The healthcare industry has evolved considerably over the years, and so have the ways in which healthcare businesses market themselves.
If you think you can build a loyal patient base just through word-of-mouth marketing, you’re mistaken. You can’t expect your business to thrive without building a strong online presence and leveraging digital marketing.
That’s what we’re here to help you with. In this guide, we’ll cover five of the best online marketing strategies for healthcare clinics in London.
So, read on and use a mix of these to promote your London clinic and get more patients. But first, let’s discuss the importance of online marketing for healthcare businesses.
Importance of Online Marketing for Healthcare Clinics in London
No business can thrive in today’s digital era without any online presence, not even a healthcare clinic.
Given that most people search for nearby clinics online, you can’t hope to find patients without an online business listing, to say the least.
The days of offline advertising and offline word-of-mouth marketing are long gone. If you want more patients to visit your healthcare clinic in London, you have to leverage digital marketing strategies.
Here are some reasons to use digital marketing strategies for healthcare clinics in London.
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- It helps you reach a wide audience and get more patients for your clinic.
- Through a website and online directory listings, more patients can discover your clinic and check out your services.
- An optimized website can help prospective patients learn about your clinic, find information about your doctors, and make appointments.
- Online marketing is a cost-effective way to get more patients and run a successful healthcare clinic in London.
So, if you have not yet leveraged digital marketing to promote your clinic but wish to start, this guide is for you. Read on to find some great digital marketing strategies you can use.
5 Healthcare Online Marketing Strategies to Try in 2024
Here are our top five picks for the best online marketing strategies for a healthcare clinic in London.
1. Leverage Local SEO to Generate Leads Organically
One of the most sustainable and organic ways of generating leads for your healthcare clinic in London is via an optimized website.
Anyone who searches for nearby clinics online probably uses Google. To ensure your target audience finds you on Google, optimize your website with relevant industry-specific and location-specific keywords. This will ensure that your site ranks high in the search results and is visible to the right target audience.
Here are some local search engine optimization tactics to improve your site rankings:
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- Use location-specific keywords, such as “general physician in London” or “dental clinic in London,” on your service pages to get those pages to rank for relevant search queries.
- If your clinic has multiple locations within the London area, create a separate landing page for each location, optimized with area-specific keywords.
- Choose a mobile-responsive website design to ensure your website is easily browsed by mobile visitors. This is extremely important because most people search for nearby businesses via mobile devices.
- Create a Google Business Profile (GBP) and add your website link and accurate business information. Optimized GMB listings often rank at the top of Google’s results pages for local business-related search queries. Here’s an example of what these listings look like.
- Get your clinic listed in local healthcare directories and add consistent and accurate business information on all platforms.
You should also focus on delivering exceptional user experience through your website. Ensuring a high loading speed and simple site navigation is a great place to start.
2. Build an Online Presence on Social Media
One of the simplest ways to build an online presence for your healthcare business is via social media marketing.
Pick a couple of platforms and consistently post educational and informative content to build an audience.
Here are some social media content ideas for your healthcare clinic in London.
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- Share weekly healthcare tips and advice.
- Inform and educate your audience about various health risks and ways to avoid them.
- Post infographics related to important topics within your niche.
- Provide social proof to your prospective patients by sharing patient reviews and testimonials.
- Share behind-the-scenes content from events you host at your London clinic.
- Host live Q&A sessions with doctors at your clinic to answer audience questions.
- Make important announcements and share business-related updates to keep your audience updated about your clinic.
3. Nurture Leads and Encourage Repeat Business via Email Marketing
Getting new patients to visit your healthcare clinic in London is more difficult than getting existing patients to visit again.
Just like any other business, healthcare businesses should prioritize customer retention and loyalty. Email marketing can help with that.
Collect the email information, with consent, of every patient who visits your healthcare clinic in London. Build an email list and segment it by patient demographics, medical history, lifecycle stages, and other parameters that are relevant to your business.
Then, engage your former patients via relevant and informative emails. Here are some email ideas to get you started:
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- Welcome new patients who have joined your membership program.
- Thank patients for their visit and ask for feedback on your doctors and the services provided.
- Encourage patients to leave doctor reviews after their visit.
- Confirm bookings and send reminders of upcoming appointments.
- Send weekly, biweekly, or monthly newsletters with health tips, news, and other educational content.
- Follow up on a patient’s post-treatment recovery and encourage follow-up appointments.
- Invite people to workshops or other events you host at your healthcare clinic in London.
Email marketing is probably the most versatile of all marketing channels, and you can use it to get repeat business, build relationships with existing patients, and share transactional information.
You can also collect email information from site visitors through web forms and nurture those leads via email marketing.
4. Create Educational Content to Build Authority
If your website doesn’t have a blog section, it’s time to consider adding one.
Running an informative healthcare blog with high-quality content on trending topics is a great way to attract site traffic, which can turn into business leads.
There’s no dearth of the types of health-related content you can share, from healthcare tips to treatment options for various diseases. Even if you create a long-form post covering each disease, you will never run out of content ideas.
One pro tip is to create in-depth, evergreen content that requires one-time effort but generates steady traffic for years to come.
You can also create such evergreen content that stays relevant for a long time. This is more convenient than creating short-form content and posting frequently, which may not be feasible for you, alongside managing a clinic.
5. Run Search Ads for Quick Results
If you’re looking for healthcare digital marketing strategies that drive quick results, then consider advertising.
You can use both search and social media advertising, though search ads may perform better for your clinic as most people search for clinics via Google and not on social media.
Target specific keywords with your specialty and location to get the best results. For example, if you run a dental clinic in London, use keywords like “dental clinic in London” and “best dentist in London” for your ad campaigns.
This will show your clinic at the top of search results for such search queries, generating business leads.
Also, to get even better results, leverage multiple ad platforms, including ones beyond Google and Facebook.
Ready to Grow Your Healthcare Business?
There you have it – some of the best online marketing strategies for healthcare businesses.
Experiment with a few or all of these online marketing strategies and see which ones work best for your healthcare clinic in London.
You can start with free marketing tactics and complement your efforts with paid ad campaigns, as needed.
So what are you waiting for? Start experimenting with online marketing and grow your healthcare business in London. All the best!