Why is this happening? Because it is getting harder and harder for healthcare professionals to ignore the facts. Research has shown that 72% of internet users say they looked online for health information within the past year. Patients have always sought information to take care of their health and the internet has become the primary source for many. It also allows healthcare companies to reach consumers where they already are seeking healthcare information. Building awareness for new treatments or services has always been a costly and time-consuming effort. Digital marketing can make this process much simpler. Lastly, it allows for precise targeting, better than any other effort. Digital ads provide data on who they are reaching. Ad servers, hosting services, and social networks can provide detailed information about the demographics, behaviors, and interactions of those viewing the ad. This data can then be used to ensure that the right audience is being reached. Step-by-step, it is becoming unwise for healthcare companies to not utilize digital marketing. Healthcare digital marketing services offer valuable services to healthcare companies in Singapore. These services include search engine optimization, social media management, content creation, and online advertising campaigns.
Healthcare digital marketing is how the future is moving. Traditionally, healthcare companies have stayed quite far behind other industries in promoting digitally. This is understandable with tight regulations and the historical aversion to risk, but not promoting digitally is now becoming risky. Healthcare companies, big and small, are now dedicating larger portions of their overall marketing budget to digital efforts. A recent survey suggested that the average healthcare company allocates 12% of overall marketing budgets to digital and this is expected to rise to 16% in the next three years.
Importance of healthcare digital marketing
Having an effective digital marketing strategy is important for any business. It is no different in the healthcare industry where private hospitals are still, for the most part, very traditional in their marketing approach. Compared to other industries, the healthcare industry is slower in accepting and adopting new marketing strategies. This is due to the strict regulations and conservative approach where patient’s safety and confidentiality is of utmost priority. Nevertheless, as competition intensifies with medical tourism becoming a key source of revenue, there is a need to start employing digital marketing strategies to garner a larger share of the global patient population.
In this globalized era, digital marketing is no longer a new concept in the private healthcare sector. It has become a vital channel for private hospitals to reach out to their existing and potential patients. This is particularly so in Singapore due to the increasing literacy rate and internet-savvy population with the widespread use of the internet and mobile technologies. With healthcare consumers becoming more meticulous and discerning in their choice of healthcare providers, they are seeking reliable information to help them make informed decisions. Hence, they are resorting to the internet as their first and primary source of information.
Role of advertising agencies in Singapore
Marketing a healthcare organization can mean many different things, but a well-executed campaign in this context often yields a new frontier of higher care and revenue for the organization.
At this point, it is essential to consider the fact that in this day and age, a comprehensive marketing campaign must be an internet marketing campaign. Delving into a process without the diverse array of today’s advertising tools is not recommended and can be a complete waste of time and resources. In this scenario, a modern healthcare advertising campaign can be extremely expensive, but often still more cost-effective in the long run due to its precise targeting of viable patients. Advertising companies in singapore play a crucial role in the success of healthcare digital marketing campaigns by providing expertise in online advertising and strategic planning.
Two types of agencies generally participate in this regard: an institution can hire a healthcare marketing agency, which is generally well-versed in internet marketing and search engine optimization. This is necessary to raise the overall viability of the healthcare organization in the eyes of the public, but is generally not enough to propel the organization above its competitors. For this reason, the institution might choose to look to a healthcare-specific advertising agency to give the organization a clear image, direction, and to create a marketing campaign.
Services Offered by Advertising Agencies
Social media management is highly important in today’s digital age, yet something that many healthcare providers still struggle with. Consumers expect a social media presence on channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Google+. While healthcare providers may already have profiles on these sites, they often struggle to create and share content, and engage in conversation with “fans” effectively. A healthy social media presence humanizes your brand identity and is an easy way to stay in contact with patients between visits. Social media now plays an important role in SEO as well and can be an effective tool to drive more traffic to your site.
Digital marketing strategies are tailored plans to increase traffic to your online assets, whether it be social media channels or your website. This is done through a multitude of means including email marketing, SEO, and paid advertising campaigns.
