The healthcare industry in Singapore remains highly regulated not only for medical practices, but also for the promotion of medical businesses. This I have learned, first-hand, from my visit to a doctor last week.
As an Inbound marketer, I am surprised to know that information like "before and after" results and testimonials are prohibited from publishing. Doctors also can't creatively apply pricing offers like discounts either, or show illustrations or publish wordings in manners that are persuasive (e.g. benefit points).
Despite these obstacles, should healthcare professionals in Singapore adopt and apply Inbound Marketing strategies in their businesses? The answer is a resounding 'yes'! Non-promotional content published on a website need not be academic or dry. Still, Inbound marketing demands that content is written to cater for the interest of website visitors first and foremost—it must be understandable to the layman. This in itself is already a big benefit when doctors can demonstrate their perfect understanding of clients' needs and pain points through content marketing in the proper context.
A survey conducted by The Pew Internet Project states that "looking for health information is the third most popular online activity" following email and using a search engine. In other words, health information is actually the most sought-after online content! As more Internet users do research to gain better understanding of ailments, treatments and medical services, I believe most of us have searched for health information before and commend Mayo Clinic's official website as an excellent example of content marketing.
By using Inbound Marketing, doctors can connect with their online visitors without sacrificing compliance to medical and ethical guidelines. As I wrote previously, going Inbound is not just closing the sale—it is an end-to-end lead generation and conversion process. Every web element must come together in a website to form a buyer's journey that leads a prospect to sit on the patient's chair.
The buyer's journey consists of 3 stages: Awareness, Consideration and Decision. At the Awareness stage, a medical website can start by introducing more details about the medical conditions a doctor specializes in, like:
* how the conditions arise and why
* properties, characteristics or symptoms of conditions
* the consequences of conditions if left untreated
* the dominant demographic of patients which the conditions target
* prevention measures and self-medication tips if available
Content can come in the form of ebooks, whitepapers, blog posts, infographics or some combination of these medium where appropriate or strategic. Other types of content include transcription of public talks, educational videos and journal papers or articles. If the content comes in downloadable files like ebooks, it is perfectly all right to set up subscription pages so visitors can opt in freely to access them. Thereafter doctors can still email their prospects regularly to stay on top of their minds, reminding them that they are a source of solutions and expertise.
Once the prospects have all the information they need to fully understand the medical conditions, next, they will want to know all the options for professional treatment. Considering that medical treatments are a serious matter, they will want to weigh all possibilities to find out what is most favorable to their needs. Give them all the details they need, including methods/procedures involved, typical costings, drawbacks, duration, expected results and other implications—again, written in a most neutral and non-promotional style.
This style of writing probably gets a little more difficult when it comes to the Decision stage. Here, doctors will inform their prospects why they are the authority whom they should seek help or treatment from. Instead of saying what past results they had achieved or how successful their patients had completed treatment, doctors can bank on their qualifications, years of experience and the content they had earlier sent out. Or they can privately invite questions from subscribers through email and give answers back, and if face-to-face discussions are warranted, may invite subscribers into their office. Yes, such 'funneling' can be done without the slightest hint of hard-selling. As online communication channels mature, even the use of Skype and Google Hangouts are very effective at building proper doctor-patient relationships.
Marketing in the healthcare industry of Singapore is no laughing matter. Guidelines or not, doctors still have an obligation to inform their patients and prospects as much and as accurately as possible. Showing off their credentials in this manner beats out any commercial gimmicks any day. Inbound marketing gives meaning to a marketing process, just as doctors need to publish meaningful, engaging and educational content for the benefit of their readers, and make themselves stand out. It may be the only reason healthcare professionals in Singapore need to commit themselves to establishing a long-term online presence.
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