad Objectives…Explained


Most practices should advertise on Facebook. That’s what I believe, and the evidence backs me up. It’s cost-effective and, if you do it right, it can help your practice to grow.

But that is easier said than done.

While Facebook ads are effective, many health care business owners don’t know which objectives to choose for their ads. Choosing the wrong objective may lead to a low return on your investment and possibly a dreaded feeling that you’ve wasted money.

With that in mind, here’s my rundown of Facebook ad objectives to help you understand which objective makes the most sense for your practice.

 

What are the Available Ad Objectives on Facebook?  

When you create an ad for your practice on Facebook, you can choose from 11 objectives divided into three categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. Let’s review them.

  1. Brand Awareness. These ads generally do not get a high click-through rate because their objective is to make people aware of your brand. They are best used as the first step in a campaign to attract new patients.
  2. Reach. If you want to get your ad in front of as many people in your target audience as possible, this is the objective to choose. Here again, you may not get a ton of engagement, but you will be sure that your ad appears in your target audience’s feed.
  3. Traffic. Traffic ads are designed to direct more traffic to the URL you choose, usually a link on your website. Facebook tracks only the number of people who click on your links, meaning that you’ll need to track conversions separately. 
  4. Engagement. On Facebook, engagement means likes, comments, and shares. If you want to get more people to engage with your content, this is the ad objective you should choose.
  5. App Installs. This one’s self-explanatory. If you’ve got an app to sell or promote, choose App Installs as your objective.
  6. Video Views. Have a video to promote? Choose the Video Views objective to get more people to watch your video. This objective is ideal for service demo and explainer videos.
  7. Lead Generation. If you’ve got a great lead magnet to promote, the Lead Generation objective is ideal because it allows the people who see your ad to opt in and get your lead magnet without leaving Facebook.
  8. Messages. Message ads are designed to get more people in your target audience to message your practice on Facebook. They can be useful if you want to initiate conversations, answer questions, and nurture leads.
  9. Conversions. If your goal is to get more people to take a specific action, such as adding an item to their cart, buying a service, or RSVPing to an event, this is the ad objective to choose on Facebook. It works best when targeted to people who are already familiar with your brand.
  10. Catalog Sales. Another ad objective that may be effective when targeted to people who already know your brand is the Catalog Sales objective. You can use it to connect Facebook with your service catalog and display individual services to your audience.
  11. Store Visits. This ad objective can help you entice more patients to visit your practice. To use it, you’ll need to make sure that your practice location(s) are accurate in Practice Manager. (Be mindful of this objective as recent changes to mobile operating systems like iOS 14 might negatively impact your results)

You should think first about which objective you want to achieve. Consider the options we’ve explained above. Then, choose the ad objective that will help you get there.

Which Facebook Ad Objective is Right for Your Practice?

Now, let’s talk about which Facebook ad objectives make the most sense for local practices. Some simply are not good choices if you’ve got a small audience to target.

Brand Awareness is a good objective, particularly if you feel like your competitors have more brand recognition than you do or if you haven’t been in practice for long. Recency bias can get you started down the path of getting your audience aware of your practice. It’s a good idea that the ad you create is a compelling representation of your brand, including your brand’s personality, voice, and ethics.

Unless you have a large audience, the Reach objective is probably not ideal. The goal for that objective is to reach as many people as possible. Most small practices should steer clear of this objective.

Traffic can be a good objective for practices who want to get more people to visit their websites. However, you should make sure that you have a well-designed landing page before you spend any money on traffic. You need to give people a reason to stay on your website once they click the link. That reason should be very clear and we would recommend the objective is to capture a lead or opt-in. For instance, getting an email address or SMS Text numbering exchange for something of value.

Store Visits as an ad objective for practices was awesome. It’s arguably the most highly focused ad objective available. But, with recent changes to mobile operating systems and privacy concerns, leveraging this objective might need to be revisited as results may be skewed based on target users’ privacy preferences.

 

The key with this is to test and see how your ad costs and the results of your campaign area affected. The argument worth considering is the results may still be compelling as a patient who registers as an actual store visit may be more valuable to a practice owner than say an ‘aware’ community. 

If you decide to use the Store (practice) Visit objective make sure your location is and information is up-to-date. It’s worth mentioning to target the ad to people who live within proximity to your practice! Then test and expand your ad’s radius to see if it makes sense reaching people who aren’t necessarily within an easy traveling distance.

If you have an online store, then the Catalog Sales objective may be useful as well. It can help you show off your most popular services and get them in front of an audience. Again, targeting is going to be important. You should use this ad objective with an audience already familiar with your brand for the best results.

The Messages objective may be right for your company if you feel that you need one-on-one contact with patients to overcome their buying objections. However, you should only use this objective if you’re ready to monitor your messages and respond promptly when people write to you. A slow response time can undo any good you do with the ad itself. You may want to consider installing a chatbot in Facebook Messenger to send an immediate response.

Visiting your Facebook Ads Manager page will give you additional information and guidance as you create your ad. Remember, the ad objective you choose should be carefully selected to align with your practice growth objectives for the best results. 

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://bit.ly/PIE-FB-Triage-Call