Now more than ever, marketing is a key contributor to the success or failure of a medical practice. In recent years, thought leadership has become the gold standard in marketing, yet most doctors do not even know what it really is. Is it blogging? Social Media? Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising? Networking? Thought leadership is unique because it applies to the full breadth of the marketing journey.
The Perfect Marketing Strategy
To be a thought leader is to position yourself as an expert in your field, and in an expert-driven field like medicine, thought leadership is the perfect marketing strategy to reach your target audience. With the right execution, you will not only stand out from local competition, but will gain national or even international recognition for your achievements. Thought leadership is a way for you to differentiate your practice.
Marketing your practice in this way can lead to a remarkable return on investment, both professionally and financially. You and your practice stand not only to improve your reputation with your patients, but also with your peers as you establish yourself as a leader and source of knowledge.
Your Digital Presence
Now, defining the right place to start a marketing journey for your practice will require you to do an analysis of your current marketing efforts. For many, first steps will revolve around the practice’s digital presence, i.e. the website, patient portal, social media profiles, blogs and review pages. While this only scratches the surface of what can be done with a comprehensive marketing strategy, thought leadership in the modern world necessitates a firm digital foundation.
Most potential patients will learn based upon online and digitized content. When looking for information, many people turn to Google for a basic search. When it comes to healthcare content, the number of these information-seeking searches in increasing year over year. The question that you must ask yourself is: Do you show up when a potential patient searches for you or someone like you? Moreover, will the results be compelling?
Using basic thought leadership marketing principles, a practice can craft a user-friendly, easily searchable, conversion-focused online presence which includes:
- A professional website with integrated patient portal login
- Social media pages
- Profiles on networking websites and community pages
- Claimed profiles on review websites
- Published works
Does your practice leverage any of this? Maybe you have some of these but are unsure of how to optimize or operationalize the day-to-day execution of a successful strategy. Or perhaps you have nothing at all. Regardless of your situation, there is no need to fear! Most doctors today choose to work with professional marketing services or consultants, like WRS Health Marketing Services, to help guide them as they delve into thought leadership marketing. Teams like WRS that specialize in healthcare services and marketing are well-equipped to build a persuasive digital message that portrays you as a thought leader in the medical field.
What is Your Current State for Digital Marketing?
As you consider the current state of your digital marketing (and other forms, too), be sure to continually ask if your content and presence is portraying you as a thought leader in your specialty. The content on your website, social media pages and publications must be compelling, original, interesting and relevant to your target audience. It also must be easy to find through a common search topic.
Thought leadership is an expansive subject. For more information on thought leadership marketing and how it can work for your medical practice, be sure to download the WRS Health Guide on Thought Leadership! You can always reach one of us through chat on our website, call us if you have specific questions, or want to learn more about other services that we can offer to your practice.