At first glance, it’s easy to understand why a health system or hospital might choose to host their healthcare intranet on SharePoint.  

After all, it’s already included in your Microsoft 365 package, so why not use it? But what many organizations don’t realize is that using SharePoint as an intranet can create more problems than it solves. Instead of improving communication and accessibility for employees, it can lead to increased costs, information silos, and inefficiencies. 

If your organization is looking for a healthcare intranet that truly works for your teams, it’s time to consider the VitalSite® content management system from Geonetric. Unlike SharePoint, which is a one-size-fits-all document management system, VitalSite is designed specifically for healthcare organizations and offers more branding and personalization options to make your intranet your own. 

Here’s why VitalSite is the ideal solution for your organization’s healthcare intranet needs. 

 1. Built for healthcare marketers and communicators

SharePoint is designed as a document management tool for any industry, which means it lacks the specialized features healthcare organizations need. Your healthcare teams operate across multiple locations and departments, and HIPAA compliance is essential.  

VitalSite is built with these challenges in mind, making it easier for you to manage and distribute information effectively.

2. Customization without the hassle

One major limitation of SharePoint is its lack of user-friendly customization options. Branding your intranet or tailoring it to your organization’s specific needs can be difficult without significant IT involvement.  

With VitalSite, you get a fully customizable intranet that reflects your organization’s logo, colors, and imagery — creating a digital space that truly feels like home for your employees.

3. Empower your internal communication teams

Because SharePoint is an IT-focused platform, managing it often falls to your IT department, taking valuable time away from other priorities. Worse, you may need to hire expensive outside consultants to configure and maintain it.  

VitalSite, on the other hand, puts control in the hands of your marketing, human resources, or internal communications teams — those who are ultimately responsible for creating and sharing intranet content.

4. Eliminate information silos

One of the biggest goals of an employee intranet is to break down information silos. However, SharePoint’s site-based structure and limited navigation can make it difficult for employees to find what they need.  

VitalSite allows you to create custom navigation and offers an intuitive search function so your teams can quickly access the essential resources they need to do their jobs, like company announcements, HR policies, and technology guidelines. 

5. Predictable costs and timeline

Because SharePoint isn’t a true intranet solution, budgeting for its development and maintenance can be unpredictable. Organizations often find themselves spending more time and money than expected.  

With VitalSite, you receive a clear cost estimate and timeline upfront, ensuring a smooth implementation process.

6. Streamlined content management

Managing content in SharePoint often requires working in the backend, making it cumbersome for non-technical users.  

VitalSite simplifies content management with flexible page layouts, reusable content panels, scheduled content publishing, and a built-in approval workflow—making updates easy for your internal teams.

7. Ability to grow with your organization

Microsoft controls SharePoint’s features and updates, meaning you have little say in how the platform evolves.  

With VitalSite, your intranet grows alongside your organization. Plus, you have direct access to our team to request new features that meet your specific needs.

8. Accessible to all employees

A successful intranet should be accessible to everyone in your organization. However, not every employee has a Microsoft 365 license or access to a desktop computer throughout the day.  

VitalSite is a standalone site that employees can access from any device — desktop, tablet, or mobile — keeping everyone connected, no matter where they work. 

Discover the difference the right intranet platform can make

Choosing the right intranet platform can transform internal communication and collaboration for your healthcare organization. While SharePoint may seem like a convenient option, it often creates more roadblocks than benefits.  

VitalSite, on the other hand, is built specifically for healthcare, providing a customizable, user-friendly, and scalable solution that empowers your teams. 

If you’re ready to upgrade your intranet and improve employee connectivity, contact us to learn more about how VitalSite can help! 

You can also find more intranet insights in our blog post on the eight things employees want from your intranet, as well as our case study on how a new VitalSite-built intranet helped Ohio-based Holzer Health System connect with its 2,400 employees just as COVID-19 began to surge. 

