Texting is a strong advertising software that has the flexibility to drive extra sufferers to ebook appointments with you, enhance referrals, and enhance income. Significantly when mixed with different advertising methods — resembling social media, running a blog, and e mail advertising — texting lifts your communications to a brand new degree.
When you perceive the HIPAA nuances of texting within the healthcare house, these 5 SMS advertising ideas will show you how to nurture affected person relationships, and set up a stronger presence to your follow so you possibly can finally drive progress and effectivity.
1. Textual content particular provides and promotions on common companies.
Your present sufferers already know and belief you, and so they’re extra prone to take you up on a proposal. So textual content them a few basic service they might profit from, resembling a bodily examination or a ldl cholesterol take a look at.
These sufferers additionally may not know that you simply supply a sure service. Actually, they most likely don’t. However they’d be open to reserving one other appointment in the event that they knew extra about what you supply. So inform them, maybe with a month-to-month textual content marketing campaign.
It’s additionally a finest follow to textual content earlier sufferers about ongoing promotions or seasonally related companies, resembling a free well being screening, blood work, or flu pictures. This can encourage them to not solely come again into your follow, however to take cost of their well being at a reduction.
Reaching out to present sufferers will increase worth and boosts affected person loyalty in the long term. In spite of everything, it prices much less to retain present sufferers than to seek out new ones.
2. Ship basic bulletins and information about your follow with mass texting.
Textual content to succeed in your entire sufferers inside seconds, and ignite one-on-one conversations. In case your follow’s hours change, maybe as a consequence of inclement climate or a vacation, ship a textual content.
You’ll additionally need to share updates a few new physician, new tools, new companies, or plans for renovation. These are thrilling issues that your sufferers need to hear about — so inform them!
Mass texting works like BCC e mail, so nobody sees who else is within the group, and sufferers can reply again to your follow immediately with any questions they could have, resembling:
- “Do you supply [x] remedy?”
- “Do you validate parking?”
- “Will you be taking appointments on Christmas Eve?”
- I stay in [Town]. What’s your closest location to me?
While you make basic communications accessible for sufferers, you create room to construct nearer relationships with them. It takes much less time to reply to a textual content than it does to reply a telephone name, so that you’ll see elevated affected person satisfaction and extra referrals. That every one equals extra income to your follow.
3. Ship an SMS publication with weekly well being tricks to maintain your clinic high of thoughts.
Textual content ideas are a fast option to interact and construct belief along with your sufferers. An SMS publication is straightforward to start out, straightforward to run, and extremely efficient at maintaining sufferers engaged, nevertheless it must be useful, not promotional.
Ship reminders about basic well being ideas, resembling:
- What to eat and diets to strive (or keep away from)
- Myths that do extra hurt than good
- How one can keep away from infections
- How one can heal by yourself
Sufferers will see these alerts firsthand, and be capable of take precautionary steps straight from the supply. Extra importantly, these interactions are additionally creating an ever-tighter relationship between you and your sufferers.
4. Promote weblog content material to your follow through textual content.
Sustaining a weblog is a chance to rank for key phrases that your follow focuses on, and establishes you as a thought chief throughout the healthcare trade. It’s additionally a simple option to stand out from rivals, as a result of few native medical doctors specifically are prepared to place within the further time for it.
If you happen to’ve already received an energetic weblog, you positively must textual content as a part of your distribution plan.
Some relatable well being matters to the touch on:
- Frequent procedures and what to anticipate earlier than, throughout, and after
- Break down frequent misconceptions a few process
- Deal with generally requested questions
- Affected person case research
- Your sufferers can request matters, too!
An SMS marketing campaign with a hyperlink to your web site is a fast option to let individuals know that your newest weblog submit is stay.
On high of training your viewers, you even have the chance to seize leads from those that take the time to learn your weblog. Embrace hyperlinks to transform readers, resembling a hyperlink to a pricing web page or a hyperlink to ebook an appointment. Moreover, you’ll direct extra site visitors to your web site, which is useful to your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts in the long term.
By creating content material, you’re offering potential sufferers with helpful, related data that can encourage them to work with you.
5. Use texting together with your social media platforms.
Social media is an effective way to place a face to your follow and present sufferers what you’re as much as. It provides you a platform to attach along with your viewers on a private degree, and with texting, you open up room to interact even additional.
Encourage sufferers to love or remark in your submit by texting them a hyperlink to it. These posts could be of earlier than and after photos, a new child child and mom, a function of a physician, a staff picture, and extra.
Flip your posts right into a raffle, telling sufferers to subscribe to your textual content line for an opportunity to win a prize. Winners could be chosen at random, or by the order they’ve subscribed to you.
Your social media posts can say one thing like,
“Choose in to our texts for an opportunity to win a free [service]! Textual content “SMILE” to [number].”
Or.
“Share a photograph of a wholesome meal! The yummiest dish wins. Textual content your images to [number], and we’ll function the winners on our web page. Better of luck!”
The extra inclusive you’re of your sufferers, the extra they’ll really feel acknowledged and appreciated. That every one results in extra word-of-mouth advertising and elevated foot site visitors to your follow. Social media algorithms can even love you for it. The extra natural engagement you get out of your present viewers, the extra the algorithms will promote your submit to new individuals.
Nurture your affected person relationships with texting
Rising your medical follow begins with the way in which you talk with sufferers, so it’s vital to offer them a number of methods to contact you.
Texting has the facility that will help you construct relationships, particularly because it suits into most peoples’ schedules, and takes virtually no effort to learn and reply to. The following step is simply to discover a enterprise texting answer that’s proper to your follow.