HHAs (or ‘Home Health Agencies’) are public or privately operated organizations that provide a range of nursing services and other personal healthcare treatments designed directly for at-home patients. With the growing demand for healthcare practitioners and hospitals, a home healthcare agency has the ability to provide flexible care options for elderly patients or patients with prolonged illnesses who would be more likely to benefit from receiving care at home rather than spending longer durations at traditional healthcare facilities.
With a diverse staff roster, HHAs can provide homecare services for various demographics, boosting confidence and security in patients of all ages and backgrounds with varying healthcare requirements. HHAs are also valuable resources for patients recently discharged from an acute or long-term hospital or other facilities providing long-term care and looking to recover, rehabilitate, and return to their original routines and schedules before falling ill.
Simply put, high-quality home healthcare is crucial for patients who cannot leave their homes for outpatient treatments. Home healthcare can be an invaluable way to improve patient health and quality of life while preventing unplanned readmissions.
As this agency model is still relatively new, HHAs worldwide are still determining how best their services fit into the wider healthcare sector ecosystem. Developing HHAs are also mapping suitable growth strategies for their agencies. Here’s how the HHAs of today have been able to promote their services and carve out their niche within the wider healthcare sector.
Growing an agency
Marketing is naturally an essential aspect of the growth of a budding HHA. The primary aim when developing marketing campaigns for these healthcare service providers is to communicate the quality and flexibility of care to prospective clients.
Some of the most practical strategies, market trends, and actionable insights reveal that HHAs can successfully promote their services on a diverse range of digital channels, as their target demographics aren’t limited to one subsection of consumers, and that patients of all ages may, in fact, benefit from their services.
How to Draft an Executable Marketing Plan for Home Care Services
Successful home healthcare agencies rely on strategic marketing plans to scale up their enterprises. While marketing may initially generate interest, long-term development planning supports agency growth. It safeguards the company’s reputation—both of which are vital investments in the healthcare sector, where public liability and combating negligence are constant concerns.
An effective marketing plan for an HHA should provide the framework for a more holistic, multi-channel marketing strategy incorporating digital advertising, community outreach, and patient engagement (e.g., via industry-relevant social media content). Any HHA marketing strategy should also include a sustainable and streamlined approach to targeting an audience across multiple channels.
Monitoring digital performance by setting measurable KPIs related to ad click-throughs, social media engagement, and lead generation in relation to client conversion can aid HHAs in developing a marketing strategy that supports client acquisition and retention strategy flows.
Here are the main channels and marketing strategies that HHAs have historically invested in:
Digital Ads
Google AdWords allows HHAs to promote their services using selected keywords. By conducting keyword research and competitor analyses, HHAs can identify keywords with high search volume that are more likely to provide the highest opportunities for driving click-through rates and boosting paid traffic to their agency website.
Print Ads
Newspapers remain an effective marketing tool for HHAs, as older generations are still more inclined to turn to print advertising to confirm the authority and legitimacy of local businesses and service providers. For HHAs looking to attract senior patients, advertising in local print publications that manually direct leads to inquire via phone or visit agency websites can help bridge technology gaps for older demographics.
Brand Building
A strong brand can be a vital trust signal in the healthcare sector. By clearly outlining their core values in all marketing collateral (e.g., company logos, brand color scheme, etc.) and ensuring agency staff are also committed to upholding these values, HHAs can build a strong and consistent brand that sets them apart from their competitors.
Social Media
Social media presents significant opportunities for connecting with target audiences and providing relevant, helpful content. In addition, industry-relevant social media content can both aid in supporting brand awareness and provide prospective clients with highly valuable, information-rich resources that will likely prompt them to see HHA as a trusted entity and industry authority.
Request referrals from existing clients
In the healthcare sector, word of mouth can positively contribute to acquisition and retention. Referrals from current and past clients can be an effective way to market a home healthcare agency. This is primarily because healthcare as a service requires immense trust-building between healthcare practitioners, other industry professionals, and their patients.
This is why social proof, like testimonials or customer reviews, can be a vital marketing tool for HHAs. To gain referrals most effectively, it’s recommended that HHA professionals stay proactive about developing strong relationships with their patients. This will improve communications and, thus, the quality of care and streamline the process of securing valuable and authentic patient testimonials.
Attend and sponsor community events
Healthcare is an industry that relies on building human connections. As care providers like home nurses effectively become community figures for patient families, another avenue for HHA promotion is to ensure agencies maintain a company presence at community events. Here, home healthcare agency employees may opt to organize or participate in a community service project or attend local industry events (i.e. local hospital fundraisers, fun runs, etc.) to enhance their agency’s brand image while increasing visibility within local communities.
This gives local HHAs a service-oriented image, allowing agencies to solidify their presence within local economies and allowing residents within these regions to interact with potential caregivers directly—even prior to enlisting or even considering enlisting their services.
Optimizing Google My Business profiles for HHAs
Google Business Profile helps businesses easily create a free profile for their company on Google, connecting with potential new customers in the ‘Map Pack.’ These local map packs appear prominently in most local search results and should, as such, form part of any marketing strategy for home care services.
Once the GMB profile has been optimized for local maps, establishing local landing pages designed for conversion can help HHA websites rank in organic search results beneath each selected map pack. For maximum exposure, it’s vital to be at the top of both Google Maps and organic search results.
From sharing SEO-optimized blog posts that provide vital healthcare insights to supporting social media campaigns that build communities, updating GMB profiles with company updates offers numerous avenues for HHAs to attract patients and maintain robust visibility online. For healthcare and other service-based industries, in particular, it’s essential to produce high-quality, informative content that promotes by informing and educating. These resources aid in establishing an enterprise as an authority or thought leader within their wider industry or sector.
For HHAs, leading the conversation via GMB updates may also improve web and social media visibility. Once prospective clients interact with the interrelated information and resources on GMB and other connected profiles and digital channels, the likelihood of their conversion grows exponentially.
How to Keep a HHA Marketing Strategy Adaptable & Scalable
As with any industry marketing strategy, an HHA campaign is most effective when it evolves to better address the changing concerns of its target audiences. Providing valuable and engaging content that speaks directly to the needs and interests of target audiences is vital for ensuring HHAs don’t just lead the conversation online but also keep their finger on the pulse.
Remember that information is at the core of good marketing. Understanding where clients first heard of you will guide future investments, so HHA managers and marketing teams – start tracking when and where your clients first encountered your services.
Employing effective strategies and adapting your approach to performance metrics can ensure the long-term success of your home healthcare agency.
Photo by Kampus Production: Pexels