Your healthcare organization’s website is often the first interaction patients have with your brand. If it’s been a while since you’ve taken on a healthcare website development project like a refresh or redesign, it’s time to consider whether your current site is helping you make progress on your marketing goals or holding you back. 

A well-designed website can enhance patient experiences, improve search visibility, and drive engagement — all necessary stepping stones on the path to growing your organization. But an outdated, hard-to-navigate site can frustrate visitors, sending them to your competition for care. 

To ensure your website meets the needs of both users and your organization, follow these best practices for healthcare website development.

1. Create easy-to-follow user pathways

A well-structured website guides users through key actions, such as scheduling an appointment, finding a provider, or accessing information about your service lines. Your first step to ensuring your redesigned website is easy to navigate should be mapping out common user journeys to see where they may be hitting roadblocks and ensuring your new design eliminates them. 

Use clear calls-to-action, logical navigation structures, and streamlined appointment booking processes to reduce the steps users need to take to accomplish their goals on your website, reducing confusion and improving engagement across the board. 

 2. Incorporate SEO into your content strategy

Healthcare website development isn’t just about design — it’s also about ensuring patients can find your site. Search engine optimization (SEO) should be a foundational component of your content strategy.  

Optimize page titles, meta descriptions, and headers with relevant keywords, and implement Schema structured data to enhance search engine visibility.  

Once your site launches, regularly publish high-quality, informative content that addresses patient questions and health concerns to improve rankings and attract more visitors.

3. Utilize user experience testing

Your new website should be intuitive and easy to navigate. Conducting user experience (UX) testing allows you to identify friction points and optimize your site for a seamless experience.  

Testing elements like page layouts, navigation menus, and calls-to-action helps ensure patients can easily find the information they need. Regular UX testing also allows you to iterate and refine the site based on real user feedback.

4. Build out robust location and provider profiles

Patients often search for care based on location and provider specialties, so ensuring your site has detailed and up-to-date location and provider profiles is crucial. Include essential information such as addresses, maps, contact details, accepted insurance, and specialties, and use structured data to enhance these profiles in search results.  

You can take it a step further by including content like virtual facility tours, video provider introductions, care team Q&As, patient reviews, and more to establish trust in your brand and your team. By making it easier for patients to find and contact providers, you can improve both patient satisfaction and appointment conversion rates.

5. Keep accessibility in mind

Web accessibility ensures that all users, including those with disabilities, can easily navigate your site. Implement features during your healthcare website development process such as text alternatives for images, keyboard-friendly navigation, and high-contrast text options. Compliance with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) not only improves usability but also ensures legal compliance and enhances the overall patient experience.

6. Strengthen trust with social truth

Your healthcare website redesign is the perfect time to reassess how your organization gathers and shares social proof, like patient reviews and testimonials.  

If your current site doesn’t have a space dedicated to sharing these stories, consider creating one and linking it prominently on your homepage or navigation menu, so prospective patients know where to go to hear firsthand accounts of the care your organization provides. 

7. Choose a CMS or DXP to support your organization’s growth

The right content management system (CMS) or digital experience platform (DXP) can streamline website management and enhance digital experiences. When selecting a CMS or DXP, look for one that allows easy content updates, integrates with third-party tools, and supports personalization to meet evolving patient expectations. 

Platforms designed specifically for healthcare organizations, like our VitalSite® CMS, offer flexibility, scalability, and healthcare-specific features. A DXP like Optimizely One for Healthcare can take those benefits a step further, with tools to manage your complete content cycle, as well as personalization and optimization efforts, across channels and multiple websites. 

A well-developed healthcare website is a vital asset for engaging patients and enhancing your organization’s digital presence. By prioritizing user experience, optimizing for search engines, ensuring accessibility, and selecting the right technology, you can build a site that meets patient needs while supporting your organization’s long-term growth.  

