Using a Blog to Expand Your Digital Marketing

Did you know that over 40% of companies use a blog as a key marketing tool? Most importantly, prioritizing a company blog leads to a 13x increase in ROI from marketing. And that over 46% of people read at least one blog on a daily basis? (Source: http://ift.tt/1gLEWpM) Just by reading this post, you too have read at least one blog today!

What is a blog?

A blog is a series of content that has a shared theme or topics and is regularly posted online via a website or social media.

Many practice owners struggle to understand the business value of a blog. Why should time, resources, and effort be spent on maintaining a company blog? What measurable impacts can your clinic see from online postings? Does anyone really read blogs and will my patients read it?

First, stop thinking about a blog as a personal diary, which is a common misconception. Yes, there are definitely personal blogs where someone will write about their day or experiences. But, blogging has crossed the border from personal to professional and now it is common practice for most professionals, especially marketers, to blog on a frequent basis. For example, many Fortune 500 companies now manage both internal and external blogs with content ranging from sharing business updates and future plans/projects (internal) to customer education or industry resources (external).

Why should your practice have a blog?

• Marketing Content and Updates: practices often have a TON of content at their disposal. Sharing that content with your patients helps to build a relationship with them and shows that you are an expert physical therapist.

You can also share clinic updates at greater detail. Did you change what insurance plans are accepted in office? You can post that on social media or add it to your emails and newsletter. But will patients and doctors want more information? Or do you feel that a longer explanation is needed (good PR)? That would make a great blog post that you can link to from social media and emails and reference in your print newsletter.

• Public Relations and Marketing Communication: we started to reference this in the first bullet, but your office’s PR can be easily shared across multiple platforms and media with a blog. Think of a blog post as a library book—you write one post with all the information and details. From an article about how PT can help sports rehab for ACL injuries to a letter informing patients that you now accept cash payments, blog posts are a blank canvas for information. And, just like a library book, you can “checkout” that information and reference it for different marketing purposes:
  • Website updates
  • Social Media posts: add the link to “Read more”
  • Emails and eNewsletters

• Website Content and SEO: adding a blog to your website and updating it regularly with posts will increase traffic to your site and improve your search engine rankings (SEO). By adding a link to another page within your site to each blog post, users are much more likely to visit that page and read your content. This helps to educate potential patients and builds a relationship and good PR with users.

Blog posts should always be optimized for organic search. Use keywords that you want to rank well on and that are not currently found on other pages within your site. For example, say you are sponsoring a local baseball team. Write blog posts with updates on the team, ways to stay fit for baseball, PT tips etc. Use the team, league, or division in the SEO data so that your involvement and community activism is evident via online search.

Whether you are looking to redesign your website or simply want to add a blog and content services to your existing marketing plans, the expert team at Practice Promotions can help! We have topic suggestions, copy examples, and industry experience to make your blog a viable, profitable marketing asset!

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