For any inbound marketing campaign, you need to consider the Buyer’s Journey; that is, the journey that someone takes before they end up contacting you about your services. There are a few different personas that you are likely targeting in your marketing to fill your beds, but the persona we are going to consider for this buyer’s journey is the patient.
Prospective patients at the Awareness Stage are doing the research to give a name to their problem. Many marketers at this point might question this and ask “if someone is using drugs, don’t they realize that drugs are the problem?” but this often isn’t the case. Addiction clinic patients come from a wide range of backgrounds and their addictions and situations are often unique. Their queries may range from wondering why their health is bad, why they have headaches, how to identify if their substance use is acceptable or if it’s too much, they may be expressing concern about deteriorating relationships, or they may even be searching for information on substance acquisition or use.
For this stage of the Buyer’s Journey you’ll want to create content that helps people to identify their problem. Content around identifying addiction, about how substance abuse can harm your health, how behavioral addiction patterns can be passed down from generation to generation, or some statistics and reports about “normal” substance use levels.
Prospective addiction clinic clients are going to have one thing in common: they’ve identified that they have an addiction and they want to kick the habit. In the Consideration Stage of the Buyer’s Journey they will be looking for information on how to quit drug or alcohol use. Medicated treatment? Inpatient vs outpatient treatment? Group counseling? 12 Step Programs? Sober living houses? There are many different approaches and the ‘right’ one will depend on the patient. Not all addiction treatment programs and addiction clinics are the same...
The inbound marketing content you want to deliver for prospective patients in the Consideration Stage of the Buyer’s Journey should cover topics that explore different types of addiction treatments.
At the Decision Stage of the Buyer’s Journey, the potential patient has already identified that they have a problem with addiction and that they want/need the assistance of an addiction clinic to overcome the addiction. They’re likely now doing their research and trying to decide which addiction clinic is the right one for them. Content for this stage of the Journey could include personal success stories and testimonials, white papers on addiction statistics for the clinic/region you are targeting, and information on the benefits of your particular programs.
In all stages of the Buyer’s Journey you are going to want to make sure that the potential patient receives consistent messaging of support, without judgment, while you move them down the funnel with calls-to-action to read more content or fill out a contact form. You can have a lot of fun with your content as long as you do it with sensitivity to your potential patients.