The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely taken its toll on people’s mental health. The fear of contracting the virus and having to stay indoors to avoid getting infected has led to a rise in the percentage of adults with symptoms of anxiety or depression. (1)
Although talking about mental health issues isn’t as frowned upon as before, some are still hesitant to open up about the problems that they’re facing. Even though more resources have become available, misinformation is still rampant.
That’s why mental health practitioners and clinic owners must ramp up their marketing efforts to reach out and help those in need. This way, you also help the latter avoid being fed with unsupported claims and research.
Fortunately, there are digital marketing agencies such as Lead to Recovery that focus on supporting the campaigns of mental health companies. These experts can overhaul your entire digital marketing process, from SEO to PPC marketing, to make your brand more visible to those who need your services.
Nonetheless, it’s still prudent for you to know how to build an effective mental health marketing strategy. Here are some tips to remember:
1. Post informative and engaging content
Healthcare marketers can help reduce or eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health by normalizing the conversation and educating people. Empowering healthcare consumers to make informed decisions about their emotional and behavioral health issues, depression, and substance abuse can make all the difference.
Moreover, people are looking for informative and engaging content. In one study, there was a surge of internet searches for insomnia, depression, and suicide in the United States, along with internet users in Iran, Spain, and Italy, during the COVID-19 pandemic. (2)
A majority of people go online to learn more about the behavioral issues that they’re experiencing and the things that they could do to alleviate those symptoms. Knowing this, your website should be a fountain of knowledge where they can find reliable answers to their queries.
2. Optimize your website
Publishing informative and engaging content is well and good, but it’s not enough. You have to optimize the elements of your website to ensure that people can actually read your blog.
The World Wide Web is a vast place, and your content could easily end up getting buried under so many updates from other blogs. As such, you must focus on using the right keywords and links because these are the main factors that can help you reach your target audience.
Potential patients use keywords to type in their queries on search engines. They also use words to look up relevant hashtags on social media. Knowing this, you should understand how your target audience would create searches and incorporate those terms or phrases into your content.
While keywords are used by humans to find content, search engines utilize links. In your content, you should place internal links, or links that go from one page to another in your domain, as well as external links, which direct search engine bots to other websites. This way, these bots can crawl through the pages and add them to their index.
Don’t forget to implement a responsive design to your website as well. Most people are tethered to their phones nowadays, so it’s wise to ensure that your site looks good regardless of the screen size they’re viewing it from.
3. Wield social media effectively
Social media is another marketing platform to focus on if you want to reach out to potential patients. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and even TikTok have become favorite channels for people to have conversations about their mental health. You can join this discourse and establish yourself as a credible source of information.
4. Network with fellow professionals
Make an effort to connect with other mental health professionals. For instance, you can collaborate with doctors and encourage them to refer patients to you.
Be on the lookout for online conversations within the industry as well, where you can contribute relevant information. In the comments, you should include a link to your website so that they know how to reach you.
5. Offer flexible services
Clients won’t always find it convenient to go to your office. With that said, you should think about providing alternatives, such as teletherapy or e-counseling, as well as flexible scheduling options, especially with the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Takeaway
Mental health clinics and practitioners still need to have a marketing plan to ensure that they reach their target audience. With so many people struggling with anxiety and depression, you can help them with their problems and engage with them online by following these tips.
References
- “Symptoms of Anxiety or Depressive Disorder and Use of Mental Health Care Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic — United States, August 2020–February 2021”, Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7013e2.htm
- “Increased Internet Searches for Insomnia as an Indicator of Global Mental Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Multinational Longitudinal Study”, Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7508633/
