Hospital Marketing: Strategies for Engaging Patients and Enhancing Community Health

Visiting the hospital isn’t something people routinely add to their to-do lists. For most, it isn’t an expected activity like scheduling an oil change or dinner with friends. People visit the hospital when they have a health concern and need immediate care.

Despite providing necessary services, hospitals can still make every effort to attract and retain patients. Engaging in hospital marketing allows you to inform patients about their care and supports overall community health.

Not sure how to start marketing for hospitals? That’s a common concern among providers. This guide offers tips for implementing effective hospital marketing strategies that drive patient engagement and retention.

Understanding hospital marketing

Knowing the marketing basics can help healthcare providers implement an effective hospital marketing strategy. Here are the fundamentals you need to know.

What is hospital marketing?

Hospital marketing involves attracting potential patients and cultivating long-term relationships with existing ones. Hospital marketers use industry research, advertising, and customer service to develop and execute marketing campaigns.

Hospitals may use online and offline marketing tools — including email marketing, social media ads, and locally focused SEO — in their marketing strategy. Each tool supports the hospital’s goals of satisfying patient needs and building its patient base.

The 5 P’s of healthcare marketing

Hospitals use these five Ps as a foundation for their marketing strategy.

1. Product

A product refers to the goods or services a brand sells. For hospitals, the product is medical care. Doctors and other staff members treat patients for illnesses, diseases, and injuries. Patients expect a hospital to provide high-quality medical care that caters to their needs.

2. Price

Hospitals set a price for each service offered. Many people use their health insurance to cover most costs, but are responsible for paying the deductible and uncovered amounts. Patients appreciate a transparent pricing structure that outlines expected healthcare costs.

3. Place

Hospitals located in or near large cities may see more foot traffic than those in less populated areas. Positioning a hospital’s location advantages, such as free parking or proximity to an urban center, keeps the facility top of mind for local patients.

4. Promotion

Community health initiatives and ongoing patient communication help build a hospital’s reputation. Hospitals use a variety of tools for promotions, including press releases, digital advertising, and email marketing.

5. People

Patients expect a hospital’s staff to provide quality treatment. Hiring experienced doctors, specialists, and nurses enhances a hospital’s reputation for exceptional care.

Unique challenges in healthcare marketing

Marketers use highly personalized campaigns to reach a target audience. However, hospitals must be careful with targeted ads because the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) limits the use of a patient’s personally identifying information.

Another challenge is messaging. Hospitals can’t promise specific health outcomes in their marketing materials. It’s also essential to work with vendors that comply with HIPAA regulations.

Ethical considerations in medical marketing

Many brands use emotional hooks in their marketing strategies to create a sense of urgency with customers. However, that approach can cross ethical boundaries in hospital marketing, where patients may already feel worried about their health. 

Instead, hospitals should emphasize staff expertise, transparent pricing, and facility features in their marketing strategy. Those aspects help a hospital stand out without drifting into unethical territory.

Digital marketing strategies for hospitals

Hospitals use several techniques to attract patients in their local market. Often, a mix of these three common strategies works best to reach the hospital’s marketing goals.

Search engine optimization (SEO) for healthcare

Search engine optimization helps hospitals rank higher in search engines for targeted keywords. Incorporating target keywords in website copy tells search engines which services the hospital offers so that it shows up in relevant searches.

Since hospitals serve local communities, it’s important to target location-based searches. Creating a Google Business Profile for the hospital is one way to do this. Potential patients can see the hospital’s location information, services, and other provided details in the profile, which appears on Google Maps and local searches.

Content marketing

Content marketing helps hospitals establish authority and strengthen patient relationships. Each type of content aligns with a different marketing goal.

Educational blog posts

Blog posts that discuss topics relevant to a hospital’s services enhance its authority as a reputable medical provider. Hospitals can also use blog posts to introduce new staff or highlight the facility’s features.

Patient success stories

Sharing a patient’s successful outcome may encourage others battling a similar disease or injury to seek a hospital’s care. Before sharing any patient stories, confirm their consent and get their approval on the completed content to ensure HIPAA compliance.

