Don’t Only Rely On Doctors For New Patients – You Need Your Own Marketing Strategy, Too!
If you get a lot of referrals to your medical practice, that’s great! But referrals shouldn’t be the only way you get new patients. Alongside your existing referral networks, investing in a future-focused digital marketing strategy will help you bring in more patients and make sure your practice keeps growing.
Referrals Are Great, But Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Basket
So, why shouldn’t you focus only on referrals for business growth? Here are a few reasons that it’s a bad idea to solely (or mostly) rely on referrals from other practices to get new patients:
Doctors may choose another practice for referrals – While a strong relationship with a referring doctor is valuable, there’s no guarantee that a particular doctor will keep referring patients to your practice indefinitely. For example, a new doctor in your specialty could open up a practice that’s closer to the referring doctor – and they could refer patients to them, instead.
Retirements, ownership changes, and closures – You may have a great relationship with a doctor, but if they retire, sell their practice, or they have to close their office for any reason, that stream of patients can dry up quickly.
You’re not building your practice’s public profile – If you rely on referrals and you don’t have an optimized website, any kind of social media presence, or any other investments in marketing, your practice may be essentially “invisible” to new patients. Even if a potential patient is looking for someone in your specialty, they may not be able to find your office on Google or other search engines.
Create Your Own Marketing Strategy To Keep Your Practice Growing
Referrals are great. No doubt about it! But along with a strong focus on referrals, it’s a good idea to make some investments in digital marketing to keep your practice growing. Investing in things like an SEO-optimized website, a robust social media presence, and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) ads can help you bring in a lot more patients.
And best of all, digital marketing is faster, cheaper, and simpler to implement than traditional forms of marketing like radio ads, billboards, and TV commercials. For example, you can reach 1000 people on Facebook for just $0.25 – while a magazine ad may cost you $20 or more per 1000 people reached.
Here are some strategies we recommend:
Build an Search Engine Optimized Website
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is critical for healthcare marketing. Many patients start their search for a new doctor online, so your website needs to rank highly on search engines like Google. By optimizing your site with the right keywords, such as dentist in [city] or physical therapy in [city], you can ensure that when patients in your area search for your specialty, your practice appears near the top of the results.
In addition, an SEO-focused website doesn’t just attract more visitors. It gives your potential patients the information they need to feel confident about choosing your practice. Having clear, easy-to-navigate pages with valuable content, patient testimonials, and detailed descriptions of your services builds trust with new patients even before they walk through your doors.
Utilize Social Media for Patient Recruitment and Engagement
In today's world, a strong social media presence is essential. It’s not just about running ads—it’s about engaging with patients on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok. By regularly posting informative, helpful content—like health tips, patient testimonials, or even behind-the-scenes looks at your practice—you can build a strong relationship with your community.
While organic social media is a great way to build a community, ads help you get in front of new faces! There are several options you can implement too - from targeting specific age ranges in your area to creating lookalike audiences of your current patients to attract those with similar characteristics.
Run Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads for Immediate Results
While SEO can take some time to show results, PPC ads offer a fast way to attract new patients, appearing at the top of search engine results. PPC allows you to target specific keywords and geographic areas, making it ideal for healthcare marketing. Whether you're a dental office, a general practitioner, or a specialist, running ads targeted at local patients searching for your services is an effective way to grow your practice quickly.
For example, if you run a pediatric clinic, you can create ads that target parents in your city who are looking for healthcare for their children. When done correctly, PPC ads can deliver new patients to your practice in a matter of days or weeks, all while allowing you to control your budget and ad spend.
Not Sure Where To Start? Incept Health Is Here For You!
With the right digital marketing strategy, you can bring in more patients to your practice and make sure you don’t break the bank. And you’ll ensure that you’ll be able to bring new patients regularly – even if your referral network dries up a bit!
At Incept Health, we’re experts in digital marketing for medical practices. Whether you’re a dentist, a general practitioner, or any other type of doctor, we can help you reduce your reliance on referrals and bring in more patients. Interested in learning more about what we do? Get in touch to schedule a consultation with an Incept digital marketing expert.