Issue 3 2020

Feb20214 SocialClimb’s 2020 Vision: Looking to the Future of Medical Marketing Medical marketing has undergone a transformation in today’s digital world. With an endless supply of information at their fingertips, medical consumers have changed the way they seek out medical care. Gone are the days when finding a doctor was as simple as getting a referral from a primary care physician. Bulk mailers, radio ads, and billboard advertising no longer have a significant marketing impact. Instead, prospective patients are turning to the internet to do their own research, and a large portion of patients look at reviews first when they are searching for a physician. Today’s effective marketing efforts focus on reaching potential patients at their decision-making points. Physicians and practices need to show up in online searches with the credentials to be trusted by an internet- searching generation. They need to manage their online reputation. SocialClimb understands medical consumer behavior and has built an innovative platform that will automate patient acquisition and grow medical practices. Their platform puts medical practices and physicians in a position to be seen—and chosen—by prospective patients as they search for medical care near them. With SocialClimb, clients are able to grow the value of their practice, expand providers and locations with confidence, and track the impact of their marketing spend. Who Is SocialClimb? The SocialClimb vision was born when founder and CEO, Ty Allen, experienced a life-threatening injury. He quickly learned how difficult it could be to make decisions as a medical consumer in the United States. Faced with a spinal cord injury and year-long rehabilitation, Allen had to make 10–12 key provider or facility decisions that would significantly affect his recovery and quality of life. Many of these medical decisions had to be made in less than an hour, and yet they all required more information about medical providers than was available to him as a digital-savvy medical consumer. Allen discovered a disconnect between what medical consumers need to know to make a good decision and how medical practices market themselves. SocialClimb provides a solution to benefit both the medical community and the consumers who need their services. Seeing Beyond the Basics of Reputation Management With an increasing number of medical consumers choosing a doctor based on reviews, reputation management is essential to medical marketing. SocialClimb’s platform will integrate with a medical practice’s patient management system to auto-send customizable review and/or survey requests to every patient. Simply sending requests for feedback will give voice to the silent majority of happy patients and raise ratings by 1.3 stars on average. As consumers search for a doctor, results often show up in a Google Local 3-Pack. Google’s search engine finds the three Google My Business (GMB) listings that, according to their criteria, best meet the search being conducted. They base their decision in part on a GMB page that has good information and a high number of reviews. If a physician or a medical practice does not have a GMB page, or if their listing is not optimized, they will not show up in a Google Local 3-Pack. Most reputation management companies will help physicians and medical practices improve their reviews. Some will even tell medical practices how to claim and optimize their Google My Business (GMB) listings so they can put their great reviews to work for them. SocialClimb takes it a step further. They will claim and optimize GMB listings for their clients so that when those good reviews start coming in, they will be positioned to win at Google’s Local Search. In addition, SocialClimb has full API integration with Google Insights as well as most patient management systems. This full integration maintains patient privacy while providing access to important data and analytics. It also means that SocialClimb clients can manage everything from a single location. They can view and respond to reviews, watch their rating rise, track how many calls have come in from a GMB listing, set up targeted ads, and access a variety of reports so they can see the results of their marketing efforts. Large medical groups enjoy an additional benefit due to SocialClimb’s ability to use single sign-on technologies. These large medical groups can use their single sign-on to access their SocialClimb platform. Employees will be able to easily and securely manage their various assigned roles by logging in once. Taking It to the Next Level Once a physician or medical practice is dominating Google’s Local Search, they’ll be positioned to use SocialClimb’s automated patient acquisition tools to identify their ideal patients, deliver targeted reputation ads, and measure the ROI of every marketing dollar they spend. Machine learning and deep analytics pave the way for taking medical marketing to this next level. Because SocialClimb integrates thoroughly with practice management systems, they can access information that will help them identify ideal patients based on several metrics. They also have access to aggregate information on 300 million people throughout the United States across over 200 data points. SocialClimb applies cutting-edge data analysis to all their gathered information to find opportunities for growth uniquely tailored for each medical practice or physician. Their intelligent systems provide ongoing evaluations to track consumer actions and make recommendations based on real-time data merged with demographic and medical case data, allowing SocialClimb to identify individuals trending toward specific future medical care. SocialClimb’s GO feature will filter down the data to suggest customized Growth Opportunities for their clients. Growth Opportunities can be Medical consumers are looking for a doctor they can trust, and they are turning to reviews in increasing numbers to make those critical decisions. SocialClimb’s three-tiered strategy helps medical practices and doctors get seen by consumers in Google’s Local Search results, target and attract ideal patients, and measure the ROI of their marketing spend. Their innovative approach moves beyond what other reputation management companies offer to attract a better patient mix and bring medical consumers and doctors together in mutually beneficial ways.