You’ve probably heard something to the effect of, “AI can basically do your marketing for you at little to no cost.” And if you’re like most time-strapped and budget-conscious medical practice owners, you probably think that sounds amazing. But you also wonder, “What's the catch?”
Yes, leveraging AI the right way can help you automate your marketing, reach new customers, and fill your pipeline with qualified leads. But the catch is right at the front of that sentence, “leveraging AI the right way.”
According to medical marketing expert, Steven Schwartz, most practices are currently using AI the wrong way. The most common mistakes include a lack of consistent brand messaging or implementing marketing techniques in the wrong order. However, he said that the most common mistake was simply not training AI to understand the brand.
“Many providers do try to create content with AI without training it properly first. Please don't do that,” said Schwartz.
“If you don't properly train it beforehand, then the output is very generic, bland, and boring. It doesn't provide a lot of specifics about your practice. The voice or the tone of that content does not reflect your brand. And this results in a lack of authenticity.”
This is exactly why Schwartz founded Concierge Medical Marketing, an agency created with the sole intent of serving the unique digital marketing needs of concierge medical and DPC practices across the United States. He is also the host of an amazing podcast on the same subject.
We recently had a chance to sit down with Schwartz and discuss the right way to use AI in today’s medical marketing landscape. During our talk, he identified the three best use cases for AI in medical marketing today.
Here are those three use cases and how your practice can implement them correctly.
This seems too good to be true, but it’s not.
You can actually get ChatGPT to create a full marketing plan, complete with blogs and social posts, in a matter of seconds. However, once again, that needs to be done the right way.
According to Schwartz, the right way includes training the AI on who your perfect patient avatar is so it can write blogs and social media posts that resonate with your target market.
How do you do that? Schwartz says it can be as simple as copying and pasting the following prompt into ChatGPT.
You are my senior-level marketing assistant for my concierge medical practice in (enter your city & state). You know my brand voice: warm, professional, and clear. The target audience is adults aged 35 - 65 who are proactive about their health and value time, access, and personal attention in their care. Before you create content, please ask me a series of questions, one at a time, waiting for my answer, asking for any important clarifying information, then proceeding with the next question.
Create a 12-month social media content calendar that includes:
Yes, it can be that easy. According to Schwartz, that simple prompt is more AI training than most companies will ever do.
“We're training the AI tool on you and your practice. By properly onboarding relevant information, you’re teaching it your brand and unique selling proposition. It's going to ask questions and you’ll answer them until it feels that it's got sufficient information to then create content that's useful to your practice.”
Optimizing your practice’s Google Business Profile is one of the most important and impactful SEO activities you can undertake. This step is completely free, and yet, a shocking number of business owners don’t do it.
“If you don't already have a Google Business profile set up for your practice right now, please do so this afternoon. It is so important. It's probably the most important thing you can do to get new leads to your practice,” said Schwartz.
A lot of practice owners may simply not know what information to put in each section of their Google Business Profile. However, you can use AI to generate:
These are invaluable steps that AI can do for you. However, despite the importance of the Google Business Profile, a recent study of these listings revealed that:
This is basically like leaving SEO money on the table. And ChatGPT can do it for you for free.
Nearly all businesses need to publish content that educates and nurtures their sales leads so that they can eventually become customers. But in the medical sector, this process also includes creating trust-building content.
It’s important to remember that your would-be patients need to trust you before they take a single step into your building. They won’t simply Google you, they will do a deep dive into your entire web presence.
Data from a recent survey shows us that:
“Patients who haven't signed up yet often need more education and exposure to your name, your message, and your brand before requesting their meet and greet appointment. You've got to help them feel good about reaching out to schedule that appointment. Realize that trust is built through repetition, through transparency, personality, and authenticity,” said Schwartz.
He added that you can use AI tools to create trust-building content, provided you have trained it to speak in your brand’s voice.
“We can use AI to write blog posts, newsletters, and educational guides in your voice. You can use it to answer common patient questions in a friendly conversational tone. You can share your philosophy, your values, and your personal approach. You can tell people why you became a doctor, or why you opened this type of practice.”
Steven Schwartz has just released his new book, “Just Ask Maddy: The AI Digital Marketing Assistant for Membership Medical Practices,” which is now available for purchase on Amazon. The book guides the reader in properly onboarding and utilizing Maddy (The AI Digital Marketing Assistant) to create valuable and relevant marketing content for their practices. He offers the use of Maddy at no charge to practice owners.
“AI is revolutionizing digital marketing, and membership medical practices should learn how to incorporate AI now to help them save time, money, and stress while growing faster. I’m thrilled to have created a free AI tool (Maddy) and the companion book that practitioners can use immediately.”
We provide a do-it-all EHR, practice management, and patient portal solution that helps you slash the time spent on administrative tasks, freeing up your time to work ON your business instead of being trapped by tasks IN your business. At the same time, Cerbo offers online scheduling, text message reminders, and supports integrations with your CRM.
“While it takes a while to customize Cerbo to fit your practice, it is well worth the investment and ultimately saves time and money. The best part is that this translates into successful patient outcomes while minimizing the burden of charting, educating, and day-to-day administrative tasks on the practice team.”
— Dr. Kristann Heinz, MD, RD, Red Hill Medical + Wellness, Pennsylvania.
