Medical Thought Leadership Marketing: More Than Just Digital

In our last blog, the spotlight was on digital thought leadership marketing. Many practices choose to begin their thought leadership journey by optimizing their digital presence because of the prevalence of technology in today’s world. While it is essential to nurture your online profiles and content, be sure not to overlook all of the other forms of thought leadership available to you.

Networking – Connecting with Your Community

Networking is the original thought leadership marketing, which may seem like an odd concept. In reality, what we think of as networking has morphed in recent years. Today, networking includes the use of social media, community groups, seminars and public speaking engagements, conferences, and even just connecting in person with your community and fellow care providers. When you integrate yourself within your community (both with patients and providers in your geographic area and across the country), you will drum up interest that can lead to both direct business and eyes on your digital presence. Networking in this way will also keep you in touch with the best minds in your specialty so that you can stay up-to-date and relevant in the rapidly changing medical field.

When you grow your network, you grow your potential patient pool and your potential for recognition and notoriety. Investing in the relationships you create will foster a long-term and reliable following for any ventures that you take on or put out into the medical community (i.e. speeches, research, blogs, new techniques or services, etc.).

As you embark on this aspect of thought leadership, it is key to advertise to the world that you are participating in your medical community. This is where you want to use your digital presence and its reach to amplify what you are doing as a thought leader! In this way, your digital and physical presence work symbiotically.

As you engage with the community and start building relationships, you must continue to foster them and keep them interested. This is where consistent communication and quality content come into play. You can create content specifically targeted to your audience. Patients are doing research, making connections, thinking more deeply about what they want when searching for a medical service. If you execute on your marketing strategy correctly, you can be the practice that stands out through these searches. Keep in mind, both patients and referring physicians look at more than just the website, but reviews, articles, videos, research papers and presentations to make a determination as to trustworthiness and fit. The wide-ranging soft sell is most effective; the more ways that you can influence a person positively, the more likely they are to make an appointment at your practice. As networking has a personal touch, it can often be exceedingly compelling during the decision-making process.

Engaging with Your Patients

Remember, you and your practice have the opportunity to engage with your patients, community and even the competition, so leverage that time to gain knowledge! That knowledge helps you better your digital landscape, and thus strengthens the amplification and reach of your message. Using thought leadership marketing as an outreach modality to personally and professionally connect with both patients and the greater healthcare community is one of the best things that you can do with your marketing efforts.

There are so many ways to connect to potential patients, and the medical community as a whole, using thought leadership marketing. For more specific information, statistics, techniques and an in-depth discussion of thought leadership marketing, be sure to download the WRS Thought Leadership Marketing Guide. Take a moment to read our companion blog on thought leadership if you missed it.