Technology never ceases to amaze. It seems like every week there’s a new technological advancement that will make our lives easier in some way or another. But we’re not talking about a fridge that can let you know when you’re running out of orange juice. We’re talking about advancements in the world of healthcare.
Telehealth isn’t a brand-new concept, but it became much more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s still sticking around. Being able to receive credible healthcare on a computer or smartphone can make a big difference in a person’s ability to prioritize their wellness.
Trying to grow a telehealth brand doesn’t come without its own challenges. But the good news is that digital marketing can help you navigate those challenges to get the most out of your telehealth capabilities.
Read on to learn about 3 barriers you may face while growing your telehealth brand, and the solutions that digital marketing can provide for them.
Top 3 growth challenges for telehealth organizations
If you’re unsure about what roadblocks you may face as you try to grow your telehealth brand, here are three that are likely to come up.
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Patient acquisition in a saturated market
They always say to find a gap in the market and find a way to fill it. However, the virtual healthcare market doesn’t have many gaps. There are quite a lot of brands and providers utilizing it. When there’s a saturated market, there’s a long list of competitors trying to attract the same patients, making it hard to stand out from the crowd.
Not only is telehealth becoming overcrowded, many people are still a bit skeptical about it. Research shows that lack of interest is a significant barrier to telehealth patient acquisition. This means that while the market is saturated, there’s not always the demand to back it up.
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Building trust and demonstrating value
Despite many reports and studies suggesting comparable outcomes between many types of in-person and online care, many people still insist on walking into a brick and mortar practice. They may not feel too confident in your ability to provide the high quality care they want. Plus, face-to-face interactions often help to build trust between a patient and provider.
It’s possible that having limited patient reviews or testimonials available on your site and Google Business Profile will make people doubt your authority and credibility. You may also have a lack of visible credentials or certifications online, which often hang inside a healthcare practice to give a patient confidence.
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Navigating regulatory and geographic barriers
Even though one of the biggest benefits of telehealth is increased accessibility, the services are still often restricted by state licensing, insurance acceptance and HIPAA compliance regulations. This means that it can be difficult for you to grow your brand to help people beyond your surrounding communities. These restrictions can also cause confusion among patients about availability in their region.
Differences in state laws can make it difficult to broaden your service availability, limiting the quantity and demographics of patients that you can help treat. Plus, with healthcare and insurance regulations ranging so much from place to place, there may be uncertainty around reimbursement policies, which can be a deciding factor for a person seeking telehealth.
How SEO and content marketing can address each challenge
It’s always important to be solution-driven. Now that we’ve discussed the barriers of growth for your telehealth brand, it’s time to discuss how you can use SEO and content marketing to manage them and continue toward your long-term goals.
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Solving patient acquisition issues with strategic SEO and content
Here are a couple of SEO tactics that can help you acquire patients in a saturated market:
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Local SEO targeting
When you’re faced with licensing restrictions in certain areas, try to focus on patients that are in your immediate area. Local SEO means getting your brand listed on search engine results pages and navigation apps to increase visibility in your served areas by optimizing for locally-relevant keywords, such as “[specialty] telehealth near me.”
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Long-tail keyword strategy
Long-tail keywords are three words or longer. When it comes to health concerns, people tend to have lengthy, niche searches, such as “causes of lower back pain in chair.” By using long-tail keywords throughout your site, blog posts and URLs, you’re focusing on less competitive but highly specific search terms that can boost quality leads.
Here are a couple of content marketing tactics that can help you stand out:
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Downloadable resources
People tend to gravitate toward healthcare providers that make the information as understandable and comprehensive as possible. If you’re able to compile content about a topic all into one resource, such as a downloadable checklist or health guide, you’re creating an evergreen resource that will keep you on the patient’s mind every time they look at it.
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Highlight your key features
Use your content to showcase what sets you apart from your competitors, such as 24/7 access, specialized care or lower out-of-pocket costs. Create blog posts, videos and infographics about what your telehealth brand has to offer that helps you stand out from the crowd.
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Building trust through thought leadership and social proof
When you’re trying to build trust with potential patients, here are a couple of SEO tactics that may help:
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Optimize provider bios
By using schema markup and credential-based keywords throughout the provider bios on your site, people can see how qualified your team is to provide the quality treatment that you’re looking for. It can also help match people with providers who specialize in their concerns based on the credentials they’re searching for.
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Optimize for branded searches
It’s possible that people have come across your brand online, or heard about you from a friend, but they’re still hesitant to schedule an appointment with you. As you’re growing, so is your brand awareness online. That’s why it may be helpful to target your efforts toward keywords like “[telehealth brand] reviews.”
There are also content marketing tactics that can help you build trust, including:
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Publishing real patient success stories
Potential patients want to hear from people who actually used your telehealth services because they feel a sense of relatability. They think, “They’re looking for the same quality of care I am.” That’s why you should publish real patient success stories on your site and throughout your content. Be sure to ask for consent from the patient.
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Optimizing your “About Us” pages
The more information you have on your site about the licenses and certifications of your team, the more credibility you’re building. Use your “About Us” and “Meet the Providers” webpages to go in depth about your expertise as well as your values.
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Clarifying regulatory navigation and location-specific content
When you want to make sure that you’re showing up as a result for people in your area, here are a couple of SEO strategies to try:
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Location-specific landing pages
Whether you provide telehealth services across several states, or you have multiple clinics across the same state, you can have location-specific landing pages on your site. That way, people can see exactly where you serve and treatments you offer in that specific location.
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Structured data
Navigating regulations in telehealth can feel like trying to solve a puzzle without all the pieces. And that’s where structured data can really step in to help.
By tagging your content with smart schema markup, you make it easier for search engines (and your patients!) to understand what services are available and where. This is especially handy when it comes to location-specific compliance, which can vary wildly from one zip code to the next.
Bottom line: structured data helps you serve the right content to the right people at the right time, and it gives you a little peace of mind knowing you’re doing it by the book.
There are also some content marketing tactics that can help with efficient regulatory navigation include:
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Making your content interactive
Content must be engaging as a way to move people along to a conversion. In this case, you can create a quiz or interactive map on your site to showcase your location coverage as it pertains to each user. It not only clears up the question of where you’re licensed, but the interactive element keeps the user interested.
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Keeping users updated on policies
If there’s telehealth policy changes or insurance compatibility changes, you don’t want to keep your patients in the dark. Use your content as a way to report new changes that can impact their telehealth treatment.
Want to attract new patients to your telehealth brand’s site? BURG+CO. can help
Trying to grow your brand in the telehealth market isn’t easy, because there are always a few barriers in the way. However, BURG+CO. can help you use SEO and content marketing to help you break down those barriers and help as many people as possible.
Our team has years of experience in helping healthcare brands improve their digital presence to attract new patients and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more potential patients to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help.
Contact our team today for more information about our digital marketing services or to schedule a complimentary consultation.