6 Patient Acquisition Marketing Strategies

In our modern digital landscape, it’s never been easier for healthcare providers and medical clinics to reach potential patients. 

Innovative patient acquisition strategies are nothing to be scared of. In fact, great marketing and satisfied, engaged patients go hand in hand. Patients should be encouraged to use your services because of your reputation and experience — not expensive marketing campaigns.

That’s why you should embrace modern, digital healthcare marketing and patient acquisition strategies. These methods won’t just get you more patients, but actually improve patient-provider relationships and create sustained trust in your medical practice. 

Plus, by cutting out the healthcare marketing agency, you’ll have a much lower patient acquisition cost. Here are 6 strategies to empower you to take marketing into your own hands and reach more potential patients than ever. 

Organic Endorsements

One of the reasons the internet is such a powerful marketing tool for medical practitioners is because it amplifies what has always been the best marketing tool: word of mouth. No matter how much research they may have access to, at the end of the day, people are inclined to trust the doctors that their loved ones trust and recommend. In today’s digital environment, word of mouth still exists—just in a different format than its analog counterpart.

In other words, while it’s great to explore google ads for doctors, along with all the other strategies we’ll cover below, nothing is more valuable than organic endorsements of your clinic. 

‘Organic’ means that these endorsements happen naturally—you don’t have to ask for or pay for them. This makes them the most valuable endorsements—as well as some of the hardest to get. 

According to a 2021 assessment by Reports and Data, “the global clinical communication and collaboration market is expected to reach a market size of USD 5,029.8 Million by 2027 and register a significantly high compound annual growth rate of 17.3% during the forecast period.” This influx is evident by the numerous medical clinics utilizing crowdfunding tools. By harnessing the power of crowdfunding, you’ll be opening up your services to more patients. Plus, you’ll also be harnessing the inherent shareability factor of crowdfunding. 

In other words, when your patient uses CoCoPay to crowdsource their medical expenses with their loved ones, they’ll also be telling their loved ones that they work with you and trust you with their health. When a patient creates and shares their CoCoPay campaign, their community sees that they are getting care from your clinic, leading to free brand exposure and much more organic endorsement.

Simply using CoCoPay is a great way to create a steady flow of organic endorsements, while also helping you provide healthcare for less. You’ll be improving clinician and patient experiences while avoiding revenue costs. Demonstrate your professionalism and expertise to clients with an easy and streamlined payment experience from CoCoPay. 

Boost Medical Clinic Reviews 

When most people search for items online, they check user ratings and reviews to help them decide whether to invest in those products or services. This is similar to how patients search for medical services or health information. 

User review sites (e.g., Yelp, HealthGrades, Vitals, ratemds.com) act as social proof and digital currency in patient acquisition—they are a highly-visible way for patients to review medical services and doctors through patients’ personal experiences. 

Whether through text or video comments, case studies, Q and A segments, or success stories, review sites also allow patients to share their reviews on other social media platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. A positive patient experience shared via social media can result in organic endorsements and free brand exposure for your clinic. Patient reviews and testimonials can also be promoted on your clinic’s website. 

To boost your clinic reviews, you can send patients a post-service email with a short survey asking about their experience and prompting them to leave feedback for your website. Note that if you are interested in exploring this marketing option, you must ensure patient privacy and align with your local health information laws (e.g., Privacy Act of 1974).

You can also direct people to your social media pages or Google business profile to leave a review there. 

Enhanced Online Presence

For your patient acquisition strategies to succeed, you must have a robust online presence. The most important part of your digital marketing strategy is your clinic’s website—it’s your online calling card and, along with social media, is the first point of contact between you and your patients. 

A strategically-designed healthcare website provides prospective and current clients with detailed information about your services, fees, and payment options. Your website is also an ideal location for your patient testimonials, reviews, and information about alternative payment methods like CoCoPay. 

Your clinic website is also invaluable for building authority and trust through medical articles and blog posts. Enabling the “Comments” function on your blog posts can engage your patients and create an online community of people with views and experiences to share about your practice.

And don’t be shy about social media. It’s where your patients are, so you should be there, too. This is why we’ve included social sharing on our campaign pages, to make it easy for your patients to share their CoCoPay campaigns. 

