Bariatric surgery marketing is a highly-challenging segment, with the saturation of marketing messages being one of the primary reasons for that. Other reasons include media stories scaring away prospective patients, low-paying HMO or Medicaid cases, and the likely inaccurate reflection of the quality of care online.
Weight-loss surgeons like you are finding it extremely difficult to attract and acquire prospective patients with go-to marketing strategies like “before-and-after” surgery pictures combined with patient testimonials. So how do you compete?
At GMR Web Team, we know that to compete in a segment as challenging as bariatric surgery, you’ll need to utilize conscientious marketing tactics. This means creating a compelling marketing message for you that not only gets heard, but that also drives response.
For a segment as challenging and competitive as bariatric surgery, you need a mix of active and passive marketing strategies to win the battle of acquiring new patients. Active strategies will focus on networking with referring physicians to build your referral pool while, passive marketing strategies will help extend your market reach and penetration. Passive techniques include an optimized website, awareness-driven content, SEO, PPC, online reputation management, and more.
The result is improved patient acquisition from referring physicians and online channels. Want to learn more how all of this works? Keep reading!
Our bariatric referral marketing strategy is focused on improving your network by including physicians who are the top referrers for bariatric cases. The online strategies we utilize to improve this network include:
Bariatric patients are highly cautious (and they should be) and conduct extensive research while considering weight-loss surgery as an option. Throughout their search, patients go through multiple online channels (most notably, search engines like Google) looking for answers and options.
Our search engine optimization (SEO) strategies are focused on driving the right kind of traffic. That means those who are looking for a weight-loss surgeon.
Moreover, we also utilize smart online advertising platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads Manager to help you target your prospective patients at a much more granular level, such as level of income, likes and interests, and more.
As a surgeon, your reputation is your primary asset on which your practice thrives. That's why we consider reputation management as an integral part of our bariatric surgery marketing strategy. Everything we do is to strengthen your good reputation, that’s why we emphasize marketing ethically.
Our team of healthcare marketing experts observes the different guidelines and regulations while writing marketing copy, creating content, or responding to patient reviews on your behalf. Speaking of reviews, we use our own proprietary software that is fully HIPAA-compliant for online reputation management purposes.
