Looking forward to marketing your primary care clinic? Here are 9 handy tips!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Primary care clinics are necessary to take care of patient health from head to toe. A primary care clinic is one where the physician or management has access to your medication history, health history, health concerns, and goals. In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about primary care clinics, including the types, challenges, along with some quick marketing tips.
What are Primary Care Clinics?
Primary care clinics are ones that focus on patient health and ensure there is a lasting partnership with them. They usually take care of a bunch of health care issues and are focused on the prevention of illnesses for the community or family. Primary care clinics consider your family history before creating a case sheet, vaccinate against diseases, encourage lifestyle changes, and build momentous toward better health for the community.Types of Primary Care Clinics
Primary care clinics and their providers are of different types. Here are some of the primary care types-
1. Family doctors
Family doctors diagnose diseases and propose further treatment if need be. They treat people of all ages and offer a wide range of health-related services.2. Pediatricians
Pediatricians are doctors who treat anyone up to the age of 18. Their focus is on children, infants, and teenagers.3. Internal Medicine doctors
Internists are doctors who treat the medical conditions of adults and offer counseling on prevention.4. Geriatricians
Geriatrics is a branch of medicine that deals with older adults. These doctors specialize in age-related health conditions.5. OB-GYN doctors
Gynaecologists take care of women’s reproductive health including childbirth, pregnancy, PCOS, and menopause.6. Nurses
Nurses help doctors treat and prevent multiple health conditions. They also help patients medically manage their recovery process at home.Challenges faced by Primary Care Clinics
Primary care clinics grow at 2.2% every year while there are nearly 140,000 primary care clinics in the US. Though primary care clinics are an important part of the healthcare ecosystem, they face many challenges.
Lack of compatibility
Every primary care clinic physician has a different way of working with patients. In some cases, this may not be compatible with the treatment the patient has previously undergone. Lack of compatibility leads to patient dissatisfaction.
Disparity in quality
Every primary care clinic has variable quality. There is a difference in regions, types, and kinds of doctors. It is important to get the full benefits from any treatment and this can be varied depending on the type of practice. Though primary care clinics are looking to achieve a certain performance, the implementation and improvement is not activated with patient results.
Continuing care to patients
Since primary care clinics offer limited services, there may be lesser chances of them continuing treatment to patients. Since physicians are limited in primary health care, there is a lack of continuing care in this segment.
Generating a word of mouth
It is tough for primary care clinics to get more clients. The most important way to get more patients is with generating a good word of mouth.
Overcoming these challenges is possible when sPCCs adopt marketing strategies designed for them.
Primary care clinic marketing: Top 9 Tips to Market Your Primary Care Clinic
Marketing for primary care clinics is especially important. A lot of consumers are managing their own health eliminating the need for primary care clinics. If primary care clinics are marketed well, they will be the first choice when people decide to choose one. Primary care marketing is crucial to help people know key information about the practice, diseases, and more.
Here are nine tips to market your primary care clinic.
1. Build a brand
Primary health care marketing must keep the physician at the core. The brand is usually the doctor who has his/her credentials and promise. Building a brand presence is necessary to differentiate your clinic from others. This is possible when you look into creating a clinic logo and building goodwill. Once you know what sets you apart, build your premise around that. This could be as simple as ‘doctor for kids’ to ‘discounts for referrals’.
2. Make it easy to reach the physician
Your physician needs to be elevated. If it is a group of doctors, have a specific page for each one. List out their details, video message, credentials, and a calendar to book. Keep track of their presence at seminars, workshops, and other community events. Prospective patients will benefit from visiting the website and reading reviews of specific doctors.
3. Build a good website
This is a must-do for any primary care health center marketing. Your website is a window into your primary care clinic. Build a simple functional website that gets the job done, is easy to read, and is free of glitches. Your website also needs to be easy to navigate and access. Bad websites often deter patients from proceeding with the primary care center.
4. Use video and content marketing
Content and video are the two pillars of marketing. Creating stellar content for your clinic will ensure that your practice is found. It will also establish credibility and thought leadership in the space. Videos are great for marketing your physician – talking about their specialities, experience, and even education. Content is also helpful to educate and empower patients to get involved with their own personal health journey.
5. Leverage search advertising
Searching on Google is something patients will definitely do. Patients, before picking a primary care clinic, will search for relevant clinics on the internet. Search ads are helpful to ensure your business is found or discovered by patients looking for a specific service. For example- If your primary care clinic offers geriatric services, you can run paid ads on the same. This is especially effective when you set the location and radius as well. Another form of advertising primary care clinics can do is being part of certain networking events. If the PCC is part of local events or doctor meet up’s, chances of their growth and positive word of mouth are high.
6. Make it easy to schedule online
Once a user comes on the website, it must be simple to schedule an appointment. If the process to schedule an appointment is long and confusing, chances are the user won’t hesitate to close the portal. And there goes a prospective lead! Easy online appointment scheduling is possible with certain tools and software solutions. As a healthcare practitioner, you can use Emitrr’s appointment scheduling capability to ensure a seamless process.
7. Build a Social Media presence
Social media is an important tool that all companies need to harness. Social media is a great place to post updates about the company. This could include Facebook, Instagram, or even maintaining the Google My Business page. If a patient finds something interesting on social media, they will connect with the provider. Social media is great for brand building and engaging with existing and new patients.
8. Seek reviews from patients
Patients always check online reviews before scheduling their visit to a doctor. Online reviews are helpful to know more about the brand and how patients perceive them. Primary care clinics often have a bunch of reviews that are a reflection of how the center works. Patients take a look at reviews to know if the physician is reliable or not. Monitoring and managing online reputation is necessary for primary care clinics especially when competition is fierce and everything is digital.
9. Take feedback and follow up
For primary care clinics, it is important to take patient feedback. This can be reviewed regularly and improved. It is important to respond to the problem and find solutions to match their issues. Doing so will improve patient experience and ensure their learning is improved. One way to do that is by registering the clinic on sites such as ZocDoc, Healthgrades, BestDoctors, Vitals, or opencare.
Bottom Line
Primary care clinics need to engage patients in an improved manner. Healthcare marketing needs to be improved to result in better outcomes. Primary care clinics need to revamp and make their marketing practices better with these strategies. In short, primary care clinics need to effectively build a network professionally and personally with each member of the community. They must be approachable, easy to schedule with and provide good after-care.
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