Your urgent care practice boasts the best medical equipment and the most premium doctors in the locality. However, unlike your competitors, you did not implement any urgent care advertising strategies. As a result, there are hardly any patients coming in!
Without an efficient advertising strategy, your clinic may have the most appropriate equipment and staff in the area but still no patients. That is because patients may not know about you.
Advertising in the healthcare industry is essential for long-term success. In its absence, no new patients would visit your clinic. Rather, even the most satisfied patients would leave without any marketing efforts from your practice.
The healthcare sector is changing fast. Urgent care facilities are focusing on patients and the quality of their services rather than the doctors or the quantity of equipment. Most urgent care centers will have similar or overlapping services. Patients will visit your practice only if they find you superior and unique through your advertising efforts.
The question is, what if you do not have any experience in advertising and attracting patients for your clinic? Well, we have got you covered! Whether you are new to the medical world or already have some knowledge, this article talks about 5 of the best urgent care advertising strategies for online success.
What is Urgent Care Advertising?
Urgent Care Advertising can be defined as a practice of promoting an urgent care clinic using digital channels. These comprise social media platforms and search engines to connect potential patients looking for immediate medical attention. It is usually done using targeted online marketing methods, paid advertisements and search engine optimization (SEO) to obtain new patients in the locality.
Urgent care advertising is a marketing strategy that intends to attract patients in search of immediate medical attention. While traditional healthcare advertising focuses on forging long-term relationships with patients, urgent care marketing targets patients with health conditions that are not life-threatening. This can be done through social media ads, pay-per-click ads, Google ads and paid ads to name a few.
Benefits of Online Advertising for Urgent Care Centers
Advertising is an excellent resource for urgent care services and provides several benefits that boost their growth. Let’s take a look at some of them.
1. Fosters Patient Loyalty
Worried whether potential patients will visit your clinic for their urgent care needs? Advertisements can digitally promote the positive experiences existing patients have had in your center. This will increase brand credibility and referrals to new patients, family and friends.
2. Builds Credibility
Credibility is crucial in the medical industry. Marketing efforts should foster confidence and trust in your urgent care clinic. This can be done via advertisements promoting the service quality of your facility across multiple communities and platforms.
3. Supports Patient Recruitment
It’s also important to win back patients who are now visiting your competitors instead of your urgent care practice. Advertisements can promote how your clinic is resolving the pain points and health concerns of your patients. Moreover, you can even use advertisements to bring new primary care physicians and better services for your patients.
4. Strengthens Brand Awareness
Efficient marketing efforts can also bring recognition to your urgent care clinic. This will make your facility the top choice for potential patients looking for immediate care.
Types of Ads for Urgent Care Centers
Recent research suggests that almost one in 20 Google searches are related to health. More precisely, online searches are 3 times more likely to boost patient visits to hospitals as compared to offline searches.
Additionally, approximately 82% of these patients need urgent care services and therefore, will be driven by some form of online advertising. Your urgent care clinic can support this by relying on a variety of advertisements. Let’s now look at some of the kinds of ads that urgent care services can use to attract patients.
1. Display Ads
These are online advertisements that rely on visual resources to market a service or brand. This can range from text to audio and video on your urgent care website. Such high global viewership makes this ad format the most popular for promoting your urgent care clinic.
For your urgent care facility, digital display advertisements can be in the form of Google ads. For example, Google Ads can be used to specify keywords for your clinic, like “urgent care center geriatrics” or “urgent care center for seniors”. This will enable your facility to come to the top of search engine results for elderly patients seeking immediate medical attention.
2. Search Ads
These are also known as paid search advertising. They include online ads that come up in search engine results when people search for a service or a product. A majority of PPC ads are in the format of search ads that appear at the bottom or top of the search engine results page. They come with the “Ad” tag and are fully in text format.
Google Search Ads are an excellent way to boost patient visits in urgent care centers. For example, you can work with Google Ads to capture local searches like “urgent care clinic near me” or “walk-in clinic in California” if your practice is based in this region. Alternatively, you can also make ad groups with keywords that are relevant to your facility. For example, if your ad group is broken arms, integrate keywords like “urgent treatments for a broken arm” or “broken arm urgent care”.
3. Paid Social Ads
These are paid advertisements that come up on social media channels like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Interestingly, a majority of digital advertising investments by urgent care centers are due to websites like Google, Facebook and Amazon.
For example, paid ads on your clinic’s Facebook or Instagram page can read as “Walk In for Instant Medical Services! Not waiting time for urgent care in California” or “Fever? Fracture? We’ve got you covered! Visit our clinic today!”.
4. Remarketing Ads
This is a marketing strategy that helps urgent care centers publish ads that target clients who have previously interacted with their social media posts or website. They are generally created by third-party cookies. If your page cannot convert users in one go, you can publish the previous advertisements again.
