While patient visits remain the main source of income for most medical practices, specialties such as dentistry, dermatology, and family medicine have access to an alternate revenue stream in the form of selling health-related products. Most practices that engage in this business will already have mastered in-office promotion, though online marketing remains a challenge.

Keep reading for 4 tips on driving sales of health-related products online.

1. Paid search advertising

Paid search advertising is a form of digital advertising that involves purchasing ads in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. The most popular platform is Google AdWords, with Google accounting for the vast majority of search engine usage globally. Engaging in paid search advertising puts practices on an even footing with other practices using the format to sell health-related products, with an equal opportunity to rank. Unlike organic search rankings which take into account various factors like traffic and mobile friendliness, paid search advertising guarantees top spot for the highest bidder.

Achieving a high rank organically, while better, in the long run, can take a great deal of time and effort. Paid search ads skip the time it would normally take to achieve the top spot, catapulting the practice to instant visibility. Instant visibility means more clicks, more traffic, and potentially more sales. These factors will also help improve the organic search ranking. This method also allows for precision audience targeting, allowing practices to find and reach their ideal patients. certain demographics can be removed entirely if you feel they are unlikely to buy the product.

2. Product-centric blog posts

Blogging and web content are major pillars of digital marketing and are proven to increase website traffic for healthcare websites over time. Search engines, like Google, regularly crawl websites looking for new content that might be relevant to user searches. Regularly publishing content related to these products will lead search engines to label your practice authority in this area, making them more likely to direct searchers to your website.

With blogging as part of your digital marketing portfolio, you can also position your practice as a reliable provider of health-related products in your geographic area. Blogs related to specific products can also include greater detail regarding the product than can be included on the product page.

3. Social media

Social media is, perhaps, the best platform for practices looking to promote health-related products, mainly because of its wide use. Users on these platforms, which include likes of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc., are often looking to hear directly from healthcare practitioners. Many are likely to follow their physicians to hear their opinions on current healthcare news, providing a fantastic avenue for marketing health-related products.

This is another area where paid marketing will help. Sponsored content on sites like Facebook allows the targeting of highly specific audiences. For instance, examining a PPC report example can provide insights into the effectiveness of these targeted campaigns.

Learn More: 5 Facebook Marketing Tips for Medical Practices

4. Marketing emails

While most practices focus mainly on attracting new patients, for those looking to sell health-related products marketing to existing patients is equally important. In addition, it is also crucial to keep patients returning to the practice. Email marketing is a tried and tested method of digital marketing and it can be used to great effect here.