Does the thought of marketing your healthcare services fill you with dread?

If so, it is time "to get over it". Present day healthcare marketing, after all, is not about you. Consumers are now front and centre in a digital health strategy.

One in 20 Google searches are for health related information (source: Google) and 72% of internet users have searched online for health information in the past year (source: Pew Research).

The majority of these searches evolve around:

• symptoms & conditions
• treatments
• healthcare institutions, treatment centres and healthcare professionals

"I want you to help me get online."

This is typically what I hear when I meet practitioners who mainly rely on offline marketing channels to grow their business.

I always respond by asking them why they feel that they need to be online. The answers vary but here's what I often hear:-

Does the thought of marketing your medical practice or healthcare service send shivers up your spine? Worried about breaching National Law or simply confused about what the deal with social media is? 

This quick read is for you. We discuss what you must stay clear of and how to keep within AHPRA's guidelines.

Google My Business has become the Daddy of all directories. Claiming your business page on Google will help your clinic or healthcare practice show up high in the search engines when prospective patients are searching for health services in your local area.

This is very helpful for practices that want to use health marketing to grow their business.

The good news is that it is easy to set it up. In this short post I describe the five simple steps along with screen shots of what you can expect to see.

When was the last time you posted something to your Facebook page? Not your personal one but the one that you set up (years ago?) for your healthcare practice. Maybe you got a friend to do it for you or perhaps you simply haven’t gotten around to doing the “social media thing”.

Whether you’re a sceptic or your page is gathering cyber dust, it is worth taking (another) look at  building a following on Facebook.