- By Write RN
Table of Contents
Give your customers a reason to buy or use your services. Writing healthcare content is an excellent way to reach your potential customers. Engaging content is key to attracting leads, converting customers, and keeping them coming back to your company. The problem is creating healthcare content that is not effective.
Blindly following a nonstrategic method in handling healthcare content creation and publishing is not ideal. How can you create compelling content that drives sales? How do you create engaging content that makes customers say YES? Read on.
What is Healthcare Content Writing?
The focus of healthcare content writing is on health and wellness topics. Writing for the healthcare industry often offers the reader a scientific breakdown of medical disease processes in layperson’s terms to help with the health literacy of the patient or consumer.
Why is Healthcare Content Writing Important?
Healthcare content writing is a part of healthcare content marketing, and it is vital because content marketing gains more sales, prospects, and customers. We know customers’ attention spans are short. With that in mind, competition among marketers is at an all-time high, with marketers attempting to engage them wherever they look, click, or go.
Given the enormous demand for consumers’ attention, how can your healthcare content writing break through the noise?
Creating engaging content for a business is the Holy Grail. When done right, content marketing can generate, optimize, and distribute branded content that is relevant, valuable, and easily consumed by your target audience. Creating a consistent stream of engaging content can be overwhelming, whether you’re new to content marketing or not. Content marketing is a reality and necessity in today’s business, so you almost have to do it.
Build brand awareness with valuable content.
Brand awareness is the essential advantage of content marketing. Creating content your target audience wants to share and discuss can make them realize that your product or service is what they need. That is why you should never stop improving your content to increase the number of shares and interactions from your audience.
Valuable content helps build your credibility and authority with your target audience.
Everyone has their expertise, and consistently sharing that valuable knowledge with your audience through healthcare content writing in video, audio, visual, or any other medium you prefer will establish your credibility. If you’re struggling to know who your audience is in the healthcare industry, it’s likely patients or healthcare professionals. If you find problems or challenges your ideal clients have and offer solutions that help, you will land buyers.
Consistent valuable content will give your audience a reason to stick around.
People are bound to want more if you provide them with content that is useful and effective. Valuable content will establish your credibility and build trust. This vital asset can provide a positive experience for your target audience.
Content marketing improves conversion.
Spending money on providing high-quality and informative content to your prospects will keep your organic traffic steady and drive sales.
What are the Benefits of Content Writing?
Improve Patient Engagement
Patients look for information on the internet. Infact, 70,000 health related searches are done every minute on Google! Therfore, when you write content that patients are searching for, you become a trusted brand for them to go to when they need answers about their health condistions.
Increased Web Traffic
High-quality and compelling marketing content will bring more traffic to your site.
The more people see your content and find value, the more it seamlessly funnels them to your products or services. Once your potential client trusts you, you will have more opportunities to increase sales.
Boosted Healthcare SEO
Quality content can increase your search engine optimization (SEO) and online visibility.
If you fine-tune your content for your target audience, your business can improve its authority and relevance in your niche by attracting new leads. The good news is some metrics can be helpful and create ease for you to achieve your goal.
There are many powerful benefits to creating engaging content. And it’s easy to see why many people and businesses build their content marketing strategies.
Who is Publishing Healthcare Content?
Businesses, big and small, local and global, are using healthcare content writing to reach their audiences. Let’s dive into a couple of those companies.
The Cleveland Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic is one of the biggest hospitals in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. They publish two-three articles on their health website a day. It’s important to note what their content manager, Amanda, said recently. She mentions that they do not put the strategy into place; instead, they work off their audiences’ suggestions. We do the same type of strategy at WriteRN. Cleveland Clinic strategizes on what its patients are asking, not what they think they should ask. Then, when patients visit Cleveland Clinic’s website, they are led to the content they want.
WebMD
Another big player in the health content world is WebMD. WebMD has a mission: “Our daily goal is to ensure that WebMD is your practical and relevant content source for health and medicine.” Like the Cleveland Clinic, they want users to find their content when searching the web. They have done a great job at this concept!
Adventist Health
A smaller company, Adventist Health in California, has a Cardiac rehab center at a sublocation. You’ll notice that they have healthcare content that helps answer their typical patient questions. Like the more significant companies listed above, Adventist gives patients what they need to know before going to the rehab center.
EARN
However, we must look at companies that aren’t focused solely on patients. How about other healthcare providers? This type of content is also a type of health writing because of the audience they serve. For example, EARN is a staffing agency for nurses where they can learn about other areas of work and a day in the life of other nurses.
Relias
Relias is another company that serves healthcare providers. Healthcare writing is essential to their content because it is health-driven, from continuing education to onboarding for new clinicians. They must have relevant healthcare content ready to go for education.
