Every profession has its own technical terms – jargon, in other words. These terms are an excellent shorthand for those in the know but can be confusing for everyone else.
At Splice Marketing, we do our level best to translate marketing-speak such as funnels, conversions and click-throughs. Plain English is practically a virtue at Splice. It’s a communication style we encourage our healthcare clients to adopt in their marketing to patients.
Today, our Search Engine Optimisation and Projects Manager, Belinda Roberts, demystifies multichannel marketing for you.
So, Belinda, let’s start at the very beginning – what’s a channel?
Channels are different places you might see a brand online or offline. Think
social media platforms, email, print ads and more.
And what’s multichannel marketing?
It’s a common and valuable marketing tactic where we use several different channels at once to reach your audience. That includes channels like Facebook, Instagram and Google.
Give us a bit more detail. What might it look like in practice?
In practice, it looks like a creative, coordinated campaign that ensures your ideal client encounters you repeatedly in different places.
In an online environment, regular reminders of your offerings might be spread through:
- Social media marketing – organic posts on your accounts
- Content marketing – blogs, infographics, downloadable guides, videos
- Search engine optimisation – technical wizardry that improves your Google rankings so patients find you more easily
- Google ads and Facebook ads – putting you before people who are searching for your services
- Email marketing – we dust off your database and re-engage with past patients.
Why do we do that? How does multichannel marketing help healthcare practices?
It helps you reach more people for starters. One patient might love scrolling through Facebook to find out what the latest news is, another may not have any social media accounts but always uses Google when they need information. If your campaign is running on both platforms or you’re posting content on both platforms, you’ve potentially doubled your audience.
Being across multiple channels also means less risk of putting all your eggs in one basket (e.g. on one channel) and that channel changing its rules and impacting your business. For example, Meta (Facebook) is always changing its rules and is known to shut down business accounts without warning.
Why does multichannel marketing work for potential patients?
Multichannel marketing creates a more comprehensive campaign with more touchpoints (opportunities for clients to interact with your business). It reflects the client journey, which is rarely linear.
Many potential patients are active on several social media platforms but few of them will spring into action the first time they see an ad. They might be mildly interested initially but then get distracted by something else (don’t we all?). Multichannel marketing ensures your patients will see your ad again and again through different channels.
It’s a way of dripfeeding your message and reminding your potential patient of how great you are. Eventually, your message sinks in. It may take 6-9 touchpoints (interactions) to nudge a potential patient along from an awareness of who you are to a decision to buy your products or services. Multichannel marketing is the way to deliver that nudge.
What’s important to remember with multichannel marketing?
Consistency. Your campaign should look and feel the same wherever your potential patient encounters it.
We see many businesses with different imagery and messaging on different platforms. That looks disjointed. While it’s OK to tweak things a little for different audiences, your campaign needs to hold together across the channels.
What’s cross-channel marketing?
It’s a more advanced form of multichannel marketing. A person’s behaviour on one channel influences the message they see in your ad on the next channel. The goal is to move them further down the sales funnel at each touchpoint. Let’s say someone liked your Instagram post but didn’t do anything more. You’ve succeeded in raising their awareness but you want to do more. Now, the same person is scrolling through Facebook and they see your ad again. This time, you might serve them an ad designed to provide further information, overcome objections or convince them in some other way.
Any cautions about multichannel marketing?
Each channel (and combination) has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some work better at the top of the sales funnel (brand awareness) while others come into their own at the pointy end of the funnel (to drive a conversion, such as a phone call or online booking).
Ultimately, whether multichannel marketing is right for you comes down to your goals and your budget, and we work closely with you to identify what strategy is best for your business. Once your multichannel marketing is up and running, we regularly monitor the performance of your campaigns, optimising them where necessary for continual improvement and results.
How can a healthcare practice get started with multichannel marketing?
Splice Marketing has several retainer packages that include multichannel marketing. There are different tiers to suit your needs and your budget.
As a full-service agency, we can support you with:
- Digital strategy, design, and production
- Medical copywriting
- Online and traditional media channel planning and placement
- Creative campaigns and production
- Web design and build
- Organic and paid social marketing.
We’re pleased to offer you a BONUS Business Consultancy session to discuss the growth of your business and your business needs, preferences, and goals. And we gift our clients
access to our proprietary ’Splice Live’ portal to see real-time insights on marketing spend and performance.If you’d like to learn more, please book your FREE 30-minute consultation with one of our experienced Senior Healthcare Marketing Specialists.
