At the 10th Annual Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference in Chicago on June 14, Daniel Goldberg, director of business development for New Jersey Spine and Rehabilitation, discussed key marketing strategies for spine and pain centers, some of which have helped New Jersey Spine increase its patient volume by 80 percent over the last two years.
Here are six marketing strategies Mr. Goldberg uses and suggests.
1. Reach your target audience. Construction workers, truck drivers, athletes, sedentary employees, an aging population, mothers with multiple children — these are all potential patients of a spine center.
To reach a target audience, spine centers should identify demographics and habits of potential patientsand then tailor the spine center's marketing approach to these potential customers.
2. Maintain an online presence. The most important marketing asset a specialized physician can have is a quality website because it "acts as a direct portal to potential patients," Mr. Goldberg said.
A typical Internet user spends less than 30 seconds on a webpage. Spine centers can combat this quick bounce rate by clearly conveying information on their home page. If potential patients need to search around the site for information, they will likely navigate away. "Your goal should be to keep users on the page for at least a full minute, or have them click through three or four of your pages," Mr. Goldberg said.
3. Build a website with strong content. Websites should be a way for potential patients to become familiar with you and should include:
- Services provided
- Physician information, including photos and biographies
- Educational resources
- Videos and testimonials from patients
- Accomplishments of the center of physicians
- Contact information
- Center locations
Mr. Goldberg also recommended a spine center stay clear of putting the following on its website:
- Advertisements from other entities
- Cluttered and disjointed content
- Use of the word "free" in any sense
The word "free" has both negative connotation and evokes a false sense, Mr. Goldberg said. To guarantee "a pain-free" lifestyle on your site is incredibly misleading and may be the source of legal action. Mr. Goldberg suggests using words such as "complimentary" or "no cost" for advertising and words such as "healthy" and "active" in regard to quality of life.
4. Utilize search engine optimization. A spine or pain center may have a great website, but if no one knows it exists, it is wasted. While Google's search engine algorithm is proprietary, there are companies that specialize in helping websites improve their SEO.
"Like medicine, SEO is an evolving science," Mr. Goldberg said.
Hiring a trustworthy — and reasonable — SEO-specialized company may be the best idea to gain online exposure for your website, Mr. Goldberg said.
5. Be smart with social media and blogging. Twitter and Facebook are a great way to disseminate information and increase your online presence, Mr. Goldberg said. He advises centers to stay on top of Facebook pages and Twitter accounts and to update social networks several times a day.
Since social media, and especially Twitter, is bombarded with messages, repetition is key to gaining exposure and establishing a social media presence, he said.
Blogging and guest writing on blogs is a great way for spine and pain centers to stay in the social stream of conscious, Mr. Goldberg said. Blogging and aggregating relevant news stories about spine and pain-related issues, for example, is a great way to stay relevant and give perspective on current medical developments.
6. Brag when it's warranted. If a physician or your center does something noteworthy, write about. That's the message Mr. Goldberg gave at the conference.
"Don't be afraid to boast about your accomplishments," Mr. Goldberg said.
He suggested spine and pain centers send press releases to news networks, magazines, newspapers and other physicians when it's warranted.