Dermatologists have a larger competitive landscape than most specialties. Not only are they directly competing with other practices in their area, but also other businesses that offer similar services, like spas and Botox-administering dentists. It’s important for these marketers to maintain a strong digital marketing strategy to uphold the practice’s online reputation. On top of that, there’s another more influential marketing channel that many healthcare marketers tend to overlook—in-office digital screens. By using this owned channel, you can deliver relevant marketing messages to patients with a greater chance of impacting their behavior.
With Knowledge Comes Power
For dermatology marketers especially, there’s a pressure to grow practice revenue by finding unique ways to promote services, procedures and product offerings. Some of the biggest challenges are knowing who to target, when to serve them an ad and how to create messages that resonate. While online platforms are great because they can use their abundance of data to help you deliver ads to the ideal consumer, in-office marketing can take that a step further by placing your messages in front of consumers who are already thinking about their health and are in the process of making treatment decisions.
In-office marketing has the unique value of letting you know exactly where a person is in their care journey and what they’re about to do—talk with their dermatologist. With the understanding of the consumer’s current mindset and objectives, you can deliver more precise marketing messages that drive more action.
Messages that Convert
Not only is the channel important for marketing messages, but coming across as authentic and trustworthy can make or break the effort. With the pandemic causing an erosion of trust between consumers and the healthcare industry, marketing messages need to be more cognizant of the channels they use and the messages they’re sharing. It’s been shown that when marketing messages are displayed on digital screens and interspersed between relevant health education, their credibility is increased.
Using a surround sound approach, you can increase the effectiveness and trustworthiness of your marketing efforts even more. By sharing important information with clinical staff in break areas, you can keep your initiatives top of mind for dermatologists and clinicians and remind them to discuss your promotions when meeting with patients.
75% of patients say they trust products and advertisements that they talk with a doctor about or see in the practice.*
Some key best practices you should keep in mind when creating in-office marketing messages:
- Add captions to your promotional videos if you’re using digital screens in the waiting room. This will ensure your message gets through regardless of size or sound level of the office.
- Use simple, direct messaging that can telegraph across the room. Patients need to be able to glance up and quickly grasp the idea that they should ask their doctor about your offering. Make that language clear and high contrast for maximum impact.
- Add clear CTAs. In the waiting room, CTAs could be ‘talk to your doctor’ or ‘talk to our staff’. In the exam room if you are using touchscreens, the CTA should include a clear touch action like ‘learn more’.
- Don’t forget your clinicians! Share your marketing messages with your dermatologists and medical staff. Internal communication channels like back office screens, email newsletters or daily huddles can keep everyone on the same page with promotions and business goals.
Your location is your competitive edge and with the right messaging, you can drive more patients to act in the moment where they’re already thinking about their quality of life and skincare.
If you’d like to learn more about PatientPoint programs and how they can help your practice, visit our product page. Or, you can read more about marketing in dermatology in our blog, 5 Ways to Market Your Dermatology Practice without Spending Money.