Patient engagement is often cited today as a critical success factor in customer satisfaction. In most healthcare facilities, gentle encouragement from doctors helps patients feel better and recover quickly. Moreover, it helps the healthcare facility engage better with their key stakeholders (patients) so that they can serve them better. You wouldn’t think that content marketing would do much in the way of patient engagement, but you’d be wrong. Here are just a few ways that content marketing can help to improve patient engagement within the healthcare sector.
Specific Healthcare Promotions
Specifically targeting patients through posts that promote the medication they need is a great form of patient engagement. These posts can be marketed to people with certain ailments common seasonally in an area.
They can be targeted based on demographic data or specific data gathered by a healthcare facility. Not only does this kind of content marketing improve revenue in healthcare facilities, but it also helps customers find the appropriate treatments.
Think of how much more useful the internet could be for patients if they could find the exact treatment they needed. Instead of just rushing to the nearest hospital or looking up treatments on WebMD, they could ask for something specific.
This could pertain to very specific medications and very specific treatments. It could also pertain to very specific surgical procedures and their benefits. If specific information is communicated simply to patients, it could work wonders.
Tapping into the Human Element of Healthcare
Most healthcare information is delivered through cold, calculated prescriptions. It’s only when you meet the doctor or the nurse that you feel the warmth of human connection. However, content writing services can help you get that warmth across without actual interaction.
Most patients dread going to the hospital because they hate the cold environment and the isolation. Even if they get the treatments they need, they are horrified by the prospect of being alone. Content marketing can help them gain some semblance of trust in healthcare facilities so they know they’ll be cared for.
This content doesn’t just need to be about how good the facility is or how friendly the doctors are. It should be about human stories and excerpts from interviews with patients. Actual people that have communicated their stories about the healthcare facility will translate better. It will allow the readers to believe what they’re hearing. Otherwise, marketing jargon doesn’t track well with patients.
Another way to tap into the human element is to talk about which patients have brought their families there. These stories can translate well because it shows the healthcare facility is so good that the patients trust it with their lives.
Influencing Decision Making with Engaging Content
Most patients, in general, are oblivious to the treatments and medicines and the ailments that are treated. Hence, targeting them with information that can help them get treatment is great patient engagement.
Not only do posts that communicate valuable, relevant information track well, they also add value to a patient’s treatment. Informing them of the best alternatives they have available to them, financially and otherwise, creates real interaction. Patients can feel more confident requesting certain treatments if the caveats and benefits are explained to them the right way. They can also benefit from knowing how much they have to pay and which treatments have the best cost-benefit ratio.
Other content which helps patients make decisions can relate to the apps and services they can use. Patients can be informed of how they can book appointments, how they can follow up on appointments, etc. Patients can also be informed of how they can reach their doctors through different apps and register complaints. This will help patients gain more confidence when approaching healthcare professionals and facilities. Usually, patients are suspicious of doctors and medical professionals they don’t know. This is why so many avoid going to the doctor. More information can at least relieve them of their reluctance.
Increasing Patient Acquisitions through Targeted Marketing
This is a no-brainer, but content marketing services can help you increase your patient acquisition. They can help you reach customers that are near your facilities and which suffer from ailments you provide treatments for.
Content marketing services will create pages for you that target specific patients by ailments, demographics, etc. Hence, you will gain an advantage over services that don’t pay attention to specific marketing.
Ensuring Excellent Customer Service Before, During and After Appointments
Content marketing can also improve customer satisfaction within repeat clients, as well as first-time clients. These can include messages to take medication, to keep appointments, and to give feedback after treatment. These will help not only the customers to share their experiences, but the facilities to more accurately rate their performance.
Text reminders for appointments and medications can not only help customers remember their medications, but organize their schedules. Today people’s lives are inundated with information. Hence, it’s important to keep reminding them of the little things that matter, especially their health.
Patients should also have access to their information on the go. They should have access to specific content that can help them with specific problems they may face during their ailment. This can include specific posts by the healthcare facility, doctor’s notes, etc.
Also, optimizing the content for mobile devices is crucial. This is obvious since most web browsing is done through smartphones and tablets now. Hence, using a content writing service to optimize your webpage for mobile devices is crucial.
Wendell John-Baptiste is a senior content manager at timelinecontent.com. He is responsible for overseeing the content writing services at the site. He enjoys bowling in his free time and loves the works of William Wordsworth.
