How to attract patients using digital marketing
The internet has brought many facilities to common people. Whether to search for information, products, or services, we all use digital marketing tools at some point, even if unconsciously. In this article, we will cover a small part of the work of marketing consultancy for dentists and marketing consultancy for doctors regarding the digital marketing strategy for attracting patients. Your customer’s purchasing journey. Furthermore, it is necessary to understand a concept called the consumer purchasing journey. See the figure below: We all begin our purchasing journey, that is, our path to actually purchasing a product or service, going through some phases or stages, namely:
Learning and discovery
Every purchase necessarily involves the buyer’s perception of a need. Thus, in the case of dental or medical patients, this process begins when any discomfort, whether physical or mental, is noticed by the potential patient. It could be an aesthetic problem such as malocclusion localized pain in some part of the body or another symptom that leads the person to move to the next phase.
Problem recognition
At this stage, the person already has a clear perception that there is a problem to be solved. She has already convinced herself of the need to seek help. This is the case of patients who have parents with some type of hereditary pathology and despite not showing any symptoms of the disease, they know they need to seek help.
Solution consideration
At this stage, the person aware of their problem begins to look for possible solutions to their problem. If you are a person who has crooked teeth, for example, you can start by talking to friends who wear orthodontic braces and researching the subject on the internet.
Buying decision
It is at this stage that conversion takes place, that is, a person who will become your patient. To get here there may be a longer or shorter path, this depends fundamentally on personal characteristics and also on the amount of influence the person receives, whether from friends, relatives, or authorities on the subject.
Digital Marketing and Buying Journey
As you saw above, people go through a series of phases and remain in them for more or less time, depending on their characteristics and the level of influence/information they receive. A well-designed digital marketing strategy for attracting patients will act objectively at each phase of your future patient’s life cycle, making them move faster between each phase, to make them a patient. as soon as possible. For each phase of the purchasing journey, there are several tasks to be carried out surgically and in a well-thought-out manner to transform your website visitors into loyal patients.
AIDA Matrix
The figure above represents a matrix called AIDA This acronym is an abbreviation for some phases called: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action In our marketing consultancy for dentists and marketing consultancy for doctors, we apply the AIDA matrix to the purchasing journey of potential patients in our patients’ clinics and offices with great success. Let’s look at each phase and its connection to the consumer’s purchasing journey:
Attention
When the potential patient becomes aware of their problem, they begin to research more about it. He will inevitably use Google, Facebook, and blogs to find references and information about his problem. At this stage, your office/clinic must have a well-defined digital presence. What is digital presence? It means having a well-designed website for your clinic/office, but above all, having a blog associated with the website. The blog will be the channel responsible for attracting visitors to your website. It must contain a lot of quality information that is useful for your potential patient. It should be introductory content that addresses the terms used by your potential patients at the first stage of their purchasing journey. To give an example, if your clinic works with orthodontic procedures, it is worth writing introductory content rich in keywords that explain the types of treatment available, the difference between braces, etc.
Interest
Once the visitor has been attracted to your website by your content, you must arouse their interest in continuing to maintain a relationship with your office/clinic. Remember that the consumer journey can be long and many of the visitors who arrive at your website may not be ready to become patients yet. Have good quality material prepared on your website that continues to educate your potential patient and awaken their interest in maintaining a relationship with your clinic/office. It could be an e-book or a small set of video tutorials that clarify your potential client’s main questions. In exchange for access to this content, your potential patient must leave their email address. That’s it, this visitor has just turned into a lead, that is, someone who has expressed a clear interest in the service you offer.
Desire
Once you have your lead’s email, you need to continue nurturing this patient’s interest with more information that makes them want your service. At this moment, targeting articles and videos that show real cases and benefits for the health/aesthetics of the patient undergoing treatments with you is essential. You need to create in your lead’s mind the feeling that “it’s worth belonging to a specific group”.
Action
Here is the phase where the magic happens. Depending on the way your lead reacts to the emails and content you send them, it is possible to determine when to make an offer or make a commercial approach with that lead. It may be that your sales team needs to take action and invite the patient to come to the clinic or even send a sales letter with an “unmissable offer” to the patient who comes to the clinic.