The healthcare industry is a big spender when it comes to marketing, with some reports putting the number at around $30 billion per year. The need to beat the competition or stand taller than the crowd is so significant that institutions are willing to spend much more money just to stay on the consumers’ radar. It doesn’t hurt that there’s big money to be gained either, as our health care is expensive when compared with the rest of the world.
Dr. Jonathan Kaplan, who is well-known online by his pseudonym Real Dr. Bae, is a surgeon who understands the value of marketing. His journey was eventful, and it involved a mix of legacy media, primarily television, and new media. As a person who went on local television and chose the name of his new practice with SEO in mind, he is sure to give useful pieces of advice.
There’s Plenty in the Name
The way plastic surgeons usually operate, they name their practices after themselves. When Dr. Kaplan moved to San Francisco, he decided to call his practice Pacific Heights Plastic Surgery. The mix of the local toponym and the business activity was bound to sit well with the gatekeepers of search results, and that decision did him well.
Price Transparency Is a Bigger Advantage Than a Lower Price
Price transparency is a key item in Dr. Jonathan Kaplan’s book. So big that the doctor created a platform that helps practices and medical institutions share pricing information with their consumers. They have now become obligated to do it by law in certain circumstances with the CMS Price Transparency Rule and the No Surprises Act.
Of course, there were many naysayers and those who fought fervently against price transparency. Some healthcare providers simply don’t want their prices to be made public. That would make sense if the healthcare market acted like a classical market, which, as Dr. Kaplan observes, it doesn’t.
This is the reason why a physician using BuildMyBod Health, the price transparency platform developed by Dr. Kaplan, can compete on sheer transparency against the institutions that are not that big on releasing their price sheets.
Do the Works
Hospitals and practices are places of healing, but they’re also businesses. The people in charge of them might consider following all the positives other businesses are, to establish an online presence. They can then leverage it to bring more customers through the door.
For example, using the most effective type of marketing—email marketing—can work wonders for physicians, especially when paired with very specific triggers such as cart abandonment. It can also later be used when building a community.
Knowing how to steer clear of shady practices is another critical piece of advice. Anyone can be tempted into getting fake followers or inflating the number of likes or shares they get. It’s always best to stay organic.
Above all, however, is endeavoring to never forget who the physicians are doing it all for—who the beneficiaries of their services are. Marketing is only as good as what it’s offering, and when health is on the line, what’s offered needs to be the exact thing that’s needed.
