A local business, such as a medical practice, thrives on the community that surrounds it. Assuming that you don’t personally know every single person in your town, how you do get on the radar of potential new patients? Online ads, such as social and search, are great ways to reach the people who are most likely to be interested in your practice. With ads that come up on social media channels or in search engine queries, you want to reach the right people, tap into the right concern and project the right message.
Here are steps that you can follow to ensure that your online ads are being seen by the perfect audience for your practice:
1) Take Stock of Your Practice
First things first – conduct a self-audit of your practice:
- What problems do you love helping with?
- What conditions do you feel particularly adept at addressing?
- In what procedure or specialization are you a rockstar?
- What does the demographic look like?
- What do most people come to you for?
- What are the top concerns among your patients?
Patient records will give you the basic information such as age, gender, location. For more introspective details such as health concerns and care expectations, consider sending out anonymous surveys to your current patients.
2) Plan Out How to Reach Them
Once you’ve identified identified your ideal patient(s), you can decide how best to reach them. Older patient demographics tend to stick to Facebook, for the most part. Create the patient persona (or multiple, depending on your audit information): health concerns, age range, income range, marital status, parenthood, gender (and any other information you think may be useful). This persona profile will indicate where you should be focusing your efforts.
Older users are more likely to actually read articles, so an ad that very clearly links to an intriguing article is a great choice. Younger crowds are on Facebook as well but also split their time with other platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. This demographic tends to gravitate more toward videos, gifs and images. A more visually appealing ad is the best strategy for reaching younger users.
3) Tailor Your Message
Armed with the knowledge of what issues matter most to your patients, you can address their concerns head on. Hone in on their wants and needs! Highlight what makes you stand out as a practice and how you are uniquely qualified to help with their issue. For example, a dentist who specializes in pediatric care could target local parents with young children and emphasize his or her ability to make their child’s visit a positive experience. Or, a dentist who specializes in pediatric care for low-income communities can tailor the ads to showcase a welcoming vibe and note all the different payment options offered.
The goal is to focus your efforts on reaching your ideal local patient and showcasing the services that you want to provide. Be sure that your words and imagery stay in line with your brand. When everything comes together, this increases your chances of bringing in new patients that will be a great fit for your practice and will be satisfied with your services.
4) Create Your Strategy
Now that you’ve customized your ads to each patient persona that your want to reach, it’s time to put them into action. Take stock of your ad analytics each week. Focus on what ads are getting the most views, the most likes, the most clicks, the most comments. This will clue you in on which types of ads work and which do not.
Keep detailed notes on new patients that are coming in. Notice a trend in age, family situation, or particular health concern? That is your audience! Follow the trend and you will find the ideal prospective patient for your practice. Going forward, you can then use this information to further tailor your online ads.
Online ads are not a “set it and forget it” tactic. They need to be well planned, strategically implemented and carefully monitored. However, you will find that these efforts pay off. With strategic ad placement on social media channels or in online searches, you can reach the ideal patients for your practice, highlight the specialty that makes you stand out and focus in on the services that you excel at providing.
Need help with ad creation and strategy? Contact us here!