The Doctor - Patient Connection

Your opportunity to connect with your patient community with your digital footprint

Emerging Patient Connection

• Social Media Marketing

• Content Marketing

• Engagement

Connection – Old vs. New

• No more yellow pages

• Finding docs – a few clicks or a few friends

Today - A Few Clicks

• Google• Facebook• Twitter• Blogs• Linked in• Other communities

Research & Information

• Today: patients do research before setting up appointments – 80% find information online

• Have a large thirst for information and knowledge

• Exposed to a doctor’s electronic information first

• First impression is very important; more so than before

Patients are Consumers

• Today patients are consumers

• Many choices today

• Consumers shop, compare, refer and share

Ways to Create a Good First Impression

• Creating and publishing high quality content on your digital properties: social media, websites and blogs.

Content Marketing Goal

• Be visible to your target market in a positive, helpful, relevant, valuable way

Content Searched For Online

• People who search online are looking for:

• Relevant information that can solve their problems• Information to Teach them something new• Valuable Information

Examples of Content Searched For

• Information on different medical procedures

• Preparing for various kinds of treatments

• What to expect from a particular healthcare provider

• Information for self diagnosis

Providing Content

• Is a competitive advantage, especially in a local setting

• Allows for increased awareness and value with a higher number of potential patients

• What’s this worthto you?

What is Content Marketing?

• Information that is of interest that draws target market patients to you to get that information; usually online content

• Distribution of the information – make it available

• Engage with the audience – content = connection

What Content Marketing is Not

• Bland, repetitive content written only for SEO

• Sales pitches

• All about me

Why Content Marketing

• Caters to potential patient’s/patient’s desire for information they want (when they want it and in a form they like).

• Search engines love it – relevancy

• Lets your target market know who you are and why you are the preferred choice

Why Content Marketing

• People choose Doctors based on:• Google search • Doctor’s website• Facebook/Twitter postings• Blog postings• Comments from previous or current patients

Benefit of Content Marketing

• A steady, consistent, helpful, valuable stream of information linked to the practice/doctor can overcome any negative content by one unsatisfied past patient

Benefit of Content Marketing

• You can control your online reputation more

• Establishes expertise and positioning

• Cost per lead is 30-40% lower than paid search

• Value is cumulative

Competitive Advantage

• A doctor/practice who wants to dominate online search and become visible to more potential patients who are doing research online rather than reading print media, needs to have a different mindset, approach and strategy.

• Content Marketing is the answer to that

How to Market with Content

• Establish a hub – website or blog• Subscribed and Shared• You own it (not like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn)

• Establish social media accounts/pages• Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest….yes I said

Pinterest

• Plan It

Content Marketing Plan

• Define target market

• Define what questions they have

• Define what problems need solved

• Answer questions in an interesting, compelling, valuable and engaging way

• How do they want content delivered

• What content that you have can be repurposed?

Content Creation

• Decide on the content• Research information from on and offline sources• Responses to polls and inquiries• FAQ’s• Research competitive information sharing• Outsource content development –

quantity, quality, consistency• Concentrate on the target audience –

interesting and of value

Developing the Content

• Write it

• Repurpose offline and other content

• Outsource the development

The Content

• Accurate & Complete

• Informative & Useful

• Valuable & Relevant

• Trusted – you are the “go-to” source

• Understandable

• Shareable

Other Content Marketing Thoughts

• It’s a long term commitment and process

• You cant do it all

Outsourcing Content Marketing

• Al Lautenslager – Content Marketing Expert, Strategist and Enthusiast

• al@allautenslager.com

• 630-740-1397

• http://www.socialmediamedicalmarketing.com

• http://contentmarketingofficer.wordpress.com

Available to Speak at Your Conference