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Branding and marketing are as important to doctors as it is to different professionals in different industries. When a doctor has a branding strategy working for him, he can control how he is perceived by his patients.
Why Do Doctors Need Digital Marketing?
In today’s day and age, it is integral for doctors to focus their branding efforts in the digital arena. Hence in this piece, we are going to look at the different nuances of branding for doctors, with the ‘what’, ‘why’, and ‘how’ of branding for doctors, explained in brief.
Here’s why an online brand is important for doctors
01. Standing out from the competition:-
Doctors are treated as experts by the masses at large and they perceive all doctors to be on an equal footing. This perception becomes a problem for doctors who want to differentiate themselves from other doctors in their specialty.
But fret not as not everything is without hope because, with the help of branding, one can distinguish himself or herself from other doctors.
Branding is a very effective way to show potential customers why you are better suited to meet their needs, over the other professional who shares your specialty.
02. Clear Expectations for Patients:-
When you develop a well-established brand, it sets patient expectations before their first visit. When you come good on your promises that were made via branding, patients feel that their expectations have been met and it lays the foundation for a solid reputation. Thus it is important to come good on the promises that you have made via online branding.
03. It Fosters Loyalty:-
When you satisfy clients on a repeated basis, it sets the foundation for feelings of loyalty in the long term. Branding is the first step towards ensuring that feelings of loyalty are fostered in the long run.
The five main aspects that result in a higher level of patient loyalty are satisfaction, reputation, problem resolution, follow-through, and staff that treats patients with dignity.
Steps to Personal Branding for Doctors:
Here’s how to build your professional brand online
01. Evaluate Your Current Brand:-
The first step in building your professional online brand is to evaluate the brand that you currently have. This entails researching where your brand currently stands.
You can do this by looking up yourself on search engines and identifying content that may be damaging your reputation and driving business away.
Moreover, you must do so because as many as 85% of consumers trust online reviews and such factors do have a bearing on their choice of provider.
Make sure you specifically keep an eye out for patient reviews as an overwhelming majority of patients look up online reviews when deciding on the doctor or physician, they’d like to build an appointment with.
Keep in mind that due to HIPAA norms, sometimes you won’t be able to tell your side of the story as you’d have to respect patient confidentiality.
02. Showcase Your Professional Philosophy:-
This part is as important as the first one and this part entails showcasing your professional philosophy online.
In this part, you need to do a little soul-searching to examine your values as a doctor along with the approach that you undertake to provide your patients with the best treatment imaginable.
Once you have determined your philosophy make it a part of your online reputation management strategy and then go about branding.
This can be done by identifying opportunities to display your chosen brand effectively through your social media profiles and web pages.
You should make it a point to clearly explain your professional approach, along with the “how” and “why’ of it Further, you can show how dedicated to your philosophy by generating relevant content as well links to content on reputable sources on the internet, which are in sync with your approach.
03. Monitor and Maintain Your Online Reputation:-
No matter how careful you are in your work, there is no foolproof or surefire way to avoid criticism at all times. Even the best doctors have to face criticism sometimes and it is something that you just have to deal with sometimes.
Malpractice suits are one of the biggest difficulties for doctors who are trying to build their brands. These suits if not handled efficiently can spiral into becoming full-blown disasters and may end up doing irreplaceable harm to your business and reputation.
It is because patients can disclose their history but doctors are bound by norms and rules to not disclose them. One way to deal with such complaints is through a well-informed online strategy.
This entails maintaining social media profiles regularly along with developing content that is relevant to your area of practice.
If you don’t have the time or resources to implement such a strategy on your own, then you hire the services of an online reputation management company for the same purpose.
What to Avoid While Personal Branding for Doctors:
01. Don’t Develop Something Generic:-
Building a strong online brand is going to take quite some time and effort on your part, or on the part of the experts who you have engaged for the same purpose.
No matter how you go about it or which strategy you implement, you must make sure that you don’t end up wasting your efforts and resources in building a generic presence that fails to differentiate you from other doctors.
You are advised to do some soul-searching and then some brainstorming to identify the different ways in which you can display the unique aspects of your practice to patients online.
One way to ensure this is by going with a bold brand that challenges the norms of your industry. Another way is to take a community-centered approach and to show your associations with nonprofit organizations.
Further, you need to have a proper schedule to post branded content on all of your different social media profiles. And it can help you stand out from the competition.
Focus on what makes you. Your practice is unique and build an online presence focused on that uniqueness for the best results.
02. Respond to Patient Reviews Cautiously:-
A very important part of maintaining your online brand is to respond to patient reviews. Sometimes the reviews can be very unflattering or in bad taste.
Everyone has criticism coming their way in one form or another. But what separates successful doctors from unsuccessful ones and how do they respond to reviews? The first tip is to never ignore negative reviews or attempt to get them deleted or delete them.
Exercise moderation and patience in your tone while attending to these reviews. Respond in a way that can turn poor experiences into positive ones.
Another important point to note is that you should never divulge any information that can be considered a contravention of HIPAA rules. Because then you might have to face legal ramifications of your actions.
Suggest follow-ups for unsatisfied clients publicly or privately. Always try your best to remain empathetic to all the reviews that you get, regardless of them being positive or negative. Another important thing you need to do is to actively seek out feedback from patients.
When you encourage feedback from satisfied patients, you ensure a steady stream of positive reviews. As a result, it will outweigh most of the negative reviews that you may have gotten.
03. Avoid Inconsistency in the Online and in-person Brand:-
On top of all the strategies and tips that have been shared above. You need to ensure that you reinforce your online brand by keeping in-office experiences. And on the same level as what is advertised on the internet.
You need to come good with the promises that you advertise on the internet. Hence delivering superior in-office experiences is a must. No matter what brand you develop for your practice, the key is to maintain consistency across all mediums.
It means to say that if you market your office as fun and friendly then the actions of your staff. Your bedside manner should reflect the same values. Make sure that your online and in-person brands complement each other well and are not inconsistent.
If they are inconsistent, it really won’t serve you any purpose. There will be very few chances of getting repeat business as the patients might end up feeling shortchanged or underwhelmed. This is why it is important to advertise only what is within your reach to deliver.
Summing It Up:
Many ways of maintaining an online reputation for doctors have been aforementioned. These ways and ideas have delivered the results for many doctors. They can do the same for you, if and when you implement them.
If you don’t have enough time to run these campaigns on your own. You can hire the services of an online reputation management company for the same purpose.
Such service providers provide services of both professional as well as personal reputation management. You can hire them if you find it difficult to manage your reputation on your own.
