Most large urology practices are missing the boat when it comes to cheap, effective marketing. It would have cost me $25,000 to rent a booth at the LUGPA annual meeting. $25,000! It’s a perfect example of how expensive traditional advertising methods have become.
I could have sold my car, rented a booth, and hoped that some leftover Halloween candy lured you to my booth. But that’s the old, expensive way of marketing.
Instead, I’m going to show you how you can market your urology practice more effectively, for less money, using the same techniques I’m using right now.
Take Digital Seriously
Everyone agrees that internet/digital marketing is important, but practices routinely spend a ton of money on old-media like print, TV, and billboards. Traditional ads can provide value, but the return on investment is dismal. Especially when compared to digital. Despite that, many practices still spend a majority of their marketing budget on expensive, low-return products instead of cheap, high-return marketing.
Don’t let ego drive the marketing budget. Just because your brand or picture is prominently displayed doesn’t make it effective; just expensive.
Right now, Facebook is the most cost-effective tool to attract the right patients to your practice, but only two of the top 25 urology practices in the nation are using the platform’s advanced features. Congrats to Urology of Indiana and Urology San Antonio – the only two practices using a Facebook tracking pixel on their website. (Full disclosure: Urology San Antonio is a client of Independence Digital.)
Finally, there is a myth that older folks aren’t online. It isn’t true. Your competition might still believe this, so you’ll still have a competitive advantage until they figure it out too.
Hyper-Targeting
Hyper-targeting saves practices money by only marketing to right people at the right time. Practices can select location, age, gender, marital status, language, income, etc.
If you were marketing for BPH patients, you might select men in your city over 60 or 65. For Vasectomy perhaps men over 30 and married with children. Look at your current patient demographics for fine-tuning. Then, create useful content for those very specific audiences. Don’t try to be everything for everyone.
In our case, we’re marketing to LUGPA attendees – a very, very small segment of all businesses that need marketing services. (All Business -> Healthcare -> Specialty Practices -> Urology -> LUGPA Members)
Click-Worthy Content
After you’ve narrowed your audience, you need to create useful content and entice readers with a great headline.
- For BPH it might be the IPSS quiz – “BPH is keeping men up at night – Do you know your score?”
- For OAB it could be “5 reasons why women shouldn’t ignore OAB symptoms.”
- ED could be “Most men are surprised to learn this about Erectile Dysfunction.”
For this article, we’re testing 3 headline styles – curiosity, fear, and aspirational:
- “Only 2 of the top 25 Urology Groups Are Doing This Right.”
- “The #1 Mistake LUGPA Members Make.”
- “The #1 Opportunity for LUGPA Members in 2018.”
It’s always important to test your campaigns. Testing allows practices to make informed decisions on changes that lead to even more impressive returns.
Website/Content That Converts
Now that you’ve created valuable content, created a great headline, your website needs to be easy to use and have a clear call to action. Prominent display of the “Make Appointment” info is the easiest way. You should also consider including language in the body of your content. “If these symptoms are bothering you, call 555-555-555 today for an appointment.”
For us, we hope practices will contact us for a free strategy discussion on how to improve their digital marketing strategy.
In Summary
Now is the time to shift more of your budget to digital/internet marketing. But be strategic. If you haven’t had success with digital marketing in the past, it’s the strategy – not the medium.
Be careful who you trust with your budget. At the very least, find someone who specializes in healthcare digital marketing.