The 7-Step Guide to Content Marketing Success for Medical Practices

Many healthcare marketers are struggling to find success with their content marketing efforts. In fact, a recent study by Semrush revealed that only 10% of healthcare marketers consider themselves very successful in this area, while 33% report moderate success.¹ This means the majority are either just getting by or falling short of their goals. With a well-crafted content marketing strategy, however, medical practices can overcome these challenges and start seeing real results.

In this blog, we’ll explore tips to help you boost your success and stand out in the competitive field of healthcare through effective content marketing.

1. Understand Your Audience

A content marketing strategy must begin with a thorough understanding of your target audience. Medical practices often serve diverse groups, ranging from young adults to seniors, each with varying health concerns. 

The first step is conducting an in-depth audience analysis to understand their needs, behaviours, and pain points. This involves:

• Surveys and Questionnaires: Send out patient satisfaction surveys or feedback forms to identify topics that matter to your patients.
• Google Analytics: Analyze website traffic to see which pages are the most popular and what content patients are engaging with the most.
• Competitor Analysis: Review the content of other successful practices in your specialty. Tools like Ahrefs can help identify competitors’ most engaging content, as well as the keywords they’re targeting.

Medical professionals have the added responsibility of addressing highly specific and sensitive topics, which means your content must align with the expectations of your patients. For instance, if you’re a dermatology practice, the information you present on skin conditions should be not only accurate but also easy to understand.

2. Initiate A Content Gap Analysis

If your practice already has a blog or patient education section, it’s time to take a step back and assess. Which pieces are performing well? Where could you offer more value? A content audit helps pinpoint what’s working and where you may have gaps in providing the information your patients need.

Questions to Ask Yourself When Evaluating Your Existing Content:

• Is my content relevant to my current patients’ needs?
  Think about the questions your patients often ask. Are those topics covered in your content?
• Which blog posts or pages get the most traffic?
  Take a look at your website analytics. Are there popular posts you can expand upon or update with more recent information?
• Are there common patient concerns that have not yet been addressed?
  Consider any recurring issues or concerns brought up in consultations. Creating content around these topics can fill existing gaps and help patients find the answers they’re seeking.
• Am I missing opportunities for seasonal or trending topics?
  For instance, back-to-school dental tips or advice during flu season could be timely additions to your content. Staying current shows patients you’re in tune with their lives.

Answering these can give you a clearer picture of how to improve your content and ensure it aligns with both your practice’s expertise and your patients’ interests.

3. Do Keyword Research for Medical Content

Search engine optimization (SEO) makes sure your content reaches the right audience. Keyword research helps you identify terms that are both relevant to your practice and valuable for patients. However, navigating keyword difficulty, search intent, and relevance can be time-consuming, especially with competitive medical terms.

For example, instead of targeting broad terms like “melasma treatment,” you might have better success with localized, specific keywords like “melasma treatment in Miami.”

Partnering with an SEO expert can make this process more efficient, helping you focus on delivering care while we optimize your content for search visibility.

At Wisevu, we were able to help Alinea Medical dominate Google and Bing search results within just three months of launching their campaigns. By implementing a multi-site SEO approach, we ensured their practice ranked for thousands of high-converting keywords.

4. Set SMART Goals

Define clear goals using the SMART framework, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.² Using the SMART framework helps you achieve WISE results! Let’s break down what it means:

• Specific: What exactly do you want to achieve?
• Measurable: How will you track success or progress?
• Achievable: Is this goal realistic, given your resources and time?
• Relevant: Does this goal align with your overall business objectives?
• Time-bound: What’s the deadline for achieving this goal?

