Why Healthcare Marketers Need to Understand Mobile
As smart phones make their way to ubiquity, mobile is no longer optional. Healthcare marketers have a number of reasons to work especially hard to keep their mobile marketing knowledge up-to-date to better serve the practices that they represent. A few facts that make mobile an essential healthcare marketing skill:
1. It’s become a vital factor in SEO.
Google rarely announces a new algorithm, so when they do, marketers better listen. This was the case with “mobilegeddon” the mobile-friendly update the search engine giant rolled out in late spring. To better serve searchers on mobile phones, they began to assess severe penalties on sites that were not considered mobile friendly. Overnight, many sites went from the first page of results to invisibility. To keep your healthcare marketing campaigns well-optimized, you need to ensure that they use responsive design, easy to read text and images that load quickly and fully on smart phones and tablets.
2. Local search often starts on mobile.
When people are looking for local services like medical professionals, mobile is one of the most common ways to start their search. And, people who use mobile for search have a high conversion rate. According to Search Engine Watch, half of all consumers who started with a mobile search made a local visit to a retailer within a day.
3. More people are becoming mobile-only.
Two-thirds of Americans own smart phones. At the current time, one in 10 smart phone users say that they have given up broadband at home and exclusively use their mobile device. By 2018, there will be 1 billion smart phone users world-wide, so, even if the portion does not increase, that will still be 100 million people exclusively accessing the web through their tablets or phones. By creating marketing content that is accessible by this audience, you can better assure that your marketing message is reaching the widest group of potential patients.
4. Mobile offers convenient technologies for practices and patients.
As all marketers know, the less friction between your potential customer and a conversion, the more likely that conversion is to occur. When you include mobile in your strategy, that means giving potential patients easier ways to get in touch. Click-to-call means that they can instantly get on the phone with a practice to set up an appointment. According to Biz Report, 70% of mobile searchers engage with click to call technology. When they click on directions to the office, they can automatically be opened in the patient’s phone. Text-based reminders mean that patients are more likely to remember appointments. This cuts medical practices’ costs and reduces the number of costly no-shows, increasing ROI.
By spending some time learning what mobile can do for your healthcare business, you can increase visibility and make healthcare marketing campaigns more effective. Make mobile a part of your offerings to help your marketing thrive.
