5 fresh marketing ideas for your new medical practice

Discovering effective marketing ideas for your medical practice doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Instead of relying on the same old, outdated tactics — like mailers, local newspaper ads, and radio ads — stand out from your competition utilizing digital marketing strategies that are cost-effective and quick to execute. 

Let’s dive in. 

Whether setting up your medical practice’s web presence for the first time or giving it a much-needed revamp, ensure you start with a strong foundation for marketing for clinics.

Take this cue from Tebra’s 2023 Patient Perspectives Survey: A staggering 77% of patients in our survey turn to the internet to find their trusted healthcare providers. And 46% weigh online reviews heavily when choosing. What does this mean for you? Being present, active, and positively reviewed online doesn’t just enhance your visibility — it enhances trust.

Here are the foundational elements you need before you consider launching a fresh marketing campaign.

Once you’ve crafted your marketing plan, staked your claim, and started building your online audience, you’re ready to dive into fun and engaging marketing campaigns. 

Difficulty level: Easy

Wellness challenges might have already claimed a top spot among doctors’ offices and medical practices’ marketing ideas, but there’s a good reason for that.

They’re FUN, and they WORK.

Wellness challenges typically take place on social media and get everyone involved. Think 30 days to 100 pushups or 30 days of 10,000 steps. Simply pick the platform, create a challenge, coin a hashtag (or use hashtag generators, like this TikTok one), and you’re ready to go. That’s what makes it “easy” on the difficulty level scale. It doesn’t take much to get a basic campaign going.

But it takes a little more effort if you want to make it fresh and engaging (and truly effective). Here’s how you can make your wellness challenge succeed where others might have failed.

While a wellness challenge can be one-size-fits-all, it’s far more fun if you tailor it to your patients’ needs. For example, if your practice mostly serves geriatric patients, you could host a “Stretch for Success” challenge or “Gentle Movements March.” 

Then, you’re serving two purposes. You’re engaging your patients outside of the office, and you’re helping them take steps to improve their well-being. 

Make wellness fun by turning the challenge into a game. Incorporate different levels, create a challenge bingo card, or give people daily goals. Celebrate those victories with weekly shoutouts on social media or through your email newsletter.

Challenges aren’t nearly as fun when there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. External incentives can boost participation significantly, so consider offering rewards to top participants. Give out branded merchandise, gift cards to local restaurants, or tickets to an event. You can even use gifts your office has received from vendors or grateful patients. It’ll not only entice people to join, but it’ll help them stay committed throughout the challenge. 

There's something powerful about working towards one's well-being while also making a difference in the world. Consider tying your wellness challenge to a charitable cause. For every challenge completed or milestone achieved, the practice could make a small donation to a charity. This not only amplifies the impact of your initiative but also reinforces the caring values of your practice.

Make a big deal out of your wellness challenge. Use your practice's social media platforms to celebrate milestones, share participants' achievements, and showcase testimonials. A weekly spotlight on a participant or sharing daily progress photos can create a sense of community and encouragement. Your challenge shouldn't just be an event; it should be a celebration of health.

One large scale example of a wellness challenge in action is Kaiser Permanente’s #OwnTheCurve TikTok challenge in 2020. It encouraged social media users to stay home and share how they were taking ownership of minimizing the spread of COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic. By using TikTok influencers like Addison Rae, they were able to get the word out to a younger demographic. The challenge has over 8.5 billion views to date.

While this is an extreme example, it showcases how simple social media challenges can catch like wildfire.

Ultimately, a social media wellness challenge is more than just a trend. It's an opportunity to showcase your practice's commitment to patient well-being, foster a stronger community, and elevate the overall patient experience. 

Don't just follow the herd. Reimagine, redesign, and revitalize the wellness challenge with a dose of creativity and a dash of empathy. Your patients — both present and future — will thank you for it.

Difficulty level: Medium

Surveys and reviews play a vital role in assessing your healthcare practice, but this is another perspective worth exploring. A large part of marketing your doctors’ office is engaging with your local community — but how do you know the best ways to serve them?

Simple: Just ask.

It’s easy to assume that patients just want standard care from their healthcare practitioners, but you might find more if you dig deeper. Create a survey to share with patients and your local community that leads with empathy, and you can unlock valuable insights. Here’s how to get started.

Which questions you ask your community and how you ask them are the hallmarks of an empathy-led survey. Ask more than “How often do you go to the doctor?” and “How would you rate your visit?” Ask questions like:

These are just a few examples to get you started. Keep questions open-ended to encourage more candid responses, and tailor your questions to your specialty and community. 

Receiving feedback is the first step. You need to act on that feedback and be transparent about the changes you’re making for this to act as a marketing tool for your practice. 

If the feedback you receive reveals issues your practice can solve alone, enlist other resources in the community to help. The information you get from this survey can also help inform marketing campaigns in the future. For example, if patients indicate one of their biggest challenges is remembering to take their medication, you can craft a social media campaign around it. Provide tips, such as setting phone alarms or having a “medication buddy” help you out, or offer functional but still stylish pill organizers in your next giveaway contest.

