Healthcare SMEs: Are you ready for a digital future?

As more and more people take to their keyboards and smartphones, the more the world around us is becoming digitally-focussed. In healthcare marketing, we see this as a good thing, as new ways to reach your target audience are becoming available and are more refined. 

Two years ago, we predicted some digital trends that we would be likely to see 2018. We’re now well into 2019 and reflecting on these predictions.  

5 Digital Trends to Prepare for in 2018

We’re pretty pleased to say that many made an appearance and those who were prepared to take them on have experienced the multitude of business-related benefits that come with harnessing the digital world.  

As we look to the future, it’s hard to imagine digital technology and business not going hand in hand. Yet many healthcare SMEs, although creative, innovative and ambitious with their products and services, sometimes fail to understand the importance of ‘going digital’ with their marketing.  

At Onyx Health, when we help a client to ‘go digital’ we don’t set out to create holograms of their employees and introduce an AI robot to the workforce (although we’re willing to give that a try), we generally mean we’re helping them to make the most of their digital channels to reach their customers.  

For example, we believe that your website is a window into your company. In 2014, it was estimated that around 65 percent of people see an online search as the most trusted source of information about people and companies. That’s a higher level of trust than any other online or offline source. It’s now 2019, so we can assume that this percentage is now much higher and will continue to increase and that a social media profile search may also come into play. A quick scan of your website or social platform could either solidify a decision to do business with you or push your potential customer into searching for other options, so it’s important to consider first impressions.  

Making your website an asset takes a variety of high-quality images or graphics, well-crafted copy, slick functionality, interactive features and effective search engine optimisation (SEO). This can take a lot of time and work, but when it helps get you found, securing direct sales and business, it’s all worth it. 

Your website can act as the backbone of your digital marketing, a place where people can go for further information and to make contact or do business with you. However, it shouldn’t be the extent of your digital efforts. Websites and digital assets need visitors, viewers and engagement. Audiences can be grown through effective and code-compliant e-mails, online adverts and?digital healthcare?campaigns, which bring more customers to your door.  

To make sure your website is easily accessible and ideally, appears first-page in online searches, you will need to regularly post memorable, search-optimised content such as videos, blogs, infographics and animations.  

If you’re interested in going the extra digital mile, you can begin to think about how to incorporate industry-specific digital trends into your marketing strategy. The possibilities here are endless but could range from AI chatbots and social media influencers to AR & VR. Although investing time and money into digital can seem daunting, the traction gained through exciting new ways to reach and impress customers can prove incredibly beneficial.  

When we talk about being ready for a digital future, what we mean is that you’re utilising all your digital channels, creating an outstanding online impression and being open and ready to harness the ever-changing digital world.  

Are you interested in getting ready for a digital future or simply want to sharpen up your online presence? If so, we’d love to hear from you, you can reach us enquiries@onyxhealth.com or give us a call on +44 (0) 191 640 3638 for a quick chat on all things digital.