You’re always thinking about the best place to use your marketing funds. Not just because you’re limited in what you have, but because you need to be able to maximize results. With a possible recession looming over our heads, you’ve probably thought about budgets being cut even more. We want to help you do the most with your marketing budget, so we’ve gathered a few simple steps you can use to start maximizing your dollars. 

1. Apply effective audience selection, ad personalization, and messaging for all media platforms

Marketing misses the point if it’s not customized for your specific audience.Consumers look for marketing they can relate to, something specific to them. Here are some helpful tips to start applying customization and personalization to your messaging.

• Perform a routine deep dive on campaign performance to ensure messaging and audience selection are optimized. For example, each social media platform has different audiences, thus different ways they want to be communicated to.
  • Facebook: A great platform for promoting external resources, accompany the resources with a simple, attention-grabbing caption. 
  • Instagram: Deliver a snappy, attention-grabbing piece of information in the first line of your Instagram caption. More of the useful information should be included in the graphics or images of the overall post. 
  • LinkedIn: Different from other platforms, keeping the reader on LinkedIn will result in better engagement. Share information without causing them to click off the site. 
  • Twitter: Be short, smart, and snappy on this platform to make readers click through. 
• Apply the learnings from your deep dive to future campaigns, making the message something your audience wants to hear. 

Provide a friction-free call-to-action. The campaign experience starts when consumers act on your messaging, not when you see the conversion.

2. Use the right media channels

To keep media costs down, channel selection is crucial. Marketing has evolved from mass messaging through print ads and tv to niche marketing, where advertisers can leverage the online world to reach a specific group they want to share their message with. Target a specific audience using a few exact channels.

• Email marketing is a beneficial tool if you create content that meets the needs and wants of the communities served. Based on demographic information you can gather from email lists, you can customize what content you’re sending to different groups of people.
• Leverage organic channels, earned media, and other low-cost methods to reach consumers. Evaluate your channels and put your budget where you're seeing the most results.

3. Stay on trend

Publish content that is highly relevant to your audience to drive organic search results and deliver cost-efficient growth campaigns.

• We recommend monitoring trending health topics on social media to determine content people want to learn about. Pay attention to what wellness influencers might be sharing and share your professional insight on the topic. You can also go right to the source and discuss topics patients bring up when they call your hospital.
• Develop blog articles, social postings, and emails that touch on those topics to increase traffic to your website. Give a little taste of what the full content has to offer and lead the viewer to your website, leaving a little bit of mystery and prompting them to visit your site.

4. Clean your Google listings

Claim all of your Google listings for both physicians and locations — this is low-hanging fruit that is easy to accomplish.This is done by finding the listing online and clicking the "Claim this business" button. Now, you can monitor and respond to all of the reviews left on the business listings. Google Insights, a free analytics package, allows you to see how customers find your listing, where they find you on Google, and what those customers do when they find your listing. Use these tips to optimize your listing:

• Your visibility also increases by adding all the right information to your listing. Include these key pieces in your listing:
  • Accurate address or service area
  • 2-3 categories that describe your business
  • A few local keywords in your description
• All you need to do is verify your Business Profile with Google to start creating and adding listings through Google Maps.

5. Be digital-first

Reach more people by using data-driven consumer targeting, and the online space is a great way to maximize it. When budgets are tight, it’s important to focus on the channels that are most cost-effective and reach consumers that will likely become patients.

• There are a few low-cost options to drive your findings, like social media, email campaign metrics, search engine optimization, and targeted advertising. 
• Focus less on traditional means of advertising, like direct mail or OOH pieces, but rather on other methods that allow for a wider reach.

With years of experience running full-service marketing and advertising services for our healthcare partners, our team at DECODE Advertising knows what it takes to stand out without breaking the bank. We waste nothing, so we can deliver everything. Find out how we can help you maximize your marketing budget.