If your healthcare website isn’t performing at its best, it’s time to partner with Geonetric. Our team of developers, SEO experts, designers, and content pros have years of healthcare website development experience working with hospitals, health systems, and other organizations across the country.  

Check out a few of our award-winning website redesigns here, or learn more about our healthcare website development services. When you’re ready to embark on your own healthcare website redesign, contact our team to get started! 

In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare marketing, delivering seamless, personalized experiences is more important than ever. That’s where a digital experience platform (DXP) comes in — it’s your organization’s all-in-one tool for elevating your marketing strategies through personalization, optimization, and multi-channel campaigns. 

But if this is your first experience researching the right DXP for your organization, you may not know what to look for — or how a DXP differs from a traditional content management system (CMS). 

What is a DXP?

While similar to a traditional CMS, a digital experience platform goes above and beyond, offering a suite of integrated tools to manage and optimize the entire patient journey. From personalized content delivery to robust analytics, a DXP provides a level of sophistication that a CMS does not. 

If you’re considering upgrading to a DXP, here are some key factors to evaluate before making your decision. 

Personalization options

One of the most powerful features of a digital experience platform is its ability to deliver personalized experiences. Patients expect tailored content that meets their unique needs, whether information on a specific treatment, recommendations for local providers, or reminders for upcoming appointments.  

Look for a DXP that enables advanced segmentation and personalization capabilities, allowing you to: 

• Use patient data to create dynamic, customized content. 

• Build targeted campaigns based on demographics, location, and online behaviors. 

• Continuously refine experiences using A/B testing and machine learning tools. 

The right DXP should empower your organization to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. 

Integration capabilities

Your healthcare organization likely relies on a variety of digital tools, including appointment scheduling systems, analytics platforms, and social media channels. A healthcare digital experience platform should seamlessly integrate with these tools to provide a unified view of patient interactions and streamline your workflows. 

When evaluating platforms, consider whether the DXP can integrate with your existing tech stack, as well as if it has built-in capabilities to replace programs like your CMS and streamline your workflows. 

Support for complex campaigns

Healthcare marketing often involves intricate digital campaigns that span multiple channels and touchpoints. From launching new service lines to promoting seasonal wellness initiatives, your healthcare digital experience platform needs to handle these complexities with ease. 

Look for features such as: 

• Multi-channel campaign management. 

• Tools for creating and scheduling content across websites, email, and social media. 

• Real-time analytics to monitor campaign performance and adjust strategies on the fly. 

A platform capable of managing complex campaigns ensures that your organization can stay agile and responsive to patient needs. 

Advanced analytics and optimization

In today’s data-driven world, having access to robust analytics is non-negotiable. Your DXP should provide advanced capabilities for analyzing your website or campaign performance, optimizing your marketing materials, and enhancing patient interactions across the digital landscape.  

This includes: 

• Dashboards that provide actionable insights into user data and campaign performance. 

• User profiles that offer data into what content website visitors are searching for and how they’re interacting with your site. 

• Tools for continuously improving the user experience through optimization. 

With analytics and optimization options like these, your team can make data-backed decisions that improve engagement and drive better outcomes by leveraging these capabilities. 

Healthcare focus

With all that in mind, it’s also essential to think about whether your DXP of choice was designed with healthcare marketers in mind and offers a partnership with a digital healthcare marketing agency that can not only get you onboarded but ensure you’re using the platform to its fullest potential.  

One DXP checks all of those boxes and more: Optimizely One for Healthcare, backed up by a partnership with Geonetric. 

Why Optimizely and Geonetric?

Optimizely One for Healthcare is a standout choice for healthcare organizations looking to level up their digital strategies. With robust personalization tools, seamless integrations, and advanced analytics, Optimizely delivers the capabilities you need to create exceptional patient experiences. From managing intricate campaigns to optimizing every digital touchpoint, it’s built to meet the unique challenges of healthcare marketing. 

