The health care space has seen an explosion of growth in the past few years. Estimates from industry insiders are that the health care sector could see a revenue growth of about $1.65 billion in 2022 alone.
That projected growth is good news for health care providers who are seeking to grow their user base and revenue. It’s also good news for the digital marketing teams that have partnered with health care providers. Yet there is a fly in the ointment when it comes to digital health care marketing. That fly? Certain ethical quirks that content marketing pros must remember when creating health care content.
The 3 ethical quirks content marketing teams must account for when creating health care content
Health care providers were latecomers to the content marketing sphere for various reasons. However, since about 2017, this industry has started to utilize this aspect of digital marketing in a major way. One study found that 66% of health care providers now see content marketing as an effective promotional medium. Additionally, it’s reported that only 28% of health care providers have a clearly defined strategy for their content marketing.
That’s good news for content marketing teams that are looking to break into the health care sector. However, there are some major ethical factors that content marketing teams will need to consider when entering the health care space. A few of these ethical factors include:
1. HIPAA compliance — The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, is a federal law that was passed in 1996. It created national standards for ensuring that sensitive patient information remains secure. It may not seem like it, but HIPAA compliance can be a major hurdle for many content marketing teams. For instance, something as seemingly innocuous as a patient testimonial video could violate HIPAA if you don’t get the patient to sign a release form before creating and posting this content.
Fortunately, there are steps content marketing teams can take that can make HIPAA compliance easier. Some of these steps are:
Creating a well-trained in-house compliance team.
Forming a partnership with a team that can help ensure that your content is HIPAA compliant.
2. Having robust vetting processes in place for all health care content your team creates. Compliance with state medical advertising restrictions — If HIPAA wasn’t enough to deal with, each state also has laws regarding health care advertising and marketing. Many of these laws seek to prevent health care providers from making false or fraudulent statements. For writing teams new to the health care sector, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with medical advertising laws that exist in the states your client(s) operate in. You can also partner with a legal team that has experience ensuring compliance with such laws.
3. Not promising specific results — Marketing materials often make guarantees to prospective customers. Think about how many times you’ve seen statements like, “This product will meet your needs or you’ll get your money back.” Usually, there’s a caveat in there from a legal team, but the statement is still made.
However, these types of guaranteeing statements are a cardinal sin when creating content for health care providers. For one thing, they are prohibited by most state medical advertising legislation. Why? The bottom line is that health care providers cannot promise that a treatment will work on every single patient in precisely the same way. Therefore, the content you create for such clients needs to talk about what treatments and services are intended or designed to do rather than what they will do.
Health care content marketing definitely comes with its own set of challenges. Among these are navigating the unique ethical facets of this growing industry. However, there are perks to finding solutions to the ethical issues and other hurdles of creating health care content. Not the least of these perks is that your team can play a part in helping people become healthier and better informed about their health.
Want to build a potent content marketing strategy for a health care practice? BURG+CO. can help
Increasing traffic to a website plays a role in increasing conversions and bringing in new clients. A potent content marketing plan can be a major factor in increasing traffic and conversions. However, it’s difficult to create effective content for a health care site when you don’t know what to do. Fortunately, content marketing for health care providers is a specialty of our BURG+CO. team.
Our team has years of experience in helping businesses improve their digital presence through content marketing strategies designed to attract new leads and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to create content that can help health care providers perform better in search engine results and attract more visitors to their site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help. Contact our team today for more information about our content marketing services or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
