Patient Marketing in the Age of AI

50% of U.S. adults think AI will worsen our ability to form meaningful relationships. Wondering what that means for your practice?

If you’ve spent any time on social media recently, you’ve probably noticed a few trends ramping across your feed. From event flyers with the same flare, to lengthy LinkedIn posts littered with em dashes, to personal photos with one finger too many. AI is everywhere.

When we all have the same tools at our disposal, what will make you stand out in the age of AI? 

Patients Want Your Personality, Not Prompts

Let’s set the scene. Your (soon to be) patient pulls out their phone, Googles ‘podiatrist near me’ and is flooded with skilled doctors to choose from. If they’re anything like the average consumer, they take it a step further and dive into your online presence. First stop, your website. They read a little about you, what you offer, and how you’re different.

That’s not enough. Your optimized SEOs got them this far, but what’s the big seller? 

They head over to your social media. If you don’t have an active account, you’re already lowering in their ranks. If you do have one but it’s filled with generated flyers, non-personal posts, and lengthy walls of text... that might be worse.

Patients crave real connections. They want to see who they’re signing up to trust with their pain points.

Your Culture Is Their Connection

One of the best compliments we get from our patients is: “It felt like I knew you before I came in!” We achieve that through pouring personality into our posts. They don’t have to be overly sappy, or paragraphs of text to get through to them. Your team's culture is how patients relate to you and ultimately start to trust you before they step foot into your clinic.

If your clinic’s culture is a little flat, head over to Cody’s article about Culture Sustainability. Once you have a healthy culture in motion, capitalize on it through social media. Patients love seeing the birthdays and anniversaries sprinkled between your new treatment announcements and educational posts. This is the seed that boosts your patient trust and word of mouth marketing.

Taking it a step further: your connection is their conversion. The Rule of 7 in marketing tells us that a potential customer needs to see your message roughly 7 times before they act. For patients, that means the more exposure they have to your clinic, the better! Promoting your clinic authentically online highlights the real faces they’ll see when discussing their treatment options, therefore enhancing their trust. 

Stand Out in the Sea of Sameness

So, how can you stand out in their feed? By being personable! Authenticity is key to meaningful patient connections. The relationship you form can circle back as another patient referral, a glowing Google review, or increased ancillary conversions because they trust you.

Social media functions as a search engine today. Across all age groups, patients are doing their due diligence before scheduling appointments, and for many that starts on social media. Who you are online should reflect who you are in clinic, not who you think you should be.

Patients start building an image of you in their mind based on your online presence. Outdated website, stagnant socials, no Google reviews? Not cutting it anymore. Give them something distinct to latch onto. Patients have plenty of doctors to choose from (most of the time), but the selling point is your personality. In a sea of DPMs, highlight what makes your clinic unique.

The same goes for your referral marketing, but we’ll jump into that next time!

Automation & Authenticity Can Coexist

If you’re feeling overwhelmed with the clinic already, the last thing you want to worry about is digital marketing. That’s what ToeTactics is here for. Patient marketing relies not only on educating them on the newest treatment you offer but giving them a peek behind the curtain at who they’re trusting with their care. If you’re ready to cultivate a thriving culture and market successfully without the burden, let’s connect.