Healthcare and medical device brands are facing the same problem, and it has little to do with their product offering or operational practices. Rather, it’s a problem that stems from the modern world we live in—on-demand reigns supreme, and everyone wants a solution that’s “near me.” Solving this problem leads to faster growth for brands—resulting in more qualified customers and increased sales.
The problem? A lack of effective, localized marketing that meets your “near me” searchers when and how they’re looking for you.
Reach Customers Where and When They’re Searching Online
Whether it’s a single brand operating thousands of locations across the country, or a single-location practice, healthcare brands need to shift their advertising gears to target more active buyers. The trick to reaching them is knowing where they are online and the best way to appeal to them. While the way consumers get their information has changed dramatically in the past ten years, too many brands are still relying on traditional advertising methods. Although non-digital tactics like billboards, newspaper ads, and TV spots can be effective, they’re difficult to test, target, and optimize for successful results.
To drive valuable customers and revenue, you have to meet them where they’re searching: online and at the local level. It’s not enough to bump up your digital advertising budget (although you need to do that too). You have to create engaging ad campaigns that are localized to meet your customers’ “near me” criteria. In fact, according to Google, relevant localized ads received three times more attention than average ads. Additionally, as a brand it’s important you maintain brand standards throughout all of your locations.
So, how do you do it?
Localized Digital Marketing at Scale
You’ll need to create an advertising campaign comprised of attention-grabbing ads that show patients the solution they need. The campaign needs to be engaging and in line with your brand standards.
Next, localize your campaign nationwide to ensure it’s attracting patients to each of your locations. You do this by optimizing every ad within your campaign with relevant, hyperlocal keywords. Think “skin tightening treatment near me,” “dentist in Raleigh, NC” or “eye doctor 27613.” Yes, ads that capture your national brand and communicate your overall brand messaging are important—but what's equally important is optimizing them to target patients at the most profitable level: local.
Balancing your brand messaging with localization can be challenging, but there is a simple solution. You can stay true to your brand messaging and create ads that target consumers near each of your locations by working with a company like Netsertive that offers scaled localization, powerful analytics, and distributed advertising at scale.
Before we get into that, here’s your game plan for solving the healthcare brand marketer’s #1 problem: ineffective, or non-existent, local marketing.
Scale Your Advertising Campaigns for Local Audiences
Once you select a distributed marketing platform, you’ll need a creative ad campaign. Choose a platform with digital experts to help you implement your campaign at scale—on a variety of channels like Google Search, YouTube, and Facebook—while still maintaining your brand standards and overall messaging.
Brands with product offerings in multiple markets and locations typically deliver one big advertising campaign to target customers in need. Think the Happy Honda Days special during the holiday season or Macy’s Black Friday advertising rollout.
Once that’s created, you’ll need to implement it at scale. To do that, execute the following tactics:
- Optimize ads within your campaign to target specific geolocations while maintaining overall brand control.
- Fuse hyperlocal words like zip codes and city names with the main keywords you’re targeting to attract patients in those specific geolocations.
- Distribute ads on relevant channels when and where your best potential patients are searching.
Now comes the hard part. It’s not enough to launch your ad campaigns out into the world and hope for the best: you have to actively monitor their progress by tracking things like click-through rate, cost-per lead, and cost-per acquisition.
Use Big Data to Drive Big Opportunities (for Expansion and Sales)
The only way to know if your campaign is successful is by analyzing the data behind it. By knowing exactly when and where people are seeing your ads, and how they’re engaging with them, you can fine-tune your campaign to reach more qualified customers.
When it comes to optimizing your ad performance, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a huge asset. Unlike humans who need to eat, sleep, and do things outside of work, AI programs are good at what they do and never have to stop doing it. For example, Netsertive’s AI-backed platform monitors ad campaigns in real-time to augment and improve their performance. This helps marketers audit their campaigns to assess performance, make effective changes, and improve their campaigns with the push of a button.
So, if you’re looking for a Distributed Marketing platform to use for optimizing your ad campaigns, look for one with built-in AI capabilities. It will help you save on advertising costs while maximizing your revenue streams.
Get the Ball Rolling on Your 2020 Digital Advertising Plan
Looking for a partner to assist with your 2020 Digital Advertising Campaign? Our digital experts are here to point you in the right direction. Reach out to us today by completing this form for a complimentary consultation and campaign audit.
Coleen Kinen-Ferguson
Coleen Kinen-Ferguson is the Inbound Marketing Manager at Netsertive. When she's not busy writing blogs, drafting content strategies, or collaborating with the marketing team, you'll probably find her at the gym practicing aerial acrobatics.
