The internet may as well come with a ‘toxic substance’ sign attached on it and flashing lights, for all that Australian medical practices care about it! There are plenty of medical practices in Australia that are simply left behind in the race for online visibility. They prefer the old-fashioned pamphlet and phone call mode of communication with patients and potential new patients. Although this is rapidly becoming outmoded. To ignore the internet and web-based communication is to severely undermine a seismic shift in society. Here are some ways to put the buzz back into your marketing efforts, while also maintaining your credibility and authority as a medical practice.
1. Ramp Up Your Website
User experience in its simplest terms means how your audience interacts with your website. And also whether or not the audience finds the website easy and intuitive to use. Recent research by Econsultancy’s Australian User Report interviewed staff at 200 digital and ecommerce companies. 96% of these respondents thought that user experience was incredibly important for clients. However 16% of these people rated the performance of websites as poor and only 37% of them rated them as excellent.
What this means is that Aussie businesses have to make some radical changes to get their websites up to speed. Here are some basic changes that make all the difference to usability.
An easy to use online form
The online form should be easy to use. Leave out the annoying questions and keep the online form as simple as possible. Alternately you can make most fields optional. The pre-appointment questionnaire on your website shouldn’t be frustrating or long-winded for the end user. Save the lengthy form for when the new patient arrives at the practice and have to wait to see the doctor.
Prominent contact details and directions
This is an obvious one, however it’s surprising how many medical practice websites forget about the essentials, as they are waylaid with details about services and procedures. Make sure the telephone number and address are listed prominently on the website, alongside Google maps and directions via public transport and car.
Include a powerful call to action
Give visitors to the site a sense of direction by telling them what you want them to do. You want them to call, or to book an appointment or to send an email inquiry. So you should make this obvious.
Optimise for search engines
Optimise the website by using SEO keywords in the metatags and throughout the body text and titles. Consider implementing a Pay Per Click campaign in order to guarantee placement on popular search engines and to drive up click-throughs to the website.
There are of course, many more ways to optimise your website for user-experience. For more information, give us a call!
2. Go Mobile
Telstra’s Smartphone Index indicates that Australia has one of the highest rates of smart phone ownership in the world. Second only to China and South Korea, 72% of Aussies have a smartphone. According to the same research, approximately 71% of these people access to the internet via their smartphone.
So that your medical practice doesn’t miss a trick, it’s important to incorporate a mobile website that is user-friendly and optimised for various platforms like iOS, Android and Windows. Also, geo-location tracking is a critical feature. This means that when people browse for a doctor’s surgery on their phone, they will be able to find you easily.
Reboot Your Social Media
According to a recent report, 12 million Australians have an active account on Facebook. Although Facebook tends to take the lion’s share of captive audience, there are still other social media favourites. LinkedIn now has 3.7 million Australian users, Pinterest 1.7 million, and YouTube has over 11 million Australian users.
So where does this leave medical practices in terms of reaching new patients? Often in the dark unfortunately. The majority of Australian medical practices rely on antiquated methods of communicating with their patients.
Change is a good thing when it comes to social media though. It’s far more cost-effective than old methods of
marketing. It’s also far more personalised and friendly than traditional marketing. So make sure that you invest in a social media manager and integrate your social media efforts with your website. This investment will pay for itself many times over.
Revitalise Your Content Marketing
For the uninitiated, content marketing is the strategy of creating content (video, audio, text and more) that is distributed to your specific audience via various platforms (PC, mobile phone, tablet). It is created to appeal to your patients and potential new clients. Each piece of content ingeniously reflects your medical practice’s values, while also entertaining and educating your audience on topics of interest to them. It’s vitally important as this fosters brand recognition, and helps to build trust between your practice and patients.
Get premium support for your Australian medical practice with Total Medical Design today! We are the one-stop-shop for healthcare sector marketing.
References
Digital Marketing Lab; ”Australian Digital Statistics Compilation”;
http://digitalmarketinglab.com.au/index.php/2013/10/27/2013-australian-digital-statistics-compilation/ 27th October, 2013.