Health awareness campaigns

Encouraging healthy habits in the community draws attention to the hospital. Medical providers can hold special events that promote their services, such as free flu vaccinations or skin cancer screenings.

Telemedicine marketing techniques

Hospitals with telemedicine services can attract new customers by emphasizing flexibility, patient confidentiality, and time savings. Tools such as email marketing and online ads allow hospitals to communicate with new and existing patients.

Social media marketing for healthcare

In today’s interconnected world, social media is a powerful tool for helping hospitals reach new patients. Building a comprehensive social media strategy will set your facility up for success online.

Choosing the right social platforms

With so many social media platforms available, it’s important to select one that best aligns with your marketing objectives. Facebook and Instagram work well for connecting with patients, while LinkedIn can help a hospital establish credibility as a medical authority. Choosing one to start with minimizes cost and time expenditure. 

Creating engaging healthcare content

Boring posts won’t attract much engagement from your intended audience. Brainstorm creative ways to highlight the hospital’s services and medical staff expertise. Adding a dose of fun to your posts can increase likes and shares, extending your reach.

Providing patient education through social channels

Use social media to inform your audience on health-related topics. Videos and infographics work well with this type of content.

Leveraging patient testimonials

Sharing patient reviews or testimonials gives a hospital social proof. Include them on the hospital’s social media posts to build trust with potential patients.

Managing your online reputation

Responding to public reviews and feedback through social media demonstrates that hospital administrators care about the patient experience. Use each platform’s built-in features to track mentions or invest in a social listening tool that automatically alerts you to any posts relating to your hospital. 

Brandwatch and Brand24 offer comprehensive solutions to help you track mentions across social channels. You can also try Google Alerts, which is free. It tracks specific terms or keywords — like the hospital’s name — and sends a message when a new mention appears online. 

Ensuring HIPAA compliance on social media

HIPAA regulations prevent sharing a patient’s personal details on social media. If you incorporate patient outcomes or stories into social media marketing, ask for their permission before sharing. If in doubt, seek an attorney’s advice to comply with applicable data privacy and HIPAA laws.

Handling patient feedback and interactions

A hospital visit can be a very emotional experience for patients worried about their or their loved one’s health. Prioritize empathy, compassion, and professionalism when responding to feedback. Future patients may look past negative reviews if they see the hospital made an honest effort to resolve the situation.

Email marketing for patient engagement

Round out your hospital marketing strategy with email marketing. Reaching current and former patients, loved ones, and community members via email can help foster strong relationships and build trust.

Build patient communication lists

Hospitals collect patients’ personal information during their visits. Use this opportunity to ask patients to join the hospital’s email marketing list. 

You can include an option to sign up for emails in your intake forms and on the hospital’s website. Be careful to get a patient’s written permission before sending any marketing emails so you don’t run into legal issues.

Types of email campaigns

Use a variety of email campaigns to retain subscriber interest. 

Some email marketing ideas include: 

• Health tips: Share general health advice for your targeted audience. For instance, you might share tips on caring for a baby with new parents. 
• Preventive care reminders: Use email to encourage patients to schedule an annual checkup or visit with a specialist. 
• Service announcements: Send a message to patients when there’s a change to your service offerings or availability. 
• Patient newsletters: Create a regular newsletter featuring recent hospital news, upcoming events, and wellness tips.

Personalizing patient communication

Add a personal touch to emails by leveraging patient data. Try using the patient’s name in relevant communications. Sending messages that relate to specific client concerns may improve email campaign results.

Segmentation strategies

Segment email subscribers based on specific characteristics, such as demographics and interests. You can send targeted emails to each audience segment based on previous engagement and healthcare needs. 

Compliance and ethics in hospital marketing

Hospital marketing is highly regulated. Various laws and regulations require providers to protect patient privacy and refrain from using their personal health information (PHI) in marketing campaigns. Before embarking on a new marketing campaign, ensure your plan is compliant with these guidelines.

