How much value do you place on the opinions of your closest friends?
When one of them recommends you to go somewhere and check it out, you’ll go just to see what all of the fuss is about. This is true even for places that you wouldn’t normally go to.
This is what’s called word of mouth marketing (WOMM) and it’s very powerful. In fact, 92% of all consumers trust recommendations from their closest friends and family over any other form of advertising.
If you work within healthcare and you’re reading this you might be a little bit apprehensive about trying out WOMM strategies. But these are something you should already have implemented. If you don’t, have no fear because you’re in the right place.
Table of Contents
Everything Starts With Social Media
By now, this shouldn’t be a surprise to you. Almost every marketing leader has recommended utilizing social media as a business for that past decade. But even with those recommendations, only 26% of all US hospitals use social media.
It’s no surprise that many healthcare organizations are apprehensive when it comes to social media. There’s no denying that there are some additional risks that come with using the social web and some companies have already gotten into trouble.
But that doesn’t mean you should completely count out these interactive tools in your word of mouth marketing strategy. In this case, the benefits may outweigh the associated risks.
With a little consistency and a well thought out strategy, you could reach potential patients on a global scale.
We put social media as the first strategy in this blog post for a reason. The rest of the strategies in this piece can be further enhanced through your accounts.
Share Patient Testimonials and Stories
When you recommend a new place your friends need to check out, that’s a testimonial.
If you’ve ever had patients send you handwritten notes or send you emails about how happy they were with their treatment or experience, why not share that with the world?
Testimonials and success stories are a great word of mouth strategy for your healthcare practice because it’s a form of proof. When someone recommends your practice, they’re giving you credit.
Sure you already have all of the credit you need with your MD. That’s why you went through all of those grueling years of medical school. But even so, patients want to know that you’re the best out there. That’s where testimonials come in.
This word of mouth marketing strategy will work wonders for your practice. Some of them will really resonate with your patients. They clock in at an 89% effectiveness rating, which is higher than any other form of content in this post.
Engage with Influencers Across Niches
Maybe you’re already involved on social media and are trying to spice up your content to get more engagement. If you’re like most people on social media, you’ll find yourself following, liking, and sharing the content from accounts who have a massive following. While you’re looking at their content you’re probably wondering how they got so popular.
The reality is it could take years before you become popular enough on the social web to call yourself an influencer unless you’re a celebrity.
But why not reach out to the people who are already at that point to collaborate?
This is influencer marketing and people trust it. In fact, some people trust influencers more than they do their closest friends. 49% of consumers depend on influencer recommendations in their purchasing decisions.
So how can you use influencer marketing for your practice?
Maybe you try reaching out to a celebrity for a visit. In 2017, Johnny Depp visited patients at BC Children’s Hospital. The hospital recorded the visit and it now has over 30 million views on YouTube.
But celebrities are busy people. You can then turn to internet personalities. They’re much more accessible and there are thousands to choose from that cater to all different types of audiences.
In 2016 Motorola teamed up with YouTube star Meredith Foster to make engaging content featuring Moto Mods. Her video featured her searching for ghosts in a “haunted” high school and has almost 500,000 views to date.
In most cases, collaborating with an influencer of any size costs money unless their already an advocate of your practice. So it’s possible that the cost of working with a larger influencer is out of your budget. If that’s the case you could turn to micro-influencers.
Micro-influencers have anywhere between 1,000 to 100,000 followers on a social media channel. Their schtick is that they’re usually highly engaged with their current niche. Although they won’t get the same popularity as what a larger influencer would, campaigns with them are much more affordable.
Offer Incentives For Those Who Broadcast Your Name
You’re much more willing to do something if you’ll get something in return, no matter how small. Of course, your “brand ambassadors” will naturally spread the word about your practice to their immediate circle. But those types of patients are like gold, very rare.
But if you really want word of mouth marketing to spread you’ll need to start offering incentives. These will not only further encourage your biggest supporters but also those who are a little shy to talk about how great your practice is.
The best part is that they work. According to Software Advice, people are almost 40 percent more likely to refer a brand to their network if they’ll receive an incentive.
The next question, of course, is what kind of incentives work the best to influence word of mouth marketing?
You can offer…
Swag
Cash
Discounts on future visits
Gift cards
Giveaways
Incentives are where you can get creative. Think about your particular patient demographic. When they come in for a visit do they mention any of their hobby’s? How about the places they shop during the holidays?
Take mental notes of these and form your incentives around them. All that matters is that your incentives have some inherent value associated with them in the eyes of your patients.
If you go the swag route, ensure that what you offer for referral efforts isn’t too sales-oriented. Unless they’re a huge fan of your practice already they won’t wear a t-shirt with just your practice’s name on it. Outsource to a graphic design artist and come up with some witty graphical t-shirts.
Patient-Generated Content
Some of the trendiest businesses of the last decade became a household name due to their user-generated content strategy.
User-generated content is a great, authentic, and fun way to share your brand with the world. The best part about it is that once you get it started, it’ll run itself. Its only caveat is that it only works best with younger generations. 86% of Millennials agree that user-generated content is a good indicator of the quality of a brand or service.
So why not make a push towards patient-generated content for your practice?
It doesn’t have to be anything that risks giving out private information. If your practice has social media accounts, establish a branded hashtag and run a campaign that asks your patients to…
Record a short video stating how they stay healthy
Run a contest similar to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge for your specialty
Tweet out their favorite lesser-known health tip
Start a TikTok trend
Those are just four examples of some campaigns that could start some online word-of-mouth buzz about your practice. But when it comes to patient-generated content the sky’s the limit on what you could have them create on behalf of your practice.
Just keep in mind the ever-looming regulations we all have to worry about within healthcare.
Conclusion
Odds are that you’re already doing some of these word of mouth strategies in your healthcare practice. If you aren’t then you have a clean slate.
Test out different strategies and avenues I mentioned throughout this blog post to see what works best with your patient demographic.
Take a look at some of the most popular strategies with this type of marketing that already exist in other industries. Then brainstorm with your team to determine if you can put a healthcare twist on it.
