In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, having an effective online marketing strategy is crucial. However, many clinics make common mistakes that hinder their growth and success. To help you navigate digital marketing successfully, we’ve compiled a list of the top six online marketing mistakes you need to avoid.
Welcome to another episode of Online Marketing For Doctors TV and Podcast show – the place to go to grow and scale your practice. I’m Huyen Truong, a Strategic Marketing Consultant for medical clinics. My team and I have been in the game for over a decade, helping hundreds of clinics thrive with our proven patient generation system.
Each marketing channel or campaign can have its own mistakes, but I want to highlight the high level ones so you can avoid them. Let’s start with mistake number 1.
1. Not have a clear growth marketing strategy in place
Picture this: You’re setting out on a cross-country road trip with no map or GPS. That’s what it’s like when a clinic lacks a well-defined medical digital marketing strategy.
According to Smart Insights, a staggering 49 percent of organisations don’t have a defined marketing strategy. This means they are essentially driving in the dark.
To avoid this mistake, create a clear and documented marketing strategy that outlines your goals, target audience, and key activities. Having a roadmap will help you stay focused, measure your progress, and make necessary adjustments along the way.
If you want to get started quickly, check out our recent podcast episode #113 or the video titled “Why You Need a Sales Funnel for Your Clinic to Grow Exponentially.” In this episode, I outline five key components of a sales funnel or basic marketing plan that every clinic needs. I’ll leave the link in the show notes for you to check it out.
2. Send traffic to a bad website
One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen is clinics having outdated websites. They spend a lot of money on marketing to drive traffic to these sites and then wonder why they aren’t getting many bookings.
When it comes to promoting a medical or healthcare clinic online, your website serves as the foundation for all digital marketing activities and acts as your primary online storefront. However, many practices overlook the importance of having a functional website capable of consistently generating new patients.
In episode #112, I discussed the topic and included a short quiz called “How Good Is Your Website?” you can access to this episode in the show note below or get on our website at www.onlinemarketingfordoctors.com
In this episode, I uncovered the real 7 reasons why you’re not receiving enough high quality patient leads from the website.
We identified any leaks in your website that may be costing you new patients and explore strategies for increasing your medical website’s conversion rate to generate more leads without spending another dime.
First of all, I’d like to ask you what is your biggest frustration with your website?
Do you?
- Not have enough leads
- Have Low quality or unqualified leads
- Turning leads into patients
- Competition is killing us
- All of the answers above
If you selected all of the answers above, it indicates that your website is experiencing both traffic and conversion issues, which is quite common based on our observation of thousands of medical websites over the years.
If your website traffic is below 500 visits per month, it suggests a traffic problem. When your website lacks sufficient visitors, the likelihood of attracting an adequate number of prospective patients decreases. Coupled with the low conversion rate of your website, this explains why you’re experiencing a low and inconsistent flow of new patients.
Secondly, does the quality of your website reflect the quality of your work?
- Yes, my website looks incredible
- No, my website looks like it’s from 1999
In podcast number # 111, we talked about the “Why Are My Prospective Patients Not Booking?” And one of the reasons is that Your Procedure’s Perceived Value is Not Greater Than Price.
Meaning the website is not building up the perceived value of your services so when users see your website looking dated and aesthetically unpleasing, it would align with how prospective patients perceive your clinic.
Showcase a tour of your gorgeous office and surgical suite, your rapid recovery process, and your superior aftercare support on your website via video presentation that would be more impressive.
This should be done even before prospects begin enquiring about the first consultation. The value needs to be established through all touchpoints, from the premium appearance of the website to the use of authentic, high-quality videos and images across both the website and social media platforms. Since we are offering high-value procedures, consider the experience when walking into luxury stores like Hermes, Louis Vuitton, or Burberry. What is your initial impression? It’s the ambiance of space and luxury, isn’t it? And what do you expect to pay? You would expect to pay more right? Similarly, your website must exude a premium look to enhance the perceived value of your clinic and procedures.
3. Not start marketing early enough
I’ve talked to many clinics over the years, and one thing I’ve noticed is that they often only start thinking about marketing when their growth stagnates or they see their competitors engaging in aggressive marketing. This realisation usually prompts them to take action.
If you look at the major players in your sector, they’ve likely been investing in marketing for years, if not decades. They understand the importance of marketing even before they open their doors.
For example, we have a client who has been in neurology practice for over two years. When they first came to us while planning to open their private practice, they sought business coaching and were advised to start a digital marketing strategy.
They looked for a good medical marketing agency to help with their plan. Although they traditionally relied on referral marketing for new patients, they decided to branch out into digital marketing as one of their initial strategies. Since then, they have continued to grow and outperform their competitors. Today, they are a very busy practice with a fully booked schedule, regularly adding more doctors to their team.
4. Not tracking your performance
One common question I ask new clients is if they know the current cost to acquire a patient lead and a patient booking. Often, they don’t know how to track this. As part of our conversion tracking process, we help clients track the dollar value of a patient and the return on investment for their digital marketing efforts.
Neglecting to track your marketing performance is a costly mistake. Without data and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you’re essentially marketing in the dark. Define and measure KPIs like new leads, sales revenue, cost per lead, cost per new patient and patient lifetime value to gain insights into your campaign’s effectiveness.
It’s all about calculating the revenue generated from your digital marketing efforts compared to the costs incurred. ROI provides a clear picture of your campaign’s profitability.
Some of you while listening to this part may ask, how can I measure the ROI? Well you need to track where all the bookings or sales come from? From what channels? And what is the cost of acquisition to get a new patient or client from each channel.
