Concierge physicians must take the time to carefully plan their content marketing strategy, paying close attention to the engagement level and results of posts.
Content. Marketing. Strategy.
Buzzwords All. Put them together in one sentence, and we’re talking about a Content Marketing Strategy. Why would a content marketing strategy be a concern of concierge physicians, in particular? I know what you’re probably thinking: between creating the content and the marketing pitches to get this content out, you don’t really have time to put your strategy on paper. Right? Well… not so fast.
What if…
- Somebody could be assigned to do the marketing and the editorial calendar and you just wrote 300-400 words a few times a week. That’s possible.
- You re-purposed content you already created for patient education that could be reformatted into content marketing posts? That’s possible.
- Your patient subscribers fervently shared your content with people who don’t have a concierge doctor who blogs or offers concierge amenities? Could one share convert to a sale? That’s possible too.
When I first started writing blog articles and posting on social media, I had no idea who would read the articles, engage, or how they would be accepted. That was back in 2005. Now nearly nine years later, I use analytics to read the temperature, amplification, and I still get a surprise here and there by the reactions to my posts.
Take for instance one I posted a few days ago on Marijuana Medical Tourism, on LinkedIn’s International Medical Tourism Journal Group, and also shared on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. My post posed a question: “Was the market ready for such a thing?” The Marijuana Policy Project’s Mason Tvert of the 3D Cannabis Center in North Denver, states that on the first Friday after Colorado’s Amendment 64 went into effect, it was already a $1 million-plus week for the state’s nascent marijuana industry. This coupled with an analysis of “the market” from an MBA’s perspective, or in my case, an MHA… three days into the era of legal retail marijuana sales, one of the stores occupying an 18,000 sf facility, with both a retail and growing operation reportedly had a packed parking lot — and not just with cars from around town. The lot was filled with license plates from Connecticut, Nebraska, Wyoming, New Mexico, California, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Massachusetts, Nevada, Florida, Oregon, Utah and Minnesota – a clear sign that what’s happened here is more than just of local interest. It riled up many from all over the world, including a childhood friend whom I’ve known since first grade, a Muslim physician from Malaysia, an Executive Director of an International Development think tank from Australia, and other thinkers, and spurred questions on deontological and teleological ethics, addiction, tourism and more. That kind of amplification doesn’t happen overnight. But it can happen for anyone.
Who Are Your Target Audiences?
As a concierge physician, your brand undoubtedly draws from a target audience that would benefit from your thinking, your amenity-based concierge medicine program and your medical services. Apply that which you already know about them to integrate how to approach them online. Study their age range, demographics, politics, industries and their roles at work, where they are located, and how they interact with their worlds on a local, national, and global front. Answering these questions will give you solid and ample clues to know exactly what niche to supply with your content.
Purpose & Voice: What you say, how you say it, and why you’re saying it
Chances are good that what you write is intended to better explain something: your concierge medicine program, certain promoted products and medical services, shed some light on industry news, address customer questions, or hoping to ignite a conversation with your audience, knowing the reason behind the content you’re creating will help streamline your efforts. Stick to your personality, tone, and natural voice. Don’t try to be unnatural because you think somebody will care. They will care more if they find you are not the person behind the voice they read.
What’s Already Out There, and What’s Missing?
In niches there are riches. Are you competitors active in the social media space? The traditional physician practices are usually not active in social media marketing. They don’t get it and they won’t have time going forward. But what about your competing concierge practices? What are they posting and how? If their posts read more like advertisements, and yours read more like thought leadership, which is likely to retain “stickiness”? Don’t copy your competitor; beat them by doing it better. Also monitor them to determine if they’ve found a way to reach a target group in a way you haven’t thought of. Why do they do what they do?
Formatting Your Content
This is more about knowing how your audience processes digital information than how you want to present it. The variety of digital media is overwhelming to newbies. Videos, Podcasts, webinars, infographics, white papers, checklists, measurement tools, web apps, SlideShare presentations, email newsletters, and more. Also give thought to your purpose: Are you posting to boost brand recognition, find new audience, retain loyal followers with new things to share, or collect “likes” and social media mentions? All of those actions can be part of a strategy, but strategy is formulated to create sustainable competitive advantage. Is yours working successfully to do that? The only way to know is to be able to measure your results so that you can plan a re-action strategy that keeps moving your actions in the direction of your measurable objective. You need a plan for each variable and an execution plan that is practicable, or your efforts will fail to achieve results. We can help you or your practice manager or marketing point person with marketing activities that should be undertaken by professionals, with things like A/B testing with times sent, languages, networks posted to, post frequency, hashtags and more. You should focus on qualitative content.
Take the time to carefully plan your content marketing strategy, paying close attention to the engagement level and results of your posts.
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