16 Sep 11 Simple Tips for Creating Effective Healthcare Content Marketing

Research reveals that about 1 in 20 searches on Google are health-related. That amounts to 70,000 health-related searches every minute—or over 1 billion questions a day.

The fact is, people want information concerning their health.

As a medical marketer, you strive to deliver effective medical products and services for healthcare professionals as well as patients and caregivers.

But to be truly effective in acquiring and retaining customers, you should also be providing your audience with the information they desire.

That’s where content marketing comes in.

What is content marketing?

Quite simply, it is providing a steady stream of content that is accurate, substantive, and relevant to your audience.

The best medical content is well-planned and thoroughly researched, especially since the healthcare professional is so data-driven. And it’s a key component of a comprehensive healthcare marketing strategy. 99% of healthcare companies report positive results from their content marketing efforts.

These results include increase brand awareness, customer loyalty, and sales.

The many advantages of content marketing

Digital content marketing helps brands develop ongoing relationships with customers by offering them information of value. Marketers who truly understand the needs of their audiences can leverage content marketing to build and sustain a positive relationship with them. Done well, content marketing:

Positions you as a trusted resource

When customers are moving through the sales cycle, your ability to provide valuable and helpful information can position you as an authority. The more worthwhile, actionable content you share, the more reliable you appear.

Enhances SEO by building your topical authority

By creating numerous articles on a particular subject, you not only build trust with your audience but also with Google, which will reward you with higher SERP (search engine results page) rankings.

According to TechClient, content creation is one of the most effective SEO techniques. In fact, sites that post consistent blog content have on average 434% more pages indexed by search engines than those that don’t publish at all.

Drives sales conversions

Research reveals that 74% of companies reported that content marketing increased their marketing leads, both in quantity and quality. Engaging and educational content can make your website “stickier” for HCPs, patients, caregivers, and other customers, meaning they’re more likely to spend time on your site, engage with it, come back, and become customers.

Increases brand awareness and loyalty

Brands that consistently share engaging content stay top of mind with customers, form a close bond, and engender their loyalty.

Content can take many forms

When you speak of content marketing, many people immediately think of blogs, which are prevalent. But there are many other content formats:

• Newsletters
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Interactive tools such as calculators or maps
• White papers
• Webinars
• Research-driven guides
• Ebooks

Think out of the “blog box” and choose the content format most appropriate for your audience.

11 tips to create meaningful content

Don’t kid yourself: creating content is a lot of work. But following these general guidelines will make your task much easier.

1. Talk to your audience

Informally, through focus groups or surveys, ask your audience the topics they are most interested in.

Your internal marketing and clinical teams and sales reps often have good insights into the topics your audience is asking about.

Also, visit websites, conferences, chat rooms, or social media platforms to hear what people are talking about. And review competitors’ websites to see what topics they are writing about.

2. Hire a creative team who specialize in healthcare

Healthcare writers know medical terminology. They know how to communicate complex medical problems so patients and caregivers can easily understand them. They know how to structure content so that it has a logical flow. And they know the proper tone to take when addressing healthcare professionals.

Medical writers understand FDA regulations to avoid making unsubstantiated product claims. And they know how to find, cite, and reference the most reliable sources from medical literature.

And a talented art director will add the visual elements that will make your content even easier and more enjoyable to read: photographs, videos, illustrations, icons, graphs and charts, and infographics.

3. Work with a medical professional

Even when using a medical writer, you want to be sure the content is accurate and compliant. That’s why it’s often a good idea, if feasible, to have a medical professional review your content.

You see this all the time. At the top of many blogs or articles is the byline (written by) followed by the medical professional’s contribution (reviewed by).

4. Leverage KOLs

To give your content even more credibility, have it authored by a KOL (key opinion leader). This adds even more credibility to your content and, by extension, your product or service.

5. Emphasize empathy

When communicating with people with serious healthcare conditions, it’s important that you speak with them in an empathetic way. After all, you are specialists in the treatment or diagnosis of their problem. And relating with them on an emotional level helps to build their trust in you.

6. Audit your existing content

If you’ve already created a body of content, we suggest assessing it. The goal is to confirm what’s still working and revise, update, or eliminate what isn’t.

7. Create pillar pages and topic clusters

A pillar page is a web page that provides an overview of a specific topic you want to promote—and that you want to own. This type of content establishes you as a thought leader—and a trusted source. (A pillar page is what you are reading right now.)

Topic clusters are individual pages that delve more deeply into the specifics of that topic.

Also important: the pillar page links to the topic clusters, and the topic clusters link back to the pillar page (or other topic cluster pages). That means a lot of the kind of clicking that Google likes.

8. Do the keyword research

Beyond your primary audience, your secondary—and incredibly important—audience is Google.

Before you create any content, learn the important keywords and use them throughout—especially in headlines (referred to as “H1” in digital content), subheads (H2), and in the first 100 words of content.

And don’t use the same keywords repeatedly within the same content. That’s called “keyword stuffing” and Google will penalize you with lower SERP rankings. Instead, use the important keywords along with related terms. Then your content will be “keyword rich” and Google will reward you with higher search rankings.

9. Diversify content formats

Use a mix of blog posts, videos, infographics, and webinars to cater to different learning styles and preferences.

10. Publish regularly

Maintain a consistent publishing schedule to keep your audience engaged and to improve search rankings.

11. Monitor your metrics

Gauge how well your content performed—and with whom. When you’ve created enough content, patterns will emerge; certain topics will tend to outperform others. This helps you decide on pursuing topics of related interest.

And now, promote your content

Now that you have all this valuable content, it’s critical that you promote it through numerous tactics via:

• Your website
• Conferences
• Email
• Social media
• Press releases
• Ad campaigns

Put content marketing to work for your brand

Providing your audience with informative healthcare content is the best way to gain their trust—and their business.

Bryant Brown Healthcare specializes in creating strategic content marketing that connects with your audience.

Have questions?  Need help? Let’s talk!