To guide you further, here are some templates and examples:

5. Get Started with Content Creation

Content marketing for medical practices should include a blend of educational and promotional materials tailored to various situations and audience needs. Here are key content formats and when to use them:

• Blog Posts: Ideal for educating your audience on relevant medical conditions, treatments, or health tips. 
• Patient Stories and Testimonials: Use this format to build trust, especially when launching new services or treatments. Sharing real patient outcomes through videos or written case studies can be powerful. For instance, highlighting a patient’s successful skin treatment can encourage others to consider similar options.
• Infographics and Visual Content: These are perfect for simplifying complex medical information. Use infographics to explain procedures, like the steps involved in a dermatological treatment, making it easier for patients to understand and share on social media.
• Interactive Content: Engage users with tools like symptom checkers or quizzes. This content is especially effective for encouraging patient interaction, such as a quiz on skin care routines that leads to relevant service recommendations.
• Video Content: Use videos for a range of purposes, from brief explainer clips for social media to more in-depth discussions on specialized procedures.

Remember, when writing content, be clear and concise. Incorporate SEO best practices by using relevant keywords, and engage your audience by encouraging comments and questions. An expert like Wisevu can help you navigate these strategies effectively to maximize your online presence.

Pro Tip: Create a Content Calendar

To keep your content organized and consistent, create a content calendar. This tool helps you plan topics around seasonal events, awareness months, and patient needs, ensuring you deliver timely and relevant information while maintaining a steady flow of content.

6. Promote Your Content

Creating content is only the beginning. Promotion is where the real work begins. Here are several ways to ensure your content reaches the right audience:

• Social Media Marketing: Platforms like Facebook and Instagram are great for sharing educational content, patient testimonials, or infographics. Make use of paid advertising features to target specific demographics.
• Email Marketing: Send newsletters containing your latest blog posts, video tutorials, or patient success stories. Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs) to encourage booking appointments or signing up for webinars.
• SEO and Link Building: Ensure that your content is optimized for search engines by implementing on-page SEO best practices. Additionally, actively build backlinks from reputable health sites or medical forums to boost your content’s authority.
• Google My Business: Local SEO is particularly important for medical practices. Ensure that your Google My Business page is up to date with relevant information, including hours, services, and contact details.
• PPC Ads: Running pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns (or paid ads) on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, or Instagram can place your content in front of the right audience immediately. This is particularly effective when targeting people searching for topics closely related to your content.

At Wisevu, we successfully implemented these strategies for Bond Street Dental, Alinea Medical Spa, and our other healthcare clients. 

Wisevu strategized and launched highly targeted paid ad campaigns on Google Ads and Bing Ads to reach keywords where Bond Street Dental wasn’t ranking #1 organically. This approach enabled the clinic to acquire highly qualified leads at minimal costs, targeting 100% relevant keywords.

Additionally, we launched effective social media ads tailored to dental practices and integrated all campaigns with email automation software. This combination saved time, reduced errors, and enabled Bond Street Dental to manage patient interactions effortlessly while achieving consistent results across platforms.

7. Monitor and Measure Success

No content marketing strategy is complete without proper analytics. Track the performance of each piece of content using tools like Google Analytics or Semrush. Focus on KPIs that matter, such as:

• Traffic Growth: Are more patients finding your website after launching your content campaign?
• Engagement Metrics: Monitor how much time visitors spend on your page and whether they are interacting with the content, like leaving comments or sharing it on social media.
• Lead Generation: Track how well your content converts visitors into patients, especially through specific landing pages or downloadable resources like white papers.

If certain types of content or topics are outperforming others, consider revising your content calendar to focus more on those areas. Conversely, if some pieces underperform, it might be time to revisit the format, SEO strategy, or even the tone.

Wisevu has advanced analytics expertise to help you pinpoint what works in your content strategies and what to do with those that do not.

Conclusion

A successful content marketing strategy for medical practices is all about educating, engaging, and empowering your patients while showcasing your expertise. Proper research, planning, and promotion of your content can attract more patients to your medical practice and improve patient satisfaction.

At Wisevu, we specialize in helping medical practices create impactful content that resonates with their audience. With our deep expertise in content creation, SEO, and PPC advertising, your practice can stand out, and your patient base can grow.

References

1. “The State of Content Marketing 2023 Global Report | Semrush.” Semrush, www.semrush.com/goodcontent/state-of-content-marketing/#marketo.
2. MindTools | Home. www.mindtools.com/a4wo118/smart-goals.