The First Step in Building a World-Class Marketing Campaign

5 Ingredients of a Healthy Content Marketing Strategy in Healthcare

With a pinch of video, a dash of visuals, and a teaspoon of plain ol’ text, content continues to dominate the inbound marketing sector of healthcare. More than ever before, individuals are extra curious about their health and well being and are actively searching for credible, succinct information that they can act upon. “80 percent of Internet users, or about 93 million Americans, have searched for a health-related topic online.” So in order to reach these hungry individuals and make an impact on their lives, healthcare companies have to continually update their content across all touch points to provide relevant information, at the right time.

To build an impressive content marketing strategy in the healthcare industry, these are 5 basic ingredients you must include:

  • Personalization. According to The Marketingblog, “ 74% of online consumers get frustrated with websites when content appears that has nothing to do with their interests.” You can create all the content you want, but if you are not addressing your customers’ pain points and providing them with the information they are actually looking for, it is time to rethink your content strategy. We highly recommend utilizing analytics and social listening tools to have a better understanding of what your audience is searching for and what content they are engaging with most.
  • Build Relationships. When it comes to inbound marketing, your primary goal is to build relationships with your audience. As a leader in the healthcare industry, you have to provide valuable insights to express your expertise in the field so you’re providing your audience more value than just your product or service. Your customers are the most important ingredient of your company’s success. Keep in touch with them by sending out consistent emails, starting conversations on social media, and engaging with them on a daily basis.
  • Be Human. The last thing you want is to be perceived as an information-regurgitating robot. It is easy to automate some of your content generations, but if it doesn’t have that human touch, it will be one of the fastest ways you lose your audience. To prevent this from happening, all your content must be engaging, personable, and easy to understand. According to a B2B content survey, “81% of B2B leaders surveyed said that engaging in compelling storytelling is one of the most important elements of effective content.” By sharing a story and having a human voice, your customers are more likely to relate and see the value you’re providing.
  • Optimize it all. In order to have an effective content marketing strategy, you have to make sure that you drizzle in a few keywords that you want to be known for. In order to select the right keywords, you have to dedicate some research time to understand what customers are searching for when discussing the topic matter you’ll be covering. That way, you can use these keywords across all your channels to make sure you have a consistent and clear message that is directly targeting those customers’ needs and is aligned with your SEO strategy.
  • Goals. Goals. The last thing you want to do is to put out content just for the sake of putting out content. There always has to be an end goal that all your content should work towards, whether it is demand generation, lead nurturing, or brand awareness. At the end of the day, you want to be able to set these goals and measure against them. That way, it’ll keep your content marketing efforts laser-focused and much more effective.

We are not kidding around when we say, “content is king”. The old days of the car-salesman pitch are over. No one will be interested in your product or service if all you do is rave about how great it is. You must include these five ingredients to turn your content marketing strategy into a much more approachable and personable tactic that’ll lead to great results and a loyal following.

Interested in teaming up with our San Diego agency for more content that supports your Marketing Strategy? Give us a call!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2015 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.