3 Key Points in Healthcare Marketing
Developing engaging content goes beyond sprucing up your socials and website with random content. It’s serious work that combines art and science. Below are key points you must remember when creating engaging content.
1. Relevance
Content marketing is about relevance. Stay on top of things while being true to your brand, voice, and mission. But also remember to fulfill your target audience’s needs.
2. Value
Provide value to your target audience. People naturally navigate to content that gives answers to questions. By recognizing your audiences’ struggles, you’ll be able to create content that will not only help find solutions but also attract new visitors and cement your authority.
3. Digestible
Modern technology makes it easier for us to find information with a simple click which kills our patience. Now, a human’s attention span is all of 8 seconds! Hence, you need to scale down your content to allow your target audience to grace and skim while being entertaining, helpful, and relevant.
Content marketing drives sales for your business, but it doesn’t mean you need to push too much. Instead, aim for your content to be educational, engaging, and entertaining, so your business will remain top of mind even if your target audience can’t buy yet. This content will be handy when your target audience reaches their purchase point.
Who Writes the Healthcare Content?
Some companies outsource their content writing to a healthcare content marketing agency that offers healthcare content writing services. However, any content writer can write healthcare content. Though, if you want reliable, evidence-based content, you need to turn to subject matter experts in that area of healthcare content. At WriteRN, for example, we have over 130+ RNs and Nurse practitioners who write on countless areas of healthcare.
Think about it: if you were a patient getting ready for ankle surgery, wouldn’t you want your questions answered by someone with experience working in orthopedics? Sure, other healthcare writers can research and write, but coming from a nurse writer makes the content more reliable and patient-friendly.
How to Get Started With Healthcare Content Writing
Now that you have learned all about what healthcare content writing is and why we use it, let’s talk about how to write engaging, trustworthy healthcare content.
Let’s take a closer look at creating engaging, consistent, high-quality content.
I know you’re thinking, what’s the point of all we discussed? So, get ready as we dive into the challenging yet exciting part!
How to Create Engaging Content
Content is the bridge that allows us to build relationships with our target audience throughout the sales cycle. Therefore, your healthcare content marketing strategy must be realistic. Here are steps you can take to create engaging content that drives sales.
1 – Set your goals.
A successful content marketing strategy always starts with well-defined goals. Many people skip this step. It’s important because if you don’t have a plan, you won’t have anywhere to aim your efforts. It’s like going on a road trip without a destination. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish with your content marketing. If you desire to get more business from existing customers or keep clients for a long time, consider the things they’ve already shown an interest in.
2 – Do your research
Think about the content you are about to write. Is it something your audience would search for? Is it providing value? How have your competitors covered the topic? After setting goals, research your topic. Make sure you answer your audience’s questions. During the research phase, find relevant evidence to back up your claims.
3 – Write for your target audience.
Write specifically to one person who will read the post. But before that, you need to see what type they want and align that to sell your products or services. The easiest way to get that information is to ask for feedback, run a poll on Instagram, and engage with them through social media.
4 – Personalize it.
Personalize everything, from email marketing campaigns to social media posts and landing pages to your customer support process. Your prospects’ impression deals with someone who understands their needs and provides an excellent experience.
5 – Pick which content marketing medium, formats, and schedules.
Start by searching where your target audience is to connect with them. Understanding your audience is advantageous.
What do they read, listen and watch?
With that information, choose the medium to distribute your content. Mix things up, repurpose content for different formats to keep your audience engaged, and work out which type of format converts well.
6 – Include customer polls in your marketing materials.
Ask customers what they like and dislike about your product or service, and then use their responses in future communications with them in various ways.
For example, if they like one feature but dislike another, figure out how to incorporate both into future communications (for instance, by using more features rather than less).
7 – Use word clouds or infographics to add value.
Accomplish this by either creating your custom graphics or hiring someone. The key is to add value while keeping things simple.
8 – Use many visuals.
Images may seem trivial in text-based mediums such as social media, but they can make all the difference!
Using images helps us understand what we’re looking at faster than words alone, making them the perfect tool for grabbing your target audience’s attention and quickly understanding a story.
9 – Keep it clear and concise
People don’t have time to read long articles on social media, especially something as simple as a new product launch or an upcoming event. Keep it short and sweet to avoid losing interest before they even read the post!
10 – Evaluate analytics and refine content.
Just because you created and released the content doesn’t mean you can sit idly or relax. Evaluate to see what is working and what’s not. Marketing today has advanced so far that you can now track and measure almost everything. Therefore, you need to take advantage of these metrics by checking regularly.
- Is it performing successfully to achieve your set goal?
- Did it work on one channel but not on another?
