Prescribing Online Marketing to the Healthcare Industry
Posted January 7th, 2009 by Brad Wellman
Brad Wellman
Spyder Trap Online Marketing
I recently came across an article here indicating that many (63%) of the top hospitals in the U.S. according to U.S. News & World Report have little to no online presence. When looking at the process behind the rankings of these hospitals, we find that hospitals are judged not in routine procedures but in difficult cases across an entire specialty, and having these hospitals that excel in difficult cases lacking an online presence because of a neglect for online marketing is rather shocking.
When you or a loved one is faced with a healthcare issue, naturally you want to find the best care available. Where do you look? Or for that matter, it may not always be the patients or family members searching for treatment. How do the physicians know which hospitals are best suited to treat a certain individual? Turning to Internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo is the most popular choice. As with performing any other search, the most relevant results appear on the first page. You rarely go digging several pages deep, and when searching for a hospital for quality healthcare, odds are if it isn’t on the first page, it isn’t even considered.
Think about it this way, and this applies to all industries, not only healthcare: if you have established yourself as a leader in the physical, brick-and-mortar world, shouldn’t you own a position of significance in the virtual world as well? Getting by on word-of-mouth and reputation isn’t enough anymore. This raises the issue further because if a physician can’t determine where to send their patient, the patient in turn may receive inadequate treatment, or the end-result of their treatment may be different had they found a more specialized facility for their condition.
To find out which hospitals are effectively using online marketing and those that aren’t, download the report from Oneupweb: America’s Hospitals and Online Marketing: Do They Get It?
Tags: Healthcare, Minneapolis Online Marketing
4 Responses to “Prescribing Online Marketing to the Healthcare Industry”
January 8th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I agree with you that hospitals need to be concerned with their on-line presence. I also know that the way physicians make referrals is a little different than just seeking information on the web. Many physicians use established relationships often generated from where they received their training. Institutions that want more referrals need to be in the business of relationship building AND making it very easy for those physicians and their patients to access their services. To gain market footing, hospitals need a dual approach of upgrading their online impact while also working toward establishing and maintaining relationships.
January 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am
You’re right Suzanne, and you make a very good point that hospitals need a dual approach: increasing their own online presence as well as building and maintaining relationships. The healthcare industry is rather unique, but like all other industries can benefit from a little SEO to reflect their relevance to their patients. Thanks for the comment!
January 8th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Great title Brad. Many industries have a hard time turning the corner with their content and web offering to enable people to get questions answered and accurate research.
When you’re whole website is content on “this is us, we like us, this is us” … well the users sees little in the form of answering “how can you help me and my situation?”.
January 8th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
That’s true Aaron, and industries need to start recognizing that websites are no longer simply brochure-ware. What this gets at is the healthcare industry seems to have been relying on reputation and WOM alone for referrals. With today’s Internet, and how people are more actively seeking information on their own, the industry needs to step it up.
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