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The Dos and Don’ts of Healthcare Service Line Marketing

By The SHSMD Team posted 09-20-2017 11:01 AM

  
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In healthcare marketing, service line campaigns are a great way to generate quick wins. Plus, with integrated lead management technologies, you can gather information on your campaigns’ performance and use it to show the downstream ROI of your efforts. But service line marketing isn’t all chocolate and roses – you still have regulations and channel-specific restrictions to deal with while you’re navigating the subtleties between cardiology, oncology, and women’s services. A one-tactic-fits-all solution doesn’t exist.

Understanding best practices per channel and by service line requires time, experience, and a willingness to get in there and try something new. So what are the dos and don’ts of healthcare service line marketing?

Do:
  • Think before you launch a campaign about your team’s capacity. Which team members will manage the creation, testing, lead management, etc. – and any training you need, who needs to sign-off on the concept and budget. Who is ultimately responsible for creating a seamless, excellent patient experience throughout the consumer journey?

  • Make sure your organization’s capacity is up-to-speed as well. Is the service line prepared to see an increase in volume? Is the call center prepared to handle calls, etc.?

  • Focus your content on your differentiators – you want your audience to understand the value you offer to them.

  • Offer same day appointments when possible or, at the very least, make sure appointment requests are responded to promptly by knowledgeable staff and monitor campaign response to ensure your facilities and physicians can handle the uptick in numbers.

  • Be truthful, honest, and creative while offering content based on what consumers want – empirical data on your organization and providers.

  • Motivate healthy choices through risk assessments, wellness information, etc.

  • Personalize campaigns and messaging for specific conditions and procedures whenever possible

Don’t:
  • Launch campaigns too quickly, without making sure key cross-functional organizational stakeholders understand goals and CTAs.

  • Skip out on competitive analysis before you start. You have to know your differentiators to understand how to show off the value you bring your consumers.

  • Overlook what your consumers are actually looking for; things like same-day appointments, oncology screenings, health risk assessments, etc.

  • Ignore the facts. Your consumers want to know success rates, estimated costs, provider ratings, readmission information, and details about the services and procedures you’re promoting.

  • Be scary. Healthcare can be scary enough without your marketing campaigns being a reminder

  • Forget your audience. You have to know who you’re talking to, their demographic makeup, their concerns, etc. to write truly engaging campaigns.
Beyond this basic advice, each service line has specific nuances and tactics you should use to help you earn more success.

Bariatrics
Focus search ads on procedures and social ads on offers like free seminars and content like patient testimonials.

Cardiology
Focus search and social campaigns on same-day or next-day appointments. Tactics like symptom-focused keywords, risk assessments, and engaging heart health content also perform well.

Orthopedic
Focus search strategy on keywords targeting symptoms and procedures. Focus social strategy on patient success stories, but you can talk about symptoms there as well.

Oncology
Focus search ads on keywords for screenings, procedures, and types of cancer. Focus social campaigns on the lighter side of things – humorous content actually performs well.

Primary Care
Focus search campaigns on things like “quick,” “close,” “near-me,” and “same-day” appointments, using “Make an Appointment” as a CTA. Focus social campaigns on convenience and location awareness.

Women’s Services
Focus search ads, and the corresponding landing pages, on terms that cover a range of age-specific concerns and appropriateness, like childbirth, endometriosis, mammography, etc. Focus social ad strategy on segmenting by age. Content for expectant or new mothers performs particularly well.

For every service line you promote, you have to balance imagery, messaging, and CTAs. Plus, you have to think about channel specific requirements and best practices in order to make the most of your efforts and budget. Building confidence takes time, but with a little insight and testing to learn as you go, you’ll create campaigns that engage specific consumer groups for specific service lines that are part of a compelling cross-channel consumer experience.

By Philip Marsicano | Posted September 20, 2017
SHSMD Digital Engagement Task Force Member
VP Product Management
Influence Health
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