Boost your Brand Value & Establish yourself as a Market Leader
The healthcare industry is one of the world’s fast-growing and largest industries. In fact, it plays a huge role in the economic growth of a nation. In India, healthcare is one of the top sectors regarding revenue and employment. The total revenue from this industry crossed a whopping USD 100 billion in 2017, and the market growth is predicted to reach USD 280 billion by 2020.
A Closer Look at the Healthcare Industry in Modern India
In India, healthcare can be broadly divided into two categories – public and private sectors. The public sector includes non-profit organizations that are generally run by the government and includes govt hospitals, primary healthcare centers, general camps, mobile health units, govt run medical institutions, and others.
The private sector includes clinics and hospitals that are owned by individuals or a group of individuals. These institutions require capital to start and for further day-to-day operations. What’s more, today with so many private clinics and hospitals mushrooming all over the country, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for doctors to find patients in the private sector. Private sector healthcare isn’t just clinics and hospitals. It involves a whole range of other ancillary industries like pharmaceutical development, pharmacies, physiotherapist centers, and much more.
Here, in today’s article, we take a look at how Digital Marketing Agency plays a crucial role in the growth and day-to-day operations of the private healthcare sector in India.
The Massive Spread of Digital Marketing
Today, we have become a society that is driven by digital technology. Right from the moment we wake up to the moment we hit bed, we spend a significant chunk of our time on the internet. Several reports state that by 2020, consumers will satisfy nearly 85% of their needs without visiting the market.
And, nearly 80% of all shoppers research online before making a purchase.
And, this applies even when people are looking to make a doctor’s appointment.
The Journey of Today’s Digital Patients
Thanks to the widespread of the internet, the journey of today’s patient are entirely digital. Today, patients are more empowered than ever before. Just a few decades ago, patients had no choice but to visit the local, neighborhood practitioner for any ailments. In fact, thousands of patients are stuck with the same doctor throughout their lives.
This is no longer the case in today’s digital era. Choosing a physician or clinic is just like shopping for a car or any other commodity. This is why Digital Marketing Agency plays a crucial role in healthcare professionals today.
Here, let’s take a look at the raw numbers:
- 43% of all hospital visits originate from a search engine.
- 86% of all patients do preliminary health research online, before making an appointment with a doctor.
- It’s not just Gen X, and Gen Y who are doing online searches for healthcare professionals. The older generations of boomers and seniors are also tech-savvy today. In fact, most seniors choose healthcare professionals who have the facility to book appointments online.
- Apart from location and the phone number of a healthcare center, 94% – seek out reviews of the healthcare facility.
- Nearly half of all patients 48% spend over two weeks researching online before they decide on a healthcare provider.
- While making appointments, 20% book via mobile apps or browsers, 23% book in person, and the rest book via phone calls. Experts believe that patients making appointments via mobile apps or other digital methods will continue to grow in the coming years.
- Paid ads are highly relevant in the healthcare digital marketing space. Here’s what happens when a patient comes across a paid advertisement for a healthcare provider, hospital, or clinic:
- 35% conduct further searches to gather information
- 29% of research about the facility
- 28% visit the advertiser’s website
- 21% seriously consider booking an appointment with the advertised facility
- 5% contact the advertiser directly
If you’re a healthcare provider, here are the
Top Ways in which a Healthcare Digital Marketing Agency can help You
Build a Brand Strategy
Today, the healthcare industry is rapidly evolving, and there are plenty of opportunities to make your brand stand out. With a specialized healthcare digital marketing agency, you can create a strong and robust brand.
From research to strategy creation to execution, your digital marketing partner can help you in a whole lot of ways. For instance, if you’re just now creating your brand or amid a massive rebranding, your marketing agency can help you get it right. They do a comprehensive assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of your immediate competitors, thereby helping you stand out in the market.
Additionally, Digital Marketing Agency helps to gauge your brand’s value in the market. This helps you to know where you stand and how to proceed further.
Boost Brand Positioning and Identity
Today’s consumers from young millennials to seniors are tech-savvy. This means healthcare providers must focus a lot on their brand positioning. Any company that is considered outdated will no longer remain relevant in the field.
Healthcare apps, online patient management portals, 24 x 7 virtual bookings are some of the facilities expected from healthcare providers today. Even if you offer the best health service, if you don’t position yourself as the leader in the market, then you’re bound to lose your patients to your competitors.
While it’s true that healthcare providers need not go all out and advertise like other commercial establishments, you need to ensure that you remain visible, trusted, and relevant.
A healthcare digital marketing expert will help you in the creation of core messages that articulate the strengths of your brand, helping you stand apart from others in the cluttered market space of today.
Reputation Management
Remember that your core competency is healthcare and it’s what you do best. Similarly, the core competency of a healthcare digital marketing agency is to provide you with the right branding, online marketing, public relations, and reputation management.
By placing the digital life of your brand in the hands of an expert, you can rest assured that the marketer will handle everything for you, 24 x 7. In the case of any negative advertisement, the digital marketing team takes over the issue. They don’t just put out fires but take the right steps to ensure that such incidents don’t occur in the future.
Increase Brand Exposure
Apart from corporate branding and online reputation management, your healthcare digital marketing agency will also help to increase your exposure. You need your brand to be visible so that you can improve your business, out beat your competitors, while boosting revenue.
A healthcare digital marketing agency makes all this happen by increasing your web presence, boosting your online visibility, and aligning all your offline and online marketing strategies.
In-house Digital Marketing Team Vs. Hiring Specialized Healthcare Digital Marketers
Very often, healthcare providers and agencies don’t use an external digital marketing agency to help them out with the above-mentioned tasks. Instead, they have an internal team that is a Jack-of-all-trades. This team acts as the brand ambassador, marketing expert, content creator, and much more. However, this isn’t a smart approach.
When you use an internal team, they don’t have the necessary tools or expertise to provide you with the right solutions. On the other hand, a specialized digital marketing agency’s core competency is digital marketing. Apart from carrying out the necessary tasks to boost your brand’s value, they chart a digital roadmap, that helps you attain success in the digital arena.
Now, that you’ve seen the benefits of hiring a Healthcare Digital Marketing Agency, take a look at what they can do for you:
SEO
Right from strengthening your domain to making your website appear in search results, SEO is essential to building your online visibility. Content creation, keyword research, and local search are some of the tasks carried out by your digital marketing partner.
Website Creation or Redesign
Your website is outdated? Need to refresh your web pages to reflect your new brand ethos? Your digital marketing agency can help you build a new site from scratch, and redesign existing websites by improving user experience, functionality, aesthetics, etc.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the best ways to reach out to your existing clients to help your brand stay relevant. Right from conveying your core messages to informing clients about new initiatives, email marketing achieves plenty.
Social Media Management
To win today’s new-age consumers, you need to leverage the benefits of social media. Your digital marketing partner promotes your brand in several channels, helping you to connect with existing as well as potential clientele.
Professional Blogging
Blogs are one of the most effective ways to position your brand as the industry leader, and digital marketing companies do this on your behalf. The average blog takes around two to three hours to write, and you need to publish at least 2-3 posts every week.
Print Materials
Need graphics to be designed for your brand? Or pamphlets? Whatever print material you require; a digital marketing agency handles it all professionally.
And, Way More. All you need to do is…..Ask
Here, at Webfries, one of the most trusted digital marketing agencies by healthcare providers, we provide customized services to suit your specific needs and requirements. To start the conversation with our digital marketing experts, give us a call @ +91-124-4382-633 or drop in your queries here.