Why Your Small Business Needs to Run Google Ads: 10 Reasons

Google is the most popular search engine, and it doesn’t look like that is changing anytime soon. With over 8.5 billion searches daily, Google is the best place for small businesses to get noticed. While advertising may seem complicated, and it certainly can be, Google makes it relatively easy for anyone to set up a Google Ad account and begin running promotions immediately. Here are 10 reasons why your small business needs to run Google ads:

Expand Your Customer Reach

As we’ve already mentioned, Google has an enormous reach. The search engine has become so widely used that Merriam Webster Dictionary made it an official verb; “googled; googling” meaning to search something on Google. If that doesn’t tell you how popular Google is, we’re not sure what will. 

The users that made this possible were just people looking for an answer to their question. And many times, the answer can be your product or service. In order to get in front of these people, you need to ensure your business appears at the top of the results page for related searches. Google Ads are automatically placed at the top of page one and you can manually set which keyword terms and phrases you want to target. 

Focus on Different Audience Segments

If you have a broad audience that you want to segment or already have an idea of your different buyer personas, you’ll want to target them differently. This may mean focusing on different keywords, playing with the ad copy, and promoting different products. Google makes it easy to separate different audiences based on their interests and place in the research funnel.

Finetune Intent

The major advantage of using Google ads over other forms of advertising, such as paid social media, is the ability to reach different people based on their intent. For example, when you advertise on social media platforms, you can only target people based on their interests and demographics. You have no real way of telling where they are in their research journey.

With Google, you can target specific keywords and phrases to ensure you are reaching the user at exactly the right time. Let’s take a hair stylist looking for a website developer as an example. Their first search may be “how to design a website” then once they do more research it may change to “websites for hairstylists.” Eventually, their searches will become more fine tuned as they do more research and it will become “website developers for hair salons.” This is the point where website developers want to show up on the results page, as the user is ready to make a purchase.

Maintain Control Over Campaigns

There is no question about your campaign when it’s run through Google. Google gives you complete control over the promotion, including:

• Budget
• Schedule (times and days)
• Audience segments
• Website placement
• Keyword targeting

Manage Your Budget

Let’s dive into budgeting a bit more. On Google, it is not as basic as setting an overall campaign budget if you are interested in more intricate spend control. Google allows you to adjust your:

• Cost per click bid
• Daily spend
• Keyword bid
• Maximum bids

With this level of spend control, you can rest assured that you will not exceed your desired budget.

User-Friendly Dashboard

Some advertisement dashboards make it nearly impossible to understand why a promotion isn’t succeeding with complicated analytics and no assessment. Google Ads take the guesswork out of analytics and shows exactly which ads are performing the best alongside the top key performance indicators (KPIs). With their easy-to-use platform, you can easily view:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Keyword bids
• Cost per click

Improve Google Ranking

Search engine optimization (SEO) is still a valuable tool used among most, if not all, major sites. However, a sustainable SEO strategy requires patience and consistent practice. Most companies want results now and don’t want to invest the labor and time into SEO. Google Ads push you to the top of the results page immediately without all of the extra hassle of SEO. So if you are looking for a quick way to get noticed, Google Ads is your best bet. 

Build Brand Awareness

Most people think of conversions when they hear Google Ads. And while many businesses do run them for driving traffic to their site, it is also extremely effective for brand awareness. A study found that marketers prioritize brand awareness campaigns, making these promotions extremely useful. Whether a business is just starting and trying to establish their brand or introducing a new product, brand awareness is essential for gaining trust. Most users won’t make a purchase unless they are familiar with a company, making brand awareness an important first step for every marketer.

Improve Conversion Rates

Google Ads uses complex algorithms to determine which ads are running best at which times to maximize conversions. This takes all of the guesswork out for marketers trying to optimize their campaign performance. Google Ads will even make edit suggestions on click bids and ad copies to improve conversions.

