When people need to find a doctor, most of them turn to the internet. That means your organization’s physicians must find ways to stand out in this hyper-connected, hyper-competitive marketplace. As a healthcare marketer, you’re in a unique position to help your physicians find their voice. Physician blogs are a great way to get your physicians’ messages out to the public.
Blog articles that include your physicians’ bylines and consumer-friendly, understandable language help position your team of physicians as thought-leaders in their fields of expertise. On top of that, you can use physician-written blog articles to improve your physician search results. And you can get your organization valuable exposure through earned media.
Physician blogs showcase your providers’ deep experience
Your marketing efforts focus on attracting patients to your organization based on the availability and quality of care they can expect. In essence, your medical providers and their expertise are the product you sell to patients. A healthcare blog provides a natural channel for you to shine the spotlight on that expertise. And you can do so in a way that patients will find helpful and informative, rather than intrusive or irrelevant.
Your website’s service-line content should provide the main overview of the care you offer and what patients can expect from your team. But blog articles allow your physicians to do deeper dives with longer-form content. Maybe you have a physician who is the sole provider of a service or treatment in your area. Or perhaps a physician can speak to a new study that is making news headlines. Your blog allows readers to hear directly from physicians throughout your organization on the topics that matter to their health.
Your healthcare blog also allows your organization to offer content about preventive measures to a degree that most service-line content can’t match. For instance, the head of your burn unit could discuss how patients can lower their risks in the kitchen. Or a sports medicine physician could write about how athletes can lower their risk of injury through proper stretching techniques.
Blog articles not only allow patients to learn valuable information about their health. They also help patients develop trust in the physicians who deliver the messages. This can drive conversions — both directly through calls to action (CTAs) in the articles and indirectly through calls or appointments made outside the blog environment.
There’s also evidence that search-engine algorithms weigh author credentials in their evaluation of quality content — including healthcare content. That means ensuring your physicians have their names on high-quality, SEO-friendly, relevant content that meets users’ needs may help boost your organization’s blog pages higher in search results.
Physician blogs strengthen your provider search results
When patients are ready to find a doctor, your organization’s physician search results often play a key role in their selection. Patients look for a number of pieces of information, including proximity to home or work, education, and areas of specialty. One key way you can help your physicians stand out among the many physicians patients may be comparing is to publish links to their blog articles on their provider listings.
Having links to several blog articles published on a particular topic in their search results helps establish your physicians as reliable, credible sources of information. This reputation can help weight decisions in their favor when patients are choosing where to go for care.
Physician blogs improve your physicians’ exposure with earned media
Healthcare is an issue that is important to many people. That means journalists are often in search of newsworthy healthcare stories to share with their audiences. And they need sources to help them tell those stories. That’s where your physicians come in.
By constantly getting your providers’ names out online with responses to healthcare developments, applications of new clinical trial results or government regulations, or even tips for people on how to beat the summer heat, you’ll be positioning your medical team as a trusted resource for journalists who are chasing healthcare stories. This may result in your physicians’ message being amplified through traditional media coverage. Your providers could also be interviewed on local news broadcasts or in print media as subject-matter experts in their fields.
Our content experts will help your physicians blog better
Getting your physicians’ names and insights out in front of patients online is critical. But most providers simply don’t have time to write blog articles on top of their patient-care and research duties. Fortunately, our team of healthcare-exclusive content creation strategists can ghostwrite for your physicians based on detailed interviews to create the consumer-focused content patients demand.
To learn more about how we can help you increase your organization’s reach and visibility through physician blogging, contact us.
