Medicine is one of the safest areas to try and create a long-term business, between the constant need and constant innovation. However, this popularity also drives a lot of competition, meaning it’s essential for you to find a way for your content to stand apart when marketing in the medical field.
This can be a tall order for medical professionals who aren’t used to creating written content, and there are a lot of content mistakes that either hurt SEO or fail to get traction with readers. We’ve talked to some of the experts about common pitfalls. Here’s what they had to share.
1. Not Understanding YMYL (Your Money Or Your Life) SEO
YMYL is a term originated by Google, which is described in their official search quality guidelines. Any content in this category is considered more of a risk to rank, because if it isn’t accurate, it could have a negative impact on finances or health. These topics are examples.
- Medical information
- Financial information
- Legal advice
- Talk about the government, politics, or law
- Any topics that relate to health/wellbeing
If this does apply to your content, make sure you are keeping to the highest standard and always working on your E-A-T (expertise, authoritativeness, trustworthiness)
Rahul Khosla
Lead Web Developer
Sleeky
2. Choosing The Wrong Marketing Channel
One of the biggest mistakes I made regarding content marketing was missing the channel (and not communicating well with my customers). So we had a nice user base, and we thought creating content would generate loyalty within that user base and also expand and serve as an introduction to what we did as a business. So far, so good. The thing is we simply assumed that having a Podcast was the way to go, it was time efficient for us, fun and we just assumed that people would tune in. They didn’t.
It wasn´t that the quality was bad or anything, we just missed the channel. A simple analysis (or just talking to our customers) could have saved us hours of work and frustration. Turns out they just wanted a newsletter, and all we had to do was ask them what they wanted.
Pedro Copelmayer
CEO
Timit
3. Failing To Diversify
In order to reach a wider audience, we are trying to implement multiple channels that appeal to them at the same time, versus just building one. We just launched in the past few months so a lot of our time up to this point has been getting our ads setup, launching a Google my Business, connecting with dentists, however content marketing is a big part of our marketing plan moving forward.
We’re going to be launching two Instagram accounts. One for customers to educate them about procedures, dental implants, all on 4 teeth in a day, etc. We’re also going to launch another one with pictures of procedures which to some might be a little gory, but kind of in the same vein as Dr. Pimple Popper’s Instagram profile where people come there almost for entertainment more than to be educated about dentistry.
Outside of that we’re working on launching a Youtube Channel with Dr. Sam answering patient questions and common questions online people have about implants. I think in our space providing value and establishing ourselves as experts goes a long way.
John Frigo
Digital Marketing Lead
Surgical Suites
4. Not Utilizing E-A-T
We often assess the strengths and weaknesses of content marketing strategies in different industries. Especially amongst medical companies, we’ve picked up that the most common mistake amongst these types of firms is underestimating the power of Google’s E-A-T principles. Expertise, Authority and Trust should be key elements of any content produced by medical companies.
As a high E-A-T business that provides sensitive advice to the general public, medical companies – whether selling devices, services or information – should invest in qualified professionals to write content or at least fact-check the finished product before publishing. While the content itself should be in-depth, backed up by resources and non-biased, author bios are just as important, highlighting why a specific author is qualified to write about the topic.
Along with rich media like original photographs and videos, Google will see these content elements as positive and in turn, push your webpage and website further up the rankings.
Bethany Spence
Content Marketing Specialist
Exposure Ninja
5. Neglecting UX
Medical content can be dry at times, especially if it’s technical information or published scientific literature. When promoting such medical content, you want to make it easy for the user to digest the information you are sharing.
Spending extra time and resources on user interface and experience will prove to be beneficial to your business.
Kunal Sampat
Founder and Podcast Host
Clinical Coach, LLC
Conclusion
Whether you’re doing it yourself or looking for an outsourcing partner, there are many ins and outs of marketing in the medical field. Hopefully, these five areas help you improve, but if you’re looking to discuss your marketing goals or strategy further, we would love to talk.
David is the Founder and Director of article-writing.co, the fastest-growing content creation agency in North America. He has transformed companies by offering high-quality content that has impacted their SEO ranking, revitalized websites with engaging and industry-relevant blogs and website copy, and championed successful email campaign copy.
