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Owning and operating a healthcare business in Australia can often feel like walking through a field of landmines. The landmines, or rather advertising regulatory standards, can seem rather complex at first. However, in this clear and simple guide by Total Medical Design, you will gain a deeper understanding of your regulatory obligations for marketing and advertising in the health sector in Australia.

We’re talking about advertising in the broadest sense of the word

Advertising standards in the health industry are set by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APHRA). Advertising is classified as any action by your business that draws attention to itself. In practice, advertising could be conducted in endless numbers of ways. Your business could employ someone to do sign writing in the sky – that’s advertising. Or advertising could be simply adding your business details to an online directory website.

Medical practices in Australia aren’t allowed to use testimonials in their advertising

Testimonials are comments left by previous customers or patients about your medical practice. These comments recount the personal objective experiences of individuals. This means that testimonials are unlikely to be balanced and informed sources of information. Patients often place undue emphasis on testimonials because of their lack of knowledge about health and specialist medicine. These patients often lack the knowledge to properly validate any scientific claims on health websites. This means prospective customers and patients are vulnerable to being misled by testimonials in medical and healthcare advertising that is inaccurate and misleading. The regulation aims to protect these patients.

Who is responsible for advertising in a healthcare business?

It doesn’t matter if you have employed an agency to help with advertising. The responsibility for advertising still lays with the principle health practitioner at the clinic or business.

Monitoring and removing patient comments or feedback

Healthcare and medical businesses in Australia are expected to monitor all “owned” media. To clarify, owned media is media that was set up and managed by the health business themselves. Examples of owned media would be a website, e-newsletter, promotional print marketing, video or radio advertising or Google ads. Principle health practitioners will need to keep an eye out for instances where customers provide comments or feedback that could be classified as a testimonial that are located within “owned’ media.

Patient comments that aren’t owned by your business – not your problem

When a comment or customer feedback is located on a third party website or social media channel outside of the control of your business, you don’t need to request the removal of that piece of content. Although if you do decide to copy and use content from or third party sources – then the APRA regulations will apply to this content.

When you cannot use a patient comment as a testimonial

When a customer mentions a clinical aspect of your medical practice (either overtly or indirectly), then this quote or commentary cannot be used as a testimonial for advertising. More specifically:

• A patient mentions their symptoms or reason for seeking treatment.
• A patient mentions the diagnosis or treatment provided by your medical practice.
• A patient mentions treatment outcomes, or the skills and experience of a practitioner at your medical practice.

When you can use a patient comment

In certain circumstances, it’s OK to use a testimonial on your website or other media that your business owns and controls. This includes ‘owned’ media such as your social media, website, newsletters and print publications.

• A patient comment about a non-regulated health service.
• A patient comment that’s not related to an aspect of clinical care.
• A patient comment that’s a testimonial, but it’s not used in advertising.

Total Medical Design are ahead of the game regarding healthcare marketing regulations in Australia. Our team of experienced marketing, digital, design and content professionals have decades of collective experience in healthcare marketing. Total Medical Design help health and medical businesses like yours to thrive and grow online. If you have any further questions about health advertising or need some advice, give us a call today on 0433 399 294 info@totalmedicaldesign.com.au

Further reading

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (APHRA) have put together some comprehensive guidelines for health practitioners to ensure that they stay within the regulatory requirements. Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) (2018) Check and Correct: Testimonial Tool Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) (2018) Advertising Resources: Check and Correct

Online booking is no longer just a nice to have, today’s patients and clients expect it. With more and more people accessing health services online, being able to book an appointment straight from the screen and bypass the need to pick up the phone is a real plus. But is it always the best option?

Online booking is big

Thanks to today’s sophisticated online booking management systems, such as Gensolve, MindBodyOnline and Cliniko, setting up online booking on your health website or even your company Facebook page is now easier than ever. MindBodyOnline even lets your patients or clients book an appointment directly via a mobile app.

Whether your business is general practice, physiotherapy, cosmetic surgery or personal training, your customers can log on, view your calendar, choose a preferred practitioner, pick a time slot, fill in their details then simply press click to book. It’s as easy as that.

Benefits of online booking

Not only is online appointment booking easy for customers it’s also convenient. They can do it anytime, e.g. they can hop on and book in the evening rather than trying to find a time to call in the day. They can also do it anywhere, e.g. on the bus or in bed via a mobile device. Plus it offers some great benefits to you.

Most importantly it reduces the time spent making bookings over the phone, freeing up staff to deal with clinic or practice footfall. In addition, it eliminates duplicate booking errors that can so easily occur when appointments are made. Because many of these systems send out SMS reminders, they can also minimise missed appointments.

Is online booking always best?

There’s no denying that online booking offers many advantages to patients and clients, and to you. If you don’t already have it set up, it’s definitely something worth doing. However, it shouldn’t be your only option. That’s because online booking many not always be the best solution in every case.

For example, while an online booking system can be very convenient for your existing clients or patients, it may not always be the most effective option for new ones.

Firstly, as it eliminates an opportunity for human contact, you’re missing out on a vital chance to connect with people on a personal level and build trust – something better achieved over the phone or in person. Because trust is such a major factor in people choosing health services, if you only offer online booking people may be wary.

Secondly, clients or patients may not know which doctor, practitioner or service would be best suited to their needs. This means they may make a booking that it unsuitable or insufficient, wasting their time and yours. This compares to having a conversation with them during which you can figure out exactly what they require.

The advantages of call back

There are a couple of ways to overcome these two drawbacks. The first is a clearly visible phone number on your website and social media pages which prospective patients can call. The second is to offer a call back option alongside your online booking facility.

Rather than getting patients or clients to call you, a call back form lets them input their name and contact details and request that you contact them. You can even include fields for extra information, such as the nature of their health issue, so you have a better understanding and can assist them more efficiently when you do call them.

Not only can this help you deliver better customer service, it’s once again taking the pressure away from your front desk as call backs can be made a more convenient time, for example, when your clinic is less busy. This will also boost your customer service by avoiding rushed conversations, voice mail diverts and unanswered calls.

It’s all about choice

Ultimately, the more options you can give your patients or clients for making an appointment, the better. Today’s customers expect choice, and if you don’t offer it they might just head off to another provider or service that does. So, as well as including your phone number on your website, include an option for online booking as well as a call back form – it’s a win, win for you and your patients.

Need some help setting up online booking and call back on your website? Contact Total Medical Design Today.

Marketing in the healthcare industry is tough.