Maximize ROI

Google has established different forms of bidding to ensure every business can maximize their ROI. Depending on the campaign type, businesses may be interested in:

• Cost-per-click (CPC) bidding is recommended for generating website traffic.
• Cost-per-thousand (CPM) bidding is recommended for brand awareness campaigns.
• Cost-per-action (CPA) bidding is recommended for specific conversions, such as product purchases or email sign-ups.

Now that you understand the benefits of running Google Ads, talk with your team about how you could best utilize them.

Why You Need a WebMD Enhanced Profile

Everyone has heard of WebMD, as it is considered the most trusted online source for health information. Users can look up their symptoms and conditions to get more information to help them make informed decisions about their health. In addition to a large database of health knowledge, WebMD also provides listings to healthcare professionals so they can attract potential patients. 

So who gets a WebMD listing? Every healthcare professional automatically gets a free WebMD listing that allows them to list their contact information, collect patient reviews, explain their specialties, list accepted forms of insurance and display medical certifications. So why do you need an Enhanced WebMD Profile? We’ll tell you…

The Benefits of a WebMD Enhanced Profile

While customizing your free WebMD listing is a great starting point, healthcare professionals are easily overlooked for competitors with an enhanced profile. With a WebMD Enhanced profile, professionals unlock the following features:

• Prominent Placement- Be among the first profiles listed for local searches involving your specialities, services, procedures, and keywords for greater visibility. Plus, if you provide telehealth services, you are placed at the top of the results page for all related searches, not just the ones in your area!

• Website Link- Link your website directly on your profile to drive traffic.

• Click-to-Call Button- Allow mobile users to call your office directly from WebMD.

• Online Booking- Allow prospective patients to request an appointment via WebMD.

• Competitor Ad Removal- Remove all ads from competitors that have an Enhanced Profile from your listing to avoid being overlooked.

• Banner Ads- Add banner ads to your profile that link directly to your website to drive traffic.

• Search Engine Optimization- WebMD is an authoritative site, giving you a better ranking on search engines such as Google.

• Competitive Intercept- Place advertisements on your competitors’ listings that do not have an Enhanced Profile. 

• Enhanced Branding- Embed a video or your logo on your profile to highlight your practice. 

The WebMD Enhanced Profile is the perfect way to increase your visibility, drive more traffic to your website, and ensure the right prospective patients find your practice.

A Guide to Building a Sustainable Practice

Studies have found that 43% of all healthcare-related businesses do not make it past the first five years. This is the second highest business failure rate, second only to the restaurant industry. 

Establishing a healthcare business is extremely difficult as there are many intricacies involved. And with these intricacies comes many risks. In fact, the main mistake that practice owners make that eventually leads to the failure of their business is not accurately identifying their risks. 

In order to build and maintain a fiscally sound and sustainable healthcare business, owners must:

1. Network

This goes for almost every industry but most importantly healthcare; you must network. Whether you are a privately owned company or plan to establish a wide-spread medical group, you’re going to need contacts. Many healthcare practices rely on referral programs to connect them to other medical professionals and extend their client reach. 

If you’re a primary care physician or specialist, the main source of new patients are more often than not coming from doctor referrals. Therefore, you need to deeply embed you and your practice’s name into the mind of your peers. 

So what does networking look like? Well, many healthcare professionals attend:

• Conferences
• Wine mixers
• Local charity events
• Award ceremonies
• Holiday events

Attending these types of events allows you to meet your colleagues and establish professional relationships.

2. Create a Patient-Focused Approach

While it may sound obvious, medical practices should be patient-focused. Referrals do not always come from doctors. In fact, many practices establish a patient referral program as studies have shown that consumers prefer user generated content, such as reviews and personal recommendations, over traditional marketing. It makes sense, right? You are more likely to have immediate trust with a doctor that a loved one recommended over than one your other provider recommended.

