After a Three-Year Hiatus from Healthcare, Observations from a Digital Marketing Pro

by Neal Linkon

When they visited, my parents were always surprised at how much my kids had changed. I hardly noticed be­cause I saw them every day.

Now that I’m back in healthcare, I feel like my parents. I was away for more than three years. When I came back a year ago, it felt like home, but you have all been busy remodeling and moving the furniture around. So I’m surprised at how much things have changed.

For those of you who have been in healthcare marketing all along, the following observations might not seem like surprises, but please in­dulge me a pinch of the child’s cheek.

Sites are making it easier for people to find doctors

Isn’t that the most important thing for most marketers? It’s great to see progress in this area.

When I left healthcare, it seemed as if there were only a handful of really excellent examples of Find a Doctor tools. Most of the sites had overly complex search capabilities that were sure to frustrate users, especially when they generated no doctors in search after search. And the profiles weren’t anything to get excited about.

As I look around sites now, both as a judge for the eHealthcare Leader­ship Awards and in my new role scanning the competitive landscape, it seems as if functional and helpful Find a Doctor tools have almost become like a casino’s table stakes. Most tools that I look at are easy to use, generate helpful results, and frequently offer complete bios.

On the other hand …

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