15 Orthopedic Marketing Strategies & Ideas To Help Grow Your Practice

Are you looking for ways to get more patients coming through your clinic’s doors? Orthopedic marketing, including strategies like traditional and digital advertising, social media, and search engine optimization, can significantly boost your practice’s visibility to your target audience. 

In this article, we’ll provide 15 effective orthopedic marketing ideas you can use to take your orthopedic practice to the next level. Then click here to learn how Weave helps healthcare businesses connect with their patients.

Online Orthopedic Marketing Ideas

Digital marketing leverages online advertising, web design, and social media to bring more awareness to your orthopedic practice, typically with the goal of gaining patients and revenue. 

You can solidify your clinic’s online presence and improve your performance against the competition when you incorporate the following online orthopedic marketing strategies:

1. Website

Your orthopedic practice website should make a great impression on potential patients who follow links from search results or social media. Your orthopedic web design should be user-friendly and visually appealing, with fast-loading web pages and intuitive navigation. 

Your website should also feature the services you offer at your medical practice, such as orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, reconstructive plastic surgery, and physical therapy. If an orthopedic patient seeks specific information about joint replacement, you’ll want informative content to help them. 

Another valuable website feature for patients involves online appointment booking and payments, which save you and your patients time and make interacting with your clinic more convenient. Check out Weave’s online scheduling feature to see how your website can offer a more positive experience for your patients.

2. SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a marketing strategy that focuses on improving your practice website’s ranking in search results, leading to more organic site traffic and improved patient acquisition. SEO involves content marketing strategies, such as:

• Keyword research
• Market analysis
• Competitor research
• Content creation

To improve SEO, you need to include specific keywords in your content that are relevant to orthopedic care, such as “orthopedic surgery” or “orthopedic devices.” However, filling your website with target keywords isn’t enough to climb the search engine rankings. 

Google prioritizes websites with structured, informative content that’s valuable to users. Agencies providing orthopedic marketing services also typically offer SEO services and content generation.

3. Online Ads (PPC)

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are an essential part of orthopedic marketing, Google AdWords being one of your most useful advertising resources. With Google Ads, an orthopedic surgeon can put ads directly in front of a potential patient searching for orthopedic specialists. 

Your landing page will appear as the top search result, helping you get more traffic to your orthopedic website. Putting targeted ads on a search engine is particularly effective because the audience already has purchase intent, making it more likely that people viewing your ad will convert.

4. Reviews

A 2023 consumer review survey found that online reviews are “important” or “very important” to 84% of people when deciding which healthcare business to use. When your orthopedic practice gets positive reviews, it helps build credibility in the eyes of prospective patients. Establishing trust with patients is especially important for healthcare providers.

You can generate more reviews by asking patients to leave a review when you see them in person or by following up on their appointment with an email or text prompting them to share their experience on Google, Facebook, etc. Find out how you can get more reviews and new patients with Weave’s review management tool.

5. Local Business Listings

An essential element of digital marketing is creating complete, accurate business listings for your orthopedic clinic. One of the most important listings is your Google Business Profile, which many prospective patients see when searching for a nearby orthopedic surgeon. 

Your business profile lists all the top information people want to see, such as business hours, reviews, locations, and phone numbers. Ensuring that all this information is up to date should be a crucial part of your local SEO strategy. Making information about your practice conveniently accessible will help you win patients over your competitors.

Your office phone can be one of the most important marketing tools at your disposal. One healthcare practice was able to use their call analytics to better understand their patients and repair the holes in their marketing strategy to better reach new patients, (to reach the full case study, click here).

6. Social Media

Social media helps build your practice’s online presence through advertising and organic content. We mentioned PPC ads on Google in a previous section, but paid social media advertising can also be quite beneficial for new patient acquisition. Social media ads enable you to target specific audiences, such as particular age groups, so that you can get more conversions and a better return on investment (ROI).

Regularly posting original content, including videos, images, etc., on your profiles improves patient engagement, leading to more repeat appointments. Good social media management can also help differentiate you from your competition.

7. Email and Newsletters

Email marketing campaigns help you accomplish goals like getting more patient engagement or reaching new people in need of orthopedic care. Whether you use a custom design or a pre-made template, your emails may include appointment reminders, newsletters, and promotions. 

Sending emails regularly (but not too often) throughout the year increases your chances of reaching someone at just the right time and getting another appointment on your schedule. Successful email campaigns are cost-effective, typically yielding significant returns.

Try Weave to get access to simple, effective email marketing templates for your practice.

