An Introduction To Content Marketing For Your Nurse Practitioner Practice

The most popular question I’m asked when I speak of content marketing with healthcare entrepreneurs is, “What is content marketing?” According to Neil Patel –content marketing expert– content marketing is the long-term strategy that focuses on building a strong relationship with your target audience by giving them high-quality content that’s relevant, consistently. Let’s break it down; content marketing is providing valuable information, at the right time to your:

• Audience
• Patients
• Clients
• Potential clients/customers
• Potential partners or collaborators

When people google women’s health nurse practitioners in my area you or your practice should appear. It’s about positioning. Positioning yourself as a resourceful expert for your clients or your potential clients.

The best branding, in 2019 –and even as we’re approaching 2020: The Year of the Nurse– is realizing that you don’t need to stand on your chair or your table and scream, “I’m the best!” The easiest and most effective way for your audience to understand that, is for you to supply engaging information they care about. Think like your clients. Get in their heads. Think about what they google and answer those questions.

Why Do I Need Content Marketing?

What is the purpose of content marketing? As complex as this answer is, it’s very straightforward. Content marketing grows your brand. It increases your visibility, fosters relationships, and establishes name recognition.

Name recognition helps to establish you as a resource and as an expert. Your clients know what to expect from you. They know you’re the go-to person for the information they’re seeking. If you’re not ranking on Google, people cannot find you. Make sure you’re putting out a lot of content around keywords, so when people search you’ll pop up.

Content marketing empowers you to niche down. Being in a niche is a good thing. Being in a niche means that you’ve honed in on the particular skill set and knowledge you’ve mastered. You are an expert on a specific subject and set of clients. It means you can put out less content and rank faster. Opposed to being a women’s health nurse practitioner, you’re a women’s health nurse practitioner who teaches new moms about postpartum depression. With “women’s health nurse practitioner,” you’re going to have to put up tons of articles before anyone ever knows who you are.

Is Social Media Enough?

Renee Davis MSN, RN-BC, asks, “In the age of social media, is cold calling still an acceptable way to market or is posting/email campaigns better?” In short, the answer is you should utilize multiple channels. It’s not enough to use just one! You have to engage people on the platform where they spend the most time. Investing the time and research to understand where your audience is spending time will prove to be beneficial for your content marketing strategy. Is it social media? Youtube? Linkedin? Email? Once you’ve established their preference, use a call-to-action to send them to your website, call you, or email you. This way you’re capturing them on any medium they spend time on as opposed to presuming that they want to talk to you or want you to send them a cold email.

Retargeting

Retargeting is beneficial. Retargeting with Google and Facebook ads is easy because you can scale it, while being asleep. You have to be awake between nine and six a.m. to make a phone call. However, with ads, your target client can be awake at 2 a.m. and see your ad. Keep in mind that targeting depends on your client’s avatar. If you’re targeting millennials, social media will work best. If you’re targeting baby boomers, email marketing or cold calling may be your best option.

Podcasting

A podcast is an excellent method for becoming valuable and providing valuable insights. When you’re struggling to build your brand, in the beginning, consider using anything for pillar content. This can be a podcast, a recorded conversation, or it can just be a selfie video. Krish Chopra, Co-founder of NPHub, states, “I recommend using pillar content video, retooling it five or six times over, and then sending that to your socials, email list, or you can turn it into a blog.”

Blogging

Blogging is still very much alive– especially if you’re a healthcare practitioner, provider, or professional. There’s so much misinformation from people who have no clinical experience. People are seeking to gain information from experts. All of the tasks that you do every day, you’re an expert in. Why not blog about it? You may want to start with guest blogging. Although, it may provide little to no monetary compensation, the experience and opportunity to gain name recognition is priceless. You’ll be able to build your portfolio and perfect your craft. Take five or six good quotes from your blog post or article and use them for your social platforms. Turn your blogs into email campaigns. The key to repurposing blogs is redirecting your audience to a specific link to read the blog in its entirety. This link should be your website or blog page.

Making Content Interesting

Shawanna Guillory FNP-BC, states, “It’s been my experience that no one is really excited to talk about health or acute/chronic conditions that affect us. What type of content would get my patients engaged in discussing health-related topics?” Content marketing is educational, not promotional- Michele Lin. Using educational content is a brilliant way to attract new patients and customers to your practice or business. You need to use content that speaks to them. I personally love infographics. They’re visual and creative. The key is using an eye-catching title. Fiverr, Upwork, and Canva are three relatively easy platforms you can utilize to create (Canva is DIY) or buy (for a relatively small investment) graphics. Podcasting could be beneficial as well. People are always on the go. With a podcast your patients can listen, as they navigate through their daily lives. Just be sure you’re using terminology they understand and that you come off as approachable.

Simplify It

As a healthcare professional, remember that sometimes your patients or clients don’t need you to use medical jargon. If they don’t understand what you’re saying, they’re not going to embrace your content. You’ll lose them. If you’re in women’s health and your target demographic is college-educated women between the ages of 20 and 35 years old, then talk to them like that. Don’t talk to them like they’re 65 years old men. Meet people where they are!

Nurses and nurse practitioners continue to sit in the background, while others take over the healthcare market as a business, but why not you? You’re the perfect person, and you’re the most trusted profession. Stop waiting for someone to give you permission.

Portia Wofford is a nurse, content strategist, healthcare writer, entrepreneur, and nano-influencer. Chosen as a brand ambassador or collaborative partner for various organizations, Wofford strives to empower nurses by offering nurses resources for development–while helping healthcare organizations and entrepreneurs create engaging content. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter for her latest.