Almost every person in the world today has a mobile device. And if you are a healthcare marketing expert, you should be paying close attention to the increasing number of mobile gadgets flooding the market today and how this affects the behaviour of online consumers and the manner in which they connect with certain products and services in the web.
Almost 65 percent of people in the US use smartphones and an additional 20 percent depend on them for navigating the web. But perhaps what you need to hear is the fact that more than half of Americans with smartphones use their mobile gadgets when searching for health related content in the internet.
Why having a Mobile Strategy is important
Simply put, your patients are going mobile. This alone is sufficient to justify an investment on mobile marketing. However, if there are still those in your company who are reluctant to this notion, here are three additional reasons that might help change their minds.
- Mobile users just users don’t have the patience
Imagine you’re searching the web while walking or doing some other activity using a device with a tiny screen and even tinier buttons and keys and you will get a picture that online mobile use is quite inconvenient indeed. As so, websites that are difficult to reach or navigate tend to be ignored immediately by mobile users.
Every marketer frets the prospect of a high bounce rate. Desktop Internet users have this habit of clicking away from poorly constructed website but mobile users are even more impatient with them.
- Google rewards websites that are geared for mobile use
Significant bounce rates are sure to hurt your present search engine optimization placement. In addition to that, Google openly stated that it will prioritize websites that are mobile-friendly. This means that if you desire better search rankings in Google, it’s important to guarantee that your website works great (it’s fast and user-friendly) for mobile users.
- Mobile users are more inclined to make a decision
Lastly, mobile users who visit your website online are more inclined to take action – or in this case to make the choice to become a patient at your hospital. In a span of 1 hour, almost three fourths of those mobile-user visitors will continue to make a similar action. While a lot of those who come to your website through their PCs could be your next patients, there are even more so from those using their mobile devices.
A few Guidelines when creating your Mobile Marketing Strategy
You are already aware of the importance of having a mobile marketing strategy for your hospital, so the next question now is how do you begin?
- Ensure that your website is optimized for mobile use
First and foremost, you need to ensure that your website stands which means that it’s fast, easily accessible, and readable. Among the best strategies you can use to accomplish this is through the use of a responsive design. Essentially, this strategy offers identical set of information on various kinds of devices. It simply sorts them in a way that mobile users can arrive on what they are looking for faster and easier.
- You don’t have to create a brand new marketing strategy
Since 9 out of 10 of online searchers use different devices, majority of those who visit your website through their mobile devices may revisit again next time through their desktops. For this reason, there is no need to make your mobile marketing strategy entirely different from your general marketing strategy. Your target customers are essentially identical; they are merely using various kinds of devices to access the web. All that is required is to ensure that your content and design are geared towards providing the best user experience in any type of device.
- Think about the potential of using an app
Making your website mobile-friendly doesn’t necessary equate to developing an app. Although mobile internet users do in fact take advantage of apps, most of them are generally set on just using one or two primary apps regularly, instead of downloading numerous different one from every website that they use.
Developing an app makes sense if you are planning to offer visitors with info or services that are so vital that they won’t mind installing the app to access it. Information that is specific to a patient’s condition, a handy navigational tool to help patients make their way inside the hospital, and access to scheduled appointments and treatments may be ideal for an app.
Marketing trends pop out now and then but plenty of them quickly fade away after just a few years. However, mobile marketing is among those that have remained powerful and influential in the online marketing landscape up until today. Now in case your hospital has yet to consider it as a marketing priority, now would be the perfect time to begin!