Most marketers equate content marketing with blogs. On the surface, this makes sense. Typically, a blog is the most dynamic section of a website. It's a modern approach for utilizing content to promote brands and designed to generate organic traffic that translates into qualified leads.
Here’s the challenge: Blogging is becoming one of the most common healthcare marketing techniques. This means it’s getting harder to stand out from the crowd. In fact, 85% of healthcare marketers surveyed for our annual State of Healthcare Content Marketing study feature articles on their websites or blogs—up from 70% last year and second only to social media (100%) as the most-used content marketing tactic.
It’s time for healthcare marketers to think beyond the blog when crafting their content strategy. With consumers spending more time online and expecting a user experience akin to their favorite retail brands, evolving to meet these needs and being intentional about content deployed across all channels is mission critical.
Market leaders that are utilizing content to promote brands and service lines must strive to benefit their audiences and their health system alike. To apply the customer-centric approach of content marketing, focus on evolving these three primary channels used to interact with healthcare audiences: website content, landing pages and social media.
Whether visitors arrive at your site through organic search, paid media, third-party directories or other sources, make sure each page has something interesting to say and opportunities to continue the conversation. Rather than scholarly articles or dry facts, find creative ways to infuse your brand voice. Add variety into the service line pages, physician profiles and other site content.
Instead of a doorman who simply allows entry and leaves guests to their own devices, think of your website content like a concierge whose job is to guide visitors and enrich their experience. No matter where they’re coming from or where they want to go, guests are greeted and given information tailored to their unique needs. Ideally, that interaction connects to the overall brand promise and keeps customers coming back.
In the same way, your website should meet customers where they are in the healthcare journey. By answering the immediate questions, anticipating future needs and offering practical advice, your healthcare website will become their go-to destination and open doors to a loyal, long-term relationship.
Unlike the blog or service line pages, a landing page has a singular goal: help visitors take the next step. They likely arrived at the page following a search or targeted ad, so any content that distracts from the user’s intent can create a negative impression.
In other words, give landing page visitors exactly what they need—and make it easy. Like the person answering a room service request, content on landing pages should be laser-focused. Rather than create analysis paralysis like a menu with 250 items, landing page content serves the purposes of collecting information (typically name and email are enough) and delivering as quickly as possible.
The importance of content on landing pages is growing exponentially, especially as COVID-19 creates what some are calling Generation N. This new, post-pandemic consumer is more apt to buy online. They are also more likely to switch brands based on the digital experience, making the content on landing pages a key piece of the modern patient journey. When utilizing content to promote brands and your services, be mindful of how the pandemic has changed consumer preferences and demands.
While blogs emerge as one of the must-have healthcare marketing techniques, delivering content through social media is even more ubiquitous. Along with our research demonstrating the universal use of social media, other studies validate the fact that platforms like Facebook and Instagram are the first places consumers turn to stay current on issues and trends.
This requires healthcare marketers to ask the critical question: Does the content on our social accounts add value or contribute to the clutter? Every image, video, sentence and story should be tied to an overarching content strategy with clear goals and metrics for success.
By avoiding random acts of social media content—like sparse photo albums or spontaneous blurbs—your social accounts can serve as primary information channels. They are the modern version of a local station covering the latest news, sports, weather and human interest stories. Like the messaging featured on all marketing channels, social media content should be created and curated with the consumer in mind.
Discover how our team of healthcare marketing strategists can optimize content for your website, landing pages and social media.
The original version of this page was published at: https://truenorthcustom.com/blog/beyond-the-blog-how-healthcare-marketers-are-utilizing-content-to-promote-brands-and-service-lines/
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