Not only do you need to keep up with increasing competition and market developments, but you also need to stay compliant. This means following the strict and extensive set of rules and regulations which guide how health and medical services are advertised.

Not doing so can have serious implications, therefore before you embark on your next marketing related project – a new website, social media campaign, brochure – it’s important you understand exactly what’s required. Otherwise you could put both your business and patients at risk.

What rules and regulations do you need to follow?

In Australia, health practitioners, from GPs to dentists to pharmaceutical companies, should look to the following sources for guidance:

• National Law such as Australian Consumer Law
• The Guidelines for Advertising Regulated Health Services
• The relevant National Board code of ethics and professional conduct

National Law applies to all industries, not just health-related, and provides a solid foundation for best practice. The Guidelines for Advertising Regulated Health Services go one step further, explaining the obligations of National Law in the context of the health industry. Each of the 14 National Boards then has their own industry-specific guidelines.

If you sell health-related products or goods you must also comply with further legislation set out by regulators such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

To get a general overview of what’s required, the Guidelines for Advertising Regulated Health Services are a good place to start.

Understanding the Guidelines for Advertising Regulated Health Services

Created by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) alongside the National Boards, these guidelines were put in place to protect the public.

As well as explaining and offering direction on the obligations of advertisers under the National Law, they also outline what is and what isn’t acceptable, the responsibilities practitioners have to conform to them and the consequences of failing to do so.

What are the underlying principles?

• Advertising is good as it helps people make informed choices
• False advertising can compromise their choices
• Using health services all the time is undesirable

Who do the guidelines apply to?

According to the guidelines they apply to ‘any person who advertises a regulated health service or business that provides a regulated health service’.

What happens if you breach them?

A breach of these advertising regulations is a criminal offence. An individual can be fined up to $5,000 or a body corporate up to $10,000. For this to happen, a concern must be raised with the AHPRA.

What are the main requirements?

 
1. Include enough factual information so people can make informed decisions

Typical information included in health services advertising (e.g. on a website) would be your contact details, opening hours, accesiblity, languages spoken, fees, qualifications of practitioners/staff, any practice accreditations and procedural warnings.

2. Don’t engage in any of the following prohibited practices:

• Provide false, misleading or inaccurate information e.g. false titles such as Dr or Specialist
• Use gifts or discounts to attract patients
• Use testimonials in your advertising
• Create an unreasonable expectation of treatment benefits
• Encourage people to use services they might not need
• Compare yourself to other providers/practitioners

In addition, the guidelines also include the ACCC’s best practices which you should always endeavour to follow when marketing your healthcare services:

• Sell your professional services on their merits
• Be honest about what you say and do commercially
• Look at the overall impression of your advertisement. Ask yourself who the audience is and what the advertisement is likely to say or mean to them

Specific guidelines for social media

Due to the unique nature of the channel, social media marketing has its own set of guidelines – the AHPRA Social Media Policy. The main takeaways from this are:

• You must have a professional account not linked to your personal one
• You are liable for your social media account and must accept responsibility for it including for comments published on it
• You should regularly review content to ensure you’re complying with the law

Whatever marketing project you are working on, sticking to these main underlying principles should keep you on track. However, always make sure you refer to all relevant sources as outlined above to ensure you stay fully compliant.

2 main underlying principles

The doctor’s primary duty is to act in the best interest of patients. To do this, doctors must maintain their professional autonomy, clinical independence, and integrity. Relationships between doctors and patients must not compromise treatment.

Advertising by doctors should never put commercial interests ahead of patients’ health and well-being – it should be objective, not persuasive, so that patients can make informed choices.

Conclusion

Medical and healthcare marketing doesn’t just have to be effective, it must also be compliant. So as well as engaging in great strategy and tactics always ensure you stay informed, keep within the rules and regulations for your industry and follow advertising best practices. Doing otherwise just isn’t worth the risk.

Want some help to ensure your healthcare marketing is compliant? Contact us today.

Healthcare has been a notoriously slow adopter of digital trends. But today, medical professionals understand the importance of keeping up in this tech-savvy age. As well as improving their level of efficiency with practice management systems, most medical providers now have a business website to promote their services.

However, whilst many have a website, not all are utilizing it to its full potential. Yes, as a digital promotional tool it should effectively showcase your team, your services and your products. But why stop there? Your website can also function to enhance your service offering. By using digital tools to help meet patient needs you can improve their experience and streamline your business.

Patients Have Grown to Trust Digital Channels

According to a 2014 survey by global research experts McKinsey, patients around the world have grown more comfortable with using digital networks and services when it comes to healthcare. In fact, 75% of respondents were happy to use digital healthcare services.

In addition, out of all the digital channels available, a website topped the patient channel preferences across all age groups. So, if patients are embracing online services, as a healthcare provider it’s time to be thinking about how you can make your website work harder.

Make Your Medical Website Work Harder

To stay one step ahead, your website should not just do your marketing, it should also be a practical business tool through which you can better deliver your service and satisfy patient needs. Being innovative in terms of employing the latest flashy website features is not important in healthcare. What is important is including features that will offer added-value to patients, and your practice or clinic.

According to the same McKinsey survey, patient’s expectations when it comes to healthcare are rather basic: efficiency, better access to information, integration with other channels and the availability of a real person if the digital service doesn’t offer them what they need. Therefore, focusing your website efforts into delivering on these fundamental needs can be extremely effective.

Use Your Site to Provide Better Access to Information

To make your website an effective service delivery tool, it should not be viewed solely as a one-way communication channel for promotional ends.

Across the healthcare industry, patients, clinicians and providers alike are realising the benefits of turning website into a go-to platform for health information specific to their field. Including quality content and useful resources can be a great way to help you deliver on the patient need for better access to information. This can be done by including some of the following on your site:

• Updates on current industry news
• Blog posts focusing on relevant topics and questions people ask
• Educational or instructional videos that explain procedures or services
• Links to external sites – for example, if you are a GP practice you could include a link to My Health Record, so people can access and update their medical information. Alternatively, if you are an independent chiropractor, dentist or physiotherapist it might be useful to add a link to any professional bodies you are accredited with so patients can check your authenticity.

Optimize Your Website with Useful Features

Making your website a valuable source of information can be a great way to attract and retain patients. But by including interactive features and turning it into a two way communication portal, through which you and your patients can exchange information efficiently, you can gain that competitive edge.  Here are two ways which are both simple and effective.

