Why will updating medical content pay off for your company?

The onset of the 2020 pandemic is considered a trigger point for a rapid shift in people's behavior, forcing healthcare companies to look for a speedy turnaround of their medical businesses towards digitalization. In turn, digital medicine does not stand for stagnation, which drives companies to be constantly on track for updates that could give them an edge in the highly demanding market. 

The global pandemic has only propelled investors to increase funding for digital health, reaching $14 billion in 2020 [1], which only confirmed the dramatic shift to online medicine.

A thorough approach to digital content is one of the indispensable parts of healthy growth for any business. In today's medical landscape, where discoveries follow discoveries and the medical niche continues to be jam-packed with new forward-looking start-ups, ignoring content updates can play a dirty trick on your business. The results may be at odds with success:

Success comes with every functioning business, but moving up a notch requires an upgrade from all angles. Indeed, updating and repurposing existing content is considered one of the pivotal tactics of content marketing in recent years for businesses to stay on track [2].

Thus, 84% of the companies surveyed [3] have declared the implementation of a content marketing strategy, whereas 76% of them have a separate team to perform it.

More and more, medical-oriented organizations are focusing on content, implementing updated strategies to win the race for digital dominance. But well-rounded medical content writing strategies for the healthcare industry aren't just about a blog refresh. It is about trying to take patient communication to the next level with trust at the forefront.

The obviousness of implementing a content update strategy is clear. But it's different for every business: if your product is directly related to providing content to the medically-oriented audience, then updating is a daily practice. If your product is more focused on providing functionality, such as helping users run a healthy diet, then content updates can probably happen less frequently. 

Regarding the information about the company, product, or services, everything is more straightforward: in case of any changes, it's time to update the content for the audience to stay up to date and for your company to build an even more solid bridge of trust. 

If it comes to your medical blog updates, for example, social media postings or white papers, a special approach is more than required.

According to a HubSpot study, companies that published 16 or more blog posts per month generated 3.5 times more traffic than companies that blogged less than four times per month [4]. At the same time, 61.9% of the results came from 11.9% of the blog posts — according to Single Grain's count [5].

What poses the challenge is the fact that healthcare content requires a great deal of effort to present complex concepts in simple language for the patient and, in addition, a deep understanding of the industry to provide content to a medical-centric audience. Thus, medical content writing needs to be based on EBM (Evidence-Based Medicine) to gain credibility and brand awareness.

In turn, many healthcare companies are devoting less time to social media as a source of customer outreach and flow. Social media doesn't seem to be the place for such a complex topic as medicine. But no matter what — a thoughtful approach to interacting with your audience within the network and providing them with fresh content can generate its fruits of success. For example, a recent Science Direct study found that medical data from social media improved disease prognosis, especially for flu-like illnesses [6]. 

People are not only using social media for "relaxation purposes" but also to increase their awareness. They do so by interacting with medical content created by experts. 

Read more about social media effectiveness for your healthcare company:

Highly informed, up-to-date blogs and social media articles provide an excellent tool for healthcare, allowing them to remain relevant to patients. Furthermore, adding on-target keywords can lead to a marketing boost. However, perfection may still be a long way off, and the medical content you think is up-to-date isn't always so. When is it time for you to think about the next upgrade process?

1. Enhanced authority and brand awareness

According to a Harvard Business Review, 64% of consumers consider "true shared values" to be the primary factor influencing their relationship with a brand [7]. Values are built on brand recognition as true and effective, able to address those very pain points among both patients and medical personnel. 

Thus, building a future-proof medical product and, as a result, achieving a solid reputation for providing that very value is difficult to achieve without constantly pursuing an updated strategy.

2. A well-informed audience

Perhaps one of the most challenging things about the digital health industry is providing near-real-time services in a remote and technology-driven environment. 

One way to achieve this is to keep your audience informed and engaged at all times. This is when both you and your recipients are contributing to the bottom line.

3. SEO-infused conten

A successful online presence for any business is impossible without incorporating a well-thought-out SEO strategy. A competent approach to keyword selection and constant delivery of new content to Google multiplies the chances of getting found by your customers. 

These are the realities of digital business that anyone who wants to carve out a niche should follow.

4. Improved marketing funnel

A sales funnel is an incremental, time-consuming, and intricate process that begins with the main thing: providing users with value and showing them how they can achieve it with your product. 

Content is the link that ties your company with users together. If that link is relevant, compelling, and, most importantly, medically valuable, the connection will be stronger.

The user is engaged — that's half the battle.

Creating worthwhile content isn't just limited to "writers" — it's much broader than that. A designer to back up the text with visuals; a marketing team to build a strategy; an SEO-savvy specialist — that's not the final list of specialists to get your product in shape, chief among them being visual and information-savvy. 

The main thing in this set is a clear understanding of the medical market and the field as a whole. It is challenging to achieve without the presence of specialists with medical knowledge. 

Do you want to update content, build an SEO-powered site, or develop a product from scratch? Our medically-fledged team is here to help promote your product. Let's lead the digital medicine transformation together!