Hospital marketing automation may not seem like something you want to dive into. After all, large-scale changes can be difficult to implement. But this marketing innovation is well worth the work you’ll put in. And for good reason.
Consider the way offices used to run. Endless reams of physical records stuffed into filing cabinets lining the hallways, overhead projectors and smudged transparencies, mimeograph machines, and countless hours spent writing and rewriting by hand or typewriter. But the workplace doesn’t work that way anymore.
Why? Because innovation and time have forced modern workplaces to evolve.
The same goes for hospital marketing automation. As much as you may want to resist this innovation, your hospital digital marketing strategy will have to make room for automation sooner or later. When change calls, will you be ready to answer?
Hospital Marketing Automation: What You Need to Know
Simply put, hospital marketing automation adds a great deal of value to your digital marketing strategy. When implemented correctly, the right automation tools can create better jobs, foster creativity, increase efficiency, and improve marketing outcomes. Here are four ways that automation will change the way you market.
1. Building Better Jobs
One of the most significant objections to using marketing automation is job-related. Won’t automating tasks take work away from those who need jobs? Not at all.
Automation gets rid of tasks, not jobs. In fact, 58% of marketers use automation to manage tasks.1 These duties are usually tedious and time-consuming. Follow-up communications, paid ad buying metrics, ad design and copy, and even some customer service functions are easily automated.
Sure, your marketing team is doing all or some of these tasks now. But automation doesn’t render their jobs useless. Very few employees enjoy doing the mindless work automation can absorb. Free from the burden of busy work, their roles can change—usually for the better.
What’s more, the effective use of hospital marketing automation requires a whole new set of skills in your marketing department. Creating and filling new jobs for different types of expertise enhances your current team and maximizes the value of automation.
2. Cultivating Creativity
With hospital marketing automation, jobs improve, and creativity grows. Automation gives your employees more time to do what they do best: innovate and create.
This technology allows marketers to expand their capabilities far beyond their individual potential. Automation is versatile, but thinking outside the box isn’t in its wheelhouse. But your team will adapt and find creative uses for this powerful tool.
For employees, automation presents an excellent opportunity to grow their existing skills and learn new ones. Your team deserves to evolve right along with their jobs. Leaning into automation helps them expand their creativity, find new ways to succeed, and spend less time on mundane tasks.
3. Hospital Marketing Automation Efficiency
The primary motivation behind automation is time. Every marketer can get behind the idea of saving time and completing tasks more efficiently. Automation doesn’t disappoint.
Nearly half of marketers who use automation are trying to save time.2 With less time spent on routine or repetitive tasks, your health system marketing team has more time for strategic initiatives. Freeing up your team to innovate and experiment can also improve employee engagement and retention.
Think about the last time you created a new Google ad campaign. For the first few weeks, your staff probably had to babysit the ad, tweaking copy, demographics, and visuals as needed to ensure you have the ideal combination. But when you automate these tasks, marketers have the space to focus on creating new campaigns, optimizing your messaging, and connecting with new patients.
4. Improving Results
The most important takeaway here is this: hospital marketing automation works. Eighty-six percent of marketers who use automation say the technology helps them achieve their marketing objectives.3
Some hospitals may notice a fluctuation in their KPIs after implementing automation. If this is the case for you, don’t give up hope! Instead, consider if you’re using the right metrics. Administrators often get caught up in CTR percentages and quality scores when they should focus on the end goal—conversions.
And 77% of marketers using automation saw their conversions increase.4 Yours can, too. By allowing automation to handle repetitive marketing tasks, your marketing team is free to thrive. For your hospital, this means a better marketing strategy and more conversions.
Dreamscape Marketing can help you determine which marketing automation tools are the right fit for your hospital marketing plan. Contact us at 888.307.7304 to schedule a discovery call and learn more about the benefits of marketing automation and our full suite of hospital marketing agency services.
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