While there’s no perfect recipe for an online marketing campaign, there’s certainly a method behind the madness of it all. As we’ve mentioned before, putting your eggs into one basket can ultimately cause an issue that could end up costing you more in the long run. Even taking too much time each month to focus on certain things can cause your marketing to veer off track. Instead, make sure to focus on five core elements each month, giving each one about 20% of your time to start with, and you’ll find yourself becoming aware of where you need to devote more time, and where you may need to devote less!
Focus # 1: Don’t let your content get stale.
If you think your site’s original content is going to be fine for twenty years, you may be in for a rude awakening. The way people search and read things is constantly changing, and that means it’s necessary to stay on top of your website’s body content. Not to mention, you may have a new service line or procedure that you really want to promote, and if it doesn’t have content on your site how will people ever know that it’s something you are offering? Taking a chunk of your time each month to either review your current content, add new content, or revitalize stale content is crucial to the success of your campaign.
Focus #2: Watch your statistics, performance, and ranking.
This doesn’t just mean taking a look at your analytics. In fact, it’s much, much more. Because your site has many avenues by which it can see issues (i.e, broken links, index issues, rankings slips), it’s important that you devote about 20% of your time to reviewing all sources. Analytics can certainly be one, but don’t forget about other sources like Google Search Console. It’s healthy for your site to find out not only what’s missing, but how people are finding you. All of this data is necessary for you to develop a healthy campaign in the following months. Without it, how would you ever even know what’s working?
Focus #3: Keep your social media alive and well.
There are absolutely certain specialties that won’t need Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, but social media goes so much deeper than that! Because a blog has a heavy ability to index quickly, and be picked up in a number of areas, it’s important to make sure you’re giving a chunk of time to developing strong blog content. In addition, things like infographics scholarly articles can help your practice become a thought leader in the industry. If you are a specialty that is helped by Facebook and the other sources, make sure to stay consistent in your posting, but not too aggressive. No one wants to be spammed by your page, or else you’ll lose them. However, they would like to know what’s going on with your practice, and it’s up to you (or your amazing marketing agency) to inform them!
Focus #4: Check your listings just like you would your website.
At a recent conference, someone stated that “your website is practically dead.” After the gasps of the audience subsided, he clarified that he didn’t mean you didn’t need a website, but that the general public relies heavily on a listing to find your information first. If your Google My Business profiles are not claimed, or your other directory listings are misnamed and filled with irrelevant information, you’re going to lose out on a very important first step of a searcher’s journey. Having these healthy listings will almost always require over 20% of your time each month, as you can constantly add to them or be cleaning up old, existing listings. Not to mention, your reputation relies heavily on these listings, so make sure you know what people are saying!
Focus #5: Make sure your keywords are relevant.
If your site is ranking for something you don’t offer, but falling short of the keywords you really want to target, then it’s time to reevaluate the terms for which you’re indexing. When your site is set up initially, it should be pumped full of great keywords throughout the meta and copy. But, as we know in focus #1, that content will consistently change, and thus your keywords should too. If you’ve stood by your metas for five years, you’ve given them enough and it’s time to break up. Do a complete assessment, and focus on what terms you should target each and every month. If something isn’t working, try something new like a longtail search!
Bonus Focus: Know your audience, and help the user.
Do you know who’s searching for your site? Do you know who found you from your site? Do you know where you are? Okay, maybe that last question is irrelevant, but you get the gist: ask the questions! In the healthcare space, we are constantly focused on helping the users that visit your site. Case in point, our recent website accessibility program launch. It’s important for you to understand who’s finding you online, which can definitely be done via focus #2, but is more accurate via real time research. Take a look at who’s coming into your office, and understand your demographics. By doing so, you can adjust your campaigns to make sure you are accurately targeting the correct people.
This is a lot of focus, so we understand that it sounds difficult, but that’s why we’re here to help! As professional marketers, we are trained to analyze this stuff each and every month so that you don’t have to. If your online presence is lacking, or if you’re interested in more ways to really strengthen your campaigns, contact Practis today and get started!
