Healthcare Video Marketing: Benefits and Best Practices

Video marketing is everywhere

Videos are all over social feeds, they’re appearing higher on SERPs … sometimes, they’re even on a screen above the pump at the gas station. Marketers are getting creative about how they’re reaching their audiences.

Even if you personally scroll past video ads or sponsored TikToks, it’s hard to ignore the potential of video marketing. And we’d be remiss not to talk about the benefits of video marketing for healthcare.

What are those benefits, and how can you tap into them? We’ve got you covered.

Healthcare video marketing benefits

We’re fond of the days when “content marketing” just meant writing, but we’re equally excited about how videos can benefit patients (and your ROI).

Video marketing benefits for patients

Patient-centric content helps people make informed decisions about their health.

One way to put patients first is to write content in plain language. Another way to put them first is to offer them an additional way to absorb the information. And video is a crowd-pleaser.

How does video marketing help patients? It can:

• Make information more clear: People with low health literacy may struggle to decode or understand written health info. Videos help them make sense of information with visual cues.
• Ease fear: People don’t know what to expect when they’re grappling with a new diagnosis or preparing for a procedure they haven’t had before. The unknown can be scary, no matter your age. Seeing the facility, exam room, and your staff’s smiling faces ahead of time can help.
• Build trust: It’s hard to trust someone you’ve just met for the first time (yes, even doctors). Many patients will Google their physician before their first appointment to find a layer of comfort. Level up your physician profiles with warm, welcoming videos of your providers. (See examples of stellar physician bios that use videos.)

Tony Gnau of T60 Health describes the connection between video marketing and trust building:

”Trust is important for any business, but it goes double for healthcare. While we want viewers to leave with the information they need, we’re even more interested in having them feel something. We want them to feel good about a provider or staff member. We want them to feel confident in the organization as a whole. Video storytelling can tap into emotions in this way.”

Healthcare video marketing example: Patient testimonial

The business case for video marketing

With video, everyone wins — including you, healthcare marketer.

Video marketing helps SEO

Why are videos good for SEO?

• Videos improve user experience: Google is rumored to rank pages that feature video higher than text-only pages. Search strategists believe that videos signal a more positive page experience to Google’s crawlers. One company claims to see up to 250% boosts in traffic after adding video content to existing blog posts.
• Videos are being featured by search engines: As a response to the popularity of shortform video on social media, search engine results pages (SERPs) are featuring more videos. Videos are landing higher in SERP features, including AI search results.
• Video search is less competitive: Video SEO is the middle child of search engine marketing. It doesn’t often get the attention it deserves, which is good news for us.

Hear from Michele Constantineau at Point Across Media about how video marketing can improve SEO:

“From an SEO standpoint, video actively engages visitors, leading them to spend more time on your website. It also improves search engine rankings. One of our clients told me that when they post videos to YouTube, they consistently show up at the top of the search results.”

Your audience enjoys watching videos

Rule 1 of marketing is keeping your audience’s needs top of mind. The rise of TikTok as a search engine indicates a growing demand for educational content in video form.

If you aren’t fulfilling that need, someone else will! Keep users engaged with your brand by providing what they’re looking for.

Videos are easy to repurpose

The sky’s the limit when it comes to video repurposing. One great healthcare video can become several pieces of content:

• Patient stories
• YouTube shorts
• Instagram reels or stories
• Clips for your hospital’s TikTok
• Patient education materials
• Part of an email newsletter
• Future ad campaigns
• Short videos to level up your blogs
• Clips for physician bio pages

Healthcare video example: Medical animation

5 tips for producing engaging healthcare videos

Want to use more videos in your marketing strategy? Read this first.

1. Use a good hook

Some things never change. Your hook is just as important in video marketing as in a blog intro. Start with a question, interesting fact, or something unique to grab attention.

Related: Learn how to get more eyes on your videos by creating clear titles and captivating thumbnails.

2. Don’t overly-script

Type A? Us too. We understand the urge to script every moment of your video, but it could end up harming more than helping. Learn why from Chris Eastwood at Point Across:

“When people have a script, it sounds like they’re reading the answers rather than having a conversation. If you’re recording something like a physician profile, ask open-ended questions about who they are, why they got started in medicine, what gets them jumping out of bed in the morning … Those kinds of questions give you a good backstory and more authentic content.”

3. Automate subtitling with AI

Subtitles make healthcare videos accessible, but it’s tedious to write them manually. AI to the rescue.

Transcription tools like Descript can help automate the subtitling process and turn around fairly accurate subtitles in minutes. (Emphasis on fairly — as always, be sure to check AI’s work!)

4. Mix up your video formats

Whether your video is a minute long or an hour, try different techniques to keep viewers engaged. Here are some ideas:

• Use medical animations
• Feature different voices and people in the same video
• Lean into storytelling
• Use voiceovers over B-roll footage

Take inspiration from TikTok. TikToks are short, but content creators still experiment with new ideas to keep people engaged, like overlaying clips of the game Subway Surfers onto their videos. This may not be a winning strategy for healthcare video marketing, but these creators win points for thinking out of the box.

5. Focus on the types of videos you need

What types of videos are most effective for healthcare marketing? It depends on your goals for the content.

• Provider profiles build trust between viewers and your physicians.
• Medical explainer videos help patients understand a condition, procedure, or treatment.
• Facility tours show prospective patients where they’ll be receiving care.
• Medical device videos highlight your technology and show viewers how it works.
• Patient testimonial videos illustrate what it’s like to be a patient at your hospital.

Healthcare video marketing example: Patient testimonial

Great videos for healthcare marketing start with content strategy

iPhone footage has come a long way, but working with a video production team often brings the best return. That team should include both a professional production company and a healthcare content agency.

Aha Media bridges the gap between hospitals and video production firms, providing the healthcare video strategy to make the investment worth it.

Learn how we help health systems create video content that ranks and resonates.

Explore video marketing strategy support