March 30, 2023

Why is Marketing in Healthcare Important?

At Wildcat Digital, we know how hard it can be to compete in the healthcare industry. Not only do you have to compete with other healthcare providers, but you also have to compete against the NHS in some cases. That’s why healthcare marketing is so important. In this article, the experts at Wildcat Digital offer the tips and tricks they learned when creating an award-winning healthcare marketing campaign.

So, why is marketing in healthcare important? Healthcare marketing can help you to boost your brand, both online and offline. It can also help you to secure new clients, engage and retain existing clients, and increase your overall competitive advantage.

Read on to learn more about marketing in healthcare and why it can be so beneficial. Our marketing experts also provide their top healthcare marketing strategies to help you hit the ground running.

Why Healthcare Marketing is Important

If you’re a private healthcare business, you’ll likely know how difficult it can be to secure new clients. It can also be difficult to keep and engage your existing clients. Depending on your niche, you might be battling public perceptions too. That’s why marketing is so important, especially in areas of high competition. 

There is a world of amazing benefits to marketing healthcare businesses. All it takes is a suitable strategy and the right people behind you. Whether that’s an internal team or a healthcare marketing agency.

Benefits of Healthcare Marketing

The top benefits of marketing your healthcare practice include: 

Who Can Marketing for Healthcare Help?

Marketing can help all kinds of healthcare practices. Even the NHS employs marketing techniques! Here are a few that can benefit the most from a strong healthcare marketing strategy:

Physio supporting a client through stretching

Healthcare Marketing Strategies That Will Help to Build Your Business

Now you know why healthcare marketing is so important, it’s time to look at the how. Below are our top strategies for marketing a healthcare business. 

SEO

Whilst not a quick fix, SEO is a great marketing tool for improving your online visibility. It can also improve your search engine presence. This is particularly important in the ever-growing digital landscape.

One of the easiest things you can do to improve the SEO on your website is to conduct keyword research. You’ll then need to optimise your web pages for these keywords. This helps Google to find and rank your website for relevant search queries. 

There’s a lot more to SEO than keyword optimisation but it’s a great place to start. If you’re not sure though, get in touch with Wildcat Digital today for a free consultation. As an award winning healthcare marketing agency, we’ll point your digital strategy in the right direction.

Our campaign with Your Sexual Health, one of the UK’s leading private sexual health testing providers, saw strong results including:

PPC

PPC (pay per click) adverts are a great way to push your brand in front of the right people in a much quicker way than SEO. But, it’s worth noting that PPC and SEO also work very well together. 

PPC advertising is most commonly used on search engines like Google. It can also be used across social media platforms and as ads on websites. This kind of paid advertising can earn quality leads and result in a huge ROI. Other benefits include:

Get started with a PPC campaign with a few simple steps:

  1. Set parameters

This should consider who you want to target, the theme of your campaign and the type of campaign you will run. It should also consider how you will measure the success of your ads.

  1. Create goals & metrics

This will help you to determine ROI. Think about brand awareness, lead generation, sales and site traffic. Consider the reasons why you turned to PPC in the first place.

  1. Choose a campaign type

Where will your ads appear? Choose between:

  1. Perform keyword research

Keywords help search engines know when and where to display your ads. Select 1-5 relevant keywords that are closely aligned with the specific theme of your ad.

  1. Set up analytics and tracking

Set up a free Google Analytics account to help you understand how your website and ads are performing. This provides valuable insights that can help you to tweak and tailor your campaigns to be more effective.

Are you  interested in running PPC campaigns but need a little help? Wildcat Digital’s team of experts build campaigns in a smart and sustainable way that drives the right traffic to your website. Get in touch today for a free consultation. 

Our Google Ads campaign for one of our top healthcare clients consistently achieves a 6:1 return on ad spend ROAS. This generated a solid and consistent source of ongoing bookings from all over the UK.

Social Media

Companies often underrate the power of social media. Done right, it’s a great way to:

But first you need a good social media strategy to keep you on track and aligned with your goals. Here’s why:

  1. It creates direction. 

Without a strategy you’re posting blindly. Plan ahead and tailor every social media post to your company goals, brand, values and to the purpose of the post. Do you want to sell, educate or entertain?

  1. It allows you to measure and improve.

Without monitoring and measuring your social media activity, you don’t know what’s working and can’t gauge an accurate ROI. Plus, keeping an eye on how things are performing can provide you with valuable insights for future posts.

  1. Consistency

Having a clear strategy with a posting schedule ensures that your channels remain active and consistent. One of the biggest barriers to success with social media is inconsistency. It doesn’t integrate your brand with your audience and can make it harder to gain new followers. Plus, it may even drive away existing followers.

It will also help you to stay consistent with your brand, tone and values. 

A social media calendar is a great way to keep consistent. Plan out what posts you want to release on what days, using which channel. You can also account for the person responsible for the post, images and resources, links and more.