When you choose Optimizely One through Geonetric, you get more than 25 years of industry healthcare marketing experience and a dedicated team ready to make sure you get as much value out of the platform as possible. We’ll partner with you to ensure a smooth transition to Optimizely, help you maximize the platform’s potential, and guide you through the strategy and content decisions that will drive results. 

If you’re ready to learn not only how a healthcare digital experience platform can transform your marketing strategies, but how to choose the best one for your team, Geonetric is here to help. 

Contact us today to learn more and see Optimizely One in action! 

What do you see when you visit your organization’s website using a mobile phone or tablet? Is navigating through the pages and scheduling an appointment easy, or does your site get warped and difficult to scroll through on a smaller screen? 

In today’s digital-first world, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer optional — it’s a necessity. This is especially true in the healthcare space, where patients are increasingly relying on their smartphones to find care, schedule appointments, and access their medical information.  

For healthcare marketers, that means a mobile-friendly healthcare website design isn’t just a “nice to have.” It’s essential to meeting patient expectations and achieving your organizational goals. 

Meeting patients where they are

The percentage of internet traffic from mobile devices like smartphones or tablets has steadily increased year-over-year since first overtaking desktop usage in 2017. As of September 2024, people on mobile devices accounted for 63.68% of all website traffic; globally, there are around 4.32 million active mobile internet users today. 

That means many of your current and potential patients are likely visiting your website using a mobile device, especially those who arrive at your site looking for fast answers after searching for things like “urgent care near me” or “schedule doctor appointment.” 

When your healthcare website design isn’t optimized for mobile users, these visitors are likely to encounter frustrating experiences — pinching and zooming to read content, slow load times, or broken functionality. These frustrations can lead to higher bounce rates and lost opportunities to connect with potential patients. 

Consequences of a poor mobile healthcare website design

Patients increasingly expect the same level of convenience from healthcare organizations as they do from online retailers or other industries.  

A website that isn’t mobile-friendly can significantly harm your reputation. Research by Google found that 53% of mobile users will abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load, while 79% said they’re more likely to revisit or share a mobile site if it’s easy to use. If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, prospective patients will likely leave your site and turn to a competitor with a more user-friendly digital experience. 

But it’s not just patients looking at the mobile-friendliness of your website — search engines like Google also prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings. If your site isn’t mobile-optimized, you’re not just losing patients to poor usability, you’re also losing visibility in search results. This can have a cascading effect on your ability to attract new patients and grow your organization. 

Reasons to prioritize mobile-friendly design

Mobile optimization goes beyond making your website “look good” on smaller screens. It’s about ensuring functionality, accessibility, and user satisfaction. Here are key reasons why marketers must prioritize mobile-friendly healthcare website design: 

1. Improved patient access: Patients often search for information on the go. A mobile-friendly site ensures they can quickly find the nearest clinic, contact details, or emergency instructions without hassle. 

1. Enhanced user experience (UX): Responsive design and fast load times create a smoother experience, which builds trust and encourages users to engage further. 

1. Better SEO performance: Mobile-first indexing means search engines predominantly use the mobile version of your site for ranking and indexing. A mobile-friendly site boosts your search visibility and helps more patients discover your services. 

1. Higher conversion rates: Simplified forms, easy navigation, and mobile payment options make it more likely that patients will complete actions like booking an appointment or signing up for a newsletter. 

Best practices for a mobile-friendly healthcare website design

To ensure your site meets mobile users’ needs, consider the following tips: 

• Responsive Design: Use a layout that automatically adjusts to fit any screen size. 

• Fast Load Times: Compress images, minimize code, and use a reliable hosting provider to ensure pages load quickly. 

• Simplified Navigation: Use clear menus and buttons that are easy to tap on smaller screens. 

• Test Regularly: Regularly check your site on various mobile devices to ensure functionality and usability. 

Investing in a mobile-friendly website isn’t just about keeping up with the competition; it’s about staying ahead. By prioritizing mobile optimization, you create a digital experience that reflects your organization’s commitment to patient-centered care. 

