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How to Market Medical Procedures

by Raechel Conover

Overview

Medical procedures fall under two categories: required and elective. Required medical procedures are procedures that must be done to improve health, and insurance often covers all or part of the costs. This means the patient doesn't get much choice in who does the procedure. According to the Healthcare Marketing Blog, elective procedures--typically things like cosmetic procedures--are not covered by insurance. This means the patient gets to choose who performs them, making good marketing a needed component. The best marketing for these procedures will require more than one marketing approach.

Step 1

Use banner advertising. Banner advertising are ads similar to ads in newspapers, but they pop up online when potential clients search the Internet. This is one way to market your medical procedure to a large audience. You can even pay to post your banner advertisements on websites that deal directly with your type of procedure. For example, place a banner advertisement on a website for bras, if you are advertising breast enhancement procedures.
Step 2

Employ search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a way to populate your own website with keywords in order to rank high on Internet searches. This works in your favor by increasing the chances of your website being visited when keywords such as breast enhancement surgery are used in keyword searches.
Step 3

Set up a blog. Setting up a blog will help you establish yourself in your field. When going under the knife, patients want to feel like they are in trusted hands. Prove to them that you know your stuff by discussing it, answering common questions and explaining procedures in a blog. Always put a link to your company website so that if potential patients like what they see, they can contact you to set up their procedure. You can populate a blog with SEO keywords too and make your advertising work for you in more ways than one.
Step 4

Offer a discount. Everyone likes a discount, especially on pricey, out-of-pocket medical procedures. Once you have clients coming to you for procedures, tell them that if they elect to get more than one procedure, you will take a percentage off their total bill. Say you have a patient who wants to a reconstruction of their nose, but they also are considering a face-lift. Offer them a discount if they get both procedures done by you.
Step 5

Start a referral system. This means offering a discount to those patients who refer another patient to you. For example, if you specialize in laser eye surgery, offer to provide free or discounted follow-up appointments if patients refer another person to you for laser eye surgery.