Your medical clinic’s online presence can also extend to other forms of digital communication such as SMS, instant text messages, and email. These methods combine to expand your business’ reach and enhance your overall online presence.

Develop Patient Personas

It can also be beneficial for your medical clinic to develop a series of patient personas—virtual profiles of fictional patients that share similar conditions as the patients you are looking to attract to your business. An example of a patient persona would be a middle-aged person with Type 2 Diabetes. Their profile would include elements such as their goal (e.g., manage diabetes), their demographics (e.g., gender, age, location), how they prefers to access their information (e.g., email, social media, mobile phone, letter mail), and their preferred payment method (e.g., insurance, credit, up-front, or introduce them to crowdfunding for healthcare). 

Once you have completed your patient personas, they act as blueprints for your digital marketing strategies going forward because they pinpoint your target patient base, the types of services they need, and their preferred methods of communication.

Use Local SEO to Boost Your Practice

According to a recent survey by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, patient response to online medical information and services is surging. The number of patients accessing virtual visits in the U.S., for example, rose from 15% to 28% between 2019 and 2020. This shows a willingness for patients to explore digital services and increased potential for medical practitioners to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to drive traffic to their clinic’s website.

SEO for your medical practice is the most effective way to boost your clinic’s search results while targeting individuals searching for local medical services. A clinic website with a robust and authoritative “Blog” section, for instance, will provide value and information to people who searched for specific medical keywords. 

Consider a high-value “pillar post” about the benefits of finding a trustworthy physician. This is an opportunity for you to outline your services, training, and years of experience while showing patients the type of care they will receive in your practice. A well-crafted pillar post (of at least 1000 words) works to build trust between you and prospective patients and provides ample space to insert specific keywords and search terms that help your website rank higher in local search results. 

When working on your SEO, be sure to provide high value content, and stay focused on keywords. High-ranking search terms for medical practitioners usually include ‘doctor near me,’ ‘
,’ ‘doctor’s office in my area,’ ‘doctor’s offices,’ and ‘finding a new doctor.’ For more specific search terms, tailor your SEO to the products or services your clinic provides, such as fertility clinics, orthodontics, medical devices, and cancer treatments.

You should also ensure that your website is fast and mobile friendly. 

Google Business Profile for Patient Leads

The most popular search engine by far is Google, which is why doctors should explore claiming their Google Business Profile (GBP) and populating it with as much relevant and helpful information as possible. 

Your GBP is geolocated and shows on the right hand side of the Google search results page when someone in your local area searches for a relevant keyword or phrase. 

An example of a GBP listing for MercyOne Beaverdale Family Medicine clinic in Des Moines, Iowa:

This strategic patient acquisition method is an ideal way to drive traffic to your website because it includes the following clinic details and direct clickable links:

• Clinic name
• Website
• Directions (integrated with Google Maps)
• Address and telephone number
• Hours of operation
• Service options
• Health and safety (e.g., pandemic protocols)

One of the most impactful aspects of your GBP is the Google Reviews—a 5-star rating and text review system that allows patients to share their experiences with your medical practice. With a quick glance at your Google search results page, prospective patients can view your clinic information, star rating, and a clickable link to your patient reviews. Each review also has a “Like” button, while the “Share” and “Know This Place?” features allow patients to share their experiences with others via social media—further driving your potential for increased patient acquisition.

Get New Patients With Sustainable Patient Acquisition

All healthcare practitioners should take a proactive approach to generating more patient leads. With investment in healthcare financing systems like CoCoPay, you have the power to improve patient access to healthcare services—essential in today’s climate of limited access to in-person medical visits. 

CoCoPay also allows you to create meaningful interactions with your patients and be more inclusive to those who rely on crowdfunding to pay for their medical services. This inclusivity empowers your patients and encourages them to share their positive experiences about your business on various social media platforms and review sites. 

Over the last few years, patient expectations have evolved to be more accepting of virtual patient-doctor interactions. In 2020/2021, an estimated 20% of Americans donated to medical crowdfunding campaigns. A willingness to adopt new technologies like CoCoPay will allow your business to remain agile and focused on sustained patient acquisition for the life of your medical practice.