Today, over 80% of marketers actively invest in content marketing. However, only 40% of marketers have a documented content marketing strategy.
Meanwhile, 60% of marketers claim content marketing generates demand and leads. Adding content marketing to your digital marketing campaign can help you appeal to new patients. As you generate new leads, you can set your healthcare practice up to grow.
Here are a few digital marketing tips you can use to create high-quality, engaging content. With these tips, you can educate, entertain, and excite your patients. Read on to add content to your digital marketing strategy today!
Establish Objectives
Before developing a digital marketing strategy or creating content, take a moment to outline your specific objectives. Develop goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results-Driven, Timely), too.
Establishing goals will help you determine what you need in order to create an effective digital marketing strategy. Otherwise, your content won't align with your goals. You could waste valuable time and money as a result.
Instead, consider what you want to accomplish, such as:
Generating brand awareness
Attracting ideal customers to your website
Generating quality leads and sales
Improving your ROI
Becoming a thought leader in your industry
Gaining brand trust and loyalty
Establishing credibility
For each goal you outline, consider how you'll accomplish that goal through content marketing.
For example, your SMART goal might read: Generate more brand awareness by improving search engine rankings before the end of the year.
SMART goals can help provide you with an outline for success.
For each goal you develop, consider the metrics or key performance indicators (KPIs) you intend to track. For example, you can use Google Analytics to track website visitors and the pages they visit.
Research Your Target Audience
Before you begin creating content, it also helps to gather research. First, learn as much as you can about your target audience. Then, you can start creating content with your patients in mind.
You could have an easier time appealing to your ideal patients if you personalize your content.
Try to gather insights into your patients based on their age, gender, education level, income, and other demographics. Then, go deeper. Look into psychographics like interests, hobbies, and pain points.
Consider what social media channels your patients spend the most time on, too.
Then, use this information to create content that speaks to each audience group you're trying to reach.
Gather Keyword Research
Search engine optimization (SEO) will ensure patients who want your content can find it during an online search. In fact, 68% of all activity online begins with a search engine. Over 50% of all website traffic starts with an organic search as well.
Meanwhile, nearly 50% of all Google searches are location-specific.
You can leverage SEO as part of your content and digital marketing strategies to reach prospective patients online. To utilize SEO, you first need to gather keyword research. Your audience research can help you gather keyword research with specific audience groups in mind.
You can use online tools like SEMRush or Google Trends to begin developing a list of target keywords to work from. Instead of focusing on single-word keywords, look for longer, precise phrases. These long-tail keywords can help you better understand what patients expect to find within your content.
Consider working with a digital marketing agency this year. They can help you develop your digital, content, and SEO marketing campaigns. With their help, you can develop an omnichannel marketing strategy to ensure you reach your ideal patients.
Audit Existing Content
As you begin applying this digital marketing advice, take a look at the blog posts you've created in the past. Auditing your content can provide you with helpful insights as you develop your digital marketing strategy. You can use these insights to avoid making the mistakes you made in the past.
For example, you might recognize your target audience prefers video content over long blog posts. Perhaps you're struggling to rank for specific keywords. Maybe your readers prefer content about one topic over another.
Review your Google Analytics to gather these insights. Determine which posts helped you generate leads or sales, too.
Then, use this information to better inform your content marketing strategy moving forward.
Diversify Content Creation
Use your analytics to determine which content formats have appealed to your patients in the past. Make sure you're diversifying your content marketing strategy with:
Blog posts
Articles
How-to guides
eBooks
Email newsletters
Video content
Polls
Quizzes
Courses and webinars
Infographics
Podcasts
Social media posts
You can also reformat one type of content into another. For example, you can turn a long blog post into a social media carousel. You can cover the same topic within a video, too.
Promote Your Posts
As part of your digital marketing campaign, it's important to consider how you're reaching your patients. Consider where they're spending the most time online.
For example, you might find the majority of your patients reach your website through searches. Perhaps they find your content through social media instead.
Then, create a content calendar to organize your posts. Determine when and where you'll promote each piece of content online.
Remain Consistent
Once you begin using these content marketing tips, it's important to remain consistent. Use your calendar to determine if you have gaps in your upcoming schedule. Try to post regularly to continue reaching your ideal patients.
Don't rush to create mass amounts of low-quality content, though. Instead, focus on quality over quantity. High-quality, engaging content is more likely to help you accomplish your goals.
Analyze the Results
After using these content marketing tips, review the data from your efforts. Determine which blog posts have helped you attract and engage patients. Look at the keywords you targeted within those posts, too.
Consider where patients are finding you online as well.
Using this data can help you continue improving your digital marketing campaigns over time.
Apply These Digital Marketing Tips for Stronger Content Marketing Today
Adding content marketing to your overall digital marketing strategy can help your practice grow. Get started by using these digital marketing tips to develop an effective campaign. Then, continue updating your content marketing strategy to reach even more patients online.
Remember, you don't have to apply these tips alone. We're happy to help with your next digital marketing campaign.
Get in touch with our team today to learn more about our marketing services!