The best solution is to have a CRM which is a customer relationship management software, this is a crucial tool to run a business, all the patient or client database for marketing campaign will be stored in the CRM which can be used to send out regular communications such as newsletter, sms, happy birthday wishes to your patients.
A CRM for medical clinics can centralise all the conversations from other platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Google My Business listings…in one place, so you don’t have to login different platforms. You can also send a review request to your database to generate more positive reviews for your clinic…
With the CRM, you can track where the enquiries and booking are coming from, what channels, is it via Google ads, or medical SEO or social media campaign or an ebook that you published as the lead magnet on your website.
You can have a full picture of your sales pipeline, what channel has been the one that generates the most revenue for your clinic and then it would be easier for you to make marketing decisions.
There are so many CRM options, we would recommend Hubspot if you have financial resources, this software comes at cost but it will help you scale later.
Another CRM that we recommend for most of the clinics because of its robust nature and affordability, which is Go High Level, you can learn more about this CRM in the link below, we have helped a lot of our clients set up and track the results more efficiently, it is only $99 US dollars per month but it will be totally worth it.
DOUBLE DOWN ON WHAT’S WORKING
Regularly look at numbers to identify what is working and resonating with your audience. For example, a particular social media platform, particular content, calls to action or copy that is working better than the rest. Double down on your efforts and/or budget to get all you can from it. Do that until it doesn’t work anymore, then try something else.
The point is that it takes a multi-channel approach to improve your brand, attract the patients you most enjoy working with and grow strategically for the long run. If you could use some clarity and would like help mapping out a strategic marketing plan for the year, let’s talk.
While there is more to marketing than a digital plan, your digital strategy, including your website, lead generator, and email campaign will serve as the foundation for all your other collateral.
5. Wanting results too quickly
Instant gratification is not the name of the game in digital marketing. It takes time for campaigns to gain traction. Whether it’s SEO, Google Ads, or Meta Ads, patience and consistency are key. Remember that it can take 3 to 6 months for a new blog to rank on search engines, and a well-executed SEO campaign may take a year to generate significant traffic.
When I review prospective clients’ websites, I often find their domain authority is below 5, while their competitors are at 30 or 40. They usually ask if they can be as busy as their competitors in six months; for me, It’s like asking a golfer who just got started to see if he or she can be a pro in a year. I have to be honest and tell them NO, because they lack the necessary infrastructure, such as a good website with engaging content, active social media channels, and an effective sales process.
Their competitors likely started SEO and digital marketing a decade ago, so catching up in six months isn’t realistic. We need to trust the process laid out by the agency and focus on consistent improvement. As long as you see progress month after month and the gap with your competitors narrowing, you’re on the right track.
6. Hire a mediocre medical marketing agency
Choosing the wrong marketing agency can set you back months or even years, causing financial and opportunity losses. You need to choose a partner who genuinely cares about your success and treats your business like their own. Some of our clients went through at least six different agencies before finding us. The main issues they faced were a lack of results, poor communication, and unclear plans and deliverables from the agencies.
Last week, I went to visit one of our clients who has been with us for over 10 years in Sydney. I remembered the first time we met, it was in a small rented apartment in Parramatta where he shared with another person. The apartment was simply furnished with some basic items and lit with slightly dim lighting. We sat on small wooden chairs lacking cushions discussing his marketing proposal.
Back then, he was starting his business and had faced some setbacks with SEO agencies, one even got his website penalised by Google. The website got minimal traffic and completely vanished on search results.
He was desperate to find someone who can help him out of this situation. He then later found us on Google and the rest, as they say, is history.
Walking into his current spacious four-bedroom house with a grand gate and a flourishing garden, I was happy to see him in a different place, his two kids were running around and playing in the blooming garden while his wife was away overseeing their other three houses in Sydney.
I realised he has made some good decisions in his life, and I couldn’t be happier for him.
One of those decisions was choosing Online Marketing For Doctors as his marketing partner, a commitment he has upheld for more than a decade.
Now, I would hate to see you make the wrong decision, choosing a partner in business is like choosing a life partner – a poor choice can bring financial and mental stress….I wonder what it would cost you not choosing OMD?
Let me ask you…
- How much is a confusing message on your website or ads costing you everyday?
- How many potential patients/clients are bouncing from your website?
- How many people are ignoring your brand?
- How many potential clients or patients are you losing to the competition?
- What is the cost of choosing a wrong partner in helping you with your marketing?
Think about potential losses like wasted time, missed opportunities, lost business, frustration of working with a team who just don’t “get it”, not reaching your potential, and losing to the competition…to name but a few.
For us, it’s the same loss if we don’t choose the right clients. I’ll leave the decision up to you but keep in mind that we are here to help you become another success story that my team and I happily share for years to come.
Avoid these six common online marketing mistakes, and you’ll be well on your way to a more successful and efficient digital marketing strategy. Working with a reputable medical marketing agency can streamline this process and amplify your online presence effectively.
I hope this episode will help you gain insights as to how to market yourself and your clinic.
And that was the end of another episode of the OMD TV & podcast show.
If you want to learn more about Online Marketing For Doctors offers and how our team can help you generate more new patients and referring doctors via creating a high converting website for medical and healthcare practices, please reach out to us and book a 15-minute discovery call with us as I mentioned above. We’ll conduct a comprehensive audit and a 360-degree overview of your website, and marketing strategy session for you. I’ll leave a link to it in the show notes below.
So now…are you ready for our discovery call? If so, please click on the link below to get started 🥳
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