Well folks, we made it. Sayonara to 2021 and all its Kardashian-ending, cash-scattering, Spongebob-impersonating, cicada-swarming craziness. Here’s hoping that all our clients can enjoy a busy 2022 but also get a little much needed breather to reflect and enjoy the good things life has to offer.
This is the time of year when we dust off our crystal ball and make some predictions (more like “educated guesses”) about what’s in store for the next 12 months. As we all should know from the past couple of years, the world is anything but predictable. We’re still on board for providing some forecasts, but we’ve found that it’s more important than ever to remain flexible and adaptable as the online marketing landscape continues to evolve.
Big Shifts Unlikely
We have some bad news for clients who love to hear about the “latest and greatest” new marketing tactic, social media channel, or online app. We’re not expecting a big shakeup in the tactics that work and the healthcare marketing strategies that will remain the most popular in 2022.
There are a few reasons for that rather boring prediction. For starters, the internet marketing landscape is “maturing” and has settled into being dominated by a few key players (we’re talking about you, Google, Meta and Apple). Think of it kind of like TV in the 1960s. Americans had the 3 networks to watch, and advertising effectiveness was all about the message.
Of course it’s not entirely that simple now, with ad placement, targeting, and budgeting factoring in as well as the attractiveness of what you’re saying. But it’s pretty unlikely that some brand new search platform, social app or other online marketing innovation will majorly shake things up in 2022.
Another reason 2022 is likely to be a “set it and forget it” type of year for online marketing is that in the aesthetic niche in particular, practices remain highly impacted by strong demand. It’s not quite as nuts as this time a year ago for many practices, but surgical demand in particular remains intense. Other than a shift a focus from promoting surgical procedures to emphasizing nonsurgical ones, which we already began in 2021, we think practices will remain too busy to have the bandwidth for trying new ways to reach more patients.
Increased Privacy and Accessibility
As we’ve written about before, the laws, case law and regulations are developing rather rapidly around what data protections people are granted when using websites and how many accommodations are needed on those sites to ensure that as many people as possible can experience them.
We are hopeful that in 2022, more widely accepted standards will be agreed on in terms of what counts as “acceptable accessibility,” both so that we can feel confident that people with disabilities have reasonable access to client sites and so that the litigation and threats of litigation can begin to reduce. Our clients want to do the right thing and we have put a great deal of effort into maximizing ADA compliance.
It’s likely that more states will enact consumer privacy laws similar to the ones on the books in California, Colorado and Virginia. We are hopeful that consistent standards and rules will become commonplace, but it is quite possible compliance with multiple state privacy laws will require a variety of policies, disclaimers, and privacy practices. We will continue to work with clients and their legal counsel to comply where needed while offering as simple a user experience as possible.
What Will Still Work
The fundamentals of web optimization will never change. That may sound like a bold statement, but it’s really not. People want information. Our role is to make sure your information is the most attractive and relevant out there. Whether people are seeing that information on a desktop computer, smartphone, or getting it uploaded right to their brains (hey, you never know!) the goal is the same.
Which is why we continue to focus on the marketing work that, well, works.
- Blogs, whether in text or video format, share your perspective on newer developments in the medical space and more esoteric topics.
- Infographics tell a quick, visual story about procedures, results, and more, and can easily be shared and featured on social media.
- Review generation and management is absolutely critical so that you can be confident the customer service your practice provides is accurately portrayed to potential patients.
- Email newsletters are an excellent way to stay “top of mind” for your current patient set and generate revenue without the effort of locating brand-new patients.
- Technical updates and optimization, such as maximizing page speed and keeping plugins current, are critical to helping people find information on your site as quickly and consistently as possible.
Of course there are other tactics we carry out for clients to keep their online marketing humming strong, but you should get the idea. We’ve talked before about the importance of a “360 marketing” approach where the best marketing strategy is to balance out your investment across all the channels new and returning patients may find you, rather than rely too heavily on SEO or PPC advertising for instance.
All Eyes and Ears
Just because we don’t expect a lot of innovation and transformation in the online marketing space this year doesn’t mean we’re planning to kick back poolside with some pina coladas (at least not all year long, ha). We’re always researching new marketing options and trying new things to keep clients at the front of the line. Stay tuned in this space as the year goes on for more guidance and information about the trends you need to know!