What Are The Tips To Implementing Effective Direct To Patient Marketing Campaign?
Healthcare is probably one of the most challenging industries for which to create an effective marketing campaign. If you feel the same way, you have come to the right place. Because today we will discuss how to efficiently develop an effective patient marketing strategy for your healthcare organization.
“81% of consumers are unsatisfied with their healthcare experience” – Prophet.com
Your healthcare organization needs to stand out with so many patients or customers seeking better healthcare services. More importantly, your healthcare organization must earn the patient’s trust and show its reliability.
There is no better way to reach these goals than employing a direct-to-patient marketing strategy. But what exactly is this marketing strategy, and how is it different from your already familiar marketing efforts?
We discuss the answer to this question in the sections below. In addition, we also explain how you can execute this patient marketing strategy in the most effective way possible and harness the best result for your organization.
Also Read: Best Direct Mail Marketing Companies
What is Direct To Patient Marketing?
A direct-to-patient marketing strategy focuses on marketing your healthcare products and services directly to the end customer or patient. Typically, this end customer or patient is in charge of making the medical decisions.
This patient marketing strategy allows healthcare companies to engage and communicate with patients without using a healthcare provider as the middleman. It also involves using different communication channels to engage with the target audience to yield the best results.
Also Read: Latest Healthcare Marketing Trends
What Are The Best Channels For Direct to Patient Marketing?
The primary concern in implementing direct-to-patient marketing is picking the right communication channel. Below are some of the best marketing channels healthcare companies can use to market their products and services effectively.
Websites
The best way to interact with customers today is through online channels, and the reasoning behind this is simple. Online channels are relatively inexpensive to communicate with your audience after the initial setup. More importantly, websites make healthcare-related information much more accessible, making it an ideal patient marketing channel.
“5% of all Google searches are health-related” – Google.
The success of several healthcare websites like WebMD and Mayo Clinic is all the proof you need to understand the importance of an online presence. Furthermore, almost all of us turn to search engines like Google for health-related information. Hence, it is crucial to establish your healthcare expertise online as part of your patient marketing strategy.
Direct Mail
When it comes to direct-to-patient marketing, you can not ignore the significance of a marketing channel like direct mail. While online marketing channels offer superior convenience, the average customer is tired of seeing ads everywhere they turn.
It is significantly easier to get a response from the target audience for patient marketing via mail than online. According to an article published by Forbes,
“95% of 18-to-29-year-olds respond positively to receiving personal cards and letters.”
Following is the answer our experts give to our prospective clients. The latter often have difficulty understanding how direct mail service is a different communication channel.
“In contrast, there is nothing special about receiving a plain old text or email message from a company. Furthermore, you can use PostGrid’s direct mail automation software to set up scheduled and triggered capabilities, further enhancing your communication.”
With an advanced direct mail marketing tool like PostGrid, communication or marketing via mail is just as simple as email. You get all advanced capabilities, including personalization, and all you need is a well-drafted template. Besides being a practical tool for patient marketing, you can use PostGrid for healthcare lets you print and send
- Explanation of Benefits (EOB)
- Explanation of Coverage (EOC)
- Patient billing statements
- Patient letters and notices
- Patient or physician mailers
Also Read: Bulk Or Mass Mail Services
Content
Next up in patient marketing strategy, we have content marketing. All of us, at some point, have Googled our health symptoms online. But the thing to note about content in healthcare marketing is that it should focus on the medical needs and treatment of the patients.
In other words, you must avoid using complex healthcare terms and jargon that the patient may have difficulty understanding. Furthermore, you can use content in all formats for direct-to-patient marketing, including blogs, videos, etc.
The goal is to pop up in the SERP whenever patients type in their symptoms or treatment options to search engines like Google. By providing such queries with relevant and reliable answers, you can establish yourself as an expert in the field and garner their trust.
Also Read: Direct and Indirect Marketing Examples
3 Tips For Effective Direct-To-Patient Marketing
Some valuable tips that can help you effectively implement your patient marketing campaigns are listed below.
1. Create Customer Personas
One of the best tips we can give organizations wishing to implement an effective patient marketing strategy is creating a solid customer persona. Creating a customer persona enables you to make the right message for your campaigns.
By right message, we mean the message should be something worthwhile to the target audience. Creating a persona also lets you create content that appeals to your target audience.
2. Master The Language
One of the most challenging tips we can give you about direct-to-patient marketing is to master the patient’s language. Try to understand how a patient would refer to your healthcare products and services and use that language in your marketing efforts.
It is an effective way to communicate with your target audience. More importantly, it shows that the company understands the patient’s needs. Additionally, this patient marketing strategy allows you to reach all types of patients regardless of how they describe a healthcare product/service.
3. Consider The Patient’s Comfort Level
Another crucial aspect to consider when it comes to direct marketing to patients is the patient’s comfort level. The patient may be embarrassed or private about their medical condition. For instance, a person suffering from an STD may not appreciate you sending pamphlets that could potentially reveal their medical condition to their place of residence.
Hence, it is vital to consider the patient’s comfort level when implementing a direct-to-patient marketing campaign. Furthermore, being mindful of the patient’s comfort helps you understand what content to deliver and where to provide them. Last but not least, it shows respect and empathy towards the patient, a desirable quality in a healthcare provider.
Related Article: Top 7 Healthcare Digital Marketing and Direct Mail Combination Examples
Conclusion
When it comes to the healthcare industry, direct-to-patient marketing is one of the most effective ways for healthcare organizations to interact with their target audience. It offers several benefits, and it is easy to see the potential it has to offer.
However, it is also essential to maintain certain etiquette when communicating directly with patients. Above, we discussed some of the most effective patient marketing strategies a healthcare organization can use.
Advanced automated solutions like PostGrid make marketing strategies and patient engagement easier for your healthcare organization. Furthermore, it provides advanced capabilities like scheduled and triggered mailing, which can enhance your healthcare communication and marketing efforts.