1. Embed online forms

Online forms can be added to your website using code and can be easily customized. By allowing patients to access forms before they arrive at your clinic you can save time for both your patients and staff. The types of forms you could consider including are:

• New patient forms
• Medical history forms
• Referral forms
• Prescription refills forms
• Contact messaging forms
• Billing forms

Patients expect confidentiality so ensure all your forms are secure. You could also include patient satisfaction surveys to allow patients to give feedback.

2. Add an appointment booking tool

By giving patients to power to book their own appointments, you are offering patients an efficient way to access your service, and lessening the endless stream of phone calls. Many in practice management systems, such as Cliniko, have a real-time appointment booking feature which you can easily embed into your website.

You can also set up online booking using specialist software such as Ozdocsonline and HealthEngine. As well as integrating with your practice management systems they can be added to your website quickly and efficiently using a web plug-in.

The key to a successful healthcare website today and in the future is ensuring it meets the changing needs of patients. Non-digital channels, such as phone calls and face-to-face consultations, will continue to be important in healthcare. But by leveraging the power of digital and using your website to better deliver your service and not just as a marketing channel, your business can really benefit.

For healthcare providers looking to grow their conversions, landing pages present a great opportunity. Unfortunately, they are not utilised enough. Many medical businesses that promote themselves online often direct targeted traffic straight to their website homepage rather than sending them to the information they are looking for. This is where landing pages come in.

But what exactly is a landing page? What are the essential elements needed to create a successful one? And how you can use them to grow your clinic or practice?

What is a Landing Page?

A landing page is a standalone web page that is extremely targeted and has one conversion goal in mind. It sits at the end of an online advert, email marketing campaign or keyword search and should deliver on the promise of the link.

Whilst the aim of your website is to promote and inform a general audience on your services as a whole, a landing page should focus on a particular service, target a specific patient need and work hard at persuading them to take a particular action e.g. give contact details, book a consultation.

The Elements of Success

Before you begin putting together a landing page, you need to have one clear business objective in mind. For example, perhaps you want to increase the number of enquiries you get, generate more leads or increase profits by X in 6 months. Whatever it is, your conversion goal and your business objective should focus your content.

Landing pages should have two key elements: great copy and professional design. Each of these should work together to help you achieve your end goal.

COPY

When it comes to landing page copy, you should keep it clear, concise and take potential patients from A to B without distraction.

• A strong, compelling headline – think about what will capture potential patients or clients. Be sure to push the benefits in the subhead
• Intro copy – ensure this addresses the patients issue or problem and provides a solution – a clear value preposition. Keep it focused and convincing – stick to 4-5 sentences max
• Bullet points – including the main benefits your service/product offers in this format makes it more scannable
• One specific, persuasive call to action – use short, clear action-oriented words e.g. ‘Book an appointment’, ‘Request a call back’, ‘Buy a product’ and reinforce the benefit

When creating your landing page always bear in mind the questions potential patients will have such as “Why should I trust you?”, “Do your offer the right service for me?’’, ‘’How can I access your service?”

DESIGN

Landing page design should be clean and uncluttered – it needs to let the words do the talking. Use a similar design to your website for branding purposes, but simplify it.

• Remove navigational elements – these are not needed and act as a distraction
• Stick to a simple centred column or two column format – studies have shown that the former converts best
• Make the call to action stand out – this should be the first thing people see so it needs to stand out. A strong colour on a white background is always effective.
• Don’t use more than two images – this will make the page too busy and detract from the text.
• Consider the F shape – a study by Neilsen showed that people read a web page from left to right in two horizontal lines followed by a vertical line
• Keep the most important elements above the fold (the part you see before you have to scroll down) – e.g. your intro, benefits and call to action – because people spend 80% of their time above the fold
• Use larger fonts – the ideal line length for copy readability is 39 characters

Finally, be sure to optimise your medical landing page for search by using the right keywords and other effective SEO tactics.

Don’t Forget to Test!

Most landing pages won’t be perfect first time around. Generally they will need monitoring and tweaking before they achieve maximum results. The best way to successfully optimise them is by A/B testing. Do a couple of versions, see which works best and use the results to amend your content and design to better meet your goals.

Branding is often overlooked when it comes to medical marketing. In fact, it wasn’t always necessary.  However, building a strong brand for your healthcare practice or clinic is essential in today’s competitive healthcare market.

Without branding you are missing out on an opportunity to stand out from your competitors and connect with your patients. But knowing where to apply your efforts is the key to success?

Towards Customer-Centricity

Healthcare providers used to rely on their authority to attract patients. However, due to changes in the market, customer expectations and leaps in technology, medical services have needed to become increasingly customer-centric. Because of this, it is providers who best demonstrate their unique human value as well as their expertise, who are the ones attracting most patients.

And how do they demonstrate it? Through branding.

Brand vs. Branding

It is important to make a distinction between brand and branding.

Your brand is both the personality and the perceived value of your company. It is best described as a promise that tells people who you are and what they can expect from you. It is usually expressed by a series of attributes that connect at an emotional level. BUPA, for example, defines its brand as passionate, caring, authentic, accountable, open, courageous and extraordinary.

Branding on the other hand is the activities you undertake to build this brand perception. It includes not only your visual identity – your logo, website, brochure etc. but also your pricing, your premises and how you interact with your patients. Your brand should shine through in everything you do.

Benefits of Medical Branding

When done effectively, branding can help you:

• Stand out from your competitors – strong, memorable branding sets you apart
• Communicate your service offering – it reinforces who you are and what you do
• Demonstrate credibility – it shows that you are a serious business willing to spend money where it matters
• Build trust and loyalty – when a patient relates to your brand and knows they will get the same experience every time they interact with you, they are more likely to come back
• Increase your actual value – people will pay more if they believe in your brand

How to Get it Right

Once you have your brand clearly defined, you can begin branding, or building your brand. But what are the key elements of branding you need to consider?

• Logo – although it is only a small visual element, your logo can communicate a lot. Getting it right means making it easily recognisable. A professional designer is well worth the investment.
• Tagline – placed alongside your logo this should clearly but effectively state your unique value.
• Design scheme – choosing the right colour, type face and layout right can help create the right perception of your practice. For example, if your brand is based on innovation, go for a sleek, minimalist design.
• Tone of voice – if your brand could speak what would it sound like? Once defined, this should inform all of your written content. The tried-and-tested norm for healthcare is professional but approachable.
• Images – make sure the images you choose showcase your values. Poor quality images will contradict any effort to establish yourself as a quality brand.
• Channels – once you have a logo, design, scheme and tone of voice in place, you need to apply it consistently across all your marketing channels e.g. your website, brochures, stationary etc.
• Delivery – it’s no good claiming to be one thing in your marketing collateral if the reality is different. To be effective, your staff and your practice need to deliver on your brand promise every time a patient comes into contact with your service.

