Timing is Everything: Aligning Healthcare Marketing with Seasonal Patient Needs

The seasons bring about changes that require marketers to continually adjust their strategies. In healthcare, understanding these seasonal shifts in patient engagement and aligning marketing campaigns accordingly is essential to delivering timely care. Every patient has unique needs throughout the year, and data from the American Marketing Association reveals that 72% of consumers prefer companies that customize their marketing messages to meet specific needs. This highlights the importance of responsive and tailored marketing approaches. By aligning our outreach with seasonal trends, we can enhance care delivery and maintain our reputation as patient advocates. Let’s delve into how to effectively connect patients with the care they need throughout the year.

What’s the Season for Caring? Why Healthcare Needs Customized Marketing

Healthcare marketing faces distinct challenges in addressing patient needs that vary with the seasons. For instance, allergies peak in spring, while cold and flu are more prevalent in winter. Back-to-school physicals and sports exams surge each fall, and winter can cause a decline in elective or preventative services.

Given these seasonal shifts, a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy is ineffective. Instead, outreach and engagement should be tailored to meet the changing needs of patients. Proactive planning and optimization are crucial to maintain community trust, uphold your reputation, and enhance patient experiences year-round.

Here are some strategies to effectively engage patients during different seasons:

Winter

Engagement and scheduled services typically decline in winter, particularly from mid-December to early January, as patients focus on holiday activities. However, social media usage tends to increase during this time, according to the Pew Research Center.

To address the winter slowdown:

• Use email and social media campaigns to promote telehealth services, offering convenience for home-based care. Include direct booking links to simplify scheduling, which can enhance efficiency by over 40%.
• Run retargeting ads with special offers to re-engage website visitors. Utilize geo-fencing to increase visibility, as location-based ads can achieve up to double the click-through rate.
• Optimize your website content and SEO to highlight preventative and elective services. Ensure your Google Business Profile is up-to-date for local search visibility since 70% of patients research providers online before booking.
• Regularly review PPC campaign audience targeting and adjust bids to maximize conversions despite lower traffic. Advanced targeting can boost campaign ROI by 30-40%.

Maintaining awareness during slower periods helps sustain a reliable reputation, positioning your practice for increased engagement when spring arrives.

Spring

Spring is an ideal time to focus on growth as patients return to regular schedules. Encourage early appointment bookings as availability expands.

Promotional strategies should include:

• Extended hours to accommodate more appointments, as 34% of patients prefer this option.
• New patient incentives, such as discounts on the first visit, to drive conversions.
• Highlighting services like sports physicals, orthopedic care, and outdoor safety tips in preparation for warmer weather. With over 30 million Americans affected by spring allergies, promoting allergy-related services is also effective.

Be mindful of traffic dips around major holidays like Easter. Build on the momentum from winter campaigns and expand digital efforts as engagement rises in April and May. Leverage holidays such as Mother’s Day to promote women’s health services.

Summer

Summer presents a unique challenge with decreased website traffic due to vacations, though mobile usage increases. Focus on maintaining patient awareness while enhancing mobile visibility.

Key tactics include:

• Expanding location-based mobile ads to target summer travelers, as these ads are more likely to be clicked by this audience.
• Running retargeting campaigns on mobile to engage visitors who previously left your site, which can improve conversions by 25-40%. Ensure HIPAA compliance by avoiding service-specific retargeting.
• Monitoring Google Ad Grant performance and adjusting for trends from previous summers. Analyze cost-per-click and conversion rates closely.
• Adding fresh content on your website about urgent care, telehealth, and seasonal services. Include FAQs for visitors.
• Promoting services like immunizations and camp physicals, which typically see an increase during summer.

Stay consistent with email and social media content, adjusting strategies weekly to align with changing traffic patterns. This consistency helps maintain a strong community presence.

Fall

As routines stabilize in fall, it’s crucial to ramp up marketing efforts.

Focus on:

• Promoting back-to-school physicals and sports exams to fill late summer gaps.
• Advertising flu shots and vaccines ahead of peak season. Use funds from flu and COVID-19 campaigns for patient education and outreach.
• Sending segmented emails with fall care reminders, which have higher open rates when tailored by service line.
• Highlighting the convenience of online booking and telehealth options to reduce unnecessary visits to ER or urgent care.

Watch for traffic dips around Thanksgiving and maintain momentum to transition smoothly into the new year. Use analytics from the past year to set informed goals for the upcoming year.

Year-Round Care Delivered Seasonally

Each season presents unique challenges, but strategic marketing ensures that your care remains top of mind year-round. By customizing messaging and tactics to align with shifting patient needs, behaviors, and lifestyles, you can optimize engagement throughout the year.

At Target Continuum, we focus on connecting patients with the care they need year-round. Our healthcare marketing experts use smart strategies, targeted technology, and custom creative solutions to drive measurable results. Ready to grow your practice across the seasons? Let’s discuss how custom marketing support can benefit your organization now and in the future. Seasons change, but our commitment to your success remains constant. Reach out today to get started!