Diversity is key when developing an effective virtual doctor appointment marketing strategy. There are several channels to acquire new patients from, and you never want to rely too heavily on one in particular. What happens if it suddenly dries up and you are left with an abrupt drop in new virtual doctor patients?
When you have multiple sources driving new virtual patients you can easily scale and adjust in the event that one suddenly stops performing. There are a lot of options when it comes to marketing and advertising and you have more than likely been pitched several.
What ones work? What sources offer an endless supply of new virtual doctor patients? Which ones are highly scalable and open the door for growth opportunities?
Google offers the biggest virtual doctor appointment marketing opportunity. The search engine can become an endless source of new patients if you know how to properly leverage the organic and paid traffic available.
Attracting clicks is one thing, but converting those clicks into new patients is an entirely different game. We are going to discuss both virtual doctor appointment SEO and PPC for virtual doctors, and how to position your practice to convert a high percentage of traffic into new patients.
Google My Business: Profile Optimization for Google Maps Ranking
Your virtual doctor appointment Google My Business profile is the foundation that the SEO strategy is built on. It’s important the profile is optimized correctly, specifically for the local search terms we will be targeting to attract patients that are actively searching to make a virtual doctor appointment.
When it’s properly built, Google’s algorithm will pull your business information and display it in its results related to the specific keywords and phrases it’s optimized for. We build each virtual doctor appointment SEO campaign from the ground up, designed to attract patients that have an immediate need for the virtual appointments your practice provides.From a business description that is optimized for maximum virtual doctor appointment Google Maps exposure to consistent NAP (Name, Address and Phone Number) data that matches all other online footprints, our expertise helps to position your practice at the top of Google.
Some virtual doctor appointment marketing agencies will use traffic as the sole metric to determine whether the search engine optimization effort is effective. Traffic numbers alone are simply a vanity metric that do not translate into virtual doctor appointment bookings.
We understand what makes your business successful — acquiring new virtual patients — and that is exactly how we measure SEO success.
Establish a Google Reviews Funnel
Accumulating virtual doctor appointment reviews is important for local SEO, but it’s also important for helping to identify your practice as a reputable and trusted business. Telemedicine is a relatively new concept, so there is naturally going to be some skepticism.
Reviews that are both favorable and recent are a great way to break down that wall of doubt. The less friction the higher the new patient acquisition rate. The average consumer is going to perform a quick due diligence check before they schedule a virtual doctor appointment.
It doesn’t matter if they land on your Google My Business profile via an organic search or a PPC ad — they are going to want to be reassured that your medical practice is trusted and not a fly-by-night operation. Virtual doctor appointment reviews instill that consumer trust that pushes them to convert to a new patient.
There are some very simple virtual doctor appointment marketing strategies you can put into place that will help you collect positive reviews on autopilot. You want to always have new reviews coming in, as a week-old review has more of an impact than one that is three months old.
An automatic email marketing campaign that is triggered immediately at the conclusion of a virtual appointment is highly effective. Automated emails at one, three and seven day intervals will help you secure fresh virtual doctor appointment Google reviews.
Run a Paid Google Ads Campaign
Google PPC is one of the easiest ways to get the virtual doctor appointment marketing campaign off the ground, leading to new patient acquisitions almost immediately. While we understand the appeal of organic traffic, we also understand that a business needs customers quickly in order to generate revenue and provide the capital required to scale the marketing effort.
Google pay-per-click advertising can help acquire virtual patients almost instantly. There are three Google PPC variations that we focus on to convert at the highest rate.
Google PPC (Pay-Per-Click)
Traditional virtual doctor appointment PPC ads are set up, with each ad set optimized to target a specific keyword. We test several bidding strategies and positions, with the ultimate goal of securing the lowest possible cost-per-conversion.
We split-test ad copy and bidding as well as landing page offers. Oftentimes the slightest tweak in the offer copy or the offer itself will result in the biggest spike in conversions. By collecting as much data as possible our PPC experts are able to optimize the campaign in order to acquire new virtual patients.
Throughout the campaign we are able to identify the keywords that convert the highest and adjust the bids to more aggressively go after those terms. In the end the goal is to scale your patient acquisition while staying at or below your ideal patient acquisition cost.
Google Local Service Ads
Imagine being able to run virtual doctor appointment Google ads that drive instant phone calls? Google’s local service ads connect you with potential patients in need of a virtual appointment. When they click on your ad, they are provided two options:
- Lead Submit: This is a simple way for the potential patient to request more information. Requests can be managed by your business through an app that Google has specifically to handle all inbound local service ad inquiries. Responding to these requests right away increases the chance of converting them.
- Phone Call: Some consumers will want to speak with someone right away. Again, this is managed through the dedicated app. You will want to make sure you answer all of these calls quickly. A lead on the phone is much easier to convert than a form-submit. We often find these are the highest quality virtual doctor appointment leads.
With local service ads, you have the potential to convert a much higher percentage of clicks than you would through a traditional PPC effort. By removing your website from the equation, the patient is instantly connected with you. If they click-through to your website there is no guarantee they will pick up the phone or submit for more information.
Every time a potential patient clicks on a local service ad there is a very good chance that they are either going to submit the form for information or call your practice. These are highly interested leads, allowing you to convert them at an equally high rate.
Google Display Network (GDN)
We can also run virtual doctor appointment ads across the GDN — Google Display Network. This is a strategy where we essentially “follow” someone that has previously visited your website or engaged with an ad recently and place a highly targeted ad in front of them while they visit their favorite websites.
This is a very effective way to acquire those patients that were on the fence and just need a little push to convert. We are able to show them very specific offers based on the last page they interacted with on your website.
This remarketing can give them incentive to take immediate action. Whether that is a free initial consultation or some other value-add, this type of offer will often convert at a high rate as long as the remarketing campaign is designed to follow potential patients right after they leave your website.
The majority of patients that need a virtual doctor appointment have an urgent need or question. Waiting too long to remarket to these audiences will result in wasted ad spend. Finding the sweet-spot can really contribute to a highly successful virtual doctor appointment PPC campaign.
Ready to increase the number of virtual doctor appointments your practice acquires on a daily basis? If so contact us for a complimentary marketing audit and strategy session. We can help take your virtual patient acquisition volume to the next level.