Many patients express that their doctor does not feel present or that they didn’t listen to them personally. And this feedback has been about even the most skilled doctors! This just goes to show that you need to go above and beyond just providing your patients with a service, you need to establish a relationship with them.

Consider the following when caring for your patients:

• Make eye contact and shake their hand when entering the exam room
• Listen and address all of their concerns thoroughly
• Use patient allotted time wisely and do not be rude if time runs over

By establishing a professional but warm doctor-patient relationship, you can improve customer satisfaction and retention.

3. Build a Marketing Strategy

A major part of growing any business is exposure. Practice owners should consider free and paid marketing opportunities to increase their brand awareness and patient reach. Many cities advertise the “Best Local Doctors” for free or hold conferences where you can set up a booth. 

Many practices have even launch paid Facebook or Google campaigns to target specific demographics and areas. This form of marketing gives practice owners more control over who sees their ads, when their ads are shown, and detailed analytics.

4. Utilize User-Generated Content

Prospective patients go through an intensive research process when it comes to choosing a healthcare provider. They want to make sure they are reliable, well-trusted by others, and have an established practice that is easy to find online. How? They look at your online reviews! 

A study by Software Advice found that 77% of people used online reviews as their first step to finding a new physician. Many people also consult online reviews to determine the worst case scenario. Do your patients complain about long wait times, rude staff, or the facilities?

Depending on how your online ratings and reviews look often determines if a prospective patient will book an appointment with you or keep searching.

5. Create Benchmarking Metrics

Another mistake that many practice owners make is they fail to outline the vision of their business and what they consider successful. To do this, you must determine key performance metrics that you would like to hit, for every significant process. This could include marketing, patient retention, staff retention, revenue goals— the list goes on. Your metrics should be broken down so that they can be referenced weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. 

In addition to goals to achieve, you should also have key metrics for cancellations, negative reviews, and other numbers you are looking to minimize. By benchmarking these key metrics you can clearly determine your successes and areas of weakness.

6. Build a Dependable Staff

The success of your practice begins with your staff. Without the right people running your practice, you are not going to fulfill your mission or meet your goals. So be sure to carefully vet potential staff members to ensure they are reliable, capable, and dedicated to your mission.

7. Create a Thorough Business Model

A study found that businesses that outline a plan grow 30% faster than those that don’t. Outlining a business model ensures everyone is on the same page when it comes to patient care, work processes, and key performance metrics goals.

Establishing a new healthcare business can be nerve-wracking. It takes dedication, preparation, and patience (no pun intended). However, by addressing these key points, you can build a financially stable practice.

10 Reasons Your Business Needs an Optimized Website

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is often the number one way that businesses reach their key users. It is also the most cost-effective traffic generator. Why? Because it attracts organic traffic through users that are actively searching for your product or service. This means that they are already in the funnel and looking to convert. 

So how does one go about SEO? Well, arguably the most important thing is to have a custom website, design with the latest SEO practices so search engines recognize you as a credible source when generating the results page. Without this, you risk falling behind competitors that have taken the time to carefully craft their website and content. And let’s face it, no one looks past the first page of Google. 

Here are 10 reasons your practice needs an optimized website:

1. Organic Search is Your Primary Traffic Source

Organic search and traffic makes up a major part of businesses’ online engagement and conversions. These users have already reached a critical part of the sales funnel, the research phase. In this phase, you know that they are in the market for your particular product or service and are weighing their options. And where do most online users conduct their research? Search engines. 

Digital marketers understand that Google holds the vast majority of online users compared to its competitors, Bing, Yahoo, and others. Occupying over 92% of online searches, online businesses need to focus on their Google ranking in order to get in front of prospective clients.

2. SEO Builds Trust and Credibility

Your searchability on major search engines directly correlates to your trust and credibility. If users can’t find your practice in a quick Google search, you lose major points right away. The goal of SEO is not only to create an amazing website that represents your brand, but also to improve the user experience by making your site easy to reach and navigate.