To be effective, your healthcare branding efforts must be being unique, memorable, consistent and consumer-centric. Although it might start with your logo, and a great logo is critical to branding success, your brand must infiltrate everything you do. If what you say is what you deliver, you will gain the trust of your patients – vital in healthcare today.

Whilst interpreter services in Australia are highly accessible, and have been shown to improve the quality and safety of health and medical care, the same consideration is not always paid to digital channels of communication. Yet producing content, such as websites, in different languages can benefit both service provider and patient – and the process is relatively straightforward.

Multicultural society; multiple languages

Non-English speaking patients are par for the course for doctors and health practitioners in multicultural countries. There are very few who haven’t had to communicate across a language barrier – whether in promoting their service, attempting to understand symptoms or explaining to a patient what care they need. Creating a multicultural website is simply the next step.

Reach your non-native English speaking patients

For a provider practising in an area with a high Chinese population it makes sense to offer information in Mandarin or Cantonese. The same goes whatever nationality is relevant.
Not only can multilingual content lead to more appointments and enquiries but it also fulfils your obligation to provide patients with the information they need to make informed choices and give informed consent. It also helps build trust in your service.

Attract clients from overseas

If you are a private clinic offering specialist services or procedures, such as a cosmetic surgeon or a fertility clinic, you might also be looking to attract overseas clients. In these cases, a multilingual website will make you much more accessible and legitimate to a foreign market.

Research shows that if information in their own language is not easily accessible to consumers, the majority won’t buy. The same applies to medical services to an even greater degree because it is their health in question.

How to create your multilingual site

One of the reasons why health practitioners don’t offer other language versions of their website is often due to hesitation over how to effectively implement and manage it. But with the right assistance, the process can be relatively straightforward.

1. Decide what you want to translate

Before you begin, the first step is to go through your current website and decide which content you are going to translate. If you want a complete translation you need to include every element including:

• Title, HTML content, alt text images, meta descriptions etc for each page
• Other web elements e.g. menus, forms, buttons, logos, banners
• Blog posts – how far back will you go?

2. Get your content translated

When translating your web content you have two main options:

1. Utilize an online translation tool such as Google Translate

Online translation tools can be timely and cost effective. However, they present a big drawback. By making a literal translation they can miss out or misinterpret key words and meanings.

According to a study by the BMJ, Google Translate has only 57.7% accuracy when used for medical phrase translations. This could have negative consequences if a non-native patient misunderstands a service or what it entails.

2. Hire in the services of a professional medical translator

This is the recommended option. By hiring a qualified translator, which specific medical expertise, you can be more confident that the content will be accurate.

3. Translation or localisation?

If you want to go one step further, you could also look to localise your site. Consider the format, layout and images – do they match the cultural expectations of your non-native English speaking patients? Do some research. If they don’t, change them.

4. Create your website

Unless you have technical knowledge or a simple CMS system in place, enlisting the help of a digital specialist is recommended to get your new multilingual content up and running. They can input the content and set up all the links and code correctly to ensure your site runs smoothly.

One of the best ways to add and manage the new content is by using easy-to-identify links to other languages on the homepage of your current English site.

A multilingual site will set you apart as a medical service provider. It will also give your patients and clients confidence in your services and ensure they have all the information they need to make important choices.

When selecting images for your website, stock photography is often the easiest and most feasible option. Not only is it readily available, but it also offers a professional finish that looks good online. However, although stock images may be appealing, it’s worth thinking twice before using them. Instead of helping your business, this type of content has the potential to put-off prospective patients.

The benefits of stock photography

Stock imagery is widely used for medical marketing and advertising purposes, with online sites – such as Getty, Shutterstock and 500px – offering an extensive range of high-quality photographs. Two kinds of stock images are available: royalty-free (almost unlimited use of a photo) and rights-managed (one time use of a photo under a specific license).

When creating a medical website you can access literally thousands of professional-looking images, from doctors and patients to facilities and procedures. Digital databases make them easy to search through and when you find an image you like you can download and upload it instantly.

With such images at your fingertips, why spend valuable time or resources arranging a photoshoot, or relying on your own camera skills or those of your team?

Professional but not credible

Stock photos may appear to be the great solution, but they lack one very important thing: credibility. Although they are depicting real people and situations, they are not real. This matters, especially in the medical world where demonstrating integrity and building trust are vital components in attracting and retaining patients.

To build trust you need authenticity. Yes, a well-composed stock shot of a smiling doctor and patient may appear to get your point across, but it adds little value to your overall message that you are a genuine, credible service provider. In fact, it can actually create a negative impression with the stylised finish overriding believability.

Creating a real, human connection

Potential and existing customers are not fooled by slick, inauthentic photos which show nothing of who you really are. They want to see the human side of your business. They want to see the actual doctors who will be treating them, the kinds of premises you work from and, if relevant, for example for a cosmetic surgery provider, before and after treatment shots.

By using real images you can humanize your service. You can help people establish an emotional connection with your brand which results in greater trust and, ultimately, more appointments. For this reason, taking your own photos, rather than downloading stock images, can be worth the effort – but it must be done right.

Be authentic but stay professional

Unless you have the creative and technical know-how, taking your own photos for your website is not recommended for medical industry content. Whilst amateur may work well for your social media accounts, on a website they can appear low quality and unprofessional. Instead, it is worth employing a photographer to take the photos for you – just check your staff are comfortable with this before you go ahead.

Not only will a professional ensure the lighting and composition is right, but they can also assist you in developing a visual story that is consistent with your brand and values. This way, you get images that are authentic and unique, but polished. To do this you must be prepared to invest and to update photos when staff come and go, but the end result is often worth it.

Make image selection a priority

In an ideal world, using your own professionally taken photographs on your website is the best way to go. However, sometimes time or money constraints can make stock photos the most viable option for all or part of your content.

If you are looking at using stock, be sure to use quality sites, choose images that complement your content and service values and avoid overly staged or posed shots. And, importantly, pay attention to the copyright licences and who else is using the image – the more it is used, the less effective your SEO efforts. A good graphic designer can guide you through the process.

Images may speak a thousand words, but what those words are matter – so make your website images a priority.

Having a professional website for your practice is critical in today’s digital world. But unless you are actively promoting it, prospective patients won’t find it. And if they can’t find it, they don’t know who you are, what you offer or how to contact you. Tactics such as SEO are essential, but they take time. In the meantime, PPC offers a very feasible solution.

