Nearly 2 million Americans – 1,958,310 to be exact – will be diagnosed with cancer this year . With the increasing advancements in cancer treatments and therapies, the demand for oncology and cancer care services is expected to remain high. However, the competition in the oncology market is getting fiercer with more than a hundred products in the late-stage pipeline. As an oncology and cancer care provider, it is crucial to keep up with the industry and gain an edge over the competition. In the digital age, where healthcare consumers search for information and solutions online, implementing effective digital marketing strategies is essential for increasing patient base and growing your practice.
Oncology has been one of pharma's most dominant therapeutic areas, accounting for 22% of all prescription drug sales . Additionally, 82% of Americans use search engines to research healthcare providers in their area . These statistics highlight the significance of digital marketing for oncology practices. To keep pace with industry growth and competition, oncology and cancer care providers need to adopt digital marketing solutions that are patient-centric and empathetic.
Your oncology website serves as the digital front door for your practice. It is the first touchpoint for many patients, so it is essential to create a user-friendly website. Start by ensuring a comfortable and intuitive user experience with sensible layouts, easy-to-read fonts, professional images, and prominent call-to-actions (CTAs) to guide patients through the funnel. With mobile devices accounting for 59% of worldwide website traffic, it is crucial to have a mobile-friendly website with a responsive design [4]. A well-designed website not only builds trust but also helps improve conversion rates.
Most visitors to your website are either cancer patients or their families seeking information and answers. Therefore, it is essential to provide valuable content about your services, treatment programs, procedures, and insurance information. Make sure your key content is easily discoverable and avoid burying it behind web pages, links, and poorly-designed menus. If visitors can't find the information they need quickly, they may leave your website and go to a competitor.
After providing detailed and complete answers to patient queries, offer multiple ways for potential patients to reach out to your cancer care center. For example, provide a contact form for patients to schedule a preoperative medical evaluation and receive answers from real doctors. Implement a tap-to-call function and AI chatbots for those who prefer talking with a customer representative. Additionally, integrating an online booking system streamlines the process of scheduling appointments.
46% of Google searches have local intent, making local SEO essential for healthcare providers, including oncology and cancer care practices [5]. Since most healthcare consumers prefer local hospitals or clinics, optimizing for local search is crucial.
To improve the local organic visibility of your practice, start by creating optimized listings on trusted local directories such as Healthgrades, TripAdvisor, Yelp, and ZocDoc. Provide accurate and up-to-date information, including the name of your practice, address, contact number, etc. Register your practice in oncology-specific directories to further improve your local digital presence. Optimize your Google Business Profile (GBP) by providing essential information such as practice name, address, contact information, hours of operation, and photos. Create FAQs to answer relevant customer questions about your oncology treatments, pricing, and insurance information. Develop a local keyword strategy that focuses on high-intent, geographical keywords to capture conversion-ready patients. Create patient-centric content that educates consumers about oncology and different cancer types, symptoms, and treatments. Develop a highly-scalable content strategy with a solid internal link structure.
Google Ads or PPC marketing is an effective strategy for increasing brand awareness and capturing high-intent patients ready for their first appointment. With pay-per-click ads, your practice can appear on top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) for high-value keywords.
For multi-location oncology and cancer care practices, a hybrid account structure that combines segmentation for tighter budget control and granular targeting with consolidated ads for maximizing impressions is highly effective.
After structuring your Google Ads account, collect data for optimization. Create location-specific landing pages with personalized content that addresses patient queries. Launch a full-funnel paid ads campaign to educate consumers about cancer management and the importance of early detection. However, prioritize capturing bottom-of-the-funnel (BOF) leads before they move up the sales funnel.
A positive digital reputation is invaluable for oncology and cancer care providers. 72% of healthcare consumers use reviews and ratings when evaluating a healthcare provider. Building and maintaining a strong online reputation can lead to referrals from other healthcare professionals.
Train your staff to ask for reviews from patients after every appointment. Provide multiple ways for patients to leave reviews, such as through contact forms, tap-to-call functions, and AI chatbots. Consider utilizing review collection programs that integrate with your CRM and can send automated review requests via email and SMS. Highlight positive reviews on your website, landing pages, and social media accounts to build trust and credibility.
Data-driven marketing is crucial for scaling a multi-location oncology and cancer care practice. By monitoring campaign performance and implementing closed-loop reporting (CLR), you can gain insights into how each digital marketing piece affects the consumer's journey.
Integrate all your channels and systems, including CRM systems, Google Analytics, Search Console, and social media analytics, to gain a comprehensive understanding of your digital marketing campaign. Assign different metrics to your goals for accurate assessment. Include offline conversion metrics like in-person visits and direct calls to complete your loop.
Implementing top-notch digital marketing strategies for oncology practices is essential to stay competitive in the evolving healthcare landscape. By adopting a patient-centric approach, creating a user-friendly website, leveraging local SEO, investing in Google Ads, managing your digital reputation, and utilizing marketing analytics, you can attract more patients and grow your oncology and cancer care practice.