Patient acquisition can help you to improve your growth in the bariatric market. With 70% of all bariatric patients self-referring, a patient acquisition strategy plays a unique role in the bariatric practice.
You need the right marketing and positioning strategies to attract and motivate patients to use your service. Read on to know some of the patient acquisition strategies that can help you increase your patient numbers.
Key Takeaways:
- Patient acquisition is critical to increase your pipeline value.
- You can use multiple patient acquisition strategies like using digital marketing, sending surveys, and checking online reviews to get more quality patient leads.
- Rely on pipeline analytics to inform how to adapt your marketing.
What is Patient Acquisition?
Patient acquisition is a marketing strategy that aims to drive new patients to a clinic for service. It can also help you increase your pipeline value.
With the bariatric market estimated to reach $4.81 billion by 2028 (with a CAGR of 9.0%), there is a tremendous opportunity for growth with the right patient acquisition strategies.
Patient acquisition comes through multiple sources, such as:
- Primary care physician (PCP) referrals
- Social media
- Organic search (through Google, Bing, etc.)
- Website blogs
The volume and value of each source will help you understand the health of your marketing and where you should invest your time and dollars.
5 Marketing Strategies to Increase Patient Acquisition
Here are five strategies that can help you acquire and retain more patients:
- Engage and Communicate with your Patients
Engage and communicate with your patients to build trust, loyalty, and preference with them. Here is a list of engagement tools you can employ:
- Newsletters: With newsletters, you can provide your patients with content relevant to their specific needs. You can also send them out as you like: once every two weeks, once every month, or so on. To connect with your audience, write your newsletters in terms they will understand, and do not use any confusing medical jargon.
- Patient satisfaction surveys: Surveys can help you gain insight into your patient’s true thoughts and how they feel your care is impacting them, whether it is positive or negative. Well-designed surveys give you actionable insight for improvement.
- Take Advantage of Social Media
You can use social media to create a strong online presence to gain visibility and credibility. In fact, 80% of patients have searched the internet for healthcare-related concerns, and 63% have chosen a provider over another due to their strong online presence. Moreover, a study revealed that 95% of its survey respondents reported the positive impact of the integration of social media into their healthcare.
Social media also gives patients easier access to finding you. According to one report, 74% of social media users take advantage of the internet to search for health information online. They are also using it to connect with others who share the same conditions, which is a great way for patients to share their experiences and even offer referrals.
To take full advantage of social media, you must:
- Stay active: You do not need to post every hour, but composing a post on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media platforms once a day or a few times a week will surely increase your visibility.
- Post meaningful content: Post content that is relevant to the patients you are serving. For example, although posting a picture of a cat may catch some people’s attention, they are not relevant to bariatric care. Posting about obesity would be more aligned with content that your patients may want to read.
Engage with consumers: Ask questions. Answer questions or comments on your posts or your website. Show them you see them and that you care.
- Be Aware of Online Reviews and Patient Feedback
Over 90% of healthcare patients examine online reviews when searching for a healthcare provider. So when employing your patient acquisition strategy, it is important to be aware of what new potential customers will see—and how they will view your practice—if they turn to online reviews during their search for a provider.
High reviews and positive feedback can go a long way in improving patient acquisition numbers. Negative reviews can also be an opportunity to address the patient’s grievances and portray professionalism in your response. Studies across industries show that engaging with upset customers in a timely fashion has a positive value on your brand.
- Stay Ahead of Competitors with SEO
Having a website page that ranks high on the first page of Google can help you gain more visitors that may turn later into patients. Through search engine optimization (SEO), you can rank higher in Google and other search engines.
Here are some of the elements of an SEO-friendly website:
- Original, long-form content
- Pages that load fast
- Relevant images
- Compelling blog titles
- Targeted keywords
Several healthcare organizations that are in competitive markets already take advantage of SEO to stay ahead in their field. By building an effective SEO strategy, you can significantly improve the likelihood of your site being visited above other competing organizations.
- Use Digital Marketing
Digital marketing, also known as online marketing, is a type of marketing campaign that appears on technological devices such as phones, tablets, computers, and others. It is a form of digital communication that allows companies and brands to connect with potential customers.
It is clear that technology has altered the relationship between consumer and provider, but this altered relationship is not without advantages. It has made solutions more accessible, which means it is also easier for consumers to find your service.
A few examples of digital marketing include:
- Online ads: These can help you get quick results since paid ads tend to be placed first in online page results.
- Content marketing: This includes blogs, webinars, and podcasts that can help you build trust with your patients.
- Video marketing: You can create informative and promotional videos that you can share on your website or social media platforms to reach your targeted audience.
- Email marketing: When done right and not as spam messages that most people hate or outright ignore, emails can help you get in touch with leads.
Increase Patient Acquisition Numbers with Wellbe
Wellbe delivers bariatric results with a 75% satisfaction rate, 25% more surgeries, and 13% more consults—all with zero additional staff. We also have deeper program performance insight.
Contact us today to learn more about our personalized care automation solution to help increase your patient acquisition.
The epitome of an entrepreneur, Mark has seen the peaks and valleys of starting, operating, and assuming the risks of a new venture. He’s come up against payroll, had a few bad hires, and even swept the floors early on. Collectively, Mark’s companies have done over $360 million in sales and raised more than $38 million in venture capital, and he has successfully bought and/or sold eight companies.
James believes technology, when creatively applied, can improve our life experiences. Intrigued by the amazing potential for internet and mobile technology to engage us all, James created a business model to reshape personal health management.
Mike Splinter, an electrical engineer and innovator, has played a major role in driving advances in the high tech industry, with more than four decades of executive leadership experience including 12 years with Applied Materials, Inc. where he was served as chairman and CEO, and over 20 years with Intel, where he was executive vice president of sales and marketing, and executive vice president of the Technology and Manufacturing Group.
Mr. Baldwin was most recently Chairman and CEO of Baxa Corporation, a leader in devices, systems, and software for the handling, packaging, and tracking of fluid medications in a critical care setting. Under his leadership from 1997 until its sale to Baxter Corporation in 2011, the company sales grew from $25 million to over $170 million. As CEO, he led the eight-member board of directors and led a minority recap resulting in Goldman Sach’s private equity group owning 27% of the company. He was also an early investor and lead director in Pharmacy OneSource, an innovative software-as-a-service business that had a successful exit in 2010.