Digital marketing agencies can assist healthcare providers with a wide variety of services aimed at increasing your online presence and creating a strong brand identity. Let’s go deeper into the services provided by advertising agencies. Advertising agencies may specialize in healthcare but offer a diverse range of services, or may work specifically with healthcare providers only. These agencies offer highly specialized services to provide a stronger online identity for your healthcare establishment. Services you can expect to receive may include some of the following, or potentially even more than what is listed.
Digital marketing strategies
Next, let’s describe SEO and SEM. Mention the various types of social media platforms used and their effectiveness, relating back to consumer behavior. This establishes an understanding of the message delivery process and how these strategies are implemented in attempts to engage consumers with health products and services. Advertising agencies understand that improving the visibility of a product in a space where consumers are already looking for information holds high relevance to building brand awareness and brand preference. This is an important element, as mentioned in the summary, as it is known that consumers who are better engaged with a brand are more likely to react positively to health behavior and also to be brand loyal. The use of a research article may be nice. Lastly, they will touch on advertisement methods using both “Push” and “Pull” marketing in attempts to change consumer behavior towards a healthier alternative.
When assessing the ever-growing world of digital marketing, top advertising agencies in Singapore will undoubtedly classify marketing strategies into two categories: “Push” marketing and “Pull” marketing. The aim is to deliver a stream of messages to get consumers to purchase and to influence their behavior. This is done through “Push” marketing. Not all consumers will be responsive to advertising messages, and some are difficult to seek out. In a case like this, it’ll be a lot more effective to use “Pull” marketing, where this consumer then looks for the product.
Social media management
A professional marketing company can take social media management off of the business owner’s hands, freeing him to work on his business. Have the assurance that your social media marketing is taken care of and be involved as much or as little as you want. A management team can consistently monitor your social media and keep involved in your business, updating and adding new content with a communal involvement to be the voice of your brand.
Social media management doesn’t just involve running social media ad campaigns. It involves managing a company’s online interactions and content across social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. This can be very challenging to do in-house for small or large companies, often requiring outside assistance. The smaller the company, the owner is often the one managing the social media, which can become very time-consuming.
Search engine optimization
SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” or unpaid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results, as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion. Typically, the earlier a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, and industry-specific vertical search engines. This gives a website web presence.
Benefits of Healthcare Digital Marketing
The target audience is the purpose of all brands and advertisers. They need their ads to be visible to their potential clients primarily and then to the existing ones. Understanding the relative needs of a diverse population, healthcare companies need their ads to be seen only by the ill people or their caregivers. Furthermore, most of the existing methods of health services advertising are intended to promote a service that is not of an urgent nature. Digital marketing, through search engine optimization and targeted ads, is ideal to promote an urgent service like trauma care, ER intervention, ambulance services, and so on. Search engine optimization helps in serving ads based on the keywords searched by the patients while they or their families are trying to understand the nature of their illness and potential treatment options. Ads can be directly and, in some cases, contextually linked to the search topics. This way, a relevant ad is seen only by the right person. For example, an ad for cosmetic weight loss programs would be seen by a potential candidate for the treatment only if it is targeted and delivered near search results or articles related to the risks and drawbacks of the procedure.
Increased brand visibility is vital for all businesses; however, few are aware of how to attain it. It is best to say that visibility is a byproduct of activity. An increase in the flow of patients, reputation in society, better patient ratings, a strong brand image, and so on, might result in a higher brand. Digital marketing offers advertisers the tools to advertise their brand using outstanding ad store publishers. Today, blogs, social media sites, and so on have created an opportunity for patients to share their reviews about a hospital, doctor, or medical service received. Through active participation and interaction, digital marketing creates a brand value that will be appreciated by the clients and result in long-term profit.
Increased brand visibility
The great advantage of digital marketing over traditional advertising is the level of targeting that can be achieved. Online advertising platforms have sophisticated targeting capabilities that can be used to reduce wasted exposure to irrelevant audiences by ensuring that ads are served only to those audiences that meet specific targeting criteria. For example, an advertisement for a hip replacement procedure can be targeted specifically to osteoarthritis sufferers in certain age groups and geographic locations, and with certain severity of symptoms. This is a more efficient and effective means of brand advertising than a mass media campaign, which is likely to be seen by large numbers of irrelevant consumers. Digital marketing, when aligned with a detailed customer segmentation, is a powerful tool to facilitate migration to more advanced forms of brand advertising and will improve the effectiveness of certain forms of brand advertising currently being used. For example, a pharmaceutical company can use an online content marketing strategy to create brand value by educating consumers about treatment options for certain medical conditions, and subsequently they can use targeted search advertising to direct those consumers to a product website. This is a much more cost-effective and measurable advertising strategy than using sales reps and direct-to-consumer advertising.