For example, let’s imagine a person was scrolling through your blog on “How to prevent allergy attacks during Spring”. A remarketing ad can read as, “Wondering how you can control your allergy symptoms? Visit our clinic for expert advice and diagnosis. Book an appointment now to get 10% off on blood tests!”
5. Google Screened Ads
These are advertisements that help urgent care centers publish their ads on Google. Such ads go through a strict review procedure by Google. The content of the ads, website and landing pages are thoroughly checked to see if they are meeting some standards.
For urgent care marketing, these ads might show prices, online reviews and verified primary care physicians to build trust with patients. For example, a Google screened ad for your urgent care clinic can read as “Get instant treatment from certified healthcare providers”. This can be accompanied by online reviews, 5-star ratings and testimonials from patients.
6. Google Local Service Ads (LSAs)
LSAs are another kind of paid advertisements that engage customers with local businesses. These come in the search results page when people look for relevant products and services at locations near your clinic. These advertisements are a part of organic search results or come to the top of Google Ads.
LSAs help urgent care centers attract potential patients by displaying essential information like services provided, working hours, and patient reviews. They can also be created to target local services like “urgent care services near me”. For example, an LSA for your urgent care clinic can read as, “Need quick urgent care? Visit our clinic near you – No prior appointment needed! Open 7 days every week!”
Top 5 Strategies for Urgent Care Marketing Campaigns
Now that we know about different types of ads, let’s explore the top urgent care advertising ideas that you can run to promote your clinic to new patients.
1. PPC Keyword Research
This is the process of detecting keywords that you can include in PPC advertising campaigns via Google Ads or other marketing platforms. When it comes to urgent care centers, it’s important to use keywords that indicate immediate medical needs. Examples of high-priority keywords are:
- “walk-in clinic”
- “urgent care near me”
- “urgent care centers”
- “emergency medical services”
- “on-demand medical care”
- “emergency care doctor”
You can also add keywords like “urgent care for flu shots” or “urgent care for broken leg”. These are long-tail keywords which target patients in need of prompt medical attention. However, if you are unsure of how to use specific keywords, a premium PPC company can assist you.
2. Create Click-Worthy Ads
This is when you create commercials that prompt patients to click them. Further, it helps you convert potential patients to loyal ones quickly and keeps them engaged. This quick list talks about how you can include such commercials for the marketing campaign of your clinic:
- Create ads that compel new patients to make an immediate decision. For example, “Book now to get 10% off on all kinds of appointments.”
- Add attractive pictures of your emergency rooms, busy patient wards and happy patients to gain attention.
- Include lines that grab the attention of patients and make them understand the need for urgent care. For example, “Get instant assistance with our clinic whenever and wherever you are”.
- Remember to mention the advantages of your clinic in your commercials. For example, low costs, quick emergency room visits by certified practitioners and less wait times.”
3. Optimize Ads for Mobile
The current changes in technology have made medical care more personalized to the needs of patients. Therefore, brands must optimize their commercials for mobile.
For this marketing campaign, ensure that your mobile ads are clear and concise enough to reflect the importance of urgent medical attention. Here are some examples of how you can do so:
- Make sure that your mobile ads enrich the user experience through appealing visuals. For example, add links or icons that directly drive the patient to appointment bookings.
- Your mobile ads should be seamless for your patients. For example, ensure that your website fits different mobile displays and screen dimensions.
- The ads from your mobile ads should also re-engage patients based on their location. For example, include Google Search Ads for your clinic’s smartphone website. This will help you attract potential patients searching for urgent care in the neighbourhood.
4. Use Ad extensions
These include additional portions of text that come below the title and description of your Google Ads. They give more information to your customers and can therefore boost click-through rates and advertisement visibility.
Ad extensions can be a game changer for urgent care centers. This is because they allow you to include additional information in your ads, making them more attractive and credible for potential patients. Here are a few examples of how you can include ad extensions in your urgent care advertising campaigns:
- Call Extensions: Include an option for new patients to directly call your service from the search results page.
- Location Extensions: You can add basic information about your clinic. This can be the address, working hours and address. Patients will be able to instantly view them when they are searching for urgent care facilities in the locality.
- Reviews Extension: Add positive reviews from patients on the search result page. This assures your patients that your clinic can be trusted.
- Site Link Extensions: You can even connect certain pages to your website. For example, add links to appointment booking pages for more traffic.
5. Test Ad Variations
In this strategy, your clinic can publish diverse advertisements catered to different patient communities. For example, you can change the image or text in some commercials for better online performance and engagement.
A good medical marketing organization can help you to diversify your advertisements. Alternatively, you can also check these examples on how to include ad variations in your urgent care marketing efforts: You can consider the following examples to incorporate ad variations for your urgent care marketing campaigns.
- “Fever, Vomiting and Nausea”: These texts cater to the most common urgent care demands of patients.
