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4 Essential Steps to Healthcare Content Marketing

4 Essential Steps to Healthcare Content Marketing

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Healthcare marketing can be downright brutal sometimes. With ever-changing laws and regulations, regulatory committees are constantly monitoring every bit of promotional information.

However, there is a cost-effective way to reach your audience. Content marketing has proven to be a viable marketing strategy in the healthcare industry. Healthcare is the second-most searched-for service online. Both patients and healthcare workers looking for more information are searching the Internet like never before.

By using a tactic like content marketing, healthcare providers can become thought leaders in the industry and attract loyal followings in the meantime. So to help you rejuvenate your organization’s brand, we’re bringing you these tips to content marketing in the healthcare industry.

1.) A great content strategy doesn’t happen overnight.

All great things start with a plan—including a content marketing strategy. To develop one, you’ll need to outline buyer personas, or ideal target customers that can benefit from your services. Buyer personas are more than just a target audience or basic demographic information. They tell prospective customers’ stories. Their needs, frustrations, commonly asked questions, goals, motivations and so on. The more specific you can get, the more easily you’ll be able to produce content that your audience will love.   

After you outline your buyer personas, start creating content that will resonate with your audience. The easiest way to do that is to answer common questions that every customer who walks through the door might ask you. This could be in the form of blogs, webinars, eBooks, or any other format you can come up with.

Once you’ve created your buyer personas, you’ll want to keep them handy. Continue to use these to drive every piece of content you create. And that means more than just blogs. Use these personas to personalize all of your marketing efforts for different segments of your audience, including things like email marketing, sales, and anything that relates to communicating with customers.

2.) Collect and analyze your data.

Collect data on every piece of content your organization produces. This will allow you to see the topics your audience is most interested in, the most effective forms of content (i.e. guide, infographic, webinar etc.), and identify gaps in your current content strategy.

Keeping track of what works and what doesn’t will help you make the best choices going forward.

Effective content can almost always be traced back to addressing a buyer persona’s pain points (sometimes literally, in the healthcare industry). Avoid overwhelming readers with complex information and technical jargon, while positioning your organization as helpful and relevant

3.) Humanize your brand.

One of the biggest benefits of utilizing content marketing is that it allows you to humanize your brand. Especially in the healthcare industry, organizations need to be able to connect with their patients on a person-to-person level. This demonstrates to prospective patients and customers that you are a group of personable people who care about each and every patient.

Does your website feature your employees? Incorporate actual members of your organization wherever possible on your site. In today’s fast-paced world, the relationship with a patient starts the minute they visit your webpage, and it’s good to put your best foot forward.

Humanizing your organization also means that your content should be approachable, using laymen’s terms and examples your audience will understand. All of these aspects play into an overall larger brand strategy.

4.) Teamwork is key.

Any sort of healthcare marketing requires a great deal of teamwork and understanding, and that’s especially true of content marketing. Regulators and compliance officers have strengthened the rules when it comes to outbound communication efforts.

This means that your marketing and compliance teams need to be on the same page. Incorporating compliance professionals in your content strategy is a must, and make sure the agency you are working with understands the complex landscape of healthcare marketing.

Now what?

Developing and getting your content strategy off the ground can be a daunting task, but the reward is worth the effort. By using a documented strategy, analyzing your data, and getting your team all on the same page, you can make sure your organization successfully engages with patients.