A practice website is a healthcare marketer’s stronghold, an ideal environment for fostering positive relationships, from first touchpoints to bookings to patient support. The most important part of any healthcare marketing strategy is to establish your place on the internet with an attractive and informative website and bolster your presence on various directories and social media channels.

With 72 percent of patients checking online reviews before booking with a practice, reputation management is more important for healthcare marketers than ever before. Learn how to use medical marketing to encourage patients to share their positive experiences online.

Healthcare marketers should pay attention to evolving digital marketing tactics and newly available tools. Being a marketer at the forefront of healthcare marketing trends will ensure your practice is ahead of the competition and capitalizing on any key medical marketing opportunities.

Social media is the best place for healthcare marketers to humanize their medical practices and connect with patients & community influencers. Modern healthcare digital marketing is about determining the best channels for your message and staying consistent with engagement.

Local search results are prime real estate for a good practice marketing strategy. In most cases, prospective patients will be searching locally for a doctor. Ensure your medical practice is in the top local search results by keeping contact information consistent across the web, submitting to directories, and encouraging online reviews.

For healthcare providers, the internet can amplify everything. Reach is broadened with local search results, networks are expanded on social media, and patient experiences are shared not only with friends and family, but with any internet user worldwide who has taken an interest in your practice.

The competition has changed, too. Today, practitioners are competing with a larger radius of practices and oftentimes, in the case of self-diagnosers, physicians are also in competition with informational medical and health sites.

We know that today 80 percent of people search online for healthcare providers and health-related information before consulting a physician. So how do practitioners and healthcare marketers ensure their healthcare marketing strategy will guarantee their practices are visible and attractive online?

There are a number of winning healthcare marketing strategies, which we’ve highlighted below. But it’s important to remember that a sound marketing plan is a holistic endeavor, and that the healthcare marketing tactics listed here work best when they work together.

With 80 percent of people searching for information online first, having a strong web presence is essential to the success of any physician’s healthcare marketing plan. A practice or physician’s web presence has several main components:

It might seem like word-of-mouth marketing was replaced by the internet, but a better way of looking at it might be that word-of-mouth marketing was amplified by the internet. Every patient experience is a potential online review, which encourages practices to improve patient interactions and provide incentive for satisfied patients to submit reviews.

Some strategies for managing reputation online are:

• Sending patient surveys to pinpoint problem areas before they lead to negative reviews
• Contacting unhappy patients directly in attempt to resolve negative issues
• Asking satisfied patients to review your practice online
• Sending friendly reminders

More on reputation management:
Manage online reputation with a patient feedback system that works
5 online reputation mistakes that are killing your patient acquisition

Like any other form of digital marketing, healthcare marketing is constantly evolving. As the digital world continues to change and new technologies are introduced, it’s important to update your healthcare marketing arsenal.

Have a look at some of the best modern healthcare marketing trends below.

Read more on modern healthcare marketing trends:
What Google's mobile-first index means for doctor websites
5 steps to content marketing success for healthcare practices
Why healthcare providers aren’t blogging — and why they should be

Social media has never been more integrated in society nor more integral to the success of brands online. In one study, 71 percent of respondents stated they’re more likely to recommend a brand if they have a great experience with them via social media.

With a proper Facebook page alone, you can connect with those who review your services or contact you with questions about your practice. Social media is also a great way to humanize your practice, allowing you to further the distinction between you and your competitors.

For example, you can share images of your team during the holidays, showcase any charity work your practice does, or even host contests that get your patients involved.

More on social media marketing:
The healthcare provider’s guide to getting started with social media
How to engage on social media with HIPAA in mind
How to reach new patients using social media

Local SEO and search marketing involve a number of things, from making sure your Google My Business page is set up to ensuring consistency in local citations to having online reviews for your business.

Each of the above components come together to create an image of your business that boosts its chances of showing up in local Google searches. In many ways this is more important than the broad digital marketing efforts, as those in your immediate vicinity are often more likely to become patients at your practice.

More on Local SEO:
Google Posts: engage prospects directly in search results and Google Maps
The healthcare provider's guide to local search optimization, part 3: the local stack