If you’re looking to refresh your healthcare website design with mobile-friendly features that put patients first, let’s talk. Geonetric’s website design services are designed to help hospitals and health systems connect with new patients, tell their brand story, and stay ahead of the competition. Contact our team today to get started! 

A healthcare provider directory is more than just a place on your website to stick a list of your care team and the locations they work from — it’s a critical touchpoint for patients seeking care. 

A well-crafted provider profile can make all of the difference in building trust, enhancing your organization’s reputation, and ultimately driving appointments.  

Here are some practical ideas for ways you can make your healthcare provider directory and individual profiles more engaging, humanizing, and user-focused:

1. Regularly audit and update information

Trying to find care using outdated information immediately erodes trust, and can lead to frustrating patient experiences.  

Ensure your provider profiles are consistently reviewed for accuracy and updated to reflect changes such as new office locations and contact details, accepted insurance plans, new certifications or specialties, and the conditions the provider treats. 

Make auditing a routine part of your marketing strategy to keep your profiles as reliable as the care you provide.

2. Invest in professional, recent headshots

First impressions matter, and a professional headshot goes a long way in creating a warm and approachable image.  

Use high-quality, consistent photography across all profiles to build trust with prospective patients, strengthen your organization’s brand identity, and create a polished, cohesive look throughout your healthcare provider directory. Avoid generic stock photos whenever possible; patients want to see the real people who will be part of their care team.

3. Craft thorough, engaging bios

A great bio goes beyond listing a provider’s credentials. Every bio in your directory should showcase the provider’s expertise while highlighting their personality and approach to care. 

When updating your bios or writing new ones from scratch, consider including information like their areas of specialization and clinical interests, why they chose those specializations, their education and professional background, languages spoken, and personal anecdotes or hobbies. 

This balance of professionalism and relatability helps patients feel a personal connection before their first visit.

4. Create multimedia content

Static profiles can only say so much about who a provider is and the care a patient can expect from them.  

Bring your provider profiles to life with engaging multimedia elements like introduction videos, blog posts or articles written by the provider, or even interviews or podcast episodes where the providers dive into their care specialties. 

Geonetric client Bronson Healthcare features “Get to Know” videos to showcase providers’ personalities, special interests, and commitment to their patients, community, and work. The results? Increased patient engagement and time spent on the website.

5. Include patient ratings and reviews

If your organization doesn’t include patient ratings in your healthcare provider directory, now is the time to change that.  

Transparency is key in today’s healthcare landscape; featuring verified patient ratings and reviews on your provider profiles can enhance credibility, highlight providers’ strengths, and influence prospective patients’ decision-making process. 

Be sure to moderate reviews to maintain accuracy and professionalism, and consider responding to both positive and negative feedback to show your commitment to patient satisfaction.

6. Add search-friendly features

Another healthcare provider directory upgrade we helped Bronson with was adding Schema-structured data, like star ratings, to make it easier for search engines to understand and display key information such as provider names, specialties, office locations, and ratings. 

Developing a portfolio of keywords is also helpful in creating more robust and search-friendly page titles and descriptions to increase organic search traffic. 

Learn more about the SEO tactics you can employ on your provider profiles here. 

Time to let your providers shine

Your provider profiles are often the first impression potential patients have of your healthcare organization. By implementing these content ideas, you can create profiles that not only inform but also inspire confidence and connection. 

An excellent provider profile also depends on the directory platform you use to host them. Geonetric can help you with our sophisticated VitalSite® provider directory, which is designed with everything healthcare marketers need to attract, engage, and convert prospective patients.  

If you’re ready to highlight your providers and showcase the quality of care your organization provides, reach out to our team to learn more about our healthcare provider directory, web design, and physician marketing services! 

