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May 24, 2016

5 CTAs That Drive ROI for Hospitals

According to a Leapfrog Marketing Institute study, 93% of Chief Marketing Officers say that they are under more pressure to deliver measurable ROI than ever before.

Are you feeling the pressure, too?

As hospitals and healthcare providers continue their quest to maintain margin with shrinking reimbursements, marketers are feeling the increased pressure to show value.

That’s why I wanted to write this post.

Here are 5 Calls-to-Action (CTAs) we find to be hugely successful in helping hospitals get prospective patients engaged to take the next step in their patient journey. 

We believe that creating compelling CTAs is the number one way for marketers to track the effectiveness of campaigns and show ROI.

Here are 5 of the most effective CTAs for hospital and healthcare campaigns:

1. BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

2. TALK WITH AN EXPERT

3. ATTEND AN EVENT

4. OPT-IN TO RECEIVE MORE INFORMATION

5. GET A PHYSICIAN

Here’s why these CTAs are so effective:

  • All healthcare providers—regardless of size or access to resources—can offer these CTAs as part of their campaigns.
  • For example, encouraging prospective patients to opt-in to receive more information can be as simple as creating a form on your website to opt-in to receive email campaigns.
  • Each of these CTAs offers prospective patients a clear next step in their patient journey—based on what is most relevant to their needs.

Let me elaborate on that last point.

Not every person you target will be “ready to buy.” You know that health care can be a long sales cycle. (Even if your internal stakeholders forget this when they constantly ask, “Where’s the ROI?”)

By giving your prospects a simple and meaningful next step, you’re eliminating “friction” in the sales cycle. And, done correctly, you’re capturing that person’s contact information to have a meaningful follow-up interaction—whether it’s inviting the prospect to a seminar or encouraging the prospect to select a physician provider.

In other words, you’re nurturing the relationship with the prospective patient over a period of time, eventually helping to establish a patient encounter and downstream revenue as a result of your original CTA.

Now for the caveat: in order for CTAs to work for campaigns, it’s important to establish a “CTA-first” mindset.

Many campaigns suffer from CTA amnesia. Ads are laid out, media space is bought…and only then (if then!) is a CTA strategy developed.

We recommend knowing up front exactly what actions you want your audience to take before finalizing your campaign strategy. This is a “patient-centered” approach to branding. And this patient-centered approach to branding helps to identify what the prospective patient might be thinking and feeling when they see your campaign. You then have a great opportunity to share a compelling story about your brand and offer a relevant next step for the prospect to take to help her on her patient journey.

As you develop your next service line campaign strategy, we hope you’ll see how these 5 CTAs can help you to achieve your ROI goals.

In the meantime, leave a comment below and let us know what CTAs you find work well to drive patient volume.