Tens of millions of Americans are behind on their colonoscopy screenings. Even more have uncontrolled heartburn. Even so, too many GI practices are missing out on colonoscopy & EGD patients.
That’s bad for patient health. It means too many diseases are found late when treatment is harder.
It’s also bad for practice revenue, which can lead to:
• Loss of Practice Independence
• Recruiting/Retention Challenges
• Loss of Ability to Grow, Innovate, or Maximize Sale Value (if exiting)
Over the last 5 years, we’ve partnered with a large GI practice and helped increase its annual scope volume by 83% without adding a single doctor. The exact number is confidential, but it’s well into the tens of thousands in additional procedures.
Here’s what we did…
Out-Teach The Competition: Great Content
Patients go online looking for health information. Are they getting it from you?
Publishing informative content that drives appointments is key.
How’d we do that?
We create articles that patients want to read.
Boring Article: EGD Procedure Information
Effective Article: Constant Heartburn? How to Know It’s Time To See a Doctor
Creating lots of this content is what 10x’d their traffic. Now they get more GI traffic than Tums.com, Pepcid.com, and GI.org – let alone any other GI practice.
When patients find helpful information on your website, they grow to trust you, making them more inclined to book an appointment.
Boost The Signal: Paid Ads
We leveraged the most popular content into online ads. Usually on Facebook. Promoting popular content drives down costs and increases results. It’s also fast. Unlike organic growth, it offers immediate visibility.
Plus, the targeting of specific ads by location, age, etc. makes this method super cost-effective since everyone needs a colonoscopy at 45 (if not earlier…).
The Magic Sauce: Persuasion
Persuasion is the key ingredient to great messaging.
Knowing how to use emotional appeals, compelling narratives, and credible testimonials is what makes your campaigns effective instead of wasted marketing dollars.
Example:
Typical Headline: Medical Advice Update: Colonoscopy Age Lowered to 45
More Persuasive: US Task Force Lowers Colonoscopy Screening Age to 45
Most Persuasive: A Colonoscopy at 46 saved my life – Here’s my Story
Almost every 45-50 year old will click the last headline.
This is only one example. We’ve created hundreds of headlines and A/B tested what works.
Getting Started At Your Practice
This strategy is effective and repeatable. However, it takes a lot of work to implement correctly and effectively.
For practices that don’t want to do it themselves, we offer a super-easy done-for-you option.
Contact us today to set up an intro call.
(Please note: We do not work with competitors of our current clients)
About The Author
Brian Dooley is a healthcare marketing expert and the founder of Independence Digital. He was previously the Director of Marketing and Customer Care for one of the largest urology practices in the nation.
Independence Digital works with medical practices and hospitals across the United States.
If you’re tired of wasting money using an agency that doesn’t understand healthcare and what you do, contact us today.