Want to hear from other healthcare organizations who worked with Geonetric on successful healthcare provider directory upgrades? Check out our case studies on Iowa-based Mercy Medical Center and Nebraska’s Bryan Health system. 

Thanks to artificial intelligence, the state of local search and how patients find your organization online is rapidly changing

Gone are the days when an SEO strategy alone could land your organization on prospective patients’ radar. As a healthcare marketer, how can you tell what tactics are still worth investing in, and which ones aren’t helpful to pursue in this age of AI search? Watch now and learn how to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of digital visibility.

For healthcare organizations looking for a multi-channel solution that allows their team to oversee the entire marketing content lifecycle, a digital experience platform (DXP) like Optimizely One for Healthcare is an obvious choice. 

A DXP enables your team to provide next-level digital experiences to your patients, staff, and website visitors with content management features that go above and beyond your standard content management system.  

But even for healthcare marketers aware of a DXP’s core functionalities and the ways they can streamline their daily workflows, there are some lesser-known features that can impact the way an organization attracts, engages with, and retains patients.  

Let’s dive into a few of these lesser-known DXP features and the benefits they can deliver to healthcare organizations.

1. Personalization

Personalization isn’t just a marketing buzzword — it’s a growing trend that many of today’s consumers demand from their digital experiences. 

With a DXP like Optimizely One, healthcare marketers can go beyond simply creating and posting content to create personalized experiences that drive improved results. 

Optimizely One allows for rules-based personalization, audience- and geographic-based targeting, and A/B and multivariate testing, all supported by reporting and analytics tools that help them make confident, informed decisions. 

By delivering content and recommendations that align with patient demographics, past interactions, and even search intent, marketers can build trust and reduce friction in the patient’s journey, ultimately increasing engagement and conversion rates.

2. AI-generated content insights and recommendations

There’s no escaping artificial intelligence (AI) in the marketing space, especially when it comes to findability and how consumers search for information online. 

But with a DXP, embedded AI tools can help you simplify your content workflows and stay ahead of the curve with content generation tools as well as AI-based tagging and recommendations.

3. Support for headless architecture

As healthcare organizations expand their digital ecosystems, having a flexible content delivery approach becomes critical. Headless architectures, supported by DXPs like Optimizely One, decouple the content management system (CMS) from the front-end presentation layer. This allows content to be delivered across multiple channels, such as multiple websites or a mobile app. 

For example, a health system could use headless capabilities to ensure consistent messaging across its website and mobile app while tailoring content formats for each channel’s unique user experience. This is particularly useful for organizations with multilingual audiences or those experimenting with emerging technologies like voice search.

4. App integrations for seamless operations

A DXP like Optimizely One can also integrate with programs in your tech stack, creating a unified ecosystem that enhances operational efficiency and patient experiences. 

Optimizely can integrate with Microsoft Office, Google Analytics, Eventbrite, SurveyMonkey, and more, enabling you to work more productively with the tools you already use. 

Ready to experience these DXP benefits?

In a competitive landscape where patient expectations are evolving rapidly, leveraging the full capabilities of a DXP like Optimizely One can provide your organization with a distinct advantage. By embracing features like personalization, AI-driven content insights, headless architectures, and app integrations, marketers can deliver experiences that not only meet but exceed patient expectations. 

If you’re interested in learning more about DXPs for healthcare, check out our blog posts on how a DXP can help growing healthcare organizations and why you may want to consider a DXP over a traditional CMS.  

When you’re ready to see Optimizely One in action and the benefits it can deliver for your organization, contact our team for a demo! 

Every healthcare marketing strategy, ad campaign, and website needs some T.L.C. every now and then.  

But at a healthcare organization where the leadership team is busy, resources are limited, and the marketing budget is stretched thin, advocating for change can be easier said than done. 

If you have marketing goals planned for 2025 that will require leadership buy-in, don’t worry — it is possible to secure leadership’s trust and approval to get your website redesign, campaign, or other marketing initiative off the ground.  

