7 Proven Ways to Boost Traffic To Your Local Medical Practice

In 2023, local medical practices are really having to up their digital marketing game. With competition fierce, clinics of all types and sizes are doing all they can to attract local prospective patients.

If your medical practice wants to compete with the best and succeed in smashing ROI targets, you need to be using the best healthcare marketing strategies to attract a local audience. Below are proven methods and tactics to boost awareness and drive enquiries while making sure your marketing budget is being spent wisely.

Invest in local SEO for healthcare

With the majority of patients looking for healthcare services locally, it stands to reason that improving your local SEO rankings would be top on your list of priorities. Being at the top of Google for your preferred search terms is a massive trust signal for the average person – after all, if Google is recommending you, then it lends you a great deal of authority in the eyes of most people! 

Businesses new to local SEO should start by claiming their Google My Business listing. This is a simple process which requires you to provide details such as your clinic’s name, address, phone number and opening hours, along with a rundown of the services you provide. Once this is sorted you stand a much greater chance of appearing at the top of Google for searches in your area.

Once this is sorted, you should optimise your web copy for local terms and search terms relevant to your business. Finding just the right keywords is a long process and involves a lot of trial and error, but optimising your healthcare clinic for local SEO is one of the best decisions you can make to increase traffic and business.

Take time to perfect your onsite patient experience

You want your virtual storefront to show your brand in the best possible light. Just as you would want to offer the best in-person experience, you should ensure your onsite experience is as intuitive and seamless as possible. Google prioritises user experience as one of its ranking factors, and taking the time to finesse your website will ultimately result in happier, more informed customers who are more likely to trust your clinic and engage your services.

When optimising your onsite patient experience, be sure to consider mobile users. In 2023, there are roughly 4.32 billion mobile internet users, with 92.3% of internet users accessing the internet through a mobile device. Businesses that fail to offer a good user experience on mobile ultimately lose out to the competition, with Google now taking a mobile-first approach to rankings – so be sure your website is mobile responsive and fast-loading for mobile users.

You need to make it as easy as possible to find and book your clinic

To increase local traffic to your medical practice, you need to make it as easy as possible to book or schedule an appointment. Any blockage here has the potential to cost you custom – people have a lot of options, and they’re more likely to opt for a clinic that makes their lives easier. 

An on-demand appointment booking service is essential in 2023, allowing potential patients to make bookings 24 hours a day, without having to wait for the clinic to open or without having to pick up a phone.

Clinics should also consider having enquiry forms throughout their websites to allow patients to get in touch for more information – some clinics go that one step further and offer a chat service in case of any questions. Building trust is critical to the success of a healthcare clinic, and incorporating opportunities for direct engagement between you and your patients will help in creating long-lasting, high-quality relationships. These efforts should all be supported with frequent, clear Calls to Action throughout the website to direct and encourage patients to follow through with appointments.

Take time to build a strong healthcare marketing campaign

If you want to boost traffic to your local medical practice, you need to market your services – and the best way to do that is online. People take to the internet to research, to scope out their options and to seek out reviews, so it makes sense that the bulk of your marketing efforts should take place online.

One effective way to market online is to build backlinks to your website – with each one acting as a vote of confidence for your website, Google uses a healthy, varied backlink profile as a way to determine how relevant and authoritative you are, meaning you will ultimately rank higher for desired keywords while boosting brand awareness. 

Local clinics would also be wise to utilise paid search (PPC) to generate qualified traffic, while making effective use of social media. Be sure to track your campaigns at every stage to maximise your ROI and to determine where to channel most of your marketing spend.

Build an email nurturing campaign

For your healthcare marketing campaign to be successful, you need to maintain contact and engage patients to encourage repeat visits. Prospective patients need to be nurtured before they make a conversion, and they need to be contacted after their first visit to maintain that relationship and offer real value. One of the best ways to do this is to create an email nurture campaign. This can include anything from reminder emails to give patients notice about upcoming appointments, to follow up emails asking about their experience, to upcoming offers and deals.

Whatever your clinic’s goals, maintaining an open dialogue is a must, so your patients always have you there at the back of their minds.

Take time to engage with your local community

Brand awareness is a huge factor for any business’ success, and a great way to cultivate relationships, build trust and increase brand awareness is to engage with the local community.  Keep your finger on the pulse of what is going on locally – engage with local media when you can, support other local businesses and raise money for local charities. This step takes a great deal of time and effort, but the payoff will be huge once you develop that reputation and trust.

Hire healthcare marketing professionals

Knowing where to start with digital marketing, paid search and even blogging can be difficult, especially when you are working every hour of the day to keep your clinic up and running. You want to do what it takes to be an industry leader and to position yourself correctly, but it doesn’t help that best practice changes with each algorithm update. This is why many medical practices decide to hire a healthcare marketing agency, who can take care of the details while you focus on business and your bottom line. Every penny spent on a marketing campaign is an investment, and one that will provide your business with a solid foundation to build a stronger future.