Laptop screen showing social media page

Customer Experience

A good customer experience is vital in a service-led industry like healthcare. Whatever your niche, your clients are looking for a great experience. This is a key way to stand out from your competitors.

Customer experience will naturally cover the service you provide – are they satisfied with the service you provided? But, it also covers things such as interaction with employees and other customers, touch points, pain points and more. Everything that you do (or don’t do) impacts their perception of your business. This may determine whether or not they come back to your business. It can also impact word of mouth.

Build a Referral Programme

A referral programme can be a great healthcare marketing strategy. This is especially true if you’ve got your customer experience under control. This strategy uses word of mouth and personal recommendations to grow your client base. But, unlike pure word of mouth, referral programmes are run by marketers providing initiatives to referrers. 

Benefits of a referral programme include:

For a veterinary healthcare client, Wildcat implemented a referral area for specialist services such as Ophthalmology and Dermatology. This allowed customers to self-refer for a second opinion. Alternatively, other vets could refer their customers for specialist services. This  helped to increase patient registrations to the point that Knutsford Vets has recently expanded their surgery to accommodate more patients and increase their service offerings.

Screenshot of a website's referral area

Consider the 4Ps (product, price, place, and promotion)

The 4Ps, also known as the Marketing Mix, are literally one of the oldest tricks in the book. They’re the Grandfather of marketing and stand for:

It’s one of the easiest healthcare marketing strategies out there, but the 4Ps  will help you to clarify things when marketing your business. It will also encourage you to consider what your customers want, how you stand out from your competitors and help you to identify opportunities.

Healthcare Marketing at Wildcat Digital

In this blog, our healthcare marketing experts have given you their top tips on marketing for medical practices. But, if  you don’t quite have the time, skills or confidence to do it yourself, get help with our SEO for Healthcare service. We have experience in helping a private sexual health clinic  achieve a 500% growth in organic sales in just 12 months. We can help your healthcare brand do the same.

Post by

Chloe Robinson

Content Strategist & Team Leader

Will Hitchmough

Founder

Our founder, Will Hitchmough, worked at a number of high profile Sheffield Digital Agencies before founding Wildcat Digital in 2018. He brings an extensive knowledge of all things related to SEO, PPC and Paid Social, as well as an expert knowledge of digital strategy.

Digital Marketing can be a minefield for many businesses, with many agencies ready to take your money without knowing how to deliver results. I founded Wildcat Digital to deliver digital success to businesses with smaller budgets in a transparent way.

Chloe Robinson

Content Strategist Team Lead

With a degree in Marketing and a background in more traditional, offline marketing, Chloe joined Wildcat in 2021 after deciding to move into the digital marketing industry. She joined us as a Content Specialist and quickly moved up the ranks, becoming a Content Strategist and later an SEO Team Leader.

Outside of work, Chloe is an avid creative. If she’s not knitting, you’ll likely find her behind a sewing machine or in the kitchen trying (and often failing!) to make sourdough.

Paul Pennington

SEO Account Director

Paul has a strong background in SEO, having previously founded and ran a successful eCommerce business, as well as running a personal blog that achieves an average of 17K users per month. Paul’s knowledge of SEO is extensive, with a strong emphasis on client handling and technical SEO.

Outside of work, Paul enjoys spending time with his family and staying active with weight lifting and combat sports.

Nadea van der Merwe

Head of Operations

Nadea joined Wildcat in 2021 and has since overhauled the way we work. She has a background in various administrative, operations and HR roles, which gave her the experience and skills needed to lead and organise a growing business. 

Outside of work, Nadea loves anything that keeps her active, but she especially enjoys hiking, camping and mountain biking.

Molly Sturgeon

SEO Account Manager

With a background in sales, Molly is a natural Account Manager, brilliantly handling any issues that come her way. Having joined us as a Digital Marketing Executive, and working part-time through her final year of University, Molly is a shining example of how hard work pays off. She is now an SEO Account Manager with a particular interest in Content and Client Management. 

In her spare time, Molly loves to get out in nature, hiking and exploring the Peak District. She also loves cooking and likes to unwind with a bit of yoga.

Libby Oldale

Senior PPC Account Manager

Libby joined Wildcat in 2021 as our first PPC hire. With a degree in Digital Media Production, a Master’s in Digital Media Management and previous experience in Social Media Management, Libby hit the ground running and has since climbed the ranks to Senior PPC Account Manager and has a particular interest in the eCommerce sector.

Outside of work, Libby likes gaming, and cooking and likes to keep active by lifting weights.

Jasmine Savery

SEO Team Leader

Jasmine joined Wildcat in 2022 with a strong background in SEO and Account Management. At the time, she was finishing up a Level 4 Apprenticeship in Digital Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and has since worked her way up to SEO Team Leader. Jasmine excels at content writing and promotion, and particularly enjoys finding creative ways to join the dots on multi-channel campaigns.

