Health care marketers, both domestic and abroad, have a daunting task: develop and execute strategies to accommodate changes in customer behavior, fragmentation of media and increasing competition from global providers. For many health care providers, one of the keys to success (and in some cases survival) will be the ability to reach, engage and cultivate relationships with patients via the Web. This is clearly much easier said than done.

Most health care marketers know the Web is a critical medium for reaching patients and building your brand. Yet many are still on the sidelines, wondering what to do, where to start and how to measure results. Whether you’re looking at Google, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Email, Blogs or other media, there are many options and seemingly few answers to the question “what should we do?”

Based on 6+ years of online marketing in health care, along with 3+ years of social media marketing on behalf of large and small brands, I believe I have the answer which is presented in the archived webinar (see below for table of contents). View the Webinar: Online Health Care Marketing Strategy.

Presentation Overview
With the goal of helping health care providers, marketers and facilitators understand interactive marketing, I conducted an online webinar for the Medical Tourism Association in 12/09. The lessons are equally applicable to international and domestic providers. “Online Marketing for Health Care: What You Need to Know!” addresses the following:

1. Business case for online marketing in health care
2. A five-point plan (and best practices) for online marketing success
- Understand your audience
- Optimize your Web site
- Create demand via paid, owned and earned media
- Engage and interact via social media
- Define metrics and measure results
3. Social Media: Keys To Success
- Business case for social media
- Common mistakes and pitfalls
- Tactical recommendations for success

To view the slides (without the voice-over) view Online Strategy and Best Practices for Healthcare Marketing on slideshare.

To view my blog post on this topic (and view the embedded webinar) visit our health care marketng blog.
http://blog.spurinteractive.com/2009/12/18/online-marketing-strateg...

Social Media Resources: If you want to learn more about social media, here are some related posts and presentations:

- Social Media Strategy for marketers
- Business Case for Social Media
- New Media Toolkit

I hope you find this to be of great value to you and your organization. If so, please feel free to comment and share with others!


Steve Latham
http://twitter.com/stevelatham
http://twitter.com/spurinteractive