Top Functional Medicine Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Practice
Andrew Cuthbert |Around 30% of American adults used non-conventional medicine in 2012, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). To foster continuous growth in holistic, personalized medicine, it’s vital to consider effective marketing.
Without a solid functional medicine marketing strategy, attracting and retaining patients is more complicated. This is partially because many people are still unaware of functional medicine and its applications. Your marketing strategy should include education about the benefits of a holistic approach to health.
Discover the best strategies for setting your functional medicine practice apart from conventional treatment options.
Building a Strong Online Presence
The CDC reports that over half of Americans get their medical information online, so it’s essential to consider your digital footprint when marketing your services. Your online presence should prioritize delivering evidence-based information in an accessible way.
Developing an Informative and User-Friendly Website
The CDC also highlights the prevalence of telehealth and online communication between patients and providers, which 27.4% of medical specialists use for at least 50% of their patients. Since so many people rely on the internet for health information and communication with their physicians, building a professional website that reflects your practice’s philosophy and services is crucial.
Prioritize a seamless user experience by ensuring your site is easy to navigate on desktop or mobile. Optimizing site speed is also vital in retaining visitors, so consider consulting marketing services that can help with this.
Implementing SEO Strategies
Because most adults look for medical information online, you want to ensure they see your page during a search. The best way to accomplish this is through search engine optimization (SEO). This marketing technique increases your visibility and puts you higher on the list of results from search engines.
Functional medicine practitioners can take some of the following steps to improve their online marketing efforts through SEO:
- Conduct keyword research to identify what current and potential patients are looking for online.
- Use those keywords on your website as well as in blogs and emails to create quality content that provides value to your audience.
- Customize your tags, titles, and meta descriptions.
- Include educational links to reputable external sources and your internal service pages.
- Post consistently to keep your audience engaged.
Functional medicine practices often falsely assume that SEO and digital marketing strategies are irrelevant to medicine marketing. This keeps them from appearing on the first page of search results and attracting patients interested in functional medicine. Foster organic traffic by utilizing SEO techniques to get the most out of functional medicine marketing.
Leveraging Content Marketing
Creating a consistent posting schedule is the best way to foster engagement. Your potential patients can’t find you when they search for health concerns online if you don’t cover these issues extensively. Functional medicine marketing requires you to regularly share educational content while incorporating relevant keywords to attract your target audience and improve search engine rankings.
Blogging and Educational Content
One way to curate educational content is through blog posts on relevant health topics. Many functional medicine practices overlook the power of informative content, but this is often the first interaction prospective patients have with your team. Ensure the first impression is positive by creating well-researched content that includes evidence for any medical claims.
Consider the most frequently asked questions you hear from patients and start there. By providing a science-backed educational resource, you position your practice as an authority in functional medicine.
Video Marketing
The most effective marketing strategies often go beyond the written word, and evidence shared by SAGE Open suggests that images and videos increase audience engagement.
Easy video ideas include testimonials from satisfied clients, breakdowns of treatment options, and functional medicine wellness tips.
Enhancing Local SEO
General SEO for medical practices is essential, but tailoring content to fit your local audience lets you better target your niche.
Optimizing Your Google Business Profile
Optimizing your practice’s Google Business Profile (GBP) is essential to utilizing SEO locally. Providing accurate information and using it to encourage patient reviews helps foster trust in your practice and draws the attention of new patients.
With more published reviews, your practice appears higher in local searches.
Encouraging Patient Reviews
The Journal of Marketing highlights that an increasing number of people rely on reviews to decide about their medical providers. Reading reviews lets your prospective patients make informed choices about whether to visit your practice, so it’s helpful to encourage patients to leave positive reviews online. Mention to your patients how these reviews help you reach others struggling with similar issues.
Improving your practice’s online reputation will foster trust and strong connections with your patient community.
Utilizing Social Media Platforms
Social media marketing is often overlooked, but it can be a powerful tool for reaching more patients.
Engaging With Patients on Social Media
Use platforms like Facebook and Instagram to share more content with patients who might not see your blog. Consider posting regular practice updates, like when you add a new practitioner to your team. This is also a good way to share patient success stories and quick health tips that don’t require an entire blog post.
To learn more about functional medicine marketing on social media, watch the webinar “Using Social Media to Drive Revenue for Your Practice or Clinic.”
Running Targeted Social Media Ads
Consider expanding your audience further by running paid ads. Platforms like Facebook Ads allow you to serve targeted ads to those with browsing habits most relevant to your practice. This offers a higher conversion rate and will enable you to save on marketing resources by precisely directing your advertisements.
Implementing Email Marketing Campaigns
While email marketing campaigns are sometimes slower than other functional medicine marketing strategies, they allow you to provide in-depth information to prospective patients.
Building an Email List
To curate your ideal campaign, you need to collect email addresses from current and potential patients. You can accomplish this by adding pop-ups to your website requesting an email address or creating a content wall where patients can only access some of your content unless they share their email addresses.
Sometimes, asking current patients for their email addresses during an appointment is simplest.
Crafting Personalized Email Content
Your functional medicine marketing strategy must involve a personal touch to demonstrate genuine care for your patients and the information you share. Carefully curate your email campaigns to provide useful information that most of your audience will appreciate.
It’s also wise to inform your patients of any updates, upcoming events, or care deadlines. Email is a great option for this communication, and functional medicine practices can rely on Weave’s email marketing feature for help.
Hosting Community Events and Workshops
While digital marketing strategies have a lot of power, it’s still important to reach larger audiences with in-person outreach.
Organizing Educational Workshops
Educational workshops are a great opportunity for functional medicine marketing. They allow you to provide more in-depth information about your functional medicine services and answer questions in real time.
These events are a great chance to attract new patients and encourage trust through thoughtful patient education.
Participating in Local Health Fairs
Local health fairs are the perfect venues for functional medicine marketing. Your practice should stay informed of such events and participate as much as possible to connect with the community and increase your practice’s visibility.
Fairs are also ideal for meeting other healthcare providers and networking with potential patients.
Use Functional Medicine Marketing To Raise Awareness of Your Practice
Use functional medicine’s increasing popularity to build your practice’s visibility. Your functional medicine marketing efforts should involve online and in-person approaches to maximize your results.
Practices benefit from these methods by drawing in new patients and fostering trust in their communities. Implement functional medicine marketing to engage with a wider audience and retain patients through valuable education.
Watch the Webinar “Easy Marketing Ideas To Help Grow Your Business” to learn more about strategies for functional medicine marketing.
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