Marketing Efforts Should Reflect New Technologies, Patient Preferences

A swell of evidence shows more and more that the way patients make choices about healthcare—and even access care—is changing constantly. About 5% of Google searches are for a health-related topic these days, and a Pew Research Center study found 62% of patients have used their smartphones to look up health-related information. And the Mayo Clinic estimates that 84% of patients want to partner with their physicians in making treatment decisions. In other words, patients feel they are better informed, and want to use that sense of confidence in guiding their own healthcare. Digital marketing is the best way to reach these patients, but most of the hospital and healthcare respondents in a study by Validic confess that they’re behind schedule on their digital marketing efforts—if they have a digital strategy at all. This leaves the door wide open for urgent care, which as an industry tends to be populated by forward-thinking entrepreneurs who have the latitude to move quickly on developing trends, to reach these patients first, securing relationships that could boost business for years to come. In addition, new technologies allow you to target areas as small as a city block or as large as an entire metropolitan area—again, a critical advantage for urgent care centers that are keenly aware of the demographic area where their most likely customers are. Work with your digital marketing team to ensure you’re doing everything you can to get to them first.