5 Hearing Healthcare Marketing Trends to Leverage in 2024

The hearing healthcare marketing landscape is constantly evolving, shaped by technology, algorithm updates and changing patient expectations. Staying competitive in 2024 requires understanding current marketing trends and how to best leverage them for your audience and market. 

In this blog post, we’ll highlight five trends from 2023 that will remain relevant in 2024 and discuss how to integrate them into your marketing plan.

1. Optimize and Manage Your Local Listings

Local search engine optimization (SEO) strategies have become increasingly important as patients continue to make decisions about their healthcare online. According to market research, 77% of patients reported using a search engine before booking an appointment.

Local listings management involves maintaining your data across search engines like Google, various online directories, maps and other databases. Local listings are a foundational component of local SEO, and managing your practice’s listing data ensures vital information like your name, address, phone number and other essential details are accurate and consistent across these platforms.

Active listing profiles with complete, up-to-date information help guide patients through the decision-making process and can ultimately lead to more booked appointments. Providing patients with the information they need signals that you care about their experience from start to finish, leading to enhanced trust in your practice.

2. Reputation Management for Attracting New Patients 

Similarly to how patients use search engines for healthcare information, 81% of patients consider online reviews before choosing a provider. Researching healthcare options can be a daunting task for patients. If you don’t have a healthy online reputation, it could impact a prospective patient’s decision to trust you with their healthcare.

Managing your reputation includes collecting patient reviews, responding to feedback (both positive and negative) and highlighting positive patient experiences on your website and marketing channels. Reputation management helps tell a story about the patient experience at your practice, which can attract new patients and reinforce the loyalty of existing ones.

If you’re looking to save time while generating more reviews, employing a service that streamlines the collection process can be a game-changer. At AudiologyDesign, our review services integrate with popular office management software, which allows any member of your staff to take on review collection responsibilities.

3. Lead with Your Expertise on Social Media

Marketing research from 2021 indicated that 79% of users turn to social media to find answers to health-related questions, and the trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In a digital environment where misinformation is rampant, patients tend to view their online social circles as more trustworthy, often seeking recommendations from family and friends.

This presents an opportunity for hearing professionals to lead with their expertise by sharing educational content that is easy to understand and accessible to a broad audience. It’s another digital space to collect reviews, engage in conversations and establish social proof that builds trust with patients.

If you’re wondering what to post, a healthy mix of educational content and personal posts about your practice is a great place to start. Try incorporating eye-catching infographics, in-office event highlights, photos of your staff and spotlights on new hearing products to diversify your content. If you’re looking for more variety and consistency, a social sharing service can help save time while filling out your content calendar.

4. Take a Multi-Channel Approach to Patient Acquisition

While this is certainly not a new trend, the multi-channel approach to digital marketing is still relevant heading into 2024. We mentioned earlier that most patient decision-making now happens online – that means relying on only one or two of your strongest channels isn’t enough to generate patient leads and conversions. 

Multi-channel marketing makes your practice visible throughout every stage of the funnel, from awareness and consideration to conversion and retention. Diversifying your marketing efforts across various platforms helps you reach broader audiences where they are most active, whether on social media, in search results, on your website or in patient’s email inboxes. Creating more patient touchpoints through various channels creates more opportunities to showcase your expertise and ability to meet patient’s needs. 

5. Prioritize Patient-Friendly Website Design 

The pandemic skyrocketed demand for access to digital healthcare, leading to more widespread use of technology like telehealth, patient portals, apps and more. Patients have come to expect digital accessibility from their healthcare providers, and high-quality website design with features that center the patient experience is now table stakes.

High-quality website design establishes you as an authority and lays the foundation for strong patient-provider relationships. Website design that follows accessibility guidelines and prioritizes streamlined navigation and UX design principles ensures all people seeking hearing healthcare can easily find and read about your services.

Additionally, including website features like a patient-friendly hearing screening and educational content can help guide patients along the decision-making process. Providing a way to schedule appointments online offers patients more flexibility, meaning they don’t need to rely on office hours or sit on hold when phone lines are busy to book appointments. 

The Bottom Line 

By leveraging key marketing trends, hearing professionals can gain a competitive edge, improve patient engagement, and drive practice growth in 2024. If you’re looking to step up your marketing in the New Year, now is a great time to work with AudiologyDesign! Enroll in a new service by December 31st, 2023, and you’ll save $300 off your project. To learn more about this offer and our suite of marketing services, book a free consultation with us here.