Marketing used to mean marking down items and placing a half page ad in the local paper. It was a simpler time, compared to the complexities of marketing an audiology business today. But instead of being bogged down by the complexities, we can take advantage of the incredible opportunities we have to market audiology services to people who need them!
If your boss is a product of the let’s just place a newspaper ad generation, here are some ways to explain the possibilities of today’s marketing landscape.
Your customers are online
Particularly as the demographic most affected by hearing loss shifts to a more tech-savvy generation, audiology marketing will have to up-level its digital game. The Ecommerce Foundation released a study last year that showed 88% of consumers are researching products online before they buy in-store. That means that the newspaper ad you’re running at a fairly high cost and with no guarantee that it’ll see your target audience might actually be helping your competitors, especially if your own online audiology marketing isn’t up to snuff.
Perhaps your print ad reaches the right audience, but it’s a good bet that the consumer will do a little poking around online before they choose with audiologist to go with. In order to take advantage of this trend, you must have a website with effective SEO (search engine optimization), a clear strategy for engaging and directing customers online and a way to continue to connect with online customers who’ve expressed interest (such as a robust email list).
And they’re mobile
Now that you’ve convinced your boss that customers are online, it’s a good time to let them know that those customers also heavily use mobile devices. As in, they’re on tablets and smartphones more often than a desktop computer. In other words, the website built ten years ago with the intention of desktop interaction is likely out of date. Take Google’s ‘Mobile First’ platform as gospel and evaluate your digital assets accordingly. Make sure that you show up accurately and specifically when using Google search on your mobile. You’ll want your business listing to correctly reflect everything about you.
Get rid of bulky additions that slow down your site. Consumers are on the go and they’re impatient. If your site takes longer than 3 seconds to load, you’ve already lost them.
Engaging with customers that want to engage
If you’re out in the dating world, you’d never cold call a stranger to ask if they’d like to meet up for dinner. Even the fast paced and sometimes impersonal internet dating world has protocol in which we ask that someone indicate a degree of interest before we make a move.
Similarly, digital marketing can act as a barometer of interest. Instead of placing the newspaper ad in which you’re hoping someone with a hearing problem takes notice, you’re putting yourselves in front of customers who assuredly do. They’ve found your site through search engines, social media, or a well-placed digital ad. In any event, they’ve given you the go ahead to reach out. Let your boss know that you need to take advantage of this information and set up a smart inbound marketing plan to capture emails and interest in order to pursue their business.
Provide useful content
Commenting on a 2016 Nielsen study in which researchers looked at online consumer behavior, Patrick Dodd, President of Nielsen’s Global Retailer Vertical, said, “In an increasingly complex retail environment, engagement is the emerging skill to master,” and that “retailers must move from a linear marketing approach to a value exchange model in which customers receive a tangible, personally relevant benefit for their time and attention.”
Customers aren’t just responding to ads placed on social media or in emailers. They’re looking for something to connect with and interact with. This further elucidates the need for good, informational content within your digital assets. Don’t advertise your annual sale once and be done with it. Run a campaign that gives your future clients what they need: entertainment or information.
Keywords
If nothing else works, you can always hit your boss with the keywords chorus. Any basic SEO search will sing the praises of intelligent and curated keywords that effectively funnel customers in search of audiology services right to your virtual door. Keywords are a fundamental building block of SEO and online marketing because they drill down to the barest essentials: what are your customers looking for? Any business owner asks themselves that question as they construct their business. Now explain to your boss that you can use that philosophical question in real time to get real customers. They’ll be sold before you finish your song.
Choose AuDSEO
If you’d rather leave it to the experts, choose AuDSEO. Here at AuDSEO, we’re constantly keeping every aspect of SEO in mind so that you don’t have to. Let us take care of all your SEO marketing needs while you attend to the important work of providing the best hearing health care.