Build Relationships…Using a Healthcare Lead Magnet.

Healthcare is Unique

We’ve said it before: you’re not selling anything in healthcare. You’re not even selling healthcare.

What are you doing?

You are building relationships with your future patients.
You are connecting.
You are getting them to know, like, and trust you.

How?

By providing value.
By answering their health questions.
By becoming their go-to resource in your specialty.

You’re not “content marketing” so much as content connecting.

If you’re selling anything, you’re selling the promise of an exceptional patient experience.

You Can Build Relationships With Your Email List!

Be sure to read the last article in this series, “Your Patient Email List: Essential to Grow Your Practice.” Not interested in growing your practice? Then stop right now, go watch funny cat videos.

But if you are interested, email offers you a way to slowly connect with your future patients, and to stay connected with patients you already have. Do check out that last article for the many benefits of your email list!

Win-Win

What do they get out of the relationship?

They get their health questions answered.
They are reassured: They get to know, like, and trust you.
They receive your great care.

What do you get out of the relationship?

Ultimately, you get to grow your practice.

How?

Your CTA: By your future patients acting on your ultimate call-to-action:

Call your clinic for an appointment.

Your Ultimate CALL To ACTION

As always, look to the Cleveland Clinic for best practices regarding your online brand. Regarding your Call-to-Action, their CTA is prominently displayed at the very top of their page:

Note that “FIND A DOCTOR” and “MAKE AN APPOINTMENT” are easy to find at the top of their page, without needing to scroll down. Your home page must have the same! Remember…your ultimate CTA is “call for an appointment.”

What Other CTA Should You Have?

What other call-to-action should be prominently displayed on your website for those who aren’t yet ready to call for an appointment – but who want more from you?

“Sign up for email updates” is worn-out by now. And people are super-busy…they have no interest in receiving yet more email, from you or anyone else.

Healthcare Lead Magnet

So how to incentivize visitors to sign-up – to “opt-in” – to your email list?
Exactly that: use an incentive. Offer them something of value…your “healthcare lead magnet.”

It’s known by main names in the marketing world – lead-magnet, free gift, legal bribe, value-offer – but I prefer that last one, value offer. Because it is exactly that, an offer of something that provides them with value.

There are some odd value-offers used in other industries. Think of the offer of a free toaster if you open a new checking account. Odd, yes? How is a toaster relevant to your finances?

Please visit iTunes for the latest Russ & Randy Podcast Episode – Healthcare’s Prescription for Web & Social –
including an episode on this topic: Healthcare Lead Magnets! Also check out RussAndRandy.com for more.

 Listen Now!

Lead Magnets in Healthcare

What can you use as a healthcare lead magnet?

Let’s first be clear about this: not a free toaster. You want something that is relevant for your practice, for your patients.

Anything that your patients and future-patients want will make a good value-offer. Even rational value offers that are popular in other industries just don’t translate well to healthcare. They simply aren’t relevant.
Consider offering some of these any of items in exchange for visitors’ email addresses on your opt-in form:

• Free Consultation
• Free Assessment/Test
• Checklists
• Discounts (for example, for those who book appts online)
• eCourses
• eBooks
• Case Studies
• Free download
• Guides
• Handouts
• Quiz/Survey
• Reports
• Resource Lists
• Tests
• Training Resources
• Videos

Sure, there’s some overlap and redundancy in that list, but it should get you to thinking about what you currently have in your content archive of relevant brochures, handouts, guides, check-lists, etc. If you’re unsure what you have already, now is a good time to conduct a “content audit.”

More relevant: You need to figure out how to provide answers for your target audience’s problems (your future patients’ problems and questions). In market-speak, you need to “solve their pain-point.”

How can you possibly know what your future patients are looking for, what health questions they have?! After all, you don’t even know them!

It’s easier than you think. You already know what they want!

To narrow it down, go through the following exercises:

• Study the metrics of your website (Google Analytics)
• Study your competition
• Study social media
• Know your capacity
• Know what assets you already own (back to that content audit)

Examples of healthcare lead-magnets include:

Step-by-Step or How-to:

• How to Avoid the Flu This Season
• How to Avoid Weight-gain This Holiday Season
• 5 Steps to Take to Combat Weight-loss During Chemotherapy

Check-lists or Recipes:

• 5 Things to be Alert for as a New Diabetic
• 5 Filling Yet Healthy Breakfasts for Expecting Mothers

 

NOTE: If your website already offers quality and value through your articles, your readers will want more. In this case, even your digital “Newsletter,” with regular updates on topics relevant to your practice and your patients, may be sufficiently valuable to provide a good healthcare lead magnet. See the example from Cleveland Clinic below!

As always the Cleveland Clinic provides a great model of best practices for you!

The Cleveland Clinic website, Health Essentials (previously Health Hub), includes relevant, informative articles. And, that page also includes an opt-in box to sign up to receive “expert insights on nutrition, health, and wellness delivered to your inbox.” You should be doing the same!!

Create Your Value Offer

• Make it specific
• Address just one issue
• Solve that one problem
• Does it pass the value test?
• Can it be consumed quickly?
• Does it demonstrate your expertise? Build relationship?
• Does the quality represent the quality of Your Brand?

 

For the next article in this series we’ll review exactly how to make your healthcare lead-magnet offer, using automated software on your website, connected to your email provider. Until then…keep chillin…