When you work in the behavioral health space, such as owning your own practice, your goal is to support as many individuals as possible in improving their emotional and mental well-being. But even when someone is looking for emotional and mental support, they may not always be able to find you. That’s where behavioral health digital marketing comes in.
Behavioral health digital marketing involves using online channels to attract and convert potential patients to your treatment. People often turn to the internet for help with any challenges they may be facing, including challenges with their mental and emotional health, but it’s not always easy to get them to find and engage with your practice. With effective digital marketing strategies, you can help people take steps on their journey, with you by their side.
Read on to learn behavioral health digital marketing tips that can help increase your chances of connecting with new patients online.
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Use effective patient engagement tools
Patient engagement refers to connecting with your patients throughout their wellness journey and helping them to advocate for what they need. The goal is to help them recognize the active role they play in their health decisions by being informed about their potential options and taking control of their behavioral health.
Incorporating effective patient engagement tools can improve retention, strengthen your patient-provider relationship and boost your reputation. Here are a few worth trying:
- Patient portals on your site
- Telehealth options
- Mobile app with appointment reminders, wellness trackers, etc.
- Remote monitoring
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Choose the right social media platforms
There are likely dozens of social media platforms out there that you’ve never even heard of. But when it comes to creating digital marketing campaigns for your behavioral health practice, it’s important to go where there are the most eyes from your target demographics.
There are many popular social media platforms, though there are only a handful that have billions of users, such as Facebook (3.1 billion monthly users) and YouTube (2.6 billion monthly users).
You should test out all platforms to broaden your reach as much as possible, but you should also focus on the platforms that have the most engagement for your target demographic.
For example, if you work with pediatric mental health patients, then you can gear your marketing toward Facebook users. Its largest demographics are ages 25-34 and 35-44, with many likely being parents to young children.
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Create a user-centric experience on your website
When a potential patient visits your site, your goal is to help them learn the information they need and gently nudge them in the direction of booking an appointment. But you never want to lose sight of what the patient is looking for. That’s why a user-centric experience should always be a priority.
By taking the steps needed to improve the user experience on your site, you’re more likely to see the engagement and conversions that you’re looking for, which will also benefit your search engine performance. Here are a few ways to create an experience on your site that’s tailored to your patients for better performance:
- Design based on your target patient’s demographic information, such as age group, location or healthcare needs
- Follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG
- Create easy-to-use navigation elements, such as simple drop-down menus
- Use empathetic and supportive language throughout the site
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Build an effective mailing list
Despite the power of social media and search engines, email marketing is still an effective way to reach potential patients and retain current ones. But to get the engagement and conversions that come from emails, you have to build the mailing list first.
Building an effective mailing list as a behavioral therapy practice involves several steps, including:
- Finding a HIPPA compliant email platform, such as Paubox, ActiveCampaign, LuxSci, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud
- Having a sign-up form throughout your site, such as on a banner, as well as in your social media profile descriptions
- Personalizing your emails with segmentation based on the mental health challenge they’re exploring on your site
Want to attract new patients to your behavioral health website with digital marketing? BURG+CO. can help
Even though many people can benefit from behavioral health in one way or another, digital marketing for your practice still plays a key role in ranking highly on search engines, boosting your brand awareness and increasing your patient load. If you’re ready to see the growth that you’re looking for, BURG+CO. is here to help with our search engine optimization and content marketing services.
Our team has years of experience in helping healthcare brands improve their digital presence to attract new patients and retain existing ones. If you’re looking to perform better in search engine results and attract more potential patients to your site, we’re ready to talk to you to see how we can help.
Contact our team today for more information about digital marketing or to schedule a complimentary consultation.
