The Future Is Here—Using AI to Market Your Hospital

ChatGPT — How Do I Market My Hospital?

How do I use AI for hospital marketing?

The future is here—robots, infinite knowledge at our fingertips, self-driving cars. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the newest shiny object—available for free and on numerous open-source platforms. Whether ChatGPT, Bard, Bing or other models, they understand natural language and generate human-like responses in seconds.

We’ve blogged about AI several times, but we decided to give it a try with writing this blog. We made a specific request for information to share with readers. Below is the prompt that we input on the ChatGPT platform. ChatGPT responded with a 586-word healthcare marketing blog in less than 60 seconds.

All-in-all, ChatGPT delivered an accurate healthcare marketing primer. Rather than fearing AI, we see it as another tool to help us work smarter and jumpstart ideas when staring at a blank screen.

Our prompt:

In a 600-word blog, explain the best ways to market health care services and programs of hospitals in the United States. The hospital is in any city and can be any size.  The hospital wants to tell patients and people who might become patients why they should choose it when they need health care.

ChatGPT’s response:

In today’s highly competitive healthcare industry, marketing plays a crucial role in attracting and retaining patients. Hospitals must have a well-planned marketing strategy to differentiate themselves from their competitors and convey their unique value proposition to potential patients. In this blog post, we will discuss the best ways to market healthcare services and programs of hospitals in the United States.

  • Develop a strong brand identity. A hospital’s brand identify is what sets it apart from its competitors. It should be unique, memorable, and communicate the hospital’s mission, values, and services. Developing a strong brand identity involves creating a logo, tagline, and other visual elements that communicate the hospital’s message.
  • Leverage digital marketing: With the majority of people searching for healthcare services online, it’s essential to have a strong online presence. This includes having a mobile-friendly website, social media profiles, and online directories. Hospitals can also use search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to drive traffic to their website and increase visibility.
  • Provide exceptional patient experiences: A hospital’s reputation is built on the quality of care it provides. Patients are more likely to choose a hospital that has a reputation for providing exceptional patient experiences. Hospitals can achieve this by ensuring that patients are treated with respect, compassion, and empathy, and their needs are met promptly.
  • Offer unique services and programs: Hospitals can differentiate themselves from their competitors by offering unique services and programs. For example, a hospital could offer specialized services like cancer treatment or orthopedic surgery, or programs like wellness and nutrition classes.
  • Partner with local organizations: Hospitals can partner with local organizations to increase their visibility in the community. For example, a hospital could partner with a local gym to offer wellness classes or sponsor a community event. This helps to build trust and establish the hospital as a valuable member of the community.
  • Build relationships with referring physicians: Referring physicians play a crucial role in directing patients to hospitals. Hospitals can build relationships with referring physicians by providing quality care, keeping them informed about their patients’ progress, and offering continuing education opportunities.
  • Use patient testimonials: Patient testimonials are a powerful marketing tool as they provide social poof of the quality of care provided by the hospital. Hospitals can use patient testimonials in their marketing materials, on their website, and on social media.
  • Offer convenient access to care: Patients are more likely to choose a hospital that offers convenient access to care. Hospitals can achieve this by offering online appointment scheduling, telemedicine services, and extended hours of operation.
  • Host community events: Hosting community events is an excellent way for hospitals to engage with the community and promote their services. For example, a hospital could host a health fair or a blood drive.
  • Measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts: Finally, it’s essential to measure the effectiveness of marketing efforts. Hospitals can use tools like website analytics, social media metrics, and patient satisfaction surveys to track their marketing efforts’ impact and make informed decisions about future marketing strategies.

In conclusion, marketing healthcare services and programs of hospitals in the United States requires a well-planned strategy that involves developing a strong brand identity, leveraging digital marketing, providing exceptional patient experiences, offering unique services and programs, building relationships with referring physicians, using patient testimonials, offering convenient access to care, hosting community events, and measuring the effectiveness of marketing efforts. By implementing these strategies, hospitals can differentiate themselves from their competitors, increase their visibility in the community, and attract and retain patients.

Our Takeaway on AI for Marketing Your Hospital

Not bad for a robot! Your marketing team can leverage ChatGPT & other AI models when developing blog & social media content, saving valuable time. These tools are especially useful for small teams that may need some additional “help” with copywriting. However, AI isn’t perfect and there are some things you need to know before you use ChatGPT in your healthcare marketing strategy:

  1. Expect to edit ChatGPT’s response for a more human-sounding tone of voice that matches your brand. ChatGPT is a great starting point, but you should expect to do at least some minor editing to get your content publish-ready. Unsurprisingly, AI can sound a bit robotic at times so you’ll likely need to tweak the tone of voice and pacing. Even with a detailed prompt, ChatGPT won’t be able to understand your brand and how you usually communicate with patients, so you’ll need to also edit your copy to match your brand.
  2. Always fact-check the AI model’s output before publishing. ChatGPT and other AI models primarily use the internet for information gathering. That means they’re also collecting inaccurate and misinformation. Don’t assume your AI model got everything right without reviewing the information for accuracy.
  3. Google knows when you use AI-generated content, and it’s not a fan. In a somewhat recent search algorithm update, Google announced content written solely through AI will not perform as well on its search engine results pages. While AI can be helpful when writing content for your website, using it too much may end up hurting more than helping your marketing efforts.