- “Toothache? We can help!”: This variation focuses on a specific medical condition.
- “24/7 Doctor Consultations from your phone”: This commercial promotes the proximity and convenience of your clinic.
- “Get Noticed, Get Assistance”: This will highlight the immediate nature of your clinic’s urgent care services.
- “Urgent Care Services, Right Now at your Doorstep”: This variation shows the urgent availability of your urgent care facilities.
Common Advertising Mistakes to Avoid by an Urgent Care Clinic
A well-planned marketing strategy is essential for urgent care centers to efficiently promote their message to the target audience. Unfortunately, many clinics continue to make some errors that harm their brand image and online success. Let’s look at some of the most common urgent care advertising mistakes and their relevant solutions.
1. Not identifying your Target Audience
A common error is when urgent care clinics fail to identify and understand their target audience. You will not be able to effectively market your emergency care services if you do not know who your ideal patient is. For example: A medical facility in New York offers urgent care services but has not identified that their ideal patients are young adults looking for 24/7 doctor consultations for their families. They also want to book appointments instantly from their smartphones. Therefore, the clinic’s advertisements are very general and do not directly address the needs of their target audience.
A solution would be to do market research. This can be done using surveys or focus groups to identify the demographics and needs of the patient community in the locality. This will help the clinic promote targeted ads that will help patients seamlessly access the mobile website and connect to the doctor at the touch of a button.
2. Prioritising Features Instead of Benefits
Another urgent care advertising error is when clinics promote the features of their service rather than the benefits. Patients do not care or understand about service features. Rather, they are concerned more about how your advertised features can provide them with immediate medical attention.
For example, an urgent care center might advertise that they recently recruited some board-certified dentists in their clinic. However, they do not promote how these specialized doctors can benefit the patients. Therefore, the marketing campaign will fail to target patients who are looking for immediate solutions to their toothache or oral health.
To correct this mistake, the urgent care center should promote how their recruitment of new dentists can provide urgent dental assistance to patients. You can add patient testimonials and reviews to reassure new patients. Alternatively, the clinic can also post a blog titled “Why should you consult a board-certified dentist” and add backlinks to their services.
3. Not Using Google My Business (GMB)
The biggest mistake you can make in the healthcare marketing industry is to ignore GMB. In today’s digital landscape, almost everybody relies on Google Maps and Google Search to look for nearby urgent care services. A strong online presence backed by Google is crucial to attract new patients.
For example, an urgent care clinic in Washington has a GMB account but does not respond to reviews or include paid ads. This makes it impossible for patients to find this clinic from a long search list of other clinics in the area. This makes it difficult to attract new patients and compete with other urgent care facilities with a robust digital image.
To resolve this, the facility can work with an advanced healthcare digital marketing company that can create a GMB plan for them with target keywords. They can also use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to promote their urgent care services, offer first aid tips and respond to patient feedback.
4. Not Differentiating Yourself
The healthcare industry is both complex and competitive. It’s important to stand out from our rivals. If you provide the same set of urgent care services as others, why will new patients choose you?
For example, an urgent care center in Mumbai offers the same benefits without specifying what differentiates them from clinics in the area. As a result, their patient turnover is low as no people are convinced to choose them over others.
To prevent this, the facility should add selling points to its marketing campaign that showcase its uniqueness. For example, this can include their advanced technology, their premium doctors or their vision to provide affordable emergency care. By setting themselves apart, they can convert potential patients to loyal ones looking for the best quality care.
5. Not Monitoring your Results
Lastly, another advertising mistake by urgent care clinics is to not evaluate their marketing campaign results. How will you know what works or does not work if you do not analyze your results?
For example, an urgent care clinic in London runs a Google Ad but does not monitor its leads, conversions or clicks. This keeps them unaware of whether their advertisements were successful or need modification.
To rectify this, the clinic should first set the goals of their advertisements to check the success of their Google Ads. They can then modify the messaging, placement or targeting of their ad. This will show whether certain demographics or keywords are fetching more conversions or clicks. The clinic can then publish data-oriented advertisements leading to better traffic and ROI in the future.
Conclusion
With rising competition amidst healthcare providers to get more leads and traffic, your urgent care clinic needs to top the search results page. Advertisements are some of the best digital marketing tools to use since they deliver instant, actionable results.
The right audience will always be reached at the right time through your advertising as long as people in need of immediate care can quickly locate your presence online. Getting urgent care SEO strategies effortlessly integrated into an already existing advertising approach is truly what would bring surprising results.
A final word before we wrap things up – remember to use multiple advertising campaigns across diverse channels and keywords. When you work hard to optimize your urgent care advertising ideas, you will soon see your ads appearing at the top of Google searches. Regardless, if you still feel that your marketing campaigns are not working at full capacity, you can outsource your activities to a credible PPC organization.
