Health and medical content marketing is a way for providers in the industry to enhance their credibility and increase their conversions, attracting new patients while retaining existing ones. While the advice of “Doctor Google” can’t replace a medical diagnosis, there are more than one billion health-related Google searches made every day, or 70,000 every minute. A lot of web users are searching for trustworthy health information. If you can provide it, it will reflect very well on your organisation.
The healthcare industry has been famously slow to embrace content marketing. However, this is starting to change as all industries continue to adopt new technologies and platforms. The time is right for providers to take advantage of healthcare content marketing in greater numbers. The rise of telehealth has made healthcare more accessible yet introduced greater competition, as patients are no longer limited by location. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the widespread misinformation and mistrust that followed, it’s important to demonstrate expertise and provide people with answers they can rely on.
Good health and medical content marketing sets you apart from competitors, builds trust in your professionalism, addresses patients' concerns while reducing their anxiety, and attracts local search traffic. However, it has to adhere to strict guidelines regarding information, patient privacy, and the promises of the product.
Anchor is a Brisbane-based creative marketing agency that has worked with purpose-driven businesses of all kinds, including those in the healthcare and medical fields. If you need some advice on the best way to approach content marketing for your medical business, here are some starting points.
Best Types of Content Marketing for the Health and Medical Industry
Health and medical content marketing helps you reach and educate potential new clients and patients, establishes your online presence and can even help you build a community. Some of the most effective forms of content marketing are:
Blog posts
Companies that blog produce around 67% more monthly active leads than companies that don’t. A blog can become a valuable resource for patients and clients, answering commonly asked questions and building trust and credibility. Google prioritises relevant content, and a blog is an effective way to regularly add new indexed pages and rank higher in search results.
Video content
Video ranks among the most effective mediums for getting your message across. On average, users will retain 95% of a message they absorb through video. Videos catch people’s attention and hook them in, are quick and easy to absorb and are powerful mediums for answering commonly asked questions and providing useful information.
Interactive tools
Interactive tools enhance user engagement by tracking trends and providing web users with a wealth of information with each click. One common example is interactive maps, like Australia’s Healthmap for health data and services and the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard.
Email marketing/newsletters
Email marketing displays a high level of care to patients and is useful for retargeting purposes. Appointment reminders, follow-up emails and personalised health tips provide practical, down-to-earth help for your patients, while newsletters keep them informed about new developments of interest.
Infographics
Infographics not only make your point easy to read and clear but can also make your site look more trustworthy and professional. They break information into memorable, easy-to-process titbits, communicating even technical and complex information in a straightforward way.
What Platforms Are the Most Beneficial For the Health and Medical Industry?
When you have a firm idea about the best kinds of health and medical content marketing for your organisation, the next step is deciding where you want to be found. Here are some of the most popular social media platforms you can use to your advantage for healthcare content marketing.
YouTube
With more than 800 million videos, YouTube is the world’s biggest video-sharing platform. It lets you spread awareness and carry out content marketing for your medical business in a number of ways. You can share information and educational content, conduct online seminars and provide detailed information about particular treatments.
The home of fitness hashtags and wellness influencers, Instagram is a platform that lets you reach health-conscious individuals and present them with useful content using engaging visuals. With dietary tips, healthy eating and workout routines and wellness tips, you can use this platform to build a community of health-focused individuals.
Facebook is the world’s largest social media site, with a massive and diverse user base. Support groups for specific conditions and treatments are common on the site, with people coming together to answer each other’s questions and offer advice. By being on Facebook, you can facilitate these kinds of connections, give users the answers they seek, and easily share health-related posts, infographics and articles.
The world’s foremost professional networking platform, LinkedIn allows professionals to showcase their deep knowledge and make meaningful connections with experts in their field.
What Should the Health and Medical Industry Avoid With Content Marketing?
Be careful to avoid common missteps that can derail your health and medical content marketing strategy. Some of the biggest mistakes you can make include:
Being too technical
There are many technical phrases used in the medical industry. But to reach potential patients from various backgrounds and walks of life, it’s best to go easy on the jargon. Clear communication and explaining the benefits of your treatments in a straightforward way are far more effective approaches.
Putting on the hard sell
Focusing too much on the “sale” and using an excessive number of sales-oriented language and tactics can be off-putting for the patient. It’s better to focus on their inquiry and their needs, providing as much useful information as possible in a straightforward way.
Underestimating the power of digital
A web user who searches for health information is looking for something different from one who is online shopping, but many principles remain the same. Build a site where the user can navigate intuitively, focus on the user experience (UX) and make sure it’s responsive on mobile devices. Don’t underestimate the power of a good website and using digital channels effectively.
Having inconsistent internal guidelines
Misaligned goals, guidelines and other communication methodologies will result in misaligned messaging. That’s why clarity on brand identity, value systems, and brand guidelines is so important for your success.
Health and Medical Content Marketing with Anchor
Whichever form of content marketing is best for your medical business, Anchor can help you. We cover every aspect of content marketing, from the words and images that appear on your website to the strategy that underpins your whole approach. While we offer services like content strategy, search engine optimisation (SEO) and copywriting, we can also delve deep into brand identity and brand strategy to make sure your messaging is consistent and authentic.
As a creative digital agency, we create health and medical content marketing that entertains, informs, engages, and positions you as a leader in your field. We keep your goals in mind and work closely alongside you to create copy in your brand voice that aligns with your identity. From in-depth research to choosing the right platforms to be on to planning your campaigns, we’ll chart a course to take you from where you are now to where you see yourself being. We’ll also provide regular reports on your progress in plain English. There is no fancy technical jargon or lock-in contracts either—we let the quality of our services motivate you to work with us again.
If you’d like to know more about how the Anchor team can help you develop the right healthcare content marketing strategy, drop us a line.