Now let’s say users are able to find you online relatively easily but your website is outdated. Again, you can immediately lose their trust just by having a slow loading time, outdated graphics, and other antiquated site elements. By keeping your website current, you establish what is known as authority in search engines, ranking you higher and getting you noticed by more searchers. Over time, your brand awareness increases and you begin establishing trust with your audience.

3. SEO Gives You a Better Understanding of Your Audience

By understanding how people are searching for and reaching your website, you gain a better understanding of your audience’s mindset. Fine tuning your SEO practices enables you to sense macro shifts in your market so you can stay ahead of the competition.

4. SEO Relies on the User Experience

Every business wants the best organic ranking. What most businesses do not realize is that your rank is directly impacted by the users’ impression, which then affects their experience. When Google scrapes websites relevant to the user’s search, it is able to use complex algorithms to determine sites’ user-friendliness in a matter of seconds. User-friendliness depends on how easy your site is to navigate, your site’s load time, relevant content and other key factors.

Based on these factors, search engines will determine if your site is page-one worthy and rank you accordingly. So you want to show that your site is relevant and provides the best user experience.

5. Local SEO Increases Traffic, Engagement, and Conversions

Mobile traffic has been dominating online searches over the past couple of years, making local SEO crucial for all businesses. In fact, local SEO focuses on a certain vicinities, such as:

• Neighborhoods
• Towns
• Cities
• Regions
• States

Local SEO narrows down users’ search results to a specific area to quicken the sales funnel and aid their purchase decision. And you know what that means – higher engagement and conversion rates! So you want to make sure you’re on that results page. Local SEO is heavily based on your online listings, reviews, and local citations. Therefore, you should focus on building your online presence. (If you are looking to generate more reviews and improve your online reputation, check out our review generation service here!)

6. SEO Best Practices are Always Changing

SEO tactics are always evolving, meaning your website may have been optimized at the time it was launched but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t since gone out of date. Because search engines are continuously improving their algorithms, you must also regularly check your website efficiency and make improvements to secure your place on the results page. Those that are reactive rather than proactive are quick to get left behind.

7. SEO is Cost-Effective

Yes, optimizing your website costs money, but it has a longer shelf life than paid promotions. When you craft content saturated with relevant content, it can sit on your website for as long as you’d like, unlike advertisements that run for as long as your budget permits. Consider SEO a business investment rather than a marketing cost, as it impacts your reputation as well as revenue.

8. SEO and Reputation Management Go Hand-in-Hand

Speaking of reputation, SEO and reputation management actually go hand-in-hand. Not only do your online reviews significantly impact your search engine ranking, your website optimization is responsible for your long-term brand equity. A high Google ranking elevates your practice’s reputation among competitors and in the minds of prospective patients.

9. SEO is Quantifiable

Although SEO doesn’t provide immediate ROI like paid media, its results are quantifiable. With proper tracking mechanisms and analytics you can see who clicked your site and how they navigated through it. You can then use this information to make necessary adjustments to your website to improve the overall user experience.

10. If Your Not on Page One, You’re Not Being Noticed 

Especially with Google’s new zero-click answer feature that displays text from the top result, if you aren’t ranking on the first page – you aren’t getting noticed. In fact, if you aren’t displayed at the top half of the first page you may not be getting noticed. This new Google feature often eliminates the need to even scroll past the first half of the page to pinpoint the match to the user’s search. This makes it very difficult for practices that fall past the top three ranks.

While there are many more benefits to optimizing your website, these 10 reasons showcase exactly why your practice needs to prioritize building an SEO-friendly website. By focusing on SEO, you stay relevant in your specific industry and specialty, increase your client reach, and generate long-term brand equity.

Tips to Jumpstart Your Reputation Management

As your business grows in size, the more people will talk about your brand and everything that comes with it. And while publicity is great, it is important to manage and regulate the conversation regarding your company to ensure your reputation stays intact.

