Why Aren’t AdWords Necessary for Healthcare Marketing?

As the world of medicine has advanced, so too have the healthcare marketing tactics meant to propel it forward. Like most industries, the healthcare sector welcomed all the innovational marketing tactics and digital advertising strategies that have emerged and continue to emerge in our world today. But just because those strategies work elsewhere, doesn’t mean they will work when it comes to medicine.

At the beginning of the century, Google introduced AdWords to the mix which was a revolutionary step forward in the world of digital marketing and growth consulting. After some time, advertising firms and performance marketing agencies everywhere began making AdWords an integral part of their marketing plans. Something that oftentimes took a big chunk out of the budget.

While Rock Candy Media has found success through SEM and AdWords campaigns for several of our clients, we’ve found that it isn’t always necessary for healthcare marketing. We’ve found that the nature of healthcare products is better complemented by organic promotion, free of paid exposure. And that in the end, these organic methods turn out to be much more effective.

The Nature of Healthcare Products

When you consider what is at the core of every healthcare product, you’ll find that what the customer really cares about is trust or reliability. Something we’ve discussed in past healthcare marketing blogs is that you need your customer or patient to be able to trust in the service you are providing. When it comes to an individual’s health, as opposed to something like their wardrobe, you have to expect your healthcare product to be scrutinized at a much higher level.

This being the case, using AdWords to market your healthcare practice or wellness product may not exert the reaction you want out of your customers. As users become more educated about digital marketing practices, such as AdWords, they also become more wary of the companies implementing them.

Customers, or patients in this case, know that they can trust sources that appear higher in Google search results that aren’t paid ads. Despite what they do or don’t know about SEO, they usually infer that those companies who land on that first page are the go-to options for what they’re searching for. And they will always take into account the companies who are and aren’t paying for that space.

So how do you get to those sweet spots on the first page without paying for it?

Getting In the Top 10 Results

There are several ways to rank on the first page of Google, but they all tend to center around your website, blogs, and PR. You need to build an interactive website free of bugs and easy to navigate, as Google will use this to asses how reliable of a source you are. Everything ends with your site, so if it’s not built to be easy for a user, the time you spend getting to the first page is all for nothing.

Once you’ve got a strong website design you need blogs filled with the right keywords to flesh it out. While your website is important, the blogs are what you really run the race with. By writing good content that your audience likes and engages with, Google will begin looking at you as a reliable source and rank you accordingly. When it comes to healthcare marketing strategies, education is integral. Which makes blogs even more important in promoting your practice or product.

The next piece of the puzzle has to do with public relations and getting your name out in the press. If you’re a relatively new healthcare product or you’re doing some innovational work with your practice, chances are getting press will be pretty easy. What makes it even easier is having a PR specialist like us who knows how to get bites, and how to package them to increase exposure. When you get press, it tends to culminate with what is called a ‘backlink’ or link back to your page in a relevant news outlet or publication. These backlinks give Google even more of a reason to rank you generously.

What Really Matters?

At the end of that day, what’s really important is that you approach your healthcare marketing strategies with the right intentions. If you believe you can better the world around you and provide individuals with something to improve their lives, then you’ve already won. Because if you really do feel that way, the content that comes out of your company or practice will resonate with the people who need it most.

Interested in learning what it takes to get to the #1 spot on the #1 page? Let’s schedule a meeting and talk about how you can stop paying Google so much.