#1 Reason Leads Don’t Become Patients

There's a huge missing link with leads turning into patients. A well-crafted lead nurturing program has been a game-changer for our clients. Why have we been successful with this, but other marketing companies have missed the mark? 

It’s frustrating to us the number of marketing companies that will brag about how many leads they generate for clients. However, when we talk to potential clients on a marketing analysis review call there tends to be this overall negativity that has evolved from people getting leads that didn't result in actual patients.

Medical practices are frustrated that leads don’t turn into patients. As a prime example, let me tell you about a practice we spoke with recently. This office had bought a device and was given a marketing company to work with for a year. They did get some leads, but in 12 months’ time, not even one lead became a patient. 

So what’s the missing link? 

It requires work. It requires know-how. It’s all about effective lead nurturing strategies. Pay attention because this is a key part of how to market your medical practice.

We've all gone on a first date, right? Would you think it was weird if someone asked you to marry them on the very first date? 

Marketing companies do this all the time. They run ads to a special, a promotion, or a type of opt-in.  Then they give the leads to your office on day 1. They don't tell the office that these potential leads do not know anything about you or your practice. There is no relationship with these potential patients, so on day 1, are they actually ready to book an appointment? No. 

The keyword in those previous sentences is relationship. Relationships take time. They take time to build trust, to get comfortable.  Think about trusted relationships in your life. You must work at them and take the time to nurture the relationship. 

We believe this is even more important with physicians. The physician-patient relationship may be one of the most trusting relationships that people have outside of their spouse. 

Patients aren’t going to just decide to come into the office the first time they see your ad. That isn’t a failure of the doctor’s office or the marketing company. The potential patients are now ready for the next step: nurturing. 

Don’t settle for a marketing campaign that is only partially done. You can’t turn on the faucet and then walk away. You now must now implement a lead nurturing strategy.  

Nurture the Leads

How do you take someone that has no idea who you are or what your practice offers, and get them to understand everything it is that you do, PLUS all the ways you can help them? How do you start building trust with them?

This is all possible through nurturing. 

Nurture with a Social Media Presence

Let's start with social media. Social media's huge. We stress this to our clients and people who are not our clients!  You need to have a presence on social media. 

[Watch our Social Media 101 training]

What is the ultimate goal of social media? To build relationships. You can use your social media to connect with your followers, your patients, and prospective patients. Social media is a way to help nurture your patients. 

We often see practices make the mistake of using their social media to sell, sell, sell. They’re not using it to build a relationship. But remember, social media is called “social” media for a reason. It's supposed to be personal. It's supposed to be social. 

Use your social media to give a peek behind the curtain about your practice. What is your office all about? Why are you the expert in your field? Who works at your office? What treatments do you offer? What type of results can your clients expect?

Let your followers see you and what your office is all about. 

Keep in mind, hiring a marketing company to help post on your social media won’t nurture your leads. If they are only posting stock photos, that won’t help your followers get to know you. 

How can you help people get to know you? 

1. Post testimonials about your business
2. Post personal photos (check out our selfie signs for fun, personal posts)
3. Share a webinar or live video that you're going to do on social media

The landing point here is that social media is not for selling, it's for relationship building. That’s a huge part of the nurturing process.  Realize that your leads will look you up on google or on your website. Then they will check out your social media where they can peek behind the curtain to learn more about you, what you offer, and why you are the expert they should be making an appointment to see. 

Nurture by creating videos.

By watching your videos, your followers can see your personality plus learn more about your services and what you offer. These videos can be shared on your social media thru Instagram and Facebook, and also on your website or YouTube channel.

We’re always telling our clients about the importance of video. One great reason to capture video is that people see your personality through video which means you are starting to form a relationship when you are sharing videos. 

We recommend being yourself! Explain a service you offer. Present a myth buster about a service you offer. Introduce a staff member or new device you offer in your office. There are numerous topics for videos. 

Creating and sharing videos is huge when it comes to gaining trust and starting to build that rapport with your followers. After seeing you on video, your followers can then come into your office and feel like they have met you before. From watching your videos, a prospective patient knows who you are, has had the chance to see behind the scenes of your practice. If they were able to watch a demonstration video, they also understand what will happen during a procedure. That can give many prospective patients peace of mind before trying a new procedure. 

