How to promote a clinic on the Internet and attract patients

In the modern world, Internet marketing is a key tool for clinics. Millions of patients are looking for and choosing medical services online. It is necessary to use all the possibilities of Internet marketing to attract these patients and not miss opportunities for the growth of your clinic. In this article, we will look at some of the main Internet marketing tools for clinics that allow you to answer the question: «Where to get patients?».

Audit of competitors and preparation of a marketing strategy for the clinic

In order to develop a high-quality strategy, you need to perform the following steps:

• set SMART goals — real measurable goals that are indicated most often in absolute values (for example: to attract 1200 patients per year, the average check in the clinic should be at least 5000 rubles, the conversion from application to profitability should be at least 90%.) and have a limited period;
• create a portrait of target groups;
• identify promotion channels based on where your target groups are located;
• analyze competitors and identify strengths;
• conduct an audit of competitors' marketing in order to prevent such mistakes in your marketing;
• to formulate a unique trade offer of the clinic — it is impossible to be like EVERYONE ELSE;
• when describing services, highlight important points for the patient so that the patient understands why he should come to you;
• analyze the reputation of the clinic on the Internet;

The list of specific events varies depending on the tasks and capabilities of the clinic. Strategy development usually takes at least 1 month, since the correct report should contain all the necessary information. At the Kovalskii Medical Marketing Agency.Group such a document can reach a volume of 200-400 pages. If you are taking the first steps, you can first «sketch» the strategy at the top, without going too deep into each point. Analyze 5 nearest competitors, study 4-5 of the most popular advertising tools. Over time, connect the others, but you can make such a decision only after a detailed analysis, since you also need to take into account such a parameter as indirect conversions.

Order a high-quality website for the clinic

The heart of the marketing strategy for effectively attracting patients to the clinic is the website. According to the Yandex search engine, the number of health-related queries was 7.4 million per day. For 6 years, statistics have increased more than 3 times, and therefore, with a competent approach, you can not only overtake competitors, but also load the clinic up to 80% only thanks to the site.

According to Law No. 323-FZ of 21.11.2011 «On the basics of public health protection in the Russian Federation», citizens have the right to receive information about a doctor and a medical organization in a form accessible to them, including via the Internet. This means that the clinic must have a website that is made in accordance with all regulations in order to avoid fines of up to 350,000 rubles.

The clinic's website must necessarily contain:

• name of the legal entity;
• data on the license to carry out medical activities;
• information about doctors, their professional education and qualifications;
• the address of the company's location and information that confirms the fact of entering information about a legal entity into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities;
• list of paid medical services with prices in rubles;
• regulatory documents for downloading
• the clinic's working hours and doctors' working hours;
• addresses and phone numbers of supervisory authorities in the medical field.
• Important requirements that need to be taken into account by a medical website:
• Modern user-friendly design that will allow your patients to easily navigate the site.
• Selling content that qualitatively describes the services and benefits of the clinic.
• A reliable professional CMS that is well protected from hacking and loads as quickly as possible in the browser
• Mobile adaptive version. It is important to take this parameter into account, since more than 70% of traffic today is mobile devices.
• SEO — optimization for search engines, so that your site overtakes competitors in search results.

The presence of the «Record online» module allows you to increase the conversion rate to a record by up to 50%. If earlier this functionality could be neglected, today it is a necessity dictated by the expectations of patients. Fewer and fewer people want to call and talk to the administrator.

Optimization of the clinic's website for search engines (SEO)

Website optimization is the first and one of the key steps in online marketing for clinics. You need to make sure that your site is visible to search engines and is easily found by patients looking for medical services. Use keywords and phrases related to your clinic in the content of your website to improve its visibility in search results.

Tip, if you want to promote the clinic's website yourself: use not only targeted RF, midrange, low frequency queries, but also near-target ones related to the symptoms of the disease. Yes, these may be informational requests, but they can also be useful for getting patients.

For the Yandex search engine, content that has a detailed answer to the user's question is important. It is also important to work out the page structure qualitatively. Be sure to check before launching the advertisement so that all feedback forms work correctly, because otherwise you will lose patients.

Content marketing (clinic's personal blog with tips)

Content marketing is another important online marketing tool for clinics. Create useful and informative content that will attract and hold the attention of patients. These can be articles, blogs, videos or infographics. Tell us about various services and procedures, give us useful tips and be distinguished by expertise in your field.

Working with reviews (reputation and brand of the clinic)

Online reviews are an important factor in attracting patients. Support active reviews on various platforms, such as Yandex.Maps, Prodoctors, Sberbank, Napopravku and other specialized medical resources. Reviews help convince patients of the quality of your services and create a positive image of your clinic. All top marketers talk about the importance of reviews, so we recommend listening to these tips. If there are no reviews about your clinic, then the patient will choose another clinic, since today the medicine market is overheated, and therefore the patient has a huge choice.

Social media work (proximity to the patient)

Social media is a powerful tool for internet marketing. Create pages for your clinic on popular social platforms such as Vkontakte, Youtube and others. Regularly update them with interesting and useful content, including news about your clinic, health tips and answers to patients' questions. Make a special emphasis on video materials, record Reels and stories every day. If you are not on social networks, then you will receive significantly fewer visitors than those clinics in which social networks work effectively.

Advertising on the Internet (context, target)

Online advertising allows you to quickly attract new patients. Use paid advertising campaigns, such as contextual advertising in Yandex.Direct and social media advertising to increase the visibility of your clinic and attract new patients. In 2023, Yandex placed great emphasis on autostrategy, assuring that robots are trained and find the right audience themselves. If you're lucky, it will be. But, as practice shows, autostrategies do not work without proper configuration of advertising campaigns, and therefore we recommend that you contact specialists for configuration, for example, the Kovalskii agency.Group, which has been helping clinics to attract patients effectively through this advertising channel for more than 12 years.

Professional administrator at the clinic

Even if your clinic has professional external marketing, then all efforts can be reset if an unprofessional administrator works in the clinic who does not know how to talk to patients correctly, and therefore the final conversion to an entry can drop to 80%! Be sure to monitor the work of administrators and doctors, as the success of your clinic depends on their quality of work. If you see that the administrator has a low record conversion and profitability, then be sure to train him. If you can't teach yourself, you can always order training courses for administrators at the agency.

In conclusion, Internet marketing plays a key role in the success of clinics in the modern digital world. From website optimization and content marketing to working with reviews, social media and online advertising — all these tools will help attract more patients and ensure the growth of your clinic.