In the 1990s, before the dawn of the internet-giant Google, medical marketing was a basic process of referrals from general practitioners to specialists. The cycle of managed care meant that patients had to go through their primary care doctors, or “gatekeepers,” on their way to a specialist. Marketing was direct between medical institutions.
Now, times have changed.
Since the inception of smartphones, medical shows, blogs and third-party websites, medical information has flooded the consumer market. Rather than a referral between physicians, marketing has become a dialogue amongst patients, friends, family and practitioners. This healthcare “Webolution” has created a new dynamic in medical marketing that has changed the way specialty practices operate.
E-Powered Behavior
“About seven to one,” says Ron King, CEO of Vanguard Communications, “people are looking more often for the disease than they are the people that treat the disease.”
This concept, taken from a brief study done with Google Adwords, is a critical development in health care marketing. With the onslaught of medical information, consumer buying power has increased significantly.
So, what does this mean for your medical practice?
It means that your marketing must be patient-centric— in other words—visually appealing, content-rich, and highly personalized.
How do you make your marketing patient-centric?
To learn more about e-powered behavior and how to make your practice’s online marketing more efficient and patient-friendly, watch Ron King’s lecture at the IVF Worldwide Congress: