The 6 Elements of Inbound Marketing
Are you seeing the results from your inbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is the most effective marketing method for attracting patients online. It is about earning attention, organically drawing patients to your practice.
Inbound marketing in comparison to outbound marketing, is a relatively inexpensive endeavour, it is easier to track and if done right is more profitable, yet most practices allocate the majority of their budgets to outbound marketing. The featured diagram above is by Moz, it distinguishes between Inbound Marketing and Interruption Marketing.
Inbound marketing should not necessarily replace your outbound marketing efforts, however integrating it into your marketing strategy will make it more effective, because it is more focussed and the leads you acquire are more likely to be converted.
There are 6 elements of inbound marketing that should be used together to achieve the best results for your practice:
1. Creating Content
Content Marketing should be intentional, planned, engaging, and purposeful. It promotes who you are and why people should associate with your practice. As you interact through quality and targeted content, you will build awareness, relationship, and trust. It is all about reputation management. If you want your practice to really shine, go that one step further, develop great content. This will compel your patients to share your practice with others.
There are so many channels easily accessible; website, blog, video, seminars, Facebook, twitter, just to name a few. This has allowed each of us to become publishers.
2. Participating in Social Media
Social media is a great inbound marketing channel, because it allows you to reach your target market and open the door of communication between your practice and your patients. Over the last year, we have noticed significant growth of every major social network, especially Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. With the rise of Vine, many businesses are now also using the platform to promote their own products/services instead of relying on traditional media like TV and radio ads.
If you have, or intend on developing quality content for your practice then social media is fairly easy to set up and use. Read our article titled ‘Social Media – Where to from here’ with tips you can implement to generate more leads through social media.
3. Converting site traffic into leads
A landing page serves as the entry point for a website after a visitor clicks on your website link.
Your landing page should have one ultimate goal: Convert visitors (prospective patients) into leads (interested patients seeking more information) by capturing their details so that they have a stronger chance of becoming a new patient. This is typically achieved through Opt-In Forms asking for contact details, usually in exchange for resources.
In the future, you can send newsletters, information on new services/products or promotions, and general useful correspondence to nurture your leads.
4. Nurturing Leads with Email Marketing
Emailing your existing leads with links to blogs or free resources is a good way of nurturing your leads.
Always offer value and don’t come across too ‘salesy’. Segmenting your email marketing list, will ensure you are providing your contacts with information that is relevant to them. Although segmentation does take more time and effort, it is highly recommended as it increases the probability of recipients opening your email.
5. Search Engine Optimisation
Search engine optimisation (SEO) and Google AdWords are important tools in appearing on the first page of search engines, allowing you to acquire new leads.
SEO techniques such as keyword research, high quality content, technical optimisation, page titles, having friendly URLs, metadata tags, submissions to search engines, and site traffic analysis software, are guaranteed to improve your practices’ web presence.
6. Analysing and Refining Strategies
The great thing about internet marketing is that there’s a plethora of ways to collect data and analyse the results. Google Analytics is a great place to start, but there are many more analytics programs to choose from. Additionally, keep in mind you’ll likely need an analytics program for your website and your social media/content marketing activity.
You can use these analytics to see which of your goals are being achieved and which are suffering. You can then make short-term goals to act as stepping-stones towards the bigger picture.
Vividus can bring together the 6 elements of Inbound Marketing for your practice to attract and convert patients. Speak to one of our marketing advisors today to learn more about inbound marketing.