Increase Patient Retention with Inbound Marketing

I’ve recently devoted some time on the Pyxl blog to talking about how inbound marketing and social media are necessary in today’s digital world to attract potential patients. That initial interaction on search engines, landing pages and social media is crucial to converting leads into patients. However, to really increase your revenue, you need to turn first-time patients into repeat patients.

Inbound marketing goes beyond just getting patients in the door – it helps to drive brand awareness and increase patient retention, two components that are essential to the success of any healthcare organization. Here are four ways you can use inbound marketing to increase patient retention:

1. Stay engaged with patients when they are healthy so that you are top of mind when they are unhealthy.

Most healthcare organizations don’t do very much outreach to healthy patients. Yet, preventative care is a win-win both for the patient’s long-term health and for your organization as an ongoing revenue source. If you reach out to patients throughout the year, they will remember you first when they get sick or need immediate medical attention. For example, a dentist’s office could send out emails every three months with tips for keeping your teeth healthy at home – they could even use this as an opportunity to upsell services such as teeth whitening. Or, a hospital could share a video that offers a tour of their new facility or an interview with a physician or nurse on staff.

2. Think about what resources you can offer your patients.

If your patients feel that you have the answers, especially to questions they haven’t even thought of yet, they will feel more secure in keeping you as their healthcare provider. If you are an endocrinologist, you could offer downloadable calendars with associated checklists so patients don’t forget to take their medicine. You could even feature online video tutorials to show patients how to give themselves insulin shots.

3. Be a voice that your patients can trust.

With mobile phones always handy, patients are becoming more active advocates for their health and the health of their family members. One of the downfalls to this, though, is that there is a whole lot of misinformation online. On the bright side, this is a great opportunity for your healthcare organization to share knowledge through social media and premium content on your website. Share important information about current health risks, disease outbreaks and health topics in the news, as well as helpful tips.

4. All of your competitors are doing it.

This may sound like a terrible reason for doing anything, but it goes back to my first point – you need to stay engaged with your patients. If not, another healthcare provider is reaching your patients with valuable content. If you are a doctor in a prenatal unit, for example, it’s important to establish trust with first-time patients. Now imagine that a competing doctor is sending timely health tips to those same patients—a checklist of foods not to eat while pregnant, a funny video about common pregnancy symptoms or tips on how to get through morning sickness. Who do you think that anxious expectant mother is going to choose as her prenatal doctor?

Inbound marketing offers a wide array of ways to connect with your patients—from email, to social media, to relevant content offerings. Nowadays, patients expect their digital experience with a healthcare facility to match their in-office experience. By reaching out to them digitally, you can reinforce your healthcare organization’s expertise, thought leadership, relevance and helpfulness, as well as increase patient retention while you’re at it.

Feeling overwhelmed and wondering how to get started? Download our white paper, Inbound Marketing for Healthcare and contact us today – we’d be happy to help you out.

Updated: Apr 13, 2022