What is PPC and how does it work?

PPC or Pay-per-click is a form of internet marketing used to drive traffic to websites. In contrast to the traditional advertising model where you pay money every time your campaign appears on a site, in PPC you only pay when someone clicks on your advert.

Search engine advertising is one of the most popular forms of PPC. Search lets you advertise your practice next to or above the organic results on a search engine page, such as Google, Bing or Yahoo, as a sponsored link. Google Adwords is the most popular PPC publisher. However, it is also now an option on social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

With most PPC publishers, how much you pay per click depends on how much you ‘bid’. By bidding you are choosing the maximum amount you want to pay for each of the keywords or keyword phrases people are most likely to use to search for your practice.  E.g. doctor’s surgery, late night appointments, central Sydney.

Why should my practice use PPC?

If your objective is to attract more patients to your practice, PPC certainly offers many advantages.

• It has instant impact – as soon as it is set up, your advert is visible and clickable to potential patients
• You can reach the right people at the right time – you advert is seen by people just at the moment they are looking for your services, improving the click through rate
• You only pay when it works – you are not spending money without seeing a result
• You can monitor how well your ad is doing – you can track how many clicks it has received, who clicked, what they did when they arrived at your website and more
• It increases overall awareness of your practice – it puts you in the mind of potential patients

What are the challenges of Pay-per-click?

When executed correctly, PPC advertising can be very effective. Unfortunately, most people are not equipped with the know-how to get the very best out of it.

As well as having an understanding of how PPC publishing systems, such as Google Adwords, work, you also need to have keen knowledge of what works PPC wise in your industry. That is why it often pays to seek professional help.

Here are some pointers to get started:

• Choose precise keyword phrases to hone in on the most likely potential patients
• Ensure your copy is clear, concise and relevant – emphasise your unique benefits e.g. late nights, friendly staff
• Create a specialised landing page on your website which people arrive at when they click – add a call to action to make an appointment or contact you
• Limit your adverts to a specific region to target patients who can get to you
• Constantly monitor your advert, and make changes as necessary to increase click rate

PPC as part of your complete online marketing strategy

PPC offers many benefits but it should be viewed as a short term strategy – one to boast patient numbers over a limited period of time – not a complete marketing strategy. For the best results it should be used alongside other tactics such as SEO and your client email marketing campaign.

When considering the value of online patient-doctor reviews, medical professionals have traditionally been sceptical. Concerns over negative feedback and subsequent loss of credibility hit hard when your professional reputation is at stake. However, in today’s digital world where patient testimonials are increasingly viewed as a valuable source of information, the real risk could lie in resistance.

Online reviews for the health sector are growing in popularity

Over the past few years, healthcare review sites such as RateMDs, Yelp and Google have increased in popularity. Why? Because people like to share their experiences – good and bad.

According to a 2014 study by US-based company Software Advice, the number of patients using online reviews jumped 68% from 2013 to 2014 – with 24% of patients purporting to use them ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’. Of this group, 44% said they would consider going to an out-of-area doctor if the reviews were better than those who practiced nearby.

Although these are US statistics, Australia is never far behind. Because of this, it is important that medical professionals recognise this shift and respond to it in the most appropriate way.

Negative reviews are less powerful than you might think

Negative reviews happen, deserved or not. However, they happen less frequently than is often assumed. Feedback from the same study found that the majority of people tend to give positive or neutral reviews, with the intention of helping other patients rather than wanting to discredit a medical professional or service.

In addition, one or two bad ratings do not necessarily lead to a loss of potential patients. In fact, the reality is that most people actively look for positive reviews, rather than searching for negative ones. When they do come across a poor rating, it is also common for it to be dismissed as ‘unreasonable’, if all the other reviews are more affirmative.

Online patient-doctor testimonials are legal advertising  

Whether medical professionals embrace it or not, online reviews are here to stay. Patients are increasingly adopting a consumer mentality and those that recognise this shift are likely to fare better. Ultimately, there is always going to be some risk involved, but there are also some real benefits.

Firstly, independent online reviews sites can be great for exposure and recognition. Such ratings can promote a doctor’s expertise and quality of care, whilst side-stepping their legal obligations. Under the Medical Board of Australia guidelines, advertising of a regulated health service is not permitted. However, patient information sharing websites that invite public feedback and reviews about their experience of a health practitioner are not included in this.

So, provided the testimonials offered on these sites are not transferred to an individual health provider’s promotional media, there is no legal issue in encouraging them. In fact, encouraging them may in fact be the right way to go. Logically, the more reviews that are submitted, the better the chances of a fairer representation of service.

The modern way to promote best practice

Perhaps most importantly, online reviews can act as a catalyst to encouraging better service. By opening the medical profession up to public scrutiny and transparency, it promotes greater care in working practices – something that should always be at the top of the agenda.

Although there is always the chance that someone will give a negative review or poor rating, most people will document the truth. If your service is something you are proud of and strive to constantly improve, then online reviews offer real value, provided they are carefully monitored and managed.

Everybody understands the importance of SEO in attracting clients. It is even more important for medical websites as the competition between providers is high. The success of any SEO project lies in selecting and using the keywords effectively. There is a beauty in keywords; when you use the right ones at the right place, you attract the right people to your website, and when not chosen and used wisely, keywords may derail your whole marketing campaign.

While planning the online marketing of your medical website, you need to know who is looking for your specialisation / services and what he/she will type in the search engines (like Google). When it comes to medical marketing, one needs a more conservative or concentrated approach rather than being a hyperbole or making an open field running.

In this race to page one ranking, you may want to stuff your website with a large amount of medical keywords. However, this may attract a bunch of folks which may not be interested in your specialisation / services. On the other hand, right keywords with their proper use will attract high-quality traffic to your website.

So, how will you figure out the right keywords and their effective use to not get into trouble with your readers and the search engines? Read on to know this…

Keywords research:

A thorough research in the popularity and competitiveness of medical keywords will help you in attracting the right searchers. A great way to do this is by using the Google AdWords keyword planner tool. This will help you find competitive keywords which have high volumes of searches but little competition. Another important thing in choosing keywords is that they should be relevant. This means assessing the relevance of specific keywords for your site.

Another important point is that the selected keywords must not be too high or too low in number. An appropriate amount of keywords is always a win-win situation as they give you more choices to experiment with.

Put chosen keywords into sentences or paragraphs for optimum use:

Always divide your keywords into sentences or paragraphs as search engine spiders do not read commas, punctuation or paragraph change. You will surely get good marks by the search engines for straight stuffing.