- What is the cause?
- Is it simply a lack of exposure?
After you know the answer to these questions, improving your content will be easier.
How Often Should I Blog?
This question is one everyone wants an answer to when they are starting a blog or trying to increase their website traffic. The question, to begin with, isn’t, “How often should I blog”, but rather, “What are my content marketing goals?” Starting with the goal in mind will help you create a strategy that works best for your business. Start with an audience. If you don’t have an audience yet, you should try to grow one before you launch your blog.
How do you grow an audience? You can guest appear on other blogs or podcasts to get the word out about your company. Start replying to common questions in Facebook groups. Network with other business owners who have similar audiences.
According to research done at the Marketing Insider Group, the sweet spots for B2B and B2C are 11 posts a month, or about three blogs a week.
What are the Other Types of Health-Related Content Writing?
As we talk all about blog posts in this blog post, it’s important to note that many types of healthcare communications exist. Let’s talk about each and how companies use them to engage their audiences.
Academic Writing
Academic writing is writing that targets students or those in the academic world. Nurse writers create this formal style of healthcare writing for companies like universities, continuing education companies, and academic journals. Nurses use academic writing as they learn throughout nursing school and on the job when new research emerges.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is content for email subscribers. You may notice your inbox is full of email marketing from your favorite clothing brands, news resources, and more. Email marketing aims to get the user to do “something”—buy a product, read something, watch a video, etc. Healthcare content for email marketing could be in the e-commerce space with new supplements or clothing or new research to have the reader click a link to read a longer article on a website.
Web Copy
Webcopy is the words directly on a healthcare company’s website. Direct response copy is a form of copywriting that is on a website. Copywriting is writing with a persuasion element to sell or have the user take action after reading. Every healthcare website includes webcopy.
Sales Page
A healthcare sales web page is a standalone page created with one specific purpose in mind: a sale. This sale can be for a service or product in the healthcare industry.
Blog Article
Blog articles for healthcare companies are written for three purposes—to inform, entertain, or educate. This blog post is educating you, the reader, on why you should use healthcare writing on your website. HubSpot reports that 90% of its monthly leads come from blog posts.
Ebook
An ebook, according to Oxford Dictionary, is an electronic version of a printed book that you can read on a computer or handheld device designed specifically for this purpose. Often, healthcare companies deliver an ebook in exchange for an email address from a potential customer.
White Papers
According to Hubspot, a whitepaper is a persuasive, authoritative, in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem and provides a solution. Whitepapers target professional audiences but can also be helpful for patients. Example topics for whitepapers are research about new procedures, products, or regulations within the healthcare industry.
Case Studies
Case studies prove that something worked for a service or product that a potential customer is researching. You can also use case studies to review analytical data about specific populations or health conditions. It’s a formal way of presenting data. Case studies differ from whitepapers because they are shorter and more descriptive.
Social Media Posts
Social media is becoming more and more popular as the years go on. Social media posts promote marketing materials like blog posts and lead magnets (e.g., whitepapers, ebooks, case studies) and educate, inform, and entertain. Social media posts are a form of healthcare communication as abbreviated visual blog posts.
Creating the right kind of engaging content for your business is a lot of work. It takes patience and time, yet the benefits are worth it, especially if you’re a small business owner with a small marketing budget.
Content marketing is about humanizing your brand and connecting with your target audience. The more engaged your audience is with you, the more likely they will purchase from you. Follow these steps to create well-thought-out and engaging content to help you reach your goals.
Stand out from the crowd using our expert content strategy. We’ll help you identify areas where your healthcare organization is succeeding and where we can formulate new ideas to improve your overall content marketing campaign
FAQs
Where can I find good content writers for a health blog?
That keyword in this question is good. Writing is a skill that many people lack. Hiring a writer is risky if you don’t know their history. You should always ask for samples and testimonials when hiring a writer. In the healthcare industry, the writer has to be knowledgeable to cite and give correct information, which is a struggle when there are large amounts of false claims on the internet.
If your business is in the healthcare industry, hiring a healthcare content writer who specializes in healthcare content writing services, of some sort is almost inevitable. At WriteRN, we screen all of our writers and have an in-house editor to make sure you receive the best content for your company.
How much should I pay a freelance writer?
This isn’t a question we can answer with one answer because every writer comes with different experiences, and every healthcare business has different marketing budgets.
About the Author
Janine Kelbach, RNC-OB
Janine is a Registered Nurse since 2006, specializing in labor and delivery. She still works at the bedside, as needed. She built Write RN back in 2015 when she started as a freelance writer.
Over the years, and many clients later, she studied marketing, grew her marketing skills, her portfolio (over 200+ pieces), and her business to the agency it is today.
