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Artificial intelligence is gonna rock our worlds, y’all. We’re fielding lots of questions about what the next big thing will be to use the power of AI and remain competitive when it comes to bringing in new business. So let’s dive right in and talk about some of the ways we see online marketing for healthcare practices starting to adapt to the new realities of AI.
Focus on Your Brand and Story
When generative AI can create almost any text or visual content in an instant, what is there that’s left for you to say? Well, it all boils down to what we’ve been recommending for almost 15 years now: focus on your unique content and story. Until AI can get in all our heads and extract all our thoughts (yay….) this is the one thing that no one else on the web can duplicate.
What are the key aspects of your unique story? Let’s take a closer look at what comprises your brand, which is the ultimate expression of your story. Your brand is so much more than your name and logo. It’s the collection of tangible and intangible items that sum up to create a distinctive impression in people’s minds:
- Your Perspective
- Your Experience
- Your Results
- Your Office
- Your Staff
- Your Service
- Your Design/Aesthetic
All of these brand aspects and more warrant developing custom, consistent content. Generative AI will gobble up this content just like it does for anyone else’s, so don’t plan on it staying “yours” for all that long. But what you want to have happen is for it to understand what makes you stand out, and help match you with people who are searching for exactly what you offer.
Here’s just one example: let’s say you’re a (somewhat rare) doctor with a healthy sense of humor. Sure, medicine is serious business, but you appreciate keeping a lighthearted tone in the office, crack a good dad (or mom) joke now and then, and enjoying goofing around with your staff from time to time. These aspects of your brand become relevant when a person says to their AI: “find me a plastic surgeon I’ll like” and the AI, knowing the person based on her search habits and other online behavior, recommends you in part because you both have a fun-loving bend.
This is increasingly important since very soon, the onus of search will be placed in the hands of AI tools. Meaning people won’t search for you, they’ll hear about you based on their AI’s conclusions and recommendations. This makes now a critical time to get your brand to the top of the AI “mind.”
Look Closer at Your Community
You are probably old enough to remember chat rooms, forums, bulletin boards and other online communities that were popular 10+ years ago before social media and Google wreaked havoc on that ecosystem. While some niche communities thrive, by and large we are left with Reddit, YouTube channels, Facebook Groups, Discord, and apps such as NextDoor where some sense of community can thrive online.
We think if the web is going to remain a place where people want to spend time, it will have to allow for creative outlets that foster community. And your practice has a role to play in that community, just like you do IRL.
- What do you do to foster engagement on your social media? Push more on that with other relevant local online communities.
- What are you doing with leads that aren’t immediately ready to convert? Think of this group as a community of soon-to-be fans who deserve your time and communication.
- How do you demonstrate to your patients that each and every one of them is valuable to you? What do you do in-office? How do you stay in touch online?
- Do you treat the team at your practice as a core community of brand ambassadors? What have you done for them lately?
We’ve talked before about what it takes to nurture superfans of your practice who will go the extra mile to tout you up at every turn. Your superfans will have an outsized role to play as people diversify the perspectives they use for decision-making.
We’ve also talked before about the idea of full-circle or 360 marketing, and that’s more relevant than ever. To the many online and offline touchpoints we’ve already discussed, you can add AI assistants into the mix.
The practices that thrive in the years ahead will focus on being active community members who delight the people they serve and relish the opportunity to dialogue. The ones that don’t will follow the old “transactional” model of simply providing a service for money will likely hobble along, but will be missing the boat.
Cut through the Clutter and Deliver What Your Patients Want
We’ll let you in on a secret: medical search engine optimization (SEO) has never really been about search engines. It’s always been about helping people find what they need (and they just so happen to NEED what our clients have to offer…ha!). You can follow the various algorithm changes at Google the way gambling addicts follow the horse races, but in the end, these algorithms are constantly being tweaked for the very same goal.
So don’t get caught up in the hubbub around generative AI too much. In a sea of content, you still have the power to provide memorable, unique content that is authentic to your voice and vision. In fact, that’s pretty much ALL you’re going to have to continue to set yourself apart from the competition.
- Post absolutely amazing before and after images that make viewers say “wow!”
- Say something interesting or funny about what you do that’s worth sharing.
- Make an event out of a special offer and provide value that’s too hard to ignore.
- Challenge your fans to do something positive for themselves and their community.
- Always, always, distill your message to the simplest form to reach the widest audience.
People are overwhelmed by so much of modern life, and the flood of online content is a great case in point. Make what you have to say a source of clarity and inspiration in the sea of confusion.
Summing Up
People are hungry for authentic interactions in robust communities. It’s a need that will only grow as AI interactions, for all their plusses, make us feel more like just another cog in the machine. The healthcare practices that succeed will continue to put people first, both in their marketing efforts but more importantly in their dedication to customer service.
As we said, AI is gonna rock our world. But we have choices about how far we let it go, and if all past technologies are a guide, it will still be a world made of people for people. Being a good human within that world is your most important marketing tool of all…just as it always has been. Exactly how and where you promote your contributions will continue to change…again, just as it always has.
