How to Use Medical Advertising to Get New Patients Fast

Advertising, as a whole, is not a new concept in the business world. Like any other business, a medical practice can benefit from having a strong advertising strategy – a medical advertising strategy. When doctors incorporate advertising as an important component of marketing and lead generation, they begin to see growth in their practice.

In the grand scheme of medical advertising and marketing…

…blogging is great.

…an active social media presence is great.

…a medical SEO strategy is great.

But if the goal is to find new patients fast, other advertising options might be more beneficial. In addition to the above efforts, implementing free and paid ads on Google, social media ads, and local advertising mediums create avenues to expand a medical practice.

If someone is searching on Google with a question or challenge – your medical advertising should come to the rescue.

Two Types of Medical Advertising Your Practice Needs

When considering marketing strategies for your medical practice, there are two main types of medical advertising to consider – passive and active. Both types have their benefits to medical practices, but navigating the medical advertising waters can be confusing, and there is a lot to consider. Both types of marketing can be easy when working with a professional digital medical marketing agency.

Passive Marketing for Medical Advertising

The best way to describe passive marketing is “wishful” or “hopeful” marketing. Advertisements put out passively are simply put out into the world with the hope that someone will respond to them. The most common forms of passive marketing include blog posts, social media posts, social media graphics, billboards, flyers, and so on.

Passive Medical Marketing Example

A medical practice consistently posts blog articles on its website using a strong medical SEO strategy. One of the blog posts published is about specific medical treatment for a condition they specialize in. A prospective patient goes onto a search engine (like Google) and conducts a search query that returns the practice’s blog post on the topic. The prospective patient reads it and decides that the practice is exactly what they are looking for and schedules an appointment.

Active Marketing for Medical Advertising

Active marketing is a proactive and targeted medical advertising approach. An active marketing strategy puts the advertisement in the path of prospective patients – an “on purpose” course of action. Professional digital marketing agencies often refer to this type of medical marketing strategy as direct response marketing. The most common form of active medical advertising is paid ads, or pay-per-click (PPC).

Active Medical Marketing Example

Google’s PPC is a good example of active medical marketing. When a medical practice conducts high-quality keyword research, they come up with a group of words and terms that are being searched by patients on Google. By using those keywords, professional paid ads can be created to target specific keyword searches.

When a medical practice has keywords in hand and creates the paid ads that pop up when a prospective patient searches those terms – they are put front and center as a result. These ads almost guarantee that anyone who clicks will end up as traffic on the medical practice’s website.

Effective Forms of Medical Advertising for Medical Practices

When it comes to effective forms of medical advertising, a medical practice has several options that span passive and active forms and include:

• Google Ads
• Social Media Ads
• Local Magazines
• Local Sponsored TV Segments
• RealSelf/ZocDoc
• And More

These medical advertising formats can provide the marketing options necessary for medical practices looking to draw in new patients. Incorporating the skills from a professional digital medical marketing agency can help practices implement the strategies necessary to increase medical advertising efforts.

Google Ads for Medical Advertising

One way to make it to the top of Google searches without waiting for organic results is through paid ads. Paid ads, also called PPC, appear at the top of the Google searches that are relevant to your keyword use – when paid ads are used, they appear with the “ad” symbol. When medical practices set up paid ads, they set a daily budget. When a prospective patient clicks on this ad, their click reduces the amount of the daily ad budget. Once the budget for the day is depleted, the ad will no longer appear at the top of the search query – unless the ad ranks there organically.

Social Media Ads – Using Ads to Drive Patients to Your Practice

There are millions of users scrolling social media daily, and hundreds (if not thousands) of them are in your area. Not all social media platforms are the same; there are several different platforms that medical advertising can take place on – Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and so on. The primary contenders for social media for medical advertising are Meta, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Advertising

Meta is considered the largest social media platform and includes Facebook and Instagram. Not only is it the largest platform, but it also has the largest user base, making the advertising solid and reliable. Meta for business is visual and provides medical practices with several detailed segmentation options. Meta gives an opportunity for paid ads (like Google’s PPC ads with a  daily budget), or users can create passive marketing material for posting.

Twitter Advertising

Advertisements with Twitter allow for connections across the medical industry with as little as a hashtag. Twitter allows users to create advertisement campaigns that adapt across various objectives – including conversion, leads, and app installations. Twitter is even adaptable with artificial intelligence.

LinkedIn Medical Advertising

LinkedIn has a notoriety for being a platform with a large user base comprised of professionals across various industries, including medical professionals. Users also go on LinkedIn to check the credentials of medical practitioners in their area. Not only can using LinkedIn as an advertising platform prove your reputation as a medical professional, but it also cultivates a relationship between practice professionals.

