We know you’re busy taking care of patients, but if you're an urgent care business owner, it’s time to take a break from your daily grind to learn which marketing tips are best for your industry!

Whether you’re new to the industry or you’ve been around for several years, every urgent care can benefit from these tips. 

Get Started With These Urgent Care Marketing Tips

You may not think that you need an online presence as many people already know what an urgent care center is. However, you're going to need to put yourself in your patients' shoes.

When they're sick and unable to get an appointment with their primary care doctor, what's the first thing they'll do? An online search! This makes having a digital presence that's easily found an important first step for your urgent care center.

You should make sure you're using all the online tools to your advantage, which includes making sure your website is optimized, understanding your paid advertising campaigns, being active on social media and maintaining your online reputation through reviews.

Here are a few things you can start doing to improve your urgent care's online presence:

Review Marketing for Your Urgent Care

Because urgent cares typically see a high volume of patients, this is a great opportunity to increase your online reviews!

Just like any other business, people tend to do a quick internet search to learn more about your specific urgent care center. If they see several positive reviews and professional responses to those reviews, people are more likely to choose your business over the competition.

For your urgent care center, when responding to reviews, don't include the patient's name or even acknowledge they were there for a visit. Simply say "We appreciate your recommendation! Thank you!" or "Thanks for your review!" 

Remember, you cannot share your patient's reviews due to HIPAA guidelines/restrictions, but patients can leave the reviews themselves on the individual platforms.

On the flip side, if people search for your urgent care and only see a few reviews, they may choose to go to another center.

Time-Optimize Your Paid Ads

Not only should you be using paid advertising efforts, but you should also make sure to time-optimize them! Because the urgent care industry is so competitive, your advertising budget is likely to run out sooner rather than later.

One of the best practices is to time-optimize your paid ads budget. You may be wondering, what does this mean?

Well, unlike many emergency rooms, urgent care centers are not open 24/7. To avoid spending budget while your business is closed, you can make sure your ads are only running during your hours of operation. This allows your budget to be spread even further than before!

Not sure what is best for your urgent care center? Don't worry, our paid advertising experts can work with you to find the best times to run your ads.

The Competition

Nowadays, with so many “walk-in” clinics popping up, how are you supposed to compete? Well, the first thing you’ll need to do is to differentiate yourself from these corporate-owned centers.

A good way to make your business stand out is to be involved in your community. Whether you’re attending events or you have signage in the area, these are excellent ways for your business to be at the forefront of people’s minds.

Another thing you can do is to make sure people know that you offer a variety of services. Most people visit an urgent care for minor ailments, such as a cold or the flu, but make sure they realize that you offer more than that, including MRIs and X-rays. This allows an even larger volume of people to visit your location.

Keep in mind that because your service is personalized compared to “walk-in” clinics, that quality always trumps convenience. It’s better to visit an urgent care once and get the quality care you need rather than visit two “walk-in” clinics for the same problem.

Final Thoughts

Everyone needs marketing, even urgent care centers! Making sure you have an online presence that portrays your business positively is essential, and that's where we can help!

At RevLocal, we have a variety of digital marketing services that can help your urgent care. Visit our website to learn more and to request a demo.