Let’s first go over the basics:

What is reputation management?

Reputation management involves monitoring sites to maintain your brand’s image and how clients, or prospective clients, perceive you. This can include the conversation revolving around your business, products, or services, reviews, articles written about your company, and any other attention your brand may get.

Why is reputation management important?

What is the first thing you do before purchasing a product or even going out to eat? Probably look at their online reviews, right? This is exactly why reputation management is so important, especially for healthcare providers. People are putting their lives in your hands, so they want to vet you and make sure they are getting the best possible care. 

A study found that 85% of customers conduct online research before making a purchase decision. Another study found that a brand risks losing 22% of their clientele if just one negative article populates when they search your brand. With successful reputation management you can optimize your online presence and expand your reach. 

How do you manage your reputation?

Given that the majority, if not all, customer research happens online, you need a way to effectively monitor relevant sites to manage your online presence. You can do this by using a software that monitors review sites and alerts you when your brand is mentioned, this way you can join the conversation immediately.

Expert Reputation’s Listings Manager monitors the primary healthcare review sites, making it simple to ensure all of your online listings have the most accurate information. Paired with our ReviewIQ software, that automates review link invites, you can improve your SEO in no time!

How to Kick Off Your Reputation Management

Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s go over 7 ways you can jumpstart your reputation management strategy:

1. Monitor your most important online platforms

First and foremost, you must identify which online platforms matter the most to you. Are they forums or review sites? Whichever it may be, you need to establish a monitoring system so you remain in the know of how your brand is being talked about.

2. Respond to negative reviews

Unfortunately, people are more likely to leave a review when they have a bad experience. Rather than ignore these negative reviews, it is essential that you respond immediately to mitigate any further repercussions. By ignoring the reviews you risk losing a customer and prospective customers that are in the research phase. 

3. Ask for reviews

Prospective customers want to see that you have a healthy amount of recent reviews before they move to the next step. So make sure you are constantly asking your customers to leave you a review on the sites that matter most to your business. 

How do you do that? Well you can manually ask them at checkout or you can automate review link invites with software, like ReviewIQ! This eliminates the unnecessary busy work and ensures you are capturing the patient experience at the optimal time, as soon as they leave their appointment!

4. Create a blog

A major element of reputation management is search engine optimization, or SEO. SEO determines where you show up on the results page when users search key terms related to your business. This affects not only your reputation, but also your customer reach and searchability. By creating a blog saturated in relevant keywords and phrases, you can drastically improve your online ranking.

5. Cross promote content on another blog

The more content you have related to your specific set of keywords, the higher search engines, like Google, rank you. And this only increases as your site gains authority. Therefore, if you have a site with high-authority publish your blog you are likely to see a drastic boost in your site’s SEO. So consider creating a partnership with another professional site that already has a successful SEO strategy.

6. Optimize your social media accounts

We know you’ve hear it a million times, but you need to establish a presence on social media. Now this doesn’t mean you need to have an immediate following, but clients and prospective clients should be able to easily find you on all major platforms. Based on your business model, create an account on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and/or YouTube to reach your target audience.

7. Consistently engage with your audience

Once you’ve established your online presence and have reached your target audience, make sure you are actively engaging them. After all, it is much more cost effective to maintain your current clientele than it is to acquire new ones. Respond to their reviews on review sites, their comments on social media, and any other inquiries to show that you are active online. 

Reputation management and developing an SEO strategy can be tricky, and sometimes businesses require assistance. Be sure you check out our reputation management services to see how we can help!

Social Media Do’s and Don’ts for Healthcare Providers

Social media is a must for modern businesses, and medical practices are no exception. However, it can be difficult to navigate social media in a field that requires confidentiality and the utmost professionalism.

