At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you’ve long since emerged from your holiday cookie-coma, your New Year’s resolution is in full swing, and you have both feet firmly planted in 2019. Time to dive into new and exciting marketing trends for the year ahead.
Here is a shortcut to success: get to know these upcoming trends and work out an action plan for each.
The Customer Experience
Positive, personalized customer experiences (CX) drive trustworthiness, word-of-mouth marketing, and loyalty. But before we get to that point, you must understand patients are consumers. They have more imaging choices and less loyalty, in general than ever before, and they are much more involved in their imaging-related care due to increasing costs and rising deductibles. Further, they’re not only comparing the CX they have at your imaging facility to that of your competitors, they’re comparing it to every retail experience – hello, Amazon? It’s no longer enough to complete an exam, move on to the next one, and handle complaints as they pop up. It’s time to get on-board with nurturing the customer experience. Forward-thinking companies need to build trust with their customers by being open, transparent, authentic, and willing to be attentive when something goes awry.
Instagram TV
I confess. I have not been a huge fan of Instagram. Not because I don’t think they’re a quality social network, but because I haven’t seen a huge differentiator between Instagram and other results-producing social platforms. However, a shift has occurred, and I am finally won-over. What changed? Instagram TV (IGTV). It’s the first-of-its-kind long-form, mobile-first video platform – meaning that it is both vertical and full screen. This platform is an excellent place to share something new with your audience, establish your practice as a thought leader, and add depth to your content strategy. Get in on IGTV and you could be first to lead the future of video.
Messenger Apps and Chatbots
They’re still hot. Going from most being largely unfamiliar with them, to popping up nearly everywhere, messenger apps and chatbots are likely to change up patient care and automation. They are the evolution of more traditional FAQs and give customers a new way to connect in conversation to ask a question rather than searching for an answer online. We all know there’s a limit to human capacity and we can’t always have a staff person at the ready. Chatbots allow your business to provide lightning-fast responses to your customers’ questions, comments, and complaints. They are a great way to increase engagement when you’re already focusing on CX success, but should only be used if they actually improve the customer experience. Be sure to inform your audience that they’re chatting with a bot and offer a connection to a real person if they need to exchange private patient information or if the bot isn’t programmed to answer their question.
Mobile-First Indexing
More people search on mobile phones than on computers. To cater to this mobile audience, your website needs to be mobile optimized – meaning it’s developed, first, with mobile users in mind. If it’s not, your rankings in Google will likely drop – if they haven’t already, resulting in a loss of traffic and the credibility that comes with providing a mobile-friendly UX. This is not new, yet many, many radiology practices have been slow to adopt a mobile-first strategy for their online presence. First announced in 2016, Google began making the shift to mobile-first indexing in early 2018. The nuts and bolts are that Google now uses the mobile version of your website (if it exists) for indexing and ranking. Now that you know, there’s no excuse to further put off a mobile site transformation.
Just a few noteworthy trends, but big changes. Don’t be afraid to take your marketing to the next level. Send me an email at kim@aliidesign.com to share your success stories.
Want to read on the go? Download the PDF from RBMA by clicking HERE.
