With such large numbers of internet users accessing digital platforms, businesses and healthcare practitioners have to compete for the attentions of the consumer. Dental practitioners can achieve this by paying attention to optimised and dynamic website design as well as obeying the best practice dictates of dental SEO, among other things.
The wide reach of the internet into every sphere of modern life has changed the way we work, learn, socialise and even shop. In a Trends In Online Behaviour And Technology Usage’ consumer report published recently, it is reported that 99 per cent of Australian adults performed online activities, ranging from web browsing to email to shopping and engaging with content. It is no wonder then that the advertising spends in digital marketing continues to rise.
In Australia, medical advertising is strictly regulated by The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) have set out specific compliance guidelines for healthcare practitioners to follow. These regulations are put in place to protect the interests of the healthcare consumer and stop the consumer from being misled by misleading marketing material.
How to reach healthcare consumers through digital marketing
While incredibly effective in gaining a practice increased visibility among a wider audience to boost patient numbers, it must be mentioned that this does come off the back of dedicated efforts and the understanding and use of digital data.
Without the valuable insight provided by these measurements, it may prove difficult to understand which digital marketing techniques are paying off and which need revisiting or a bit of tweaking. Interpreting this data can be overwhelming for the uninitiated which is why the dental market involving websites, local SEO for dentists and social media platforms are best left to those who work in the field of medical advertising and who are trained and experienced in digital data analysis.
To be successful with digital advertising, a practitioner will have to ensure they use as many of the beneficial ways to maximise reach as possible. These ways include:
-
High value, high performing website.
In creating a dynamic website that will retain the attention of the healthcare consumer, it is important that they are provided with content (blogs, social media posts, videos, etc.) that helps them learn about the services and products of dental care on offer. A best practice technique is to ensure that the healthcare consumer has constant access to new and engaging content.
-
Dynamic website design
The attentions of the online searcher is very fickle which means that they will quickly navigate away from a website that is not providing the answers or solutions they are looking for quickly and easily. Slow loading times is one of the main reasons why a website visitor may leave a website as well as finding content difficult to understand.
-
Set up a social media presence
Social media platforms offer a heightened level of engagement with healthcare consumers that cannot be equalled by other forms of marketing strategies. Consumers find that through social media, they can voice their concerns better than on any other digital platform. For practitioners, these platforms give them the opportunity to illustrate how much of a priority relation-building and being of service to their patients is to them.
Digital marketing has opened up a whole new domain for practitioners to benefit from. To discuss the benefits of digital medical marketing and what services are on offer, please contact the team at Dental Focus Marketing.