In her spare time, Jasmine volunteers at a charity, helping combat loneliness & social isolation experienced by older neighbours. Outside of Wildcat, she owns a catering company, Savery Grazing, creating delicious grazing tables & platters for a range of events. She also loves skiing and exploring the Peak District.

Braden Godley

Senior PPC Executive

Prior to joining Wildcat, Braden founded and ran his own Social Media Management agency where he gained valuable skills in growing brands’ online presence, which has since proven invaluable in his role at Wildcat. 

Outside of work, Braden is a big football fan, regularly travelling to Pride Park to support Derby County. He also enjoys watching and playing snooker, hiking in the Peak District, and attending air and car shows.

Jon Herdman

Senior SEO Executive

After spending ten years managing businesses, restaurants, cafes and event spaces across Sheffield, Jon decided to change careers and joined Wildcat as an SEO Executive in 2022. He especially enjoys the client management side of the job, helping them to understand digital marketing and ways in which they can build their business’s presence online. 

Outside of work, Jon likes to keep fit with running, badminton and football, and also loves music. 

Rachel Davies

SEO Executive

Rachel joined us as a graduate, having recently graduated from Sheffield University with a degree in English Literature. Since joining, Rachel has proven herself to be a Content Queen, and particularly enjoys getting stuck into projects that allow her to explore her creative side. 

Outside of work, Rachel enjoys a wide range of hobbies, including rugby, singing, reading, and spending time with her family and three labradors.

Carl Atterbury

PPC Team Leader

Carl joined Wildcat in 2023 with a wealth of experience in PPC. He has experience working with a wide range of clients, industries and budgets, from small local businesses all the way to international e-commerce businesses. Carl has a particular interest in strategic planning and forecasting. He is passionate about data analysis and creating sustainable long-term cross-channel strategies.

In his spare time, Carl enjoys keeping fit by lifting weights, bouldering and running. He’s also a keen musician, having played the double bass and bass guitar for 20 years.

Dariusz Baczyk

Team Lead & Technical SEO Account Manager

With a degree in Computer Science and SEO experience dating back to 2017, Dariusz has a wide range of SEO skills and knowledge. His specialist knowledge of Technical SEO has firmly landed him the title of Wildcat’s Technical Wizard, and he has recently taken on the responsibility of Team Leader for the Panthers Team.

In his spare time, Dariusz loves hiking, experimenting and trying new coffees and loves learning new things. He is currently learning more about CRO and AI and how this could benefit our clients.

Jamie Stowe

SEO Account Manager

With a degree in Film and TV production, and a varied career history, Jamie made the move to marketing with a Masters degree in Digital Media Management. He has since worked in SEO at Agencies across Sheffield, before joining Wildcat and working his way up to SEO Account Manager. Jamie has a particular interest in backlinks and Digital PR and has recently gained a client a valuable backlink from Forbes!

In his spare time, Jamie is an avid foodie and loves trying new restaurants and cuisines. He also loves to travel and spent a year travelling to Australia after university.

Andy Blanchard

SEO Executive

Andy joined Wildcat in 2023 after starting his digital marketing career in-house for a local Sheffield company. Since joining, he has developed a strong interest in Technical SEO and has strong skills in Account Management. 

Outside of work, Andy loves music and plays in a couple of bands. He also enjoys rock climbing, cycling, photography and good food.

Siena Russell

Client Success Coordinator

Siena joined us in 2023 with a background in sales and digital marketing. She leads on client relationships across the company, ensuring that our customers are happy throughout their journey with us, from their initial consultation through to onboarding and beyond. 

Outside of work, Siena enjoys travelling and getting stuck into the local culture. She likes to make the most of her experiences and particularly enjoys watching sunrises and sunsets from beautiful locations around the world.

Thea Chapman

Senior SEO Executive

Thea has a wealth of experience in SEO, having previously worked for other Digital Marketing Agencies in Sheffield. She has a particular interest and skills in Technical SEO, but is more than willing to get stuck in and give anything a go. 

Outside of work, Thea spends most of her time with her children, but also loves reading, photography and gardening. 

Tom Brookes

PPC Executive

Before joining Wildcat, Tom worked across different industries, building skills in sales and customer service. He later developed a passion for digital marketing whilst working on personal marketing projects and freelance ventures, and gained numerous certifications in PPC and Social Media. 

Outside of work, Tom enjoys staying active by going to the gym and hiking. He also loves travelling and motorbiking.

Rich Ayre

Head of Growth

Rich joined us in May 2024 to head up our growth team. With years of experience helping other agencies to grow, Rich joins us at an exciting time as Wildcat is working on a five-year plan to become one of the biggest agencies in the UK.

Outside of work, Rich is a father to three children, which keeps him very busy! He’s also recently started running again to keep fit and loves a bit of DIY.

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