5 Winning SEM Tips for Healthcare Marketing

Healthcare consumers must often navigate a maze of information and sources as they research health related topics.  Search engines are a common first stop where consumers begin seeking information.  For this reason and others, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a critical part of the healthcare marketing mix.  Use SEM to reach consumers when they are actively seeking information.

Google estimates the term “asthma” was searched 1,500,000 times last month.  This is just for one, randomly chosen health-related term.  There are thousands more general keywords to target along with local, branded and long-tail keywords.  If healthcare marketers are not using SEM to promote their services, they are missing out on significant opportunities.

Through a well managed SEM campaign, you can be front and center in the search results. Here are five winning SEM tips for healthcare marketing.

1) Think Local – if you are promoting services to a certain geography, make sure to target your ads to the relevant search results using geo-targeting.  Geo-targeting is accomplished by specifying a geographical region in the campaign set up as well as through the use of geographical keywords/phrases.  For example, a locally targeted search might look like this:  “Nashville cardiology services” or “Tampa rehabilitation services”.  By using geographical keywords, you open up the universe to searches outside your zip code radius.  This is often beneficial when a patient has a caregiver or family member that is outside of your zip code radius but is assisting with the process of identifying a provider for a loved one.

2) Include a call to action in your ad – every paid search ad should include a call to action.  This gives the consumer a clear idea of what they should do in order to follow through on your offer.  Examples of effective calls to action are:  “Contact us today”, “Make an appointment today”, and “Sign up today”.  Calls to action should be tested as should any ad copy to determine which version drives the most traffic and new patients.

3) Use SEM to drive event attendance – SEM is a great way promote events and seminars.  Events and seminars are a great component to the healthcare marketing mix as hospitals and providers seek to educate prospective patients on treatment courses and the variety of options available to manage a condition.  With SEM being finite through campaign start and stop dates and budget parameters, you can promote your event or seminar at the moment people are looking for the information you will be discussing.  Remember to end these campaigns to coincide with the event date or a cutoff date associated with any pre-registration deadlines.

4) Remember the long tail terms- people don’t always search using one word.  Often, they search for highly specific phrases.  These highly specific, long-tail phrases tend to be the highest converting phrases.  If someone searches on the phrase “allergy symptoms”, they are generally going to be higher up in the search funnel, meaning they are just starting to research.  If they search on the phrase “treating a reaction to peanut allergies”, this is highly specific and the searcher knows that a) they are dealing with a peanut allergy and b) they need treatment.  They are looking for information and treatment.  This type of search has a higher likelihood of converting to a patient as there is an identified need.

5) Track results and always test – as with all healthcare marketing, there should be tracking and testing taking place to assist with optimizing marketing results.  The tracking and measurement available through SEM is extremely robust and allows for myriad of testing and learning.  Testing should include A/B tests for landing pages, ad copy, calls to action, search results position (e.g., first, second, third) and offers.  This is just the beginning.  Don’t stop at the click, track behaviors through the landing page to a conversion.  Measure actions such as phone calls, online appointment requests, seminar sign ups or any other relevant behavior corresponding to the keyword/phrase and call to action.  Connect these ‘transactions’ back to keywords/phrases and campaigns.  Determine what you spent for clicks and how much return you are seeing in the form of new patients, event attendance or other important key metrics.

Contact us to find out more about SEM from Point to Point.  We’d love to discuss how you are approaching SEM in the healthcare marketing space.