Engage your community on a regular basis and pair the annual survey with another fun activity, like a healthcare challenge or community event. 

While a survey may not seem like a traditional marketing activity, you’re making a long-lasting connection with the community. It’ll help showcase your empathy and build trust — two vital aspects of any successful healthcare practice.

Difficulty level: Medium

Many practices often find themselves giving out the same health information to many of their patients. While that may have called for in-person workshops in the past, now it’s the perfect opportunity to host a live social media workshop or digital group visit.

By tapping into social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, medical practices can bridge the gap between patient education and the digital age, all while broadening their reach.

Start by picking a healthcare topic to discuss. If you’re not sure where to start, reach out to your patients (either in person or on social media) and ask them what topics they’d like covered. You can also keep it more casual by hosting an ask-me-anything (AMA) or question-and-answer (Q&A) session.

Once your topic is set, promotion becomes key. Use countdowns, teasers, and even collaboration with health influencers to build anticipation. Partnering with well-known health figures increases reach and adds credibility to your event. Start by searching through your followers list to find fans with a following of their own, browse local hashtags (like #LAdentists), or tap into an influencer marketplace. 

Inviting expert speakers to participate is one surefire way to elevate your event content. Invite other professionals and specialists to share information that can help your current and prospective patients. As a bonus, you can have them share it on their social media to expand your practice’s reach.

What makes a live event impactful is its interactivity. The beauty of live sessions, especially on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, is the potential for real-time interaction. And when viewers are part of the discussion, they're more likely to be invested. 

Facebook and Instagram Live both have engagement tools to encourage real-time interactions. You can host polls, ask questions, and share links.

One of the standout features of live sessions is the instantaneous feedback. Viewer comments can offer a goldmine of insights. Addressing these comments, whether they're questions, appreciations, or constructive criticisms, can make viewers feel seen and heard. It's this sense of personal connection and acknowledgment that can set your live events apart. Making sure every participant feels valued will enhance their experience and bolster the chances of them attending future events and engaging with your medical practice outside the virtual space.

Difficulty level: Hard

While paid social media advertising isn’t a novel idea, how you use it can make all the difference. Instead of creating a generic ad and sharing it with your local audience, create a targeted campaign strategy with Facebook and Instagram.

Employing a geofencing tactic is especially effective for healthcare marketing. Geofencing is a location-based tool that allows you to define a geographical boundary around who sees your ad. You can show paid ads to people who enter that boundary.

The basic way to employ geofencing is to use it as a boundary for your ads. Since healthcare marketing primarily focuses on location, it makes sense to limit ads to that specific area. Depending on the size of your market, you can put a geofence around a zip code, a city, or even a one-mile radius.

To make it fresh and new, use geofencing to engage with potential patients creatively. Here are some examples of these more unique tactics.

Regular attendees of gyms, Pilates centers, or yoga studies tend to be health-conscious, and their frequent physical activity can lead to some common concerns. They may be more likely to ask for posture correction, spinal alignments, or muscle recovery treatments. Chiropractors can advertise these services to people who frequent gyms near their offices. 

Alternatively, nutritionists and registered dieticians can create ads offering personalized dietary advice to those who are living an active lifestyle.

As Baby Boomers continue to retire and frequent these locations, they may need additional health services. Geriatric specialists or home healthcare providers can offer services and emphasize the importance of regular health checkups for this demographic.

Attendees to these events are either athletes or enthusiasts who may be prone to injuries or looking to improve their performance. Orthopedic clinics or sports medicine specialists can geofence these events and schedule ads to run during them to improve local brand recognition. They can run ads that talk about injury prevention, share tips for post-event recovery, or even offer special consultation rates for participants.

Difficulty level: Medium  

Video content wins on almost every social media platform. If you want to build an engaged audience using social media, video content is the way to do it.

But they don’t just have to live online. It’s also effective to post videos on your healthcare practice website. It humanizes your practice and allows people to get to know you and your staff before booking an appointment. 

Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Share success stories from patients (with their permission, of course) about their recovery journey or interviews with patients who have overcome significant health challenges. These narratives build trust, create a relatable atmosphere, and showcase the tangible benefits of your care.

Provide a behind-the-scenes look at a day in your healthcare facility. Whether it's showcasing your doctors’ morning routines, capturing team meetings, or even sharing snippets from medical procedures, this transparent approach humanizes your staff and makes the medical experience less intimidating.

There’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation on the interwebs, and video content is a great way to get your patients to take your information to heart. Address common misconceptions about overall health, treatments, or even getting into the healthcare field. 

You’ll build audience trust and help educate them while you’re at it.

Navigating the world of healthcare marketing is no small feat — especially as a new medical practice. It’s an overwhelming topic filled with redundant advice and less-than-creative options. But you wanted something different.

Instead of getting lost in the noise, take these suggestions to heart. Stand out, be authentic, and always remember: at the core of every successful marketing effort is a genuine intent to improve the lives of your patients.