An increase in brand visibility is a critical factor in planning increased consumer access to your products and services, driving increased sales and marketing effectiveness. In a healthcare industry undergoing rapid change, the need for effective marketing of products and services is becoming more acute. Radical change in the structure of healthcare delivery (e.g. increased influence of managed care organizations and the demise of solo practice) and a trend toward greater consumerism mean that competition between providers will continue to increase. At the same time, pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers will face stiffer competition and greater pressure to prove the value of their products. Brands that are established and/or perceived as having higher quality are going to be increasingly important to differentiate products and services and often provide a false sense of superiority. This is an environment requiring a comprehensive and differentiated marketing strategy. A digital marketing strategy that creates brand value by reaching targeted audiences with meaningful content and facilitates subsequent engagement that builds brand preference will be a critical success factor for many healthcare organizations.
Targeted audience reach
One of the great benefits of digital marketing is the ability to target specific audiences. With traditional advertising, you would place an ad in a specialty publication with the hopes that your target audience would see your advertisement. With digital marketing, the ability to target your audience is infinite. There are various online platforms and methods to choose from, and each of them has its own level of effectiveness depending on your goals. Advertising on social media is a guaranteed method to reach your audience as 72% of adult internet users are active on social media. Ads can be targeted based on user data that is shared on the platform, including location, demographic data, and individual interests. Email marketing is another effective method that can keep your current patients engaged and bring in new patients. A monthly newsletter or promotions can be sent out to specifically targeted individuals. This method is fairly inexpensive, and 60% of consumers have claimed that they have made a purchase due to a marketing email. Display and search engine marketing are also effective but are more costly. These methods allow you to place an advertisement across a network of websites or in the results page of a search engine. This provides more exposure and can reach a large volume of people, especially if the ads are properly optimized. Advertisements with video and content that is mobile-optimized are the most effective way to reach younger adults and future generations of patients. Video ads can be placed on platforms such as YouTube and targeted by the age, gender, or location of the audience. It is predicted that people ages 18-44 will be more responsive to ads on their mobile devices, while current and older generations of patients will best be reached through desktop computers.
Effective digital marketing has significantly contributed to increased patient visits. Potential patients who are in the market for a new doctor use search engines to research a new healthcare provider. By using search engine marketing, such as Google AdWords, your facility will show up in the search results when potential patients are searching for a new doctor. This will increase the likelihood of them choosing your practice. Display advertising is a good way to do this when individuals are viewing health information or checking their email. This would increase the likelihood of reaching potential patients at the right time and place.
Enhanced patient engagement
Patient engagement is encouraged by the World Health Organization and is essential in self-management for those with chronic conditions. Digital marketing provides a platform convenient to those patients with an array of information and support.
Digital marketing is ‘patient-centric’ and is driven by patients’ desires and needs in the competitive market for their attention. Reaching and engaging these patients using digital channels can lead to behavior changes and improved health outcomes. Whether it’s a simple marketing campaign, health education throughout communities, or an e-health tool, the objective is to engage patients to a point where they will better their health.
The premise of patient engagement can be seen as a patient’s involvement in their own care and treatment, in decision-making processes, and self-management, sustained over time. It is a desirable preventative measure for chronic conditions and drives healthier outcomes for patients. Capturing the attention and engagement of the wide variety of health consumers in order to have a significant impact on their health has never been more achievable with the constant development of technology.
Enhanced patient engagement in healthcare digital marketing is an undeniable goal. Whether the aim is to influence a specific behavior, increase brand loyalty, or simply to communicate information, engaging with patients is crucial. There is now a conversational and relational channel between provider and patient, and much of this is taking place in the digital space. Engaging patients online through the various available digital marketing channels is becoming an essential strategy to influence patients’ involvement in their own healthcare. It is also an important step in improving the health of our communities.
