Search Engine Marketing Should Play A Key Role In Healthcare Advertising

As urban sprawl has pushed and pulled families away from the urban core in many markets, it has become increasingly important for healthcare systems to expand their footprint by opening regional facilities in the burbs.  My hometown, Cleveland, Ohio is a great example of a market that has seen its share of sprawl over the last 40 or so years.  The top three healthcare systems in the greater Cleveland market have followed the population as it migrates outwards.  Therefore, it was no surprise to me when The Cleveland Clinic made plans to open a regional campus in Twinsburg,  which is about 20 miles from the main campus in mid-town Cleveland.  The new Cleveland Clinic campus is a stone’s throw from the University Hospitals facility that recently opened about two years ago, a half mile away.  These facilities are just minutes from several other UH, CCF and MetroHealth facilities in Beachwood, Solon and Independence.

This phenomenon is happening throughout greater Cleveland and northeast Ohio.  The same dynamic is occurring in many major markets across the country.  As the Cleveland Clinic’s steel I-beams are being set in place in Twinsburg and other hospitals do the same in suburbs across the country, it is fueling increased choice we have as healthcare consumers.

On the flip side, as a healthcare marketer looking to get new patients into the system and make existing patients aware of the healthcare choices they now have in their backyard, we need to leverage new and unique communication vehicles.  Search engines represent a terrific opportunity for healthcare systems, specifically hospitals, to target prospective healthcare consumers as they seek health-related information online.

Search engines provide a wealth of tools for healthcare marketers to reach prospective patients in a highly targeted manner.  Here are some highly relevant and interesting factoids according to Google*:

• 61% of American adults look online for health information
• 41% turn to the internet first when researching hospitals
• When it comes to obtaining hospital information online, search engines are second at 62%, behind hospital websites in terms of where consumers are navigating
• The three areas of interest people are looking for when conducting online healthcare related research are 1) condition information, 2) facility information and 3) physician information
• 43% of those surveyed said the internet helped them make their decision on a facility.  While caregivers, friends, and relatives ranked higher in this area, the internet is influencing almost 1 out of every 2 people’s decision on a facility.  This is significant.

All these points tell me that search engines are a ripe opportunity to find consumers as they research health related topics and seek care.

Going back to my greater Cleveland example, and doing some cursory research, I am surprised to find that no local hospitals have a presence in paid search advertising specific to the Cleveland, geography-oriented sample searches I performed.  In fairness, they do have a presence in paid search however they are not casting a wide enough net here.

As mentioned above, search engines represent a tremendous opportunity to reach prospective patients and can be further enhanced with recently introduced features such as Google’s Ad Extensions.  Ad Extensions offer the advertiser the ability to include maps, video and other information in the paid search ads.  If you operate a hospital, chances are your building is visible and people know where you are.  But, don’t take it for granted that everyone is so hyper-aware of your location.  Buy paid search ads that are geo-targeted and include Ad Extensions with maps of the location or a brief introductory video that discusses the types of care provided at a location.  These types of ads can be placed around specific keyword searches related to your service lines and within a specified radius of the facility.

For the hospitals that are not buying the geo-based keywords/keyphrases such as ‘hospital near Cleveland Ohio’ or ‘hospital in Beachwood Ohio’, or ‘hospital near <insert city, state>’ my question is: Why not? Why are you not targeting these searches?  Have you considered and implemented a paid search strategy?  What is the data telling you?  According to Google Insights for Search, searches for medical facilities and services in the greater Cleveland area has increased 17% over the last six years (see chart below).  This is at a time when the population is stagnant to shrinking at best.  The forecast is for this search volume to continue rising.

What does all this mean if you are a healthcare marketer?  Opportunity.  The opportunity is here now for you to connect with consumers at the intersection of their search for health related information and the need for marketers to create awareness of new facility locations, new service lines, new physicians on staff, new treatment opportunities, new insurance programs being offered and so on.  The bonus is that you can track every ad, every click, every patient you generate from search engine marketing.  Healthcare marketers need to seize this opportunity and test paid search.  Learn from the testing and understand what works and what does not in terms of generating new patients.  Every day that passes that you are not using paid search to reach prospective patients represents lost opportunity.  This does not mean you should abandon the media vehicles you currently use to reach consumers.  This is an enhancement and a means to complement those media and improve the performance of your marketing and advertising as a whole.

To learn more about how Point to Point can assist with your healthcare marketing challenges, read the Fauquier Health Case Study and how we contributed towards their 6.7% market share growth.  Check out our Search Engine Marketing Capabilities to find out more about how we can assist with reaching healthcare consumers while they are searching for health related information online.  Or, contact us for more information.

*Source:  OTX & Google Custom Hospital Study, June 2009

Flickr image courtesy of ATIS547