Here are some of the top do’s and don’ts when it comes to managing social media for healthcare providers:

Avoid Inflammatory Comments

Initially, social media was not used as a growth strategy for medical practices. However, time has shown that it is not going anywhere and many healthcare professionals are using it to their advantage. Social media directly impacts how prospective patients perceive your practice, and therefore, you need to be careful on how to respond to comments. 

If you respond negatively to comments, you risk serious repercussions to your image and career. A simple slip up such as losing your temper or responding irrationally is not easily overlooked in the medical industry. Therefore, be sure to respond to comments calmly and collectively, as everything is made public.

Be Transparent About Your Availability

Doctors and healthcare providers are among the most respected and sought after professionals, as everyone requires healthcare. This comes with great responsibility and means that your words carry significant weight and impact. Therefore, you need to be clear when it comes to your availability for new and existing patients. Provide accurate contact information and patient admission guidelines so you can eliminate any miscommunication.

Adjust Your Privacy Settings

If you allow prospective patients to book appointments and communicate with you through direct messages, make sure you adjust your privacy settings to your liking. Some social media platforms allow users to see when the recipients open and read their message. If you would like to turn off this capability, you can change the read receipt option in your settings. You can also change your account from public to private if you want to regulate who can see your posts and message you.

Create a Professional Page

Just by creating a social media account, your inbox will become littered with spam messages. While there is no way to entirely avoid this, creating a professional page can make this more manageable. With a professional account, you can separate your personal and private lives and require users to submit a request in order to send you a message. It also allows you to separate your friends and family from your clientele.

Consider Disabling Outside Comments

Social media is a great way to promote your business’s services, products, and contact information. And of course, it is the perfect place to share content and give your practice a little personality. Some providers repost patient reviews, while others choose to raise awareness about topics that they are passionate about. However, it is important to keep medical liability in mind and ensure you are not posting content that can be perceived as medical advice by the general public. To prevent patients from taking action, consider disabling outside comments to safeguard your posts and brand image.

Check Your Employer’s Guidelines

If your employer has specific social media guidelines, be sure to reference them and adjust your privacy settings accordingly. For example, you can assign different roles to different staff members and have them approve posts before they go public. This gives you more control over the quality of your posts and minimizes the risk of posting content that doesn’t follow the guidelines.

While social media is ever-evolving, the line between personal and professionalism has become quite clear. So be sure to carefully curate the content on your professional social media account, engage your followers appropriately, and follow guidelines.

Healthcare Marketing: How to Target Your Audience

If you are initiating some marketing strategies for your practice, you have probably come to realize that not every audience reacts the same way. Very few medical practices appeal to just one sole audience, making targeting particularly difficult. With the right digital marketing strategy, you can successfully reach all of your target audiences.

What is Target Marketing in Healthcare?

Target marketing in the healthcare industry involves segmenting your clientele into similar groups, allowing you to effectively market to prospective patients. For example, if you have clientele with a vast age range, you would segment them into younger, medium, and older generations. Then you could experiment with the promotional wording and media platforms to find what combination works best for reaching each audience. 

You may find that the younger generations engage more with email and social media promotions, whereas the older generations prefer physical brochures. Through consistent tweaking, you will eventually find the most effective strategy for each segment.

How to Market to 4 Different Healthcare Audiences

In general, there are four primary audiences in the healthcare sector that you should at least consider targeting:

1. Consumers

Consumers in this case can be thought of as the generic prospective patients. Consumers are difficult to target because they could fall into your other audiences or be an anomaly. Prospective patients are also difficult to target because they are either choosing a healthcare provider in the heat of the moment or conducting thorough research. 

Someone looking for an emergency room is probably doing a quick Google search and choosing the closest option. On the other hand, someone looking to find a long-term health practitioner is probably vetting all of the possibilities. 

In order to reach the consumer, you need to focus on empowering messaging that highlights your best qualities. Do you provide exceptional care, special financing, or priority scheduling? Whatever your unique selling point is, advertise it and show how you can make their life easier. 