Here are actionable tips to help you build credibility, prove return on investment, and gain the buy-in you need.

Start with an audit

Your first step to gaining leadership support is to understand where you’re starting from.  

A thorough audit of the tactics you’re currently using and the results they’re bringing in — whether that’s appointments made online, the number of visitors to your website, clicks on a digital advertising campaign, etc. — will help you identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement before you present your ideas. 

Once you know how your current tactics are performing, you’ll have more leverage to showcase the value of marketing and the ROI it can deliver to your organization. 

Showcase your healthcare marketing data

Leadership teams are more likely to support initiatives that are grounded in data. Using the data from your audit, create a presentation that visually displays the impact marketing has on patient experiences and conversions. 

This will help your requests for new marketing initiatives or funds resonate with the leadership team and show how the work your team has done so far is aligned with your organization’s mission.  

You can also pull in industry data from outside your organization, like the industry average for how often a website should be redesigned or the latest stats on the percentage of consumers looking for personalized digital experiences. 

Tackle low-hanging fruit first

Depending on your organization’s budget situation, you may not be able to pitch a complete website redesign, advertising campaign, or brand-new intranet. But that doesn’t mean you have to let your digital presence grow stagnant!  

If budget or resources are a concern, consider pitching small, incremental changes that can still make an impact on your marketing results. This could include reassessing the keywords used in your digital advertising campaigns, updating ad or landing page art and content, refreshing your website’s homepage navigation, or fixing any website errors or dead ends. 

These smaller changes require less time and money to complete but should still give you data to prove why investing in marketing is worth it and build trust with your leadership team.

Build a business case for healthcare marketing

If you do want to take on a larger-scale project, a well-crafted business case will be essential to convincing leadership to invest in your initiatives.  

One key piece of a successful business case is aligning your proposal with wider organizational priorities like patient acquisition and retention or staff recruitment.  

Include a ballpark estimate of how this project will impact those goals, if possible — for example, you could provide your goal for how your project will increase the number of appointments made online or conversions from a paid ad campaign. (And if you’re working with a partner like Geonetric, we can provide case study examples of how similar projects benefited other organizations.) 

Once you have your target goal, detail a clear timeline to help set expectations. With a data-driven, goal-oriented proposal, you’ll not only have an easier time presenting your vision but also getting the leadership buy-in you need to start your project. 

Maintain ongoing communication and transparency

Before you finish your proposal, show the leadership team your plans for regular and open communication throughout the course of your project. After all, building trust with leadership doesn’t end after securing this initial buy-in. 

Include a proposed schedule for regular check-ins to review progress and address challenges, as well as your plans to share performance metrics. Staying transparent throughout the process helps maintain confidence and encourages collaboration on future marketing efforts.

Engage internal champions

Is there anyone at your organization who isn’t directly involved with marketing but will be a stakeholder in the project you want to take on? Involve them in the proposal stage by sharing your vision and providing them with data and talking points to advocate for your initiatives! 

Internal champions can amplify your ideas and influence decision-makers within your organization.  

Once you have leadership buy-in, keep these champions involved with pilot projects, update meetings, and brainstorms to showcase collaboration and how your project will benefit your entire organization — not just marketing. 

Planning help from a trusted healthcare marketing partner

Securing leadership buy-in for healthcare marketing initiatives doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With the tips shared above, you can build trust and demonstrate the value of your healthcare marketing efforts to get the support you need for your next project. 

If you’re in the early stages of planning a website redesign, check out our blog post on convincing leadership that your healthcare website needs improving. 

Have marketing ideas you want to pursue this year but aren’t sure where to begin? Start by contacting Geonetric! We have more than 25 years of experience helping healthcare marketers like you bring their marketing visions to life and gaining leadership buy-in and trust that their projects will make a difference. 

We constantly hear from healthcare marketers that limited budgets, tiny teams, and lack of leadership support have them feeling “stuck” in their work. There are major projects to take on, but just not enough time, money, or staff to make them happen. 