We have seen this first hand in our own business. At Medical Marketing Whiz, we share videos on Instagram and Facebook, as well as a weekly webinar on Facebook. When someone schedules a call with us we often hear them say, “We feel like we are already friends!” 

We have never actually talked with them before but they have heard us on our videos. They have learned things from us already, plus have witnessed us mess up or fumble in our videos and laugh about it. Through those videos, our followers start to learn more about Medical Marketing Whiz on a personal level. 

The same thing will happen with you and your practice.  Whether you are an OBGYN, Urogynecologist, Functional Medicine, or Sports Medicine physician, create videos and share them on your social media so your followers can get to know you and learn more about what you offer. 

Nurture through emails. 

Email marketing is a must. In order to continue to nurture your leads,  you must have their emails. 

Ultimately, you want to capture people's contact information off of social media.

Whether it's through a social media ad, a freebie, or a giveaway, use a link on your social media that goes to a landing page so you can get their contact information. 

This is key! You could have 100,000 followers on Instagram or 200,000 fans on Facebook, but you must also capture their contact information. What if Facebook is gone someday? What if Instagram disappears? You don't own your followers on social media. That algorithm could change and all of a sudden they're gone.

You own your email list. So, use social media to get those emails. Social media makes it relatively easy to do so if you're running ads. 

Run a lead-generating ad and include a link for a free download or webinar that your followers can opt-in to watch.  Maybe you have a free ebook that you're giving away,

You're not selling. You're giving away something of value in exchange for their contact information. Then they get on your list, and that's where the magic happens!

**Marketing Tip: If you don't have all of your patients’ emails you need to work on getting that collected! 

>>IMPORTANT>> If you do have a list of emails, or are working on growing that list, let’s now talk about how we can nurture people once we have their email list.

First, you need to be sending out a monthly  newsletter or some kind of regular email  communication with your patients every month. 

As a general guide, 80% of what you would send them in this newsletter would just be giving value and 20% of it would be promotion. This helps them get to know you, and learn more about what is going on in your office.  This will help nurture your email list. 

Remember, it’s about giving value in exchange for their email address.  Besides a monthly newsletter, another great way to offer value is with a webinar. Patients give their email when they opt in to watch your webinar. They are then able to take a deeper dive into services you offer and how you may be able to help them. 

Nurturing example.

Are you familiar with the term “Sales Funnel?” 

The email automation your leads will receive with sales funnels will help nurture your leads and teach them all about what it is you do and offer at your practice. Sales funnels are a very important part of your email marketing! 

Picture a funnel. At the top of the funnel you have a freebie that you're giving away, whether it's on social media or on your website. Your followers opt in, and then they go through an email series.  The great part about email marketing platforms is the automation. 

To start, you can kick off a series of emails. For example, "Hello! Download our free guide and get a bonus of 10 days of healthy tips from our office." 

To follow up, you can send a different tip each day, including information about something you offer in your office that would be beneficial for a prospective patient. 

While the series of automated emails are being sent, you are nurturing that person from a cold lead to a warm lead. That prospective patient started out not even knowing who you are or anything about your practice, and has grown to know more about you and what you offer. Throughout a couple of weeks of automated email marketing, they can learn everything you want to share about what you offer. 

At Medical Marketing Whiz, we believe sales funnels are a super important, if not absolutely necessary, part of your email marketing. They are a crucial part of your lead nurturing program. 

An effective lead nurturing strategy includes a social media presence, video content and effective email marketing. Use these tools to maximize your lead generation and follow-up so you can attract high-quality patients to your practice. 

 Watch our free training >> "The #1 Reason Your Leads Don't Become Patients - and How to Fix It"

In the training you'll learn:

• The #1 reason that your leads don't become patients
• The one thing that most marketing companies miss when it comes to lead generation
• How you can use social media to build trust and convert more leads into patients
• Email marketing techniques to automate your lead follow up process
• How to maximize your lead generation and follow up so you can attract more high-quality patients

Register for this free training HERE. 

Social Media Marketing Experts for Doctors

If you'd like to get a quote on our done-for-you social media marketing program, simply schedule a call with us!  You can schedule a call at a time that's convenient for you here:  

Medical Marketing Whiz - Social Media Marketing Experts: 888-418-8065