In today’s hyperconnected world, one scathing review of your business can leave a bad taste in the mouth of your future customers. That’s why it’s important to make healthcare reputation management a key part of your digital marketing strategy.

But what exactly is reputation management, and how can healthcare marketers incorporate it into their current strategy? This blog post aims to answer these two vital questions.

What is reputation management and why is it important?

Essentially, reputation management in the practice of influencing how people think of your company. A large part of this is addressing customer concerns and feedback as they come up online, and managing your brand presence across a multitude of review platforms.

Having a poorly managed brand reputation is a liability to your company, and will offset any positive efforts you’re making in your marketing strategy.

Across all industries, marketers are seeing a shift in customer behavior. Customers are doing more research on the companies and providers they work with before they make their decision. Healthcare companies are seeing this trend too. In fact, studies show that 80-90% of patients are willing to visit a provider out of their network if they have better reviews.

People are highly concerned about their health, and will absolutely do the legwork necessary to ensure they get the best care possible. Because of this, healthcare reputation management is a key strategy in maintaining your lead generation efforts — and, by extension, your bottom line.

4 tips on implementing a reputation management strategy for your business

• Be proactive. It’s better to have a reputation management strategy in place before any issues come up, rather than addressing negative reviews on the fly. Having a plan already in place allows you to be strategic instead of haphazard in your communications.
  
• Consider hiring a reputation management expert. Although some smaller companies may choose to give this responsibility to their social media or public relations team, true reputation management requires a specialized skill set. If a new hire isn’t in your company budget, you may also want to look into companies that provide this service for you.
  
• Ask for reviews. It’s easy to underestimate the power of the ask. Simply asking your customers for reviews, especially if they’ve had a particularly good experience with your company, can be enough to increase the amount of positive reviews you get.
  
• Make reviewing your brand presence a regular part of your routine. One of the most important aspects of reputation management is catching negative reviews and feedback, and addressing them as soon as possible. Leaving them as is shows potential customers that you’re not interested in improving your business; companies that promptly address these comments show customers that they care.

Choose Pascāle for your healthcare marketing needs

If you can’t dedicate the resources to hiring a full-time expert, or if you don’t know where to start, consider making us a part of your reputation management strategy.

Pascāle is a New-York based communications firm specializing in the healthcare industry, so we know what works for your business and can implement strategies that work right from day one.

We take our expert team of medical writers, communicators, and marketers and combine it with an education-focused approach to raise brand awareness and connect you with your target audience. In addition to a full suite of public relations and digital marketing services, we also offer programs specially designed to help healthcare companies build their brand and boost lead generation efforts.

If this is something you’re interested in, get in touch! Contact us with any questions or concerns you might have, or schedule a call with our team to learn more.