Increase first appointments using marketing for clinics

1. What is healthcare marketing?

Healthcare marketing is the set of activities that helps achieving the goal of the clinic's income. Currently, this definition is closely linked to the digital world, since it's the main entry route for new patients, and this trend will continue to grow over the next few years.

Why is healthcare marketing important?

We all are aware that the world has changed over the last fifteen years. And this change has reached private healthcare. The time when each family had a doctor they trusted has passed.

Nowadays, when patients have a need, they look for the best solution proposal for their problem, which involves studying the service or product's price, and the professional's reputation, their patient care and other intangible values in the health sector companies. The patient studies the options directly on their phone, comparing the proposals from different specialists.

Thus, Internet access terminals have become the greatest allies for those who know how to take advantage of the potential of healthcare marketing, or the problem - for those who don't want to recognize its importance.

2. The 9 benefits of healthcare marketing for a clinic

1. It increases the first appointments rate to 50%.
2. It places the customer in the centre of the organization. You know what a customer needs, and you're looking for solving their concerns.
3. It increases and reinforces your reputation, since the content generation makes the patient perceive you as an authority in healthcare.
4. Your client, who has already read your online content, is well informed about their needs. Therefore, when they visit your clinic, they will be closer to the end of the purchasing process.
5. You're able to stabilize the arrival of new first appointment. You're able to control it, it won't depend on the word of mouth.
6. The clinic's value increases. In addition to a material asset or their reputation, investors are sensitive to those who have a sustainable customer generation system.
7. The analysis of customers behavior will allow you to find new services to satisfy them. At the same time, these will become new income sources e.
8. It allows you to endure crisis periods in the healthcare sector by exercising control over the arrival of patients.
9. It helps you to grow your company. The opening of new  clinics is simpler, since you have a new lead generation system. You just have to adapt it to the new clinic's reality (location, for example).

3. 'Promoting' your clinic isn't the same as 'advertising'

When there's determination to increase the number of first appointments to the clinic, many professionals of dentistry decide to pay for "traditional" advertising, which is shared on the media - such as newspapers, radio or television - as an immediate advertising action. This allows the professionals capture some customers who are in the third phase of the purchase cycle (decision).

The patient contacts the clinic usually attracted by discounts or offers associated with the advertising campaign. However, this system isn't sustainable in time - due to its high cost - or scalable. So, which is the best alternative to attract first appointments to your clinic?

Build a sustainable promotion system

The purchasing process takes place through three phases (awareness, consideration and decision), so, locating the buyer in their initial stages clearly allows the centre to become the source of information the client needs. How? Creating contents which educate the client and help them to advance in the process of solving their problem. In other words, you help the client to advance in the purchasing process of your clinic's services.

4. Differentiate your clinic

You have something that makes your clinic special, that's what your patients are looking for. Believe us. If not, the only chance you'd have left is to lower prices until you become the cheapest clinic in your area.

Once you have differentiated your clinic, make your difference soak up all your communication. This way, your positioning will stand out among your competition. Show the world what makes your clinic unique and unrepeatable.

5. Strategies to win more patients for your clinic

In the new digital era, customers need way more than healthcare services. They want to rely on professionals who are authorities in their field, because clients want to receive education to know how to take care of their own health and, of course,  want their health to be in good hands. To reach your audience, it's time to leave the word of mouth behind, and be the one in charge of building your own reputation.

If you want to be present in the first stages of the purchasing cycle, take advantage of the multiple tools technology offers, such as the possibility of locating the customer. Answer the questions and doubts your patients usually have during the first and second phase of purchasing,  get to know in which phase they are at, and create an open conversation channel with them.

To do this, it's essential to create a blog where you will be sharing, on a regular and constant basis, articles that solve the questions your customers ask, to then get positioned at search engines on the internet. Once you have attracted the patient, who is in the third phase, you can guide them to your clinic's website, where you can suggest them to request an appointment.

6. Marketing plan for a clinic

A healthcare marketing plan must adapt to this new situation in the healthcare market, to respond to the new customers needs. After all, the marketing plan must establish all your marketing actions will bring results.

Knowing the typology of your clients, the motivations which guide them during the purchasing process, their fears and their aspirations, is the basis where to build your new lead generation system for clinics on.

6.1 Objectives

Each clinic defines its own objectives, based on the needs of the company. Usually, in the first instance, the main goal is to increase the number of first appointments. But once this objective is achieved, new  greater importance goals appear, such as achieving notoriety in the healthcare sector, or working to increase customers satisfaction by opening a fluid communication channel.

The key is to choose objectives adjusted to the needs and resources from your clinic - after achieving objectives, you must establish new ones that allow the continuous growth of your company.

6.2 Implementation phases

We set up three different phases for a promotion system:

1. In a first phase, you must prepare a diagnosis  of the current situation of your clinic, you must define SMART objectives (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and temporary), you should develop the definition of buyer personas, and you should choose the relevant products to reach your goals.
2. In the second phase, you must prepare your system's setup, and also include a possible redefinition of the current website or the development for a new one; your blog's launching and the creation of conversion tunnels. SEO onpage and reports definition.
3. Finally, in the third one (Ongoing) you should make the deliverables to customers; work on monitoring and constantly improving your SEO strategy, and to achieve your defined goals.

6.3 Your clinic's website

If you have the chance, try not to count count on using templates to create your clinic's website. Regardless of whether its structure is identifiable, they always end up killing the personality of the centre.

The website of your clinic must convey trust and closeness, and also the values you define as part of your company's identity. All of this must be able to reach your audience through your website's design and the contents that you reflect in it.

Spend your time or your resources to create textual and graphic content to make your website interesting for your patient, and also for search engines. This way, you will be able to generate traffic to your website, and you will generate notoriety by being a point of authority in contents related to oral healthcare for the audience of your city.

In a second phase, prepare brief videos where you can explain the bad habits consequences and solutions, their relationship with daily life, and publish them on your website, social networks, blog, etc.

6.4 Increase of services to current clients

Within your clinic's marketing plan, you can visualize the increase of first appointments, and also to discover the loyalty of your current client to make them repeat new visits to your clinic. There's a series of actions using the email marketing, such as:

1. Sending recommendations on oral health
2. Sending information about events your clinic organizes
3. Sending additional information according to our client's digital behavior

This will prevent leakage of your clients portfolio, and it will increase the provided services.

6.5 Results 

Once you have implemented all of these indications, you will be able to see how the number of patients coming from your website grows steadily. Currently, many clinics are receiving 50% of their first appointments through their website.

Below, you will be able to discover an example in which Clínica Pronova increased its first appointments up to 54% through its website in a period of twelve months.