3 Unique Industry Digital Marketing Tips
There’s no question that digital marketing is a powerful beast — and one helluva fickle beast at that. As much as we’d all like to assume that digital marketing is basically the same no matter what, it’s most definitely not, and the reasons are pretty obvious. As a business, you can opt to devote certain percentages of your time and budget to different types of digital marketing: social media, PPC, retargeting, video marketing, email marketing, SEO, website tool optimization, and so on.
Still, what’s even more interesting to observe is the way different industries prioritize their digital marketing strategies. Because different industries clearly have very different business goals, only specific tools and platforms that are likely to achieve those results will be leveraged. It’s especially interesting to see how different industries present themselves online and how accessible they make themselves to customers and prospects.
Throughout my career, I’ve met numerous marketing professionals across various industries. During my encounters, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about the marketing tactics they use to achieve their goals. As expected, many of the strategies used were catered towards those specific industries — and yes, they’ve been successful. If you’re a marketer in any of the five industries below, you’ll want to keep reading.
Unique Medical Industry Digital Marketing Tips
Hands down, one of the trickiest industries to market to is the medical industry. The primary reason for this is that you can’t make bold claims like this particular treatment WILL cure you of your ailment. In most cases, you can only mention evidence that this has helped a significant number of people (Ex, this treatment is 98% effective), or that it CAN help. This is a 100% legality issue.
Still, even with the restraints that come with producing legally approved messaging, hospitals, clinics, and other medical facilities have a great opportunity (and enough flexibility) to really strut their stuff. One of the best ways to achieve this in the medical industry is to humanize your organization and demonstrate genuine care. Health care is a very serious matter; so why not go the extra mile to show that your clients (or patients, instead) are in your best interest?
Although your organization should convey these humanizing values throughout its website and other marketing materials, social media is a highly effective way to consistently communicate those messages of care to new and current patients. Along with standard administrative announcements (Ex: This office will be closed for construction. Or Dr. Williams is out of the office), your social media coordinator can go the extra mile and share articles about staying healthy during the winter, or offering general tips for staying healthy at a local event (Ex: Making healthier choices at the State Fair). Even sharing good-natured photos could make patients feel more comfortable with your brand, such as a photo of Police Officers dropping off donuts for the Nursing staff during a big holiday weekend. It’s the little things that’ll differentiate your organization from the rest. Comfort is the #1 feeling patients want to experience when searching for a primary care physician or deciding where to have surgery.
Unique Automotive Industry Digital Marketing Tips
Like the medical industry, the automotive industry is highly competitive, perhaps even more so. People certainly have preferences for what hospitals and clinics they want to go to, but when push comes to shove, if you have an emergency, you’re going to go to the nearest hospital first. Hospitals will typically stay open — but some will just do better, and have a better reputation than others.
In this day and age, however, the automotive industry is only as good as its online presence. Because cars are such a huge investment, consumers do as much research online as possible, which includes thoroughly exploring a dealership’s website. That said, if you want to ensure that your consumers stay engaged with your website throughout their car purchasing journey, you absolutely need to pay extra attention to your car dealership’s online marketing and keep all your inventory and promotions up to date. People don’t have time to call your dealership up and ask if something is still available or a promotion is still going on. If something is available on your website, consumers are expecting it to be on the lot. Additionally, consumers wanna be able to peruse everything currently available in your actual showroom. When consumers see a vehicle they’re interested in online, chances are good that’ll go in their Top 3 car choices; so make sure your site doesn’t fall behind.
Unique Restaurant Industry Digital Marketing Tips
The last, and arguably the most challenging, industry I’ll be discussing is the restaurant industry. The reason I say it’s most challenging is due to the sheer amount of upkeep required to handle all the online reviews, comments, and complaints coming from consumers across the entire emotional spectrum. As you know, the faster and more efficiently a restaurant issue is resolved, the better it is for their reputation, both online and offline. Because of how easy it’s become to post feedback online, restaurants should make every effort to respond to every comment whenever humanly possible, positive or negative! Again, a little goes a long way to turn someone into a customer for life.
Social media platforms like Facebook enable users to publicly rate organizations and leave reviews. If you’re the page admin, you’ll get immediate notifications when someone leaves a review on your page. To leave a positive impression on them, the ideal and polite thing to do is to respond to them within 24 hours, especially if it’s a negative review. When consumers are in the heat of the moment, they want things resolved as soon as possible.
If responding to a negative review, consider how you can improve the situation. If it’s a positive review, take time to thank them within the same timeframe. Not only are users seeing your consumers’ reviews, but they’re also seeing how you handle them. Regardless of whether the review is negative or not, the way you present yourself to a customer means the difference between a packed room of folks waiting for a table and a customer every 2 hours. Professionalism is everything! Restaurateurs are also welcome to respond to consumers on other review sites, such as Yelp and Urbanspoon.
While it’s true that various aspects of digital marketing can be utilized by almost every organization, the types of digital marketing platforms and tactics employed vary significantly based on industry. What’s considered crucial to one industry may not be of major significance to another. Different industries have different goals, and therefore, different ways to marketing to consumers online.