Also consider the following tips:

• Improve your search engine optimization by publishing blogs.
• Continuously update your website for the best possible user experience.
• Share videos, photos, and posts on your social media pages.
• Showcase images of your physical facility.

2. Patients

Patients are those that have already interacted with you or your practice in some way. Perhaps they have tried out one of your services or are a long-term client. This doesn’t mean that you have their lifetime commitment. You need to continuously nurture this audience in order to maintain your retention rate. Afterall, it is significantly more cost effective to keep existing clients than it is to acquire new ones. 

Current patients are often the best way to gain new clients, as word-of-mouth advertising has proven to be the most effective form of marketing. Prospective patients are more likely to believe a recommendation from a trusted friend or family member than an online promotion. So make sure you are providing the best service to your current clients.

Here are some ways you can optimize your marketing efforts to current clients:

• Make retrieving their records as convenient as possible.
• Send out email reminders for appointments and test results.
• Engage patients via social media and other online platforms.
• Organize your website so it is easy to navigate.

3. Baby Boomers

If you don’t already know, baby boomers fall in the segment of Americans that were born between 1946-1964. While this may seem likely an awfully specific audience, more than 70 billion Americans are baby boomers, making them a vital audience. This audience requires a specific marketing strategy as they prefer more traditional mediums.

A study found that baby boomers require more healthcare services than any other generation in America. It is projected that by 2030, baby boomers will account for more than double the current hospital admissions. This is why you need to dedicate a marketing initiative to this segment.

Consider the following tips when marketing to this generation of patients:

• This generation is becoming more familiar with technology, so ensure that your website is responsive on all devices and easy to navigate.
• Focus on SEO to ensure you appear at the top of search engine results pages.
• Prioritize content marketing, as baby boomers are likely to search terms related to certain conditions and symptoms.

4. Seniors/Elderly

Although many believe baby boomers and the senior generations are synonymous, they have a few key differences when it comes to marketing. The ederly are not very fond of modern technology and prefer traditional mediums like television, radio, and newspapers. 

Here are a few tips when marketing to this audience:

• Utilize traditional marketing techniques.
• Aim to establish a long-term relationship.
• Be straight-forward in your marketing.
• Remember that purchase decisions are often not made directly by this generation, but typically by their care-giver. 

By putting the tips we outlined above in action you can create a universal healthcare marketing strategy that allows you to reach your target markets.

How to Respond to Positive Reviews

When responding to online reviews, most people think it is only necessary to address those that are negative. While they should definitely take priority, also responding to positive reviews can significantly improve how prospective patients view your business. 

In this article, we will cover the benefits of responding to positive reviews, response tips, and examples.

Why Should You Respond to Positive Reviews?

So why dedicate time to responding to positive reviews in the first place? Aren’t the positive reviews good publicity enough? Yes they are great for attracting potential customers, but by responding to them you:

• Increase your patient reach- When you respond to a review, you gain even more advertisement promotion.
• Improve the customer experience- Making your customers feel like they are heard and appreciated improves their experience and attracts more customers.
• Search engine optimization (SEO)- The more content your business has, the higher you rank on search engines, such as Google.

Tips on How to Respond to Positive Reviews

So how exactly do you respond to positive reviews? Here are five quick tips to ensure you responding appropriately:

Respond Quickly

First and foremost, make sure you are responding promptly. Customers shouldn’t have to wait weeks in order to hear back from you. Try to respond within three days in order to engage the customer in a conversation.

Make it Personal

If you are using a pre-designed template to respond to reviews, make sure you are personalizing it. Otherwise, your clients are bound to notice that it is a cut-and-paste response.

Be Polite

Always be polite. Be sure to thank the customer for leaving the review first and foremost. While this may seem like a small gesture to you, it shows them that you truly value their feedback and satisfaction.