Bullet list is always easier to read and scan:

It is human nature to read and comprehend the bulleted list in a better way. So, don’t miss any opportunity to use your medical marketing keywords in bulleted sentences. Blend them properly and avoid repetition.

Use keywords in different sections:

Search engines can find keywords no matter where they are located on your page. Therefore, instead of pouring all keywords at one place, distribute them. Start with the headline and then add few in starting paragraphs. Apart from this, use them in the navigation bar or sidebar. Create links of your keywords which take your readers to further relevant pages.

Breaking keywords in this manner will not appear overwhelming to readers, but ensure high points from search engines.

Use “common words” in keyword phrases:

Some of the short words such as “of”, “for”, “a”, etc. are so much used in content that they are often ignored by search engines. Take advantage of this and create your keyword phrases with these “common words”. For example, if your keyword is “women cosmetic surgery”, you can use this keyword as “cosmetic surgery for women”.

Create some pages specific to your keywords:

Sometimes, you have several unrelated keywords which are impossible to put in a single page. Further, it is also not a good idea to put them all at a single page, as it will only dilute the engagement power of your content. How about creating separate pages for those keywords? Readers will find these pages completely natural while search engines will also index those separate pages.

Use keywords in testimonials:

This is again a great idea which can boost your marketing results. Generally, testimonials have generic terms of your services. However, if you take permission from the author and replace those generic words with relevant keywords, it will be of great help. It will look extremely natural to the readers and search engines will definitely give you some more points.

Try using “personal” keyword phrases:

Your prospective patients may be searching for services using keywords in the first person. Though, it is difficult with medical keywords, but try to use them in the first person in the form of questions. For e.g. suppose someone searches for “Fix my shoulder”. If you have a blog post having title “How to fix my shoulder in Sydney”, chances would be high for your website to figure in search results.

Use “less useful” keywords judicially:

Sometimes, some keywords seem to be of no use but they can work wonders if used properly. For example, suppose you have a keyword “plastic surgery”. You may not like to write a keyword like “cheap plastic surgery” as it indicates something of poor quality. However, you can always create a link for an article informing people about the negative impact of “cheap plastic surgery”.

These are the few ideas about using your medical marketing keywords wisely. These ideas will help you create content which is neither repetitive nor boring with optimal keyword frequency thereby improving your site’s ranking.

1. Know what platform suits what audience

If you’re marketing a new treatment for Alzheimers Disease to carers and healthcare providers who are over 40, you may want to consider a more traditional channel for delivery of this information. Social media like Twitter is generally more suitable to people aged below 40. Conversely if you’re trying to reach research students in healthcare, then Twitter may be the perfect platform for communicating with them. The same applies to all the other social media platforms.

2. Don’t pitch your goods and services

Social media isn’t for promotion of your healthcare brand if you happen to be touting goods and services. This is a place for building an online community, solidifying brand reputation and positioning your brand as a thought leader. This should be a place where people can find valuable information easily and quickly and also as a point of contact for the brand. Social media is yet another avenue for users to get in touch with your organisation.

3. Humanise your organisation

Bring your organisation’s stories to light using social media. Share people’s passions and their lives with relatable stories that people will like and respond to.

4. Don’t repeat the same message on multiple platforms

Otherwise why would someone like or follow your organisation on Facebook and Twitter if you’re only repeating yourself?

5. Use the rule of thirds

This is a good way of going about your healthcare social media. Share only between 2-3 posts per day.

• 1/3 of posts should be about your brand.
• 1/3 of posts should be about your industry, with content from an outside source.
• 1/3 of your posts should be personal interactions.

6. Always use a call to action or hook

This is important as a compelling question may mean that the user will click through to the website to find out more.

7. Visual content is vital

Photos and video are the most successful types of content on social media. People become invested and engaged with social media through visual content. Analytics backs this up. It’s worth your time and energy to create beautiful images, quotes and infographics.

8. Don’t ignore social media complaints

Be transparent and authentic in your dealings with people on social media. Consumers just want to be heard. Social media is a 24/7 channel and people will expect brands to reply promptly.

9. Remember Social media is a conversation – not a one way street

You’re not putting content out there to a captivated audience. You need to give back in terms of comments, responses and valuable feedback. This will build the audience.

10. Align your social media messages with what’s happening in the wider world

For example if it’s Huntington’s Disease week or Heart Disease Week and that’s relevant to your brand, write and share content around this and then hashtag it.

When it comes to creating maximum impact with your healthcare website, you need to understand and implement all of the relevant trade tools. However a unique approach should be used for marketing in the healthcare industry.

1. Pay particular attention to the audience

There are often several very different audiences for your website. Each page or section of the site needs to be tailored to best engage with the specific audience. This may also require consideration of tone of voice, jargon and specific methods of communication. Consider working through the Information Architecture to best tailor each section and page of the healthcare website. Have sections for different audiences as required. This is particularly important when you work in a large healthcare organisation with many stakeholders.

• Clinicians and healthcare providers
• Media
• Researchers and students
• Patients

2. Treat each page as a home page

Engage and speak directly to the audience of your page early on. Before you construct the page and its contents consider the purpose of the page and the action that you want the user to take. This user journey should be obvious from the moment a user opens up the page.

3. Work on creating easy to use internal search functionality

This is particularly important when you’re building a large website. The vast tracts of content need to be easily findable using an internal search engine. This is where keyword tagging and accurate metadata are important. Also the website itself needs to have the functionality to allow tagging, so that the content is findable by visitors. Properly tagged content will also make it far easier for Google and other search engines to index the site. To this end you should always use SEO best practice for both on-site and back end SEO.

4. Always include a Call to Action

The implicit purpose of the page should lead you to creating a call to action for that particular page. In healthcare websites, this call to action is rarely a strong one like ‘Buy now’, but rather it could be a softer CTA’s such as:

• Register for the event
• Read more
• Learn more
• Subscribe now
• Register to receive information in the mail

5. Internal and external links

Position your healthcare brand as a leading authority in your healthcare discipline. This is done by linking to other healthcare resources that are optimally placed to provide the most up to date information for people.

Internal links also can provide a way to keep users engaged and to continue to browse the site and find related information after they’ve finished reading a particular page.

By linking to constantly updated information, your brand also doesn’t need to update and cache the information on their own site. This will therefore save you time and resources as the content creator for the site.

6. Include fresh content

This can be via RSS blog feeds appearing on your site from other reputable sites. This could also mean that you embed a Twitter feed or Facebook feed that contains user-relevant information. This boosts your subscribers to the social media in any case.

