The healthcare industry quite literally saves lives. From the medical staff that performs routine checkups to the brain surgeons who hold their patients’ lives in their hands, there’s no doubt that healthcare professionals can be miracle workers. The true miracle is just how vast the information is concerning the healthcare profession and the personalities of those seeking that information.
There isn’t a one-stop catch-all to connect with every potential patient who might be looking for medical services. Some patients are analytical and want to pore over charts and graphs. Others are empathetic, and they want human interest stories that will tug at their heartstrings long before their surgeon does.
The challenge then is making sure your healthcare website provides enough information—and enough different kinds of information—to hit on all the personality types who might walk through your door. Showcasing everything you do in various ways on your website will quite literally open the door to your practice to as many people as possible.
There are five tried and true ways to appeal to diverse personalities who may be seeking out medical advice.
Profiles
Patients want to know who will be guiding them through their healthcare journey. The best way to do that is to take those potential patients through your own healthcare journey. How did your medical professionals get to your company? Tell those stories. Healthcare is the most humane part of life, and there’s no better way to build off that than showcasing humanity.
In addition to providing profiles on staff members, what success stories can you share from current or former patients? While healthcare can be routine for practitioners, the human connection can provide clarity for people beginning their own healthcare research. Take us beyond the charts and the jargon with real stories about how lives have been saved and health obstacles overcome with touching stories that get to the heart of the human beings involved.
Case Studies
Beyond the personal touch of profiles, healthcare sites can serve as education platforms. Instead of focusing on individual stories, use case studies to look at growing trends in the healthcare industry. A good example is a case study posted by the American Hospital Association, which shows that increased signage at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center in Georgia dramatically reduced workplace violence.
Piedmont wasn’t the only healthcare facility that the AHA surveyed. Several facilities were contacted for the case study, and the content was created under the keywords “workplace violence” and “hospitals against violence.”
Using keywords when creating case studies can help link together a variety of articles on the same growing trend or the same issues that impact the healthcare profession. Your experienced freelance healthcare writer will help you determine the best use of keywords when assisting in the planning of your editorial calendar. Case studies provide an authoritative voice using data.
Infographics
Data can be illustrated in many different ways. Displaying an article that lists a bunch of facts and figures in text form can easily lead to a reader losing their place amid a sea of numbers. There is a growing trend among storytellers to grow beyond just using words and text and instead move to a more visual-based content delivery method.
Infographics are visually appealing, and they can exist to showcase a lot of different information at once. Just as a healthcare professional may choose to show a patient an X-ray instead of a bunch of text, infographics serve the same purpose.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality hosts a collection of infographics on its website, including Drugs to Treat COVID-19. This particular infographic was born out of a study conducted in July 2021. While the study clocked in at nearly 5,000 words, some of the most critical information could be boiled down to a single infographic, which informed the public that Albuterol and Azithromycin were among the most widely prescribed retail and mail-order drugs that were later prescribed to treat COVID-19.
The infographic includes the source material of the original study while displaying the information in an easy-to-consume manner.
Whitepapers
Whitepapers combine case studies and infographics for a detailed report. In April 2019, the International Hospital Federation put out a 17-page whitepaper entitled “Violence against people in hospitals.” The report provided an introduction to the topic, plenty of infographics explaining the studies, and a conclusion.
Whitepapers are detailed reports that can explain information in a variety of manners. Healthcare writers use whitepapers to get to the heart of issues by providing background information, breaking up information into lists or bullet points, and answering pressing questions in the industry. Detail is critical as everything is produced under one lengthy document.
Blogs
Making things easy to consume by the general public is one of the hallmarks of the healthcare profession. After all, there’s a reason people use the phrase “layman’s terms.”
The final type of content that can put a healthcare site over the top is a consistent blog that augments profiles, case studies, infographics and whitepapers. Instead of lengthy documents, blogs can focus on one issue with a conversational, informal tone.
Use your blogs to talk about new office procedures or provide information to a broader audience. You can’t wait until all of your patients come through your doors for a wellness visit to discuss the importance of the flu shot, but with a blog, you can provide statistics, use empathetic language and convince those on the fence to sign up for their vaccination.
Use a Freelance Healthcare Writer to Customize Your Content
Some healthcare patients are going to want as much detailed information as possible that is written by licensed experts in the field. Some patients are going to look for visual information displayed in an easy-to-consume fashion. Some patients will want real-world stories that focus on human beings. Others may just want a conversational tone that touches on a variety of topics. By utilizing freelance healthcare writers and editors that can deliver a variety of content, your site will appeal to all types of patients.