We know better than anyone that marketing can be a complicated business. Balancing new strategies and campaigns, big media spends, and constantly trying to stay up to date with the latest technological innovations is no easy task. While all of those components of more “traditional” marketing remain important to today’s consumers, there is one area of marketing that is seeing a resurgence in the digital age: earned marketing or earned media.
In the old days, earned media would look something like a loyal patron recommending your restaurant to their friends, or an unexpected human-interest story about your business in the local newspaper – things that bring attention to your business or product that your company has not initiated or paid for. In the era of social media, you can imagine that opportunities for earned marketing are more prevalent than ever before. As a result, successful marketing campaigns have begun to include earned media strategies as part of their overall marketing program.
Earned Marketing Strategy for Healthcare Companies
Healthcare companies often ask us, “How do we find leads for our product/service that are more interested in what we have to say?” There’s no doubt that it’s an age-old marketing dilemma, but we have found that developing an earned strategy for healthcare companies is a fantastic way to complement their existing marketing programs.
Before we get into the details, first consider this: a 2009 Nielsen study found that 90% of consumers acknowledged some degree of trust in recommendations from people that they know. 70% exhibited trust in consumer opinions posted online, and 69% trusted editorial content like newspaper articles or other third-party content.
These findings have huge implications for healthcare companies looking to develop an earned media strategy as they dictate exactly how your company should leverage current marketing initiatives to increase potential for earned media and, as a result, lower your bottom line cost per lead.
Encourage Recommendations and Reviews
With recommendations and consumer opinions topping the list, the first (and simplest) thing that your marketing team can do is make sure that mechanisms for these types of reviews exist. If one of your consumers loves the ease of use of your product, or perhaps if it has improved their overall health and made their day-to-day life easier to manage, do they have somewhere to share those reviews? Similarly, if consumers are sharing their opinions of your product online or through social media, is your marketing team aware of where these reviews are typically posted?
Being in tune with what is being said online (and in other media) about your products or services will not only allow you to leverage those reviews in your marketing campaign, but will also provide an opportunity to identify brand champions – those individuals who are brand loyal and willing to share their positive experience with their networks.
Why is this important? According to AdvertisingAge, while the typical lead conversion rate is 1% or less, leads developed through high quality earned media can convert at a rate as high as 5%, having a significant impact on your company’s sales. This type of conversion increase could be seen as a huge competitive advantage, and should absolutely be an integral component of developing an earned marketing strategy for healthcare companies.
Position Your Company for Editorial Content
Editorial content is free, widespread, and trusted by consumers. The only challenge is that editorial media need a good reason, or “angle” through which to tell your company’s story.
The plus side? This is an opportunity for your marketing team to get really creative. The opportunities to encourage the creation of editorial content are virtually limitless. Here are just a few ideas:
- Apply for regional or national awards that highlight your product, service, staff, or company culture.
- Prepare and release a press release about a new innovation or human-interest story – such as an individual whose life has benefitted from the use of your product or service.
- Host a community event like a barbeque or become involved with a local charity. Not only will this increase your community profile, but this often leads to earned media as well.
Keep Generating SEO Optimize Content
The golden rule of digital marketing is that “content is king” and that should be an important consideration when approaching an earned marketing strategy. Continuing to place an emphasis on the development of blogs, videos, white papers and a strong social presence just creates more opportunities for your brand message to picked up as part of an earned media opportunity.
With that said, examining your current content creation program is always a good practice, and identifying opportunities to diversify that program will only help to increase your capacity for inviting earned media. If you aren’t creating videos, now is a good time to start. If your company isn’t doing much storytelling, that may be a good avenue to explore. Simply maintaining a blog and a Facebook page isn’t enough anymore, especially if you want to cultivate some earned buzz for your business.
Cultivating earned media is a challenge, and one that usually requires a long-term plan to see success. However, an investment in an earned strategy for your healthcare company may just pay off, especially considering the permanence that comes along with earned media. Remember, all of the stories, recommendations, endorsements, reviews, and other media touch points that you accumulate will continue to be accessible to potential leads through search results and social media archives and, as a result, continue to direct potential leads towards your business.