SMS Marketing: Just what the Doctor Ordered

SMS Marketing: Just what the Doctor Ordered

SMS marketing messages, web based kiosks, and mobile websites are powerful tools for retail, but does mobile marketing make sense for doctors and healthcare professionals?

One of the biggest advantages of mobile marketing is it’s versatility. It can be used across a variety of industries. SMS marketing, specifically, can serve as an effective communication channel for doctors and healthcare professionals. While HIPAA and other laws protecting patient information may prevent sensitive information from being shared, medical professionals can still engage and communicate with patients using SMS marketing.

Family practitioners, chiropractors, dentists, and other medical professionals can use SMS marketing to accomplish the following:

Reduce the number of missed appointments
With appointment reminders an office can send a text blast to patients to remind them of their appointment. By scheduling the reminder 24-48 hours in advance the patient will have adequate time to reschedule if a conflict should arise.

Share health tips and advice
By providing tips and sharing advice, medical professionals create insightful content to help patients improve their quality of life. A dentist’s office may want to share a link to an instructional video explaining how to properly floss. A doctor can share a recipe for a meal to help lower cholesterol. The more creative the communication is, the better quality the relationship between the doctor and patient will be.

Provide medical news and industry updates
One of SMS marketing’s best features is the ability to include a URL in a text message. This gives doctors and professionals the ability to share the latest in medical and health related news. More importantly, the doctor can share any published articles or updates to their blog by scheduling a monthly SMS marketing blast to patients.This improves the way the doctor is perceived and keeps them relevant with their patients.

Depending on the creativity of the practice, medical professionals can utilize the power of SMS marketing to grow in their field. As with any other business, the principles are the same. Customers want personalized and well planned engagements sent to their phone. If they do not perceive a value they will opt out and look elsewhere to satisfy their needs. Patients are no different, and there is no reason as to why medical professionals should not incorporate SMS marketing.

Check out AvidMobile’s mobile marketing application and grab a free trial to see how SMS marketing can work for you.