9 Tips to Make Your Marketing More Engaging

2. Produce actionable content

We just talked about the goals of your marketing campaigns, right?

If you don’t know the purpose of your content, the audience won’t have any idea either.

You need to know what you want someone to do after they consume a piece of your content.

For example, let’s say you’re promoting a new service on your website. You decide to blog about it. This is a great idea, but that alone won’t get people to request appointments with your office!

Your post needs to highlight the features and benefits, how it can be used, how you have used it, and how it can improve the lives of your patients.

This primes the reader to take action.

You can’t assume your audience will read something, navigate to your site, search the podiatric services you provide, and then click on your contact page.

You need to have engaging content that drives them to an effective call-to-action (CTA).

3. Publish accurate information

Always be careful of the information you publish—and especially given that you are a medical professional.

Basically, anyone can put anything on the internet today. And for this reason, it’s essential that you recognize the quality and accuracy of the websites you’re sourcing.

Fortunately, there are many reputable and reliable sources out there in the medical field. Stick to the ones that rank the best in Google searches, and you’re more likely to make sure you are using the right sources.

In addition to making sure the source is reputable, make sure it’s recent.

Information changes at a rapid rate.

A statistic or study from ten years ago may not be relevant today. But if your content provides up to date and accurate info, people will be more inclined to engage with it.

4. Tell a story

While data is important, it’s easier for people to relate to stories than to facts.

That’s why we read books, watch movies, binge-watch television shows, and keep up with reality and celebrity news. We want to know what comes next in the story.

You can learn how to increase your patient numbers by mastering the art of storytelling.

Telling a story will help you connect with your audience. It can also improve your credibility on a subject.

Of course, something important to keep in mind here is that you don’t want to commit any HIPAA violations—so don’t use names, details, etc. that can easily identify someone. Instead, use completely hypothetical cases that relate to actual services and practices.

Also, speak in a way that’s relatable to your audience. Try to evoke powerful emotions such as joy, fear, or sadness.

5. Make your audience think

Being original is one thing. But being thought-provoking is another. It’s an art.

The idea behind thought-provoking content is that the reader can relate to what you’re saying. You don’t always need to talk about a concept in black and white terms.

Let the readers’ imaginations run wild in that gray area.

Ask questions with no definitive answers. Paint a picture with some abstract scenarios.

But make it relevant to their daily lives. This will keep your audience hooked and help them engage with your content.

6. Use visuals

Now, we’ve mostly talked about written content so far, but your overall content marketing strategy is bigger than that. This means pictures, video, and other graphic elements need to be incorporated into your strategy as well.

Take original photos. It’s easy to take and edit photos without hiring a professional.

That’s because visual elements have an impact on your marketing success (or lack of thereof).

You can also enhance your content by building infographics.

Infographics take this concept to the next level. Since people remember images better than text—we are visual beings, after all—they will be more likely to retain information if it’s in the form of a picture or graph.

A major part of this is to use video marketing. The possibilities with video content are nearly endless. Here are a few suggestions you might want to use:

• “How-To” Videos
• Product Demonstrations
• Entertainment
• Discussions
• Interviews

Add videos to your website, posts, email newsletters, and social media channels for optimal engagement.

7. Master your headlines

Before your content can be consumed, it needs to be clicked on.

That’s why you need to focus your efforts on creating clickable headlines. Whether it’s on your website, social media channels, or organic search results pages, your headline will be the first thing people see.

If you’ve got boring headlines, people have no reason to click, you know?

Just be careful not to give it all away with your headline. For example, if your headline says something like “Men have bigger feet than women,” nobody will have a reason to read the article.

But if you intrigue them with a clever question, it will pique the readers’ interest, and you’ll get more clicks.

8. Hook readers with your intro

Okay, so you’ve got some people who clicked on your headline. That’s great news.

However, this doesn’t mean they’ll read through all your content. In fact, research shows that 55% of your audience spends only up to 15 seconds reading your articles.

In short, they’re not actually reading it—they’re just skimming.

That’s why you need to learn how to write blog post introductions that make the rest of your post irresistible!

If you can hook the readers with your opening lines, they will be more likely to remain interested throughout the post.

This works in conjunction with your headline and CTA. All these elements should be working together toward your goal.

9. Mix up your content

Posts shouldn’t be all the same. That’s just boring.

Nobody wants to read a case study every day. Keep your audience on their toes to make sure they get excited with your content.

If one post tells a story, perhaps your next one will be about some medical research. And you could follow that with a video about a related subject (that uses a different angle).

Next, you could promote a new service at your podiatry practice. After that, a blog post about a recent event at your office. Etc.

Whatever you do, don’t let your content go stale.

Bring in the Pros!

These tips will help you create marketing content that is engaging—which is proven to be more effective than the usual, boring stuff too many people put out there.

Now, it all requires a certain degree of skill and finesse. If you’re being honest and feel this isn’t in the wheelhouse for you or your staff, you might want to leave it to the experts.

VMD Services creates engaging content for our clients and we’d be happy to do the same for you. If you want to take your digital marketing to the next level, give us a call at (833) 823-3335 and let’s chat about what we can do for your podiatry practice.