Local Magazine Advertising

Advertising with local magazines can be a game-changer for cultivating a medical practice’s exposure to the community. Magazines can be distributed in both print and digital formats, doubling the potential for prospective patients to see a medical advertisement. Many local magazines are distributed to surrounding businesses for distribution, increasing the audience an advertisement reaches.

Local magazine advertising also opens up the opportunity for passive advertisement. Medical practitioners may choose to write an article for publication and establish their authority within the community. Educational material can help establish trust between patients, practitioners, and the community, which is often an additional marketing goal that professional digital medical marketing agencies often pursue for their medical practice clients.

Local Sponsored TV Segments

Even though many people prefer streaming platforms for movies and television, there is still an opportunity for medical advertising using ads on television (including streaming platforms). Most television streaming and major networks will use the viewer’s area as a guideline to target commercials and ads. Local businesses, including medical practices, can utilize these segments as a means to advertise their offering to prospective clients.

Think about how memorable Super Bowl commercials are – businesses create these and air them during this sporting event for maximum impact. The same can be done with a medical advertisement. Practices can create a commercial to be aired during the peak hours for the audience they are trying to reach. Digital medical marketing agencies can help come up with the appropriate strategy for airing an advertisement on both local television and streaming services.

RealSelf / ZocDoc – Medical Advertising and Database Platforms

There is value in using database-style platforms for medical advertising. Platforms like RealSelf and ZocDoc not only allow for searching local practices but also work as a “grading scale” for professionals within a medical practice. Prospective patients who use these platforms to search for a provider in their area can also see how they rank against other providers offering the same specialties in the same area.

These platforms can be a means of advertising, especially with positive reviews from former patients. Prospective patients searching for a medical practice’s specialty can see real-life accounts of those who have previously visited and get word-of-mouth feedback on the experience. This is a form of medical advertising that has real value because more people are likely to schedule an initial appointment based on the satisfaction of others. After all, who are you more likely to believe – the word of a medical professional or someone who previously visited the practice?

Additional Medical Advertising Avenues

Radio ads are one untapped area of medical advertising that can benefit a medical practice. How often do you find yourself in the car listening to the radio and a local ad comes on? Radio reaches more local listeners than other methods of advertisement. Even the free versions of streaming radio platforms require listeners to listen to ads, many of which are local in nature. Creating a quick 30-second radio ad can help put a medical practice’s name at the forefront of a listener’s mind – potentially converting them into a new patient.

The Impact of Implementing Medical Advertising Strategies

Whether using passive or active campaigns for medical advertisement, one thing is certain – there are several different avenues in which a medical practice can get its name out into the world. Medical advertising is only one crucial piece of the medical practice marketing puzzle. The strategy must include SEO and other marketing strategies to be truly effective at meeting the practice’s overall goals.

The benefits of creating an intrinsic strategy for marketing a medical advertising strategy include:

• Improving the practice’s competitive advantage
• Increasing the overall visibility of the brand
• Creating a solid reputation among patients
• Understanding the needs and expectations of patients – past, present, and future
• Gain an understanding of a patient’s perception of quality and results within the medical organization
• Offer memorable experiences to patients and build a strong, effective, and dominant presence within the medical practice niche

Because most searches for medical services begin online, it is only natural that the advertising efforts direct the prospective patient to the medical website. The website must have an alluring presence as well as draw in the patient with captivating graphics, comfortability, and reputation to support all claims. Both passive and active medical advertising campaigns play a critical role in the overall marketing of a medical practice.

Hiring Professionals for Medical Advertising

While it is entirely possible for medical professionals to handle their own marketing efforts (including advertising), it often isn’t feasible. Doctors are busy taking care of patients and building their practice – they often don’t have the time necessary to devote to creating ad copy and other graphics. Most doctors prefer working with a professional digital medical marketing agency for this purpose.

Professional marketing agencies have the skills and the tools necessary to create compelling medical advertisements that help medical practices grow. Using all the marketing tools available at their fingertips, these professionals use their skills to create passive and active advertisements that help reach new patients.

The fastest way to grow a practice is by implementing a marketing and advertising campaign that reaches prospective patients. When users go online to search engines to find local providers in their area, a PPC ad campaign is one of the best ways to get in front of them. From paid advertising to “free” advertising – professionals who create ads do so with the proper SEO in mind to generate leads, convert them, and grow a new patient base.

Physicians who have not implemented the proper medical marketing and advertising campaigns in their practice can hire professionals to help turn PPC budgets into new patients on the schedule. For the purposes of growth and revenue, medical practices need to ensure that they are utilizing all of the marketing efforts available to them. This medical advertising can be accomplished through the use of paid ads, social media ads, local magazines, television segments, radio, and more.