HIPAA guidelines in marketing

HIPAA restricts healthcare entities from publicly sharing a patient’s PHI without their written consent. Essentially, a hospital can’t discuss a patient’s care or PHI in marketing materials. It’s against the rules to share a patient’s treatment plan or outcome without their approval.

HIPAA doesn’t restrict healthcare companies from engaging in personalized marketing as long as it doesn’t violate PHI rules. General email newsletters and preventative health tips are okay, but marketing a cancer survivor’s story may violate HIPAA if the hospital shares it without the patient’s consent. 

Patient privacy considerations

Patients expect hospitals to protect their personal data and abide by HIPAA regulations. Refrain from unethical practices like sharing PHI with third parties, and always use marketing tools that comply with HIPAA vendor requirements. 

Maintaining professional standards

Keep all hospital marketing communications professional. Avoid using deceptive tactics that mislead patients about the hospital’s services or staff qualifications. 

Patients trust medical staff to provide honest advice and guidance. They’ll quickly lose faith in a hospital that appears unprofessional.

Balancing marketing with patient care

A hospital provides an essential community service. Above all, its goal is to deliver high-quality patient care. Keep marketing materials informative and solutions-oriented. Overly salesy emails and social media posts may alienate patients.

Building trust through transparent communication

Use marketing to establish credibility and trustworthiness in your community. When people need medical care, they look to experienced and trusted providers for help.

Measuring hospital marketing success

Marketing takes time and money. Use these monitoring methods to verify you’re getting a healthy return on investment (ROI) from your marketing activities.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for hospital marketing

Healthcare providers set KPIs to evaluate the impact their marketing has on revenues, patient acquisition, and community engagement. Establish a KPI benchmark and objective for each metric, then evaluate performance over time. Keep your KPIs focused on one marketing channel at a time to prevent confusion.

Patient acquisition metrics

Patient acquisition refers to the number of patients gained or lost over a specific period. A few patient acquisition metrics to track include:

• Conversions: Number of people who take action on a marketing goal, such as signing up for the hospital’s email marketing list or scheduling an appointment.
• Patient acquisition cost: Expense of converting a marketing lead into a patient.
• Retention rate: Percentage of patients the hospital retains over time. 

Engagement tracking

Digital marketing makes it easy to track email and social media engagement. Leverage tools available through your email marketing platform and social media accounts to monitor different engagement metrics, such as open rates, conversions, and likes or shares.

Return on marketing investment

Return on marketing investment measures the total profits generated from a marketing campaign. 

To calculate your ROI, subtract marketing expenses from profits. Divide the result by your marketing expenditures. You can multiply by 100 to view the return on investment as a percentage. 

For example, assume a hospital earns $1,200 in profits from a one-month social media marketing campaign. The expenses for creating the campaign are $1,000. The return on marketing investment is 20%, or [($1,200-$1,000) / $1,000] x 100. 

Aim for a positive ROI on your overall marketing strategy. Remember that some campaigns may not generate an immediate return but contribute to the hospital’s overall marketing success. 

Tools for analyzing marketing effectiveness

Email and social media platforms include helpful built-in analytics to evaluate performance. Another tool you can benefit from is Google Analytics, which tracks website visits and interactions.

Constant Contact’s email and social media marketing platform integrates with many marketing tools you may already use, such as Salesforce and Zapier. It provides extensive analytics to help you measure campaign success. 

Hospital marketing: The key to strong patient relationships

Hospital marketing differs from traditional retail-oriented marketing strategies. It’s most effective when it conveys the provider’s empathy and trustworthiness in treating a patient’s healthcare concerns.

Helpful marketing strategies for hospitals include SEO, email and social media marketing, and content marketing. Setting up a Google Business Profile is essential to appearing in local searches. Track your most important marketing metrics and continually calculate your ROI to understand what’s working and what’s not resonating with patients. 

HIPAA limits the use of PHI in marketing campaigns. However, hospitals can take a patient-centric approach by segmenting communications to target specific patient interests and needs.

Ready to take your hospital marketing to the next level? Tune in to Constant Contact’s Be A Marketer podcast! Our weekly Thursday episodes take an in-depth look at creative marketing techniques small businesses use to generate real results.