Common Mistakes to Avoid When Marketing Your Medical Practice Online

Internet marketing can help your medical practice grow, help to sell your auxiliary products and services and put important health information in the hands of patients between appointments. However, Internet marketing is not without its pitfalls. Be careful to avoid these common online marketing mistakes.

Internet marketing can help your medical practice grow, help to sell your auxiliary products and services and put important health information in the hands of patients between appointments. However, Internet marketing is not without its pitfalls. Be careful to avoid these common online marketing mistakes.

1. Being inconsistent. A good Search Engine Optimization strategy includes unique, fresh content on your website. Setting up social media profiles, an interesting blog and a dynamite website won’t be effective unless you post regular, engaging content. Simply building the profiles and platforms is just the first step. 

2. Inadvertently disclosing patient information. We all know that individual health care information needs to stay private under the HIPAA laws. However, individuals can also be recognized when you discuss their case online in seemingly anonymous terms, especially if you practice in a small town. Keeping your content HIPAA compliant

3. Using tentative wording. Medical practices, more than most other kinds of businesses, need to exert a voice of authority to be trusted and to gain new patients. According to Physicians Practice, using wording like “we understand,” we will attempt” or “we intend to..” can make you seem like less than an expert.

4. Marketing without a plan. Bankers Healthcare Group calls marketing without a plan one of the “seven deadly sins of healthcare marketing.” As with any business, trying a few marketing elements for your practice without a cohesive marketing strategy is rarely effective. Better to sit down and devise an interlocking marketing plan than to just write a few blogs or post a few social media updates and ignore them.

5. Forgetting the call to action. If you want your website, social media or blog readers to call for an appointment, subscribe to your newsletter or take other, similar action, you need to tell them what you want them to do. Failing to include a call to action is a common mistake medical practices make when marketing their business, says business2business.com. Don’t let this be you.

Embracing the internet for your medical practice’s marketing efforts can make a big difference in the success of your practice. Make sure to maximize your efforts by being consistent, avoiding any identifiable reference to patients, developing a cohesive marketing plan and using positive, confident and impactful phrasing with your messaging.