So, how can you identify these roadblocks and successfully advocate for change with the limited resources and support you’ve received? 

The answer lies in iterative design.  

In this eBook, we dive into how iterative design can be a manageable way to make progress toward your marketing goals without breaking the bank or hiring new team members.

Download your copy today and get ready to get “unstuck” in your marketing strategy!

Content strategy is essential to improving your organization’s website performance, showcasing your brand, and establishing credibility among prospective patients. However, because healthcare content strategy doesn’t often provide results that are as tangible as those from search engine optimization or paid advertisements, it often gets pushed to the back burner by busy healthcare marketers looking to prove the value of their work to internal leadership. 

But content’s role in building your organization’s overall digital presence cannot be ignored. Today’s patients are looking online for content that helps answer their care questions, research providers, learn more about conditions or service lines, and ultimately select the provider that best meets their needs.  

Your healthcare content strategy is about so much more than your landing page content and blog posts — it ensures your organization is visible online and delivers the right message to the right audience at the right time. 

Here are a few of the ways that a robust content strategy can help your healthcare organization build and maintain a strong digital presence.

1. Help reach your SEO goals

Search engine optimization (SEO) and content strategy go hand in hand. By strategically incorporating keywords and structuring your content, you can improve your website’s rankings on search engine results pages.  

To achieve this, incorporate keyword research into your content strategy so you know how to best optimize pieces of content like blog posts, service line pages, and page metadata. With a strategic approach to SEO, your content will help attract more organic traffic and bring patients directly to your digital front door.

2. Improve your findability

Findability takes SEO to the next level, ensuring patients can easily locate information about your organization on your website, through search engines, in business listings, and even using AI. 

You can build your healthcare content strategy with findability in mind by incorporating Schema structured data to serve up essential information to search engines and AI bots, utilizing local SEO to help patients in your community connect with your organization, and creating an information architecture for your site that ensures users can quickly find what they need.

3. Keep your site’s content fresh and informative

Search engines and users alike prioritize fresh, relevant content. An effective content strategy includes regular updates to ensure your site remains current and valuable to visitors. 

Make regular updates to provider and location pages a part of your content strategy, as well as adding new, engaging content like seasonal or news-related blog posts, patient testimonials, and even short-form video.  

With consistent, well-thought-out content updates, your website can stay helpful, dynamic and relevant to both patients and search engines.

4. Connect with new and current patients

Your website is often the first point of contact for prospective patients and a key resource for existing ones.  

Thoughtful content fosters meaningful connections by addressing common patient questions, showcasing why your organization is the best choice for care, and using personalization to create stellar user experiences. When patients feel understood and supported through your content, they’re more likely to trust your organization for their healthcare needs.

5. Tell your brand’s story

Storytelling is a powerful way to differentiate your healthcare organization in a competitive market. By incorporating brand-boosting content — like about us and history pages, staff spotlights, and patient impact stories — into your healthcare content strategy, you craft a narrative that highlights your mission, values, and expertise. 

Just remember to have a plan to continuously create new content or update content that’s been on your site for a while — relevant, recent brand content can help build emotional connections with patients, fostering loyalty and strengthening your reputation. 

A strong healthcare content strategy is essential for building a digital presence that attracts, informs, and engages patients. While it may not have the direct ROI that you see from a digital advertising campaign, content can go a long way in solidifying your digital presence and making you a trustworthy, easy-to-find resource when patients are looking for care. 

If your content strategy could use a tune-up, Geonetric is here to help. We not only understand the unique challenges you face as a healthcare marketer, but we have more than 25 years of content marketing experience to help solve them. 

Learn more about our content services here, then contact our team when you’re ready to get started! 

Want to learn more about healthcare content strategy? Check out our blog posts on content marketing ideas for 2025, tips for building out a healthcare content hub, and the problems you can solve with better content governance.