Implement these proven healthcare marketing lead generation methods to ensure you attract more local patients all year round.

The growth of digital technology and the internet has transformed the healthcare industry. So much so that 7% of ALL Google daily searches are health-related. While these figures show a health-conscious society, they also reveal the astronomical potential for healthcare lead generation. 

However, unlike other sectors, the healthcare industry must function under different guidelines and faces greater external scrutiny.

The key to attracting more potential patients is to build trust and showcase your expertise online

With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of proven healthcare lead generation methods that have helped drive quality leads online for organisations and companies like yours. But first, let’s get the strategy right.

Developing your healthcare lead generation strategy

Before you start creating healthcare lead generation campaigns, you must take the time to get to know your audience. You can do this by:

  • Knowing your data
  • Creating patient personas

Knowing your data

Getting access to data can enhance your healthcare lead-generation strategies. Understanding patient demographics alongside active media channels can enrich your content and overall lead-generation capabilities

Data can tell us a lot about our patients and supply us with the right tools to communicate, engage and target. From patient records to surveys and website analytics, use the data at your disposal and form conclusions about where to attract more leads.

Create patient personas

After collecting, analysing, and organising your data, you can now begin creating some patient personas. Because to have an effective healthcare lead generation strategy, you must see your patients as people at different stages of the buyer journey, not as consumers ready to purchase.

Patient personas can be based on the following profile features:

  • Location
  • Healthcare facility
  • Annual revenue
  • Healthcare preferences

Some might be aware of your services but not fully interested, while others might be interested in your products but not 100% sold. So, use the data at your disposal to reference demographics and media channels, then start to create a patient persona you can target with specific forms of content.   

6 ways to generate more healthcare leads

Once you know your audience, it will naturally shape and personalise your healthcare lead generation campaigns. Here are a few simple ways to generate more leads to get you started:

  1. Website optimisation

Whether it’s to find a new doctor or assess the reviews of a healthcare product, so many potential patients are searching the internet every day with health-related queries.

Whatever queries your healthcare brand can answer, either with your services, products or expertise, opportunities for you to rank ahead of your competitors emerge.

But to get your website ranking, you need to optimise with user-friendly and further SEO guidelines. Applying SEO best practise starts with keyword research to establish relevance and authority.

Optimising your website relies on fulfilling the following areas:

  • Visibility – Ensures your website is seen across search engine results (SERPs).
  • Content – Write accurate, clear, and engaging content, offering information your patients will find valuable.
  • Navigation – Website design will dictate how easy and engaging your website is to navigate.
  • Responsiveness – Responsive design enables websites to be user-friendly across various devices. This includes loading times and screen size adjustments.

It’s crucial to note that website optimisation should be based on optimal user experience (UX). SEO will not only rank your healthcare brand on relevant keywords and website authority but on loading times, navigation, and responsive design.

  • Paid advertising

Investing in paid advertisements across search engines like Google’s PPC or social media platforms like Facebook can get your healthcare brand before patients’ eyes. You can retarget potential consumers who have already visited your website, while specific landing pages can drive traffic to certain areas of your website.

Paid advertisements can also work alongside an SEO strategy to help enrich your content and boost your overall brand awareness and online presence. As a powerful combination, organic and paid search drives up to 76% of website traffic.

  • Organic content

While we’ve already discussed optimising your existing website content for SEO purposes, you can also introduce fresh content in the shape of blogs to drive organic traffic to your website.

Organic content such as blogs and social media posts allows you to express your expertise with targeted content. For example, you can develop a series of detailed blogs to create cluster topics, establishing your superiority and positioning your brand as an industry leader.

  • Conversational marketing

With so many patients seeking instant answers to their health-related queries, your website can introduce conversational marketing features in the form of live chatbots or virtual assistants.

Conversational marketing can provide comfort for worried patients and valuable instant information they will undoubtedly appreciate in their time of need.

As a form of lead generation, conversational marketing offers no better time to connect with a patient than when they have pursued your website and require your help.

  • Podcasts

Trust and expertise are gained with greater ease and superiority through inbound marketing techniques rather than outbound. Unlike outbound marketing which aims to place a message in front of as many eyes as possible, regardless of relevance, inbound marketing tries to attract patients with valuable information or solutions. 

Some examples of inbound marketing include:

  • Blogs
  • Infographics
  • Podcasts
  • Webinars

It’s not to say outbound marketing has no place in healthcare marketing. Only inbound suits the consumer culture where credibility and brand trust are essential.

Featuring on popular local podcasts is a great place to start. After all, the bigger the audience, the bigger the reach. You can create familiarity between the audience and your professionals while demonstrating your knowledge.

  • Email marketing

Despite the first email being sent in 1971, it still proves to be one of the most effective forms of lead generation for healthcare businesses.

A simple appointment reminder can be followed up with a product or service upsell. Think about it. If your patients have opted in to receive marketing messages from your company, you’ve already gained their trust. So, a monthly newsletter and sales-led email sequence could ensure you maximise sales.

Or to generate new leads, developing a simple squeeze page to capture data followed by a fluid email funnel can ensure you’re constantly feeding your business with new leads. A simple discount code or free check-up should be strong enough to entice potential prospects to part ways with their contact details.

Contact Birmingham’s healthcare lead generation specialist

At Amay Digital, we’re experts in healthcare lead generation. Our services include:

Given the time to understand your healthcare business, we can target your consumers online through proven inbound marketing methods that will guarantee results and a healthy ROI.

Get in touch for more information, and we can begin laying the groundwork for your healthcare lead-generation campaigns.