Orthopedic Patient Marketing Ideas

When you provide an outstanding patient experience at your orthopedic business, your patients can become effective drivers of practice growth. You can leverage your positive patient relationships for marketing in the following ways:

8. Referral Program

Orthopedic specialists, like most healthcare professionals, receive much of their business through referrals from other doctors or patients. Networking can be time-consuming, but building a solid referral program helps you get more referrals by making you and your practice visible to the right people.

You may use digital marketing strategies, such as email campaigns and social platform posts, to build more awareness of you as a capable surgeon. Marketing helps improve your credibility, making it more likely other clinicians will refer patients with orthopedic disorders to your clinic. 

9. Ask for Referrals

Patient referrals are powerful because they provide social proof of the quality of your practice and should be an essential part of your marketing strategy. A Nielsen survey discovered that 92% of people trust word-of-mouth referrals from friends and family, scoring higher approval than any other form of marketing. 

To get more patient referrals, you can develop strategies to build trust with patients and increase patient engagement. When you send texts or emails asking for referrals, patients who have a high opinion of you are more likely to follow through.

10. Post-visit Surveys

Reviews are great for getting patient feedback, but sometimes you need more in-depth responses to help you develop strategies to improve your practice. One way to get focused, insightful comments from patients is by sending post-visit surveys.

You can send a patient satisfaction survey via email or text message shortly after each patient’s appointment. Not only do you get valuable feedback from your patients, but you also show them that their thoughts and opinions matter to you and your staff. When making your surveys, it’s best to keep your questions brief so patients will be more likely to complete them. 

Traditional Orthopedic Marketing Ideas

Traditional marketing primarily involves offline marketing materials, such as radio and TV commercials or billboards. Traditional ads enable your orthopedic practice to engage with your target audience in a physical location, meaning you can reach people who don’t spend much time online. 

The following are a few traditional marketing ideas for orthopedic clinics:

11. Radio

With radio ads, you can reach your local audience as they commute to work or run errands. This strategy helps you engage with older age groups or people who don’t use social media. Since many people will hear your ad while sitting in their cars, radio marketing can help boost your local presence. 

You’ll want your radio ad to be creative and catchy so people will want to listen to it. It’s a great opportunity to showcase your practice’s brand personality, whether it’s professional or more laid back. You should also include enough information for listeners to be able to research your clinic and contact you.

12. Billboard

Billboards and other visual ads, such as ads on park benches or public transit, put your orthopedic practice in front of the eyes of a large local audience. Many people pass the same billboards every day as they drive down major highways and roads, meaning your clinic will be at the tops of their minds if they ever need orthopedic care.

These big, public ads are a great opportunity to get creative, compelling people to take more than a glance at your advertisement. Adding a picture of the surgeon and other staff members can make the billboard seem more human and trustworthy.

13. Sponsor Local Events

Event marketing is another way to reach a bigger audience in your local area. You can use part of your marketing budget to sponsor popular events in your city, such as sports games, to make your orthopedic business appear credible and increase its visibility in your community.

To expand your reach, you could also participate in healthcare industry-related conventions, seminars, or conferences, displaying ads to the attendees and building awareness with other professionals.

Other Orthopedic Marketing Ideas

Another way to connect with your audience and market your orthopedic practice is to give away items for free, typically with branding and contact information included in some way. The following are a couple of marketing strategies you might try:

14. Giveaways

Giveaways can get people excited about your orthopedic practice, making them more likely to remember you if they need orthopedic services later. You can do giveaways in person at local events or on social media. Doing giveaways online is the best way to reach a wide audience, and you should prompt people to share the post (with a link to your website) to enter the contest.

The items you give away should be attractive enough that people will want to sign up and share your giveaway post. Prizes could be electronic devices, company swag, workout gear, or other items that appeal to your usual demographic. 

15. Swag

Company swag, like totes, pens, etc., accomplishes several marketing and business goals, including increasing patient loyalty and spreading awareness of your practice. When deciding what type of swag to give out to your current or potential patients, consider your target audience and what items they would find most useful. 

For example, athletes are a significant target audience for orthopedic surgeons, so choosing items that sports enthusiasts love can be very effective. Popular swag among athletes include:

• Water bottles
• Hats
• T-shirts
• Workout towels
• Basketball, soccer ball, football, etc.

Keep in Touch With Your Patients With Weave

Weave is a simple communication platform that makes it easier to attract and keep more patients with orthopedic marketing. We can help you collect more reviews and easily manage them across platforms, allowing you to maintain your glowing reputation with little effort. 

Try the Weave demo today.