Reputation Marketing: Today’s Best Strategy for Medical Professionals to Get More Patients

Remember the days when you walked into a medical professional’s office, checked in, saw all the people waiting in front of you, and realized you’d be there for a long time before seeing the doctor?

I can imagine all the thoughts that ran through his mind, but I’m sure one was not that the practice needed more patients.

However, that problem exists for medical professionals today. They constantly need to add new patients to the practice books. This is a concern for all types of practice, from doctors to dentists, from chiropractors to veterinarians. The lack of an influx of new patients hinders a practice in two respects: decreased ongoing revenue and increased costs associated with marketing fresh blood.

It wasn’t always like this. For decades, practices have allocated most of their marketing budget to the tried-and-true resources: the Yellow Pages and newspaper ads. Eventually, they expanded into direct mail, postcards, and even in-house advertising such as brochures explaining their services.

Recently, practices turned to Internet marketing strategies to attract new patients, with many believing that a first-page listing on Google and a branded website would keep their phone ringing.

However, a dramatic change in the online marketplace has created a need for practices to modify those strategies. The reason is the importance of reviews. Google, the search giant, now prominently displays reviews when people search for a business online. Additionally, as long as a business has a minimum of 10 reviews, Google will provide a Zagat score ranging from 0 to 30, further legitimizing the weight of positive reviews on a business’s reputation.

As Bob Dylan sang, “The times they are a-changin’.” People looking for products and services online today see positive reviews as a major factor influencing their purchase decision, second only to personal recommendations. According to Nielsen, a highly respected ratings firm, 72% of consumers look at 6-10 reviews before choosing a product or service, which means they want to see multiple reviews, not just 1 or 2. Plus, the 70% of those consumers trust a business that has a minimum of 6-10 reviews.

What does this change mean for medical professionals?

The facts are clear. People searching online are looking for reviews. A practice with 6-10 positive reviews has a great reputation. Practices with great reputations make your phone ring. Pros that don’t have multiple reviews have been shown to not be as credible in the minds of buyers when making purchasing decisions.

It is imperative that practices direct their marketing focus towards building a 5-star online reputation through continued positive reviews. Once that star reputation is developed, the practice can then market and leverage that reputation to convert more patients.

This two-pronged strategy is analogous to “building a house from the bottom up” and results in sustained long-term revenue growth that positions that company as a market leader. Practices have traditionally done the opposite. They market their services first, relying on a bright yellow page ad or an eye-catching website to attract patients to the business. They don’t realize that people trust and value online reviews as a major determining factor in which medical professional they will call.

Medical professionals must stop “building a house from the top down” or risk losing potential patients to competitors who have embraced this new dynamic shift in the online marketplace.

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