Total Medical Design have industry experts who understand the complex and competitive world of the healthcare industry and the various responsibilities of healthcare organisations to patients and communities. We have worked with SME and large organisations in the past and have helped to bring about positive results through marketing.  Let us show you how!  

The digital world has increasingly moved from older computer interfaces towards screens in multiple different sizes and in multiple different devices. Designing a website that looks good on all screens can be a challenging task without the knowledge about this. The answer is responsive design!

Essentially responsive websites are designed intelligently so that the website adjusts itself according to the device, screen resolution and other factors. These sites still offer the same functionality and are far more user-friendly than their predecessors. However this isn’t a standard feature for most medical websites. If you’re still not convinced here are five reasons why you need responsive design right now.

1. The phenomenal growth of mobile

Smartphone traffic accounted for one fifth of all Google searches in 2014. This trend isn’t going anywhere. With users finding new ways to access websites via their phones. In order to create a successful marketing plan for your medical business, you need to follow where the users are going and that’s towards mobile.

2. Google adores responsive design on healthcare websites

In terms of search engine rankings, Google prefers it when medical clinics and other businesses have responsive websites. From a technical, search engine perspective this makes it easier for Google to parse the website and interpret it – as there’s only one URL and the HTML is the same across all devices.

3. Users also prefer responsive design on medical websites

A few years ago, if you browsed the vast majority of websites on mobile you would need to magnify significantly and then do some finger gymnastics to attempt to interact with the website. However with a responsive website, the website and its functionality adapts automatically to your phone and this means no more frustrating error messages or webpages freezing up and closing automatically.

If you ask a site visitor which they prefer, a medical website with responsive design or an old fashioned website, well there’s no question about it!

4. Responsive design boosts conversion rates

As the responsive medical website is user-friendly and easy to navigate from phone, this boosts the number of people who request a call back, book an appointment at the clinic or successfully do what you want them to do on your website.

5. Responsive design is more shareable on social media

When an individual visits your well designed responsive website and finds it easy to use, they will also be able to share this in a much more meaningful way with their own friends and peers. This means you have therefore multiplied the likelihood of others visiting the site, having an enjoyable and easy experience and sharing this on with others.

So how do you plan and execute a new responsive website for your medical clinic or practice? Well it’s all about having the right expertise. Speak with Total Medical Design today about responsive medical websites. They have designed many responsive websites already for medical businesses and in many other sectors. Client feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

 GET A FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTE ON A RESPONSIVE WEBSITE TODAY.

Medical practitioners and medical clinics looking to boost their online presence and traffic to their website need the assistance of a Google Adwords Certified marketing expert. That all may sound like it’s in a different language to you. So we will begin with what this certification is and why it’s vital for search engine marketing in the healthcare sector.

What is Google Adwords Certification?

Google Adwords work in close association with Pay-per-click advertising. This is where Google Adwords are bought at variable prices as a part of a paid/sponsored advertising campaign on Google. These keywords that are picked up when people type words into Google. Basically your sponsored ad appears each time a user searches in Google, however you only pay once the user clicks through to your website.  Pay-per-click ads (or PPC) also appear on other websites as sponsored ads. In both cases the sponsored ad allows the user to reach your own website or a custom-made landing page related to the advertising offer.

Why would I need Google Adwords and a PPC Campaign for my medical business website?

This technique of online advertising is effective and provides a high level of visibility while also being relatively inexpensive when compared to other methods of advertising. This is because you only pay each time someone clicks on an ad.

Why should I use a Google Adwords Certified PPC specialist? 

A PPC expert who has achieved certification needs to go through rigorous training and then followed by ongoing training, in order for the professional to maintain a high level of knowledge of search engine marketing.

Once an individual achieves Google certification in pay per click advertising, this person is internationally recognised as upholding an exceptional standard of service delivery with a high level of competency in PPC advertising.

Therefore investing in someone who is Adwords certified ensures that you get optimal and reliable results, without taking any shortcuts that could get your website punished by Google. An Adwords certified PPC specialist understands how to find the most relevant and highly searched keywords for your campaign and balancing this against the cost per word.

Our Certified PPC specialist: Leon Fernandes

Total Medical Design’s certified PPC specialist is Leon Fernandes who has had over ten years of experience in running successful digital marketing campaigns for dozens of clients. Along with a certified Adwords specialist, another essential part of having a great PPC campaign is the copy for the ads to go along with it.

This is where you need to have a fully integrated marketing service provider to back up your ambitious plans. Total Medical Design have a copywriter Athena Dennis on board who brings over 13 years of experience in digital marketing copywriting and who knows how to craft a terrific ad for your online healthcare website. Together Athena and Leon can put together a bespoke PPC campaign that is built to be robust and successful. They can also provide you with a complete blueprint for success.

Total Medical Design will be able to help with designing a complete PPC campaign and ensure that this runs in a completely cost-effective, economical and beneficial manner with a rapid return on investment scenario in place.

 “GET A FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTE ON A PPC CAMPAIGN TODAY”

The ever-increasing amount of internet traffic out there comes not from reading text but from watching video. Streaming video on YouTube and other providers accounts for over 80% of web traffic nowadays! A recent Forrester Research paper showed that in terms of effectiveness, a one minute video is worth an estimated 1.8 million words.

As a healthcare professional or doctor, you have a new medium through which you can get to know patients, build rapport with them, inform and educate them about important health issues and also build up a client base. Here are some reasons why you shouldn’t be left behind on video and rich media for your medical website.

1. Videos are portable and easy to for users to digest

Video is adaptable to just about any modern device from iPad to phone to PC. The fast and easily comprehended format of video allows for people to get the message in a simple and fast way that fits in with their own busy lives. In this way, if you need to explain concepts to your patients or potential new clients, then video is a much more powerful medium than text.

2. Videos are great for SEO

Not only do human eyes enjoy video, but also website crawlers that calculate search engine rankings. Rich media such as video and audio is loved by Google. So your medical website is going to be much more findable through video search and also it may in fact rank higher than other doctor’s websites with text only.

3. Videos make a powerful first impression

They can be used on your medical website but are easily transferrable to other platforms and for other parts of your overall marketing strategy. So for example an introductory video which welcomes patients to the practice can be used on your own website, on your Linked In Profile, on Facebook and in your own corporate prospectus and sent out via e-newsletter when new clients register at the practice.

4. Videos are an easy way to qualify new clients

This is a fast and easy way for new patients to see if what your clinic offers is what they are after. Via video they can take a virtual tour of the practice and find out about the services and products that  your medical practice offers. They therefore don’t need to call up the practice and speak with your reception staff to determine if the medical clinic is what they need. They already know this from video.

