A steady stream of patients is important, but the types of patients are equally important. Most urologists don’t want to see UTIs all day while the competition is stacked with more desirable cases.
Here are the strategies that the best urology practices are using to see more of the cases they want.
Plus, I’ve included actual tactics for increasing authority in certain disease states like OAB, ED, or BPH.
Be An Authority
Trust is one of the top reasons patients select a doctor. One of the easiest ways to develop trust is to become the authority in a specific area. This allows you to attract the patients you want rather than bombard them with interruption advertising.
Yes, being a urologist comes with inherent authority, but every urologist has that. You need to position yourself as the authority among urologists. Being an authority means standing out from the crowd.
In many cases, that may mean you should sub-specialize in something like women’s health, men’s health. Or, you may want to go even further to be known as an expert on OAB, ED, or Prostate Cancer.
How to Become An Authority
The best way to become the authority is to consistently produce helpful, educational information. You may be surprised how little people know about urology.
Take for example:
- Most men think a vasectomy is more complicated and expensive than it really is
- Most men don’t know there are surgical/implant options for ED
- Most women don’t know there are different levels of treatment for OAB
- Lots of men think getting up several times a night to urinate is normal.
Creating helpful content is only half the battle. The other half is promoting it.
Once you create content it can be repurposed across multiple platforms. A blog post can easily become the script of a web video. This approach saves you time and money when building your authority.
Promoting Your Helpful Information
Practice Website
- Each condition you want to be known for should have a dedicated page with relevant information. Overview, Symptoms, Treatment Options, Side Effects, etc.
- Each physician should have a dedicated profile page with their specialties listed, links to articles they have written, testimonials. (related: 5 Must-Haves for Great Physician Profiles)
- Physicians should write articles regularly (blog) on the topics they want to be known for.
Other Websites
- Physicians should offer to provide guest posts (articles) on topics they want to be known for.
- Health-related websites, blogs, news sites, or digital magazines are all looking for helpful expert articles for their readers.
News Media
- Physicians should pitch helpful content to local news stations relevant to their clinical interests.
- Subscribe to reporter requests (HARO is a free service) and get emails looking for expert comments for large publications.
- Offer to be a guest on healthcare related podcasts
Events
- In-person patient seminars can still be effective. Consider taking them to the next level by advertising them on social media or doing live internet video coverage to reach more people.
Video
- Videos are a great way distribute helpful information to even more people.
- Consider filming in-person events and using them as information videos on your website and youtube.
- Consider doing a Q&A live on Facebook answering questions about a condition you specialize in.
- Turn the articles you write into scripts for videos and use on your website and share on social media channels.
Targeted Marketing
- To build authority even faster, you can invest in targeted digital marketing to amplify your delivery of helpful information.
Practical Examples
Ideas for becoming seen as the expert for Overactive Bladder:
- Start a weekly blog with articles like
- “What Causes Overactive Bladder”
- “Do Natural Remedies for OAB Work?”
- “What To Do When OAB Medications Don’t Work”
- “The Truth about Using Botox to Control OAB”
- “What is InterStim Therapy and How Can It Help OAB?”
- Pitch local news an OAB related story during National Women’s Health Week (after Mother’s Day)
- Be a guest on a women’s health podcast. (include links on practice website, share on social media, highlight on physician profile, etc.)
- Do an OAB frequently asked questions facebook live video and take questions from viewers.
- Create an OAB Pathway video that’s available on your website and sent to new patients before their appointment.
- After a few months, find the most popular OAB article you’ve written, make a video using the article as a script, and promote it on Facebook to women over 45 who live in your city.
The same tactics with slight adjustments can be used for other conditions, but here are some specific article and content ideas:
- Article/Content Ideas for ED:
- “Three Reasons Why Men Avoid Treatment for ED”
- “How To Talk To Your Doctor About ED”
- “A Breakdown on the Most Popular Treatment Options for ED”
- “Three Underlying Conditions That Affect ED”
- “Advanced Treatment Options for ED”
- “Surgical Options for ED”
- “What To Do When ED Medications Don’t Work”
- Article/Content Ideas for BPH:
- “Urinating at Night: How Often is too Often”
- “Minimally Invasive Treatment Options for BPH”
- “Rezum vs Urolift vs Turp – What’s the Difference?”
- “Medication Not Working for BPH? Here’s The Next Step”
Summary
Being seen as an authority takes time and diligence, but the end result will pay dividends for a long time.
Do you know a urologist or urology marketer that could use this info? Help them out by sharing it.
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About the Author
Brian Dooley is a healthcare marketing expert and the founder of Independence Digital, a marketing agency that connects patients to medical providers. He was previously the Director of Marketing and Customer Care for one of the largest urology practices in the nation. Specialties include increasing patient volume, profitability, and positioning medical providers as best-in-class.