How do you feel about healthcare companies utilizing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising? Maybe you are all for it. Then again, perhaps it rubs you the wrong way. You would not be the first person to feel uncomfortable about a PPC ad announcing something like bariatric surgery or pediatric services.
Having been involved in the SEO and digital marketing industry for more than 15 years, I can tell you that companies in certain industries seem to be made uncomfortable by the whole idea of marketing. Healthcare organizations are at the top of the list. But under our private system, healthcare is still a business.
The business side of healthcare requires that organizations compete. Competition is necessary among hospitals, private practices, pharmacies, and device manufacturers. And believe it or not, PPC services are more suited to healthcare delivery than most people know.
Short Term and Targeted
Webtek Digital Marketing is a digital marketing and SEO firm located in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of their specialties is healthcare. Webtek experts tell me that PPC advertising is designed to be both short term and highly targeted. What does that mean?
PPC ads only run for a comparatively short amount of time. Organizations are not running the same ads month after month. Ads are also highly targeted to qualified leads, which is to say those particular audiences that are already looking to buy. A successful ad grabs a buyer’s attention, forwards that individual to a landing page, and ultimately pushes the user towards a sale.
How does any of this apply to healthcare? A good way to wrap your brain around it is to think of a nurse practitioner or physician assistant who decides to open a new primary care office. That clinician is competing against established GPs – and potentially some large healthcare groups as well.
Get Them in the Office
Healthcare is a bit unique in that its customers do not have a lot of baselines for comparison. So even when people shop around for providers or services, they are likely to go with the one that grabs their attention most effectively. If it turns out they don’t like that provider, they’ll look for a new one after the fact.
For that physician assistant or nurse practitioner new to the market, the goal is to get patients into the office. Once there, they can be sold on the clinicians’ bedside manner and services. The physician assistant or nurse practitioner can win patients over by treating them well, showing them respect, listening to what they have to say, etc. But all of that comes only after patients walk in the door.
PPC services fine-tuned for healthcare delivery can make a difference here – a big difference. A strategically placed ad linked to a well-conceived landing page can reach a lot of potential customers at a limited cost. And because PPC is priced based on ad clicks, a healthcare provider is not paying for advertising that isn’t reaching the intended audience.
It’s Worth a Try
I suppose my perspective on PPC services for healthcare could be encapsulated in a simple phrase: it is worth a try. The healthcare sector is highly competitive. We know that. But we also know that the best way to learn whether we want to stick with a healthcare provider long term is to give that provider a try.
Incorporating PPC services into healthcare is all about getting new patients in the door. For that reason alone, PPC deserves to be part of the business side of healthcare. Healthcare’s altruistic nature should not exclude PPC as a marketing strategy.
