The question is–WHO?
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- Who are your patients?
- Who are you best trained to treat?
- Who do you like to treat?
- Who do you want to attract to your practice?
Before you can set up an effective content marketing strategy, you need to know WHO to focus it toward.
Not sure what content marketing is? Learn more here: Your Medical Blog is Just the Tip of the Content-Marketing Iceberg.
After all, the whole point of content marketing is to get more patients. And to get them, you first need to know WHO they are.
When you know who they are, you can write blog posts that they will read. You can post to social media that they use. You can let them know that you are the one who can help them solve their specific problems.
In marketing lingo, this is called creating a buyer persona. Most big companies have them, and they are often closely guarded. Here are three good examples.
For your medical practice, answering the WHO question or creating a buyer persona means coming up with your ideal patient persona. This is a semi-fictitious amalgamation of all your best patients.
Depending on your specialty, you may benefit from having more than one persona. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
How to Create Your Ideal Patient Persona
Creating a patient persona doesn’t have to be that big of a deal.
You could hire a market research company and get a super accurate and detailed patient persona. This might be worth it if your practice is large, or you are breaking into a new area.
Alternatively, you can just sit down and brainstorm your ideal patient using your own experience and a little bit of imagination.
The best way to do this yourself is to build a persona around your favorite patients. These are the patients you have helped the most. The ones best matched to your practice style. The ones who have recommended you to others (and the ones who pay their bills on time).
The more in-depth and specific your persona is, the more targeted your marketing efforts can be.
Here is a list of features you can include when drafting your ideal patient persona.
Demographics
- Age
- Sex
- Education
- Income
- Location
Motivators
- Goals
- Challenges
- Culture
- Family Involvement
Health Profile
- Diagnoses
- Past Medical History
- Referral Source
- Insurance Coverage
Lifestyle
- Technology Savvy
- Job/Career
- Hobbies
If you want to get more in-depth, HubSpot has a helpful FREE template for creating buyer personas.
To Do:
Start creating a buyer persona by thinking of a patient who was a great match for you and your practice. Then, write out a list of the features above and fill in a description of each.
Later, you can look over the answers and include features of other patients you have had success with.
Spend a little time each day on this and soon you will have your first buyer persona–your ideal patient persona.
Once you know WHO your ideal patient is, you can focus your content marketing efforts in their direction. And before you know it, that is exactly WHO will come through your practice doors.
Read More:
What a Medical Content Curator Is and How to Become One
Newbie Guide to Online Marketing for Medical Practices
Your Medical Blog is Just the Tip of the Content-Marketing Iceberg