Reference Specific Points from the Review

This goes hand-in-hand with personalizing the review, but it’s worth focusing on. When responding to reviews, be sure to reference specific points from their initial review. This not only calls to their attention that you are personally responding, but it also gives you the opportunity to showcase specific products and services. This not only promotes what you offer but also boosts your SEO.

Promote Positive Reviews

When responding to reviews, ask customers if they are comfortable with you sharing their feedback on your social media and website. While this is not necessary, it is considerate to do so before publicizing their review and account.

Response Examples

Determining how to respond to positive reviews can be challenging. So here are three response examples:

1. Respond with an Offer

What makes a happy customer even happier? A special offer! Offer the client a discount on your services or even an award, such as a gift card. This shows them that you appreciate their feedback and patronage. 

2. Respond with Further Support

If the review touches on a specific product or service, be sure to reference it and offer further support. This not only gives them more information but highlights your services for prospective customers that are reading your reviews!

3. The Default Response

If time allows, try to respond to every review. This is doable by developing a default response that allows you to easily plug in the patient’s name and specific points. 

These methods are a great place to start when responding to positive reviews. If you need guidance on how to respond to negative reviews, be sure to check out our previous blog for more tips.

How to Start a Patient Referral Program: 4 Steps

We are in the age of digital promotion. Businesses are advertising their products and services on social media and through paid promotions in hopes of catching the attention of prospective customers. While many find success using these platforms, they are often oversaturated making it expensive to stand out from the competition.

That is why healthcare professionals should consider establishing a patient referral program that harnesses the power of existing clientele to generate new patients. Keep reading to learn how to establish your own referral program in just 4 steps!

What is a Patient Referral Program? 

First, let’s go over what a patient referral program is. A patient referral program can look different depending on the state laws that regulate incentive-based marketing. However, in simple terms, a patient referral program offers incentives to existing patients for referring their healthcare provider to friends and family. Incentives typically include discounted visits, gift cards, sweepstakes, and other “thank yous” when their referral turns into a closed sale.

Before establishing a referral program, be sure to look into your state’s and field’s guidelines to incentive marketing. For example, the American Dental Association (ADA) has very strict terms and conditions when it comes to how professionals can incentivize referred patients. 

Once you have a clear idea of how you can proceed with your referral program, follow the following steps:

Step 1: Broadcast the Program

First and foremost, educate your staff on the new referral program and stress the importance of bringing it to the patients’ attention. Then, have your staff craft a sentence or two that they can pitch whenever they are checking out a patient. In addition to the verbal reinforcement, consider showcasing your program in high traffic areas, such as the:

• Checkout counter
• Waiting room
• Bulletin board
• Doctor’s office
• Website

Step 2: State the Incentives

Once you have researched your respective state’s laws on incentive programs, determine what rewards you will give your referrals. Consider the following:

• Shopping gift cards
• Restaurant gift cards
• Appointment discount
• Priority scheduling
• Physical gifts
• Money 

Step 3: Assign Referrals to Staff

Consider assigning specific referrals to different members of your staff to avoid oversaturating your clientele with your sales pitch. Instead, tell your staff to ask long-established clientele who you know is satisfied with your service and is likely to use your referral program. This also ensures that responsibility of promoting the new program doesn’t fall on just one person’s shoulders. 

Step 4: Determine the Referral System

Now you must determine how your staff will execute the referral system. Is it solely by word-of-mouth? Will you print brochures? Will you establish a QR code? This often depends on the size of your practice and age of your clientele. If you are a small practice and your staff is well acquainted with your clientele, you can probably get away with word-of-mouth. 

However, if you have a growing practice and/or have a younger clientele, you will probably need to establish a tracking system to ensure the program is being used honorably. 

When done correctly, a patient referral program can increase your patient reach and clientele by reaching people via current clients. By only paying referrals when appointments are locked in, practices avoid unfruitful marketing expenses. Hopefully, this article has helped you determine if establishing a patient referral program is right for your business!