5. Videos are great for offering powerful testimonials for new clients

Testimonials from previous patients talking about treatments are incredibly valuable for medical practitioners. They act as a stamp of approval and legitimacy and contribute positively to the decision-making process for new clients.

In summary, video is a terrific way to boost your online visibility, reputation, brand identity and to qualify new clients for your medical practice. For the most comprehensive and clever approach to video production and video marketing, speak with the experts in medical and healthcare marketing, Total Medical Design today (0433 399 294)!

 GET A FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTE ON A LINKED IN CAMPAIGN FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE BUSINESSS.

Although Linked In is generally thought of as being the domain of business people, it has flourished as one of the most useful social media tools for medical professionals and doctors.

There are now over 2 million people working in the healthcare sector who are using LinkedIn. So what’s the secret to crafting a superb Linked In profile, and how do you best use it to promote yourself and your business? Read on to find out.

Linked In: The place to see and been seen

Place your professional information on Linked In and you’ll be searchable on Google and other search engines. Linked In typically pops up first when you search on someone’s name. This is particularly helpful when you’ve been away at a conference and you’re looking to reconnect and network with people that you’ve met. Linked In is a simple and easy way to maintain these connections for the future.

1. Posting your CV and published work

Linked In has facilities for you to publish your previous academic research papers, journal publications and accomplishments. You can also go into detail about your academic and professional achievements. This will prove invaluable if you are planning on selling your skills to peers in the industry.

2. Stay abreast of industry developments

When you join Linked In you should join public groups that are relevant to your role and industry. This is where you will find like-minded colleagues. If you are looking for work on Linked In, you may want to try the following strategy. Start following key industry recruiters for their news updates, and request to add them as a friend then send them your CV. They will appreciate your bold and proactive approach.

The most important areas to cover in a Linked In profile

For novices to the social media platform, there are a few essential areas to focus your efforts on. Your profile should contain the following at a minimum:

1. Your contact information including email and telephone details.

If you don’t want to have this information freely available on the internet, then you should change your privacy settings on Linked In so that this information is only available to your Linked In connections.

2. An image

Ensure that the image is professional looking and a head and shoulders shot which clearly shows your smiling face. An approachable and warm looking photo of you is critical to providing the most favourable impression.

3. Headline and Summary

A headline is the first thing that appears in the search function when someone searches for a healthcare professional in your field. The headline should be succinct, and reflect your role and skills. The summary is another important aspect to this and goes into more detail about your skills and experience. These appear at the top of your profile and are critical to informing people of your capabilities.

4. Use keywords

This ensures that your profile is findable by industry visitors and those searching for your skill-set. Ensure that you include your medical expertise, consulting and management expertise and even soft skills where relevant such as people management, team building, problem solving and collaborative experience.

5. Add rich media

Video, slides, audio or images all add an extra dimension to a Linked In profile. Where possible include these in your profile.

To get a complete social media strategy for selling your skills and/or your healthcare business on Linked In, or for a completely integrated healthcare marketing strategy, speak with Australia’s experts in the healthcare industry – Total Medical Design.

 “GET A FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTE ON A LINKED IN CAMPAIGN FOR YOUR HEALTHCARE BUSINESSS”

In the previous article, we focused on human computer interfaces and how these have changed the way man and machine coexist together. As well as content strategy and how expertly crafted content can provide your business with high impact visibility. And finally how the new relationship management means that your medical business can have unprecedented connectivity with patients and clients, and to help them and build relationships in new ways.

In this second part, we will be looking at how smart phones have become a medical ‘brains trust’ that has revolutionised how patients record their healthcare data for analysis. We will also look at the ever increasing importance of privacy in healthcare in the age of the internet.

Smartphones

Smartphones are another form of technology that has become ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Although for all the technological advancement, we have only really touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential for patient-doctor interaction. Increased processing power, internal memory, bigger bandwidth and increasingly sophisticated devices mean that smartphones can take centre stage in providing patient-centric, outcome-driven healthcare. Not only can various apps be used as diagnostic tools or tracking devices for medical practitioners, but they can also be used to track wellness. Some apps are ‘prescription’ apps, that are recommended by doctors to patients and provide wellness information. This can be an important part of ongoing healthcare monitoring.

The Importance of Privacy

With more and more patients interacting and leaving an information footprint online, this necessitates a much more stronger control over client information. Electronic healthcare records that are stored on cloud servers or online are vulnerable to hacking by nefarious parties. The importance of healthcare privacy for this online information cannot be overstated.

Although it seems that clients want it both ways. They want to have easy access to their medical information and targeted help online, while also having the added assurance of impeccable privacy measures at the same time. This is the inherent tension that arises for healthcare businesses with the storage of healthcare information online. There is also concerns by government about the tracking of metadata and whether or not this is being used in the patients’ interests.

In the future it’s hoped that online privacy will become a well-governed, controlled and yet accessible system that will be amenable and offer patient-centric care. Along with this, medical businesses can use this data to offer targeted and relevant healthcare offerings.

Social Media and SEM

Social media marketing has historically been overlooked by conservative healthcare businesses as being irrelevant or too time consuming. Although there is a place for it, if you would like to engage with potential new clients online. And if you don’t – the next medical practice around the corner certainly will.

Creating a niche, friendly and approachable online presence may fly in the face of many serious medical practices but this is precisely what patients want. They would like to engage with healthcare businesses online before they engage them in the real world. Or they occasionally want to reserve an appointment or ask a general inquiries question. Having this social media presence allows for other avenues so that patients can get to you.

Online Video

Video has always been a favoured medium for expressing complex medical ideas in a fast, simple and easy to digest format for patients. Although with the birth of YouTube, video has become a gigantic part of online marketing for healthcare. Currently, Alexa web information rates YouTube as the third most visited site in the world. This is only topped by Google and Facebook. Along with this, Netflix makes up a significant portion of internet traffic in the US. People enjoy watching video for entertainment but also to stay informed about important issues that mean something to them – such as their health.

Video is a vital tool for healthcare marketing that has visual and aural impact as well as tells a story. It can be cross-platform, multi-device and portable. Although you must ensure that the videos are provided in the right context, to the right audience, using the right platform.

As EOFY approaches, now is a fantastic time for a rethink of your marketing outlook and prospects for growth. If you would like some more information on how to grow your healthcare business with a savvy online marketing strategy, speak with Total Medical Design today.