In case you haven’t noticed, the world of healthcare marketing is changing. In fact, the entire digital marketing game is changing as technology that was once considered “trendy” or “a gimmick” is now becoming a crucial element in emerging digital marketing strategies.
Take voice search, for example. Did you know that “50 percent of the U.S. population uses voice search features daily,” according to Oberlo? Or that AI tools like ChatGPT are becoming so prevalent and effective that Google is trying to compete with them?
These are technologies you shouldn’t ignore, whether you’re an individual dental practice or a large healthcare organization. Here’s what you need to know about them.
What You Need to Know About Artificial Intelligence (AI)
If you’ve heard terms like ChatGPT thrown around recently, it’s because it’s what everyone is talking about. If you’re not familiar, this is an artificial-intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and it just launched in November of last year. While AI chatbots have been around for several years, this particular tool showcased a breakthrough in effectiveness. ChatGPT is more detailed, accurate and more accessible than any chatbot introduced before it. As such, everyone from individuals to large organizations are using it to generate large amounts of quality content in a short amount of time.
What You Need to Know About Voice Search
Voice search is also rising in popularity after years of stagnancy. As mentioned above, Oberlo has done lots of research into voice search trends and here are a few of the relevant voice search statistics they discovered that you need to know:
- “72 percent of US consumers are engaging with voice search through digital assistants such as Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana (Microsoft, 2018).”
- “In 2022, more than one-third of all US consumers owned a smart speaker (Statista, 2022).”
- “51 percent of all online shoppers in the US use voice assistance to research products (ComScore, 2019).”
- “More than a third of consumers say voice ads are less intrusive and more engaging than ads on TV, print, online and social media (Adobe, 2019).”
Just look at at the recent rise in podcasts, keyboard-free phone designs and other trends and you’ll see that more and more people prefer voice when it comes to absorbing and researching content.
What These Trends Mean for Healthcare Marketing
These emerging trends impact dental marketing and healthcare marketing in several direct ways. For example, with AI taking over, patients will be expecting information quickly. Pre-screenings are no longer optional. Be ready to add them to your website and customize the experience to best meet the needs of existing and potential patients.
Website content in general will matter more moving forward as well. You already likely know that, but managing it is going to be more and more difficult as the digital landscape continues to evolve. Blogs remain important (and you can write them with AI chatbots), but a human touch remains essential to match it to your expertise. All of the components of your website need to be compatible with voice search as well.
Sound like a lot? It is! The good news is that outsourcing your healthcare marketing efforts to an agency like Your Market Managers can help you stay on track with these trends with minimal requirements on your part. If you’re interested, contact us today to learn about next steps.