Online marketing in the healthcare sector is in some ways similar to marketing in other sectors. It is different in other ways. The very nature of healthcare delivery requires a different approach to marketing. Healthcare organizations want to connect with consumers in a meaningful way without appearing to be interested in nothing more than selling. Enter the infographic.
Infographics are a more recent marketing tool that combine the best of two worlds: written text and visual presentation. According to Salt Lake City-based Webtek, they are also one of the most underutilized resources in all of digital marketing. Infographics are especially helpful in the healthcare space because they can connect with website visitors in a way text cannot.
Here are three reasons the use of infographics for healthcare digital marketing are encouraged:
1. They Make the Complex Understandable
A key characteristic of the infographic is its short, simple, and concise presentation. Where a blog post might require two or three paragraphs to cover a certain point, the infographic condenses all those paragraphs into a few bullet points with a companion image.
This sort of presentation offers readers bite-size chunks of information they can more easily wrap their brains around. Those who want to know more can conduct further investigation that includes copious amounts of written text. Those who decide they have gotten enough information from the infographic can move on.
In a nutshell, infographics make the complex understandable. By breaking down complicated concepts into easy to understand bullet points, they help consumers walk away informed rather than scratching their heads.
2. They Play into Our Visual Nature
Human beings are visual creatures. In fact, we are so visual that thought leaders in the scientific fields now encourage the use of visual aids as tools for explaining scientific principles. Consider the following statistics from Seyens:
· At least 65% of people learn visually
· 50% of the brain works to process visual information
· Humans can remember thousands of images with 90% accuracy
· Humans can identify images as little as 13 ms
· Presentations are 43% more persuasive when visual aids are used.
The science is clear in respect to how human beings process visual information. Again, we are visual creatures. Infographics play into our visual nature by exposing us to information we can see very quickly and still remember. Present information in a picture and people are more likely to remember that if it was presented in text.
3. They Generate Internet Buzz
Text is so 1990s. It is still a crucial part of the internet for obvious reasons, but it is clear that people do not like to spend a lot of time reading. If you need proof, ask yourself when the last time was that you saw a piece of written content go viral. The fact is that viral text-based content is the exception rather than the rule.
On the other hand, videos and infographics can easily go viral if they contain good information and target the right audience. Infographics are great tools for generating internet Buzz that goes beyond short-term interest. That is what makes them better for healthcare marketing than videos alone.
Buzz is important because it can generate traffic and encourage sharing. And believe it or not, infographics are even searchable. By building an SEO-rich page on which to place an infographic, you are creating a page that search engine spiders can crawl and index.
Don’t Waste Your Online Space
Underutilized infographics are like wasted office space. Imagine having 50,000 square feet of available space but using it so poorly that half of it is wasted. How would that look on your organization’s bottom line? Underutilizing infographics is the same sort of thing.
Infographics are like gold to healthcare marketing. They reach consumers where they are, providing important and relevant information in a way that is easy to understand and just as easy to digest. Why would a healthcare organization not use them?
If you are in any way engaged in a healthcare marketing strategy, do infographics play a part? If not, it is time to change what you are doing. Outside of comprehensive keyword searches and analytics, there may be no tool more productive to healthcare marketing than the infographic.
