The best healthcare content marketing plan gets you the results you want, like a higher conversion rate or a better return on your investment.

But how do you design it? Create a campaign the same way you diagnose and treat a patient: through a series of sensible, factual, and effective steps.

 

Create a Solid Medical Content Marketing Plan in 5 Steps

The multibillion-dollar healthcare industry leaves a lot of room for new and existing players. But launch a weak campaign, and anyone can gobble you up fast.

Developing a reliable, measurable, and effective medical content marketing plan is one of the best strategies to cement your leadership in your niche.

Below is a five-step guide you can follow, explained in a way you can surely relate to.

1. Label Yourself or Determine Your Brand

You are not the only one offering your products and services. How do you convince your target market to choose you? The answer is branding.

The easiest way to define your brand is to ask yourself these questions: “What sets you apart from all other medical groups, facilities, or professionals?” Is it your compassionate bedside manner, cutting-edge technology, or commitment to patient care?

You can further answer it by doing the following:

• Write down your core values. Are you patient-centric, providing the most advanced treatments on the market, or both?
• Create an elevator pitch. Sum up your value proposition in a sentence or two that you can use when introducing yourself to potential customers.
• Describe your work and team culture. What do you hope the customers feel when they walk into your office or spend time with your staff? Do you want them to feel relaxed, fulfilled, or educated?
• Know your competitors. What do they offer that you do not? If you are offering similar services, how can you make yours better?

According to Digital Authority Partners (DAP), your branding matters because it is the anchor for all other content marketing steps and elements. Without it, you end up with a cookie-cutter copy.

2. Know Your Patient or Define Your Audience

Can you ever treat a condition without knowing the patient? The answer is no. It is the same with content marketing.

If you completed Step 1, you should already have a faint idea about your target market. You just need to refine it to ensure that your target audience is ready for conversion.

Learn more about your audience with these ideas:

• Research demographics. What are your ideal customers’ average age, income level, education, and other characteristics? Where are you running a clinic, and what type of families or individuals live within a 50-mile radius?
• Conduct a survey. Encourage your patients to participate in HIPAA-compliant research or a survey focusing on why they choose you over your competitors, what they love about your service or facility, and any personal information they would like to share.
• Create a buyer persona. Design a fictional character that represents your leads. Say you are an eledery-focused  physical therapy clinic. Your persona could be Mike, a 60-year-old empty nester with moderate to severe arthritis. He wants to live an active life again and needs a compassionate care team experienced in dealing with his condition.

You cannot be a healthcare provider for everyone, but you can be a doctor or an organization for someone. However, the only way to attract the right patients is to know who they are in the first place.

3. Diagnose Your Patients or Understand Their Customer Journey

Many patients could share similar signs or symptoms, but their stories are rarely alike. You can also liken that to the customer journey.

Patients have different reasons or motivations for going online. Not everyone finds you because they know your name or clinic. Others might even accidentally know you by reading other people’s blogs or checking another website.

You cannot apply a one-size-fits-all healthcare content marketing plan. Instead, your copies and keywords should align with your target market’s search intent or sales stages.

Let us have an example for clarity. Assume that you are a wellness supplement company targeting women with hormonal imbalances. The customer journey and the corresponding keywords could be like this:

• Awareness stage. Your prospect is newly diagnosed and goes to go Google to learn more about her condition. Your ideal keywords, therefore, could be “What is PCOS?” or “What causes a hormonal imbalance?”
• Interest stage. She now has a better idea about her condition and realizes that many treatment options are available. At this point, your articles may talk about the “top treatments for PCOS” or “why supplements for hormonal imbalances are beneficial.” You can start introducing your products more extensively here.
• Consideration stage. Your targeted lead has already come across your brand but also knows of others. How do you position yours as the best choice? Your possible key terms might be “benefits of using XYZ brand for PCOS” or “XYZ vs. ABC supplements for hormonal imbalances.”
• Decision stage. Your prospect is now ready to buy, but she wants one last piece of assurance. You can list out your products’ features and benefits in articles with keywords such as “how long does it take for XYZ supplements to work for hormonal imbalances?” or “XYZ supplement cost.”

4. Treat According to Diagnosis or Match Content with Customer Journey

Just like you do not give any treatment to your patient, you do not create content for its own sake. The best approach is to also match it with the sales stages.

Consider the following:

• Webinars are best for awareness because they can educate a big group of people at once. Even better, they support your email marketing campaigns by building you a mailing list. You can further guide your leads until they buy or nurture them until they are ready to convert.
• Long-form content, such as case studies, is ideal in the consideration stage. Prospects have already seen your product and are now comparing it with other alternatives. This type of copy encourages them to stay longer on your website and learn more about you.
• Product pages, landing pages, and short-form content best fit the decision stage. Your leads are ready to buy but need one last push before they hit that button or pick up the phone and make a purchase.
• You can further influence your market by introducing customer reviews, short videos, or even product demos.

5. Follow Up or Track and Measure Your Content Marketing Performance

Your relationship with the patient does not end as soon as they walk out the door. You must follow them up and ensure they stick to your recommendations. They should see you often for check-ups if they are taking regular medications.

The same is true for content marketing performance tracking. You may have already implemented the elements of a successful campaign, such as brand awareness, lead generation, and customer engagement.

But how do you ensure that you can truly experience the benefits of this marketing strategy?

• Track and measure the performance of each piece of content to know what works and what does not. Use analytics tools to see the number of page views, average time spent on your website, and bounce rates. You can also look in-depth at how each content piece drives sales or leads by tracking conversions.
• Reflect on your target market’s feedback and engagement. If they are not engaging with your content, find out why. It may be poor keyword research or content irrelevant to the customer’s journey.
• Relate the numbers with other marketing factors. Figures hardly lie but may not also tell the whole story. Consider the effect of other campaigns and tactics like social media, email marketing, and customer loyalty programs on your overall performance. This lets you better understand which content pieces drive higher engagement rates and sales.
• Review your content strategy at regular intervals. Trends, competition, industry, and customers change. Reviewing your content ensures your campaigns always stay relevant, fresh, and valuable.

Summing Up

Running a healthcare content marketing campaign is similar to attending to a patient. You diagnose the problem, use proven treatments, and follow up until you both achieve the desired outcome.

And like in the medical world, you consult with other experts when the issue seems complex. In this case, reach out to a medical digital marketing agency to help you create content that speaks to your target market and will turn them into patients.