How to Add Healthcare Video Marketing to Your Strategy

Video marketing is everywhere. It’s on social feeds, it’s appearing higher on SERPs … sometimes, it’s even on a screen above the pump at the gas station.

Marketers are getting creative about how they’re reaching their target audiences. Even if you personally scroll past video ads or sponsored TikToks, it’s hard to ignore the potential that lies in video marketing — and we’d be remiss to underestimate it as healthcare content marketers.

What’s the value of adding more video to your strategy and what do marketers need to know about producing video content? We’ve got you covered.

Benefits of Video Marketing in Healthcare

We’re fond of the days when “content marketing” just meant writing, but we’re equally excited about the benefits of video content for patients, healthcare consumers and your bottom line.

How video benefits viewers

Patient-centric content helps people make informed decisions about their health. Writing in plain language is one way to put patients first. Offering an additional method of absorbing information is another.

How does video content help patients?

• Video can make information easier to understand. Users with low health literacy may struggle to decode or understand written information about healthcare topics. Video helps them make sense of information with visual cues.
• It eases 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, the exam room and your staff’s smiling faces ahead of time can help.
• Video can build trust. It’s hard to trust someone you’ve just met for the first time (even doctors). Many patients will Google their physician before their first appointment to find a layer of comfort. Couple your written physician bios with warm, welcoming introductory videos. Here’s why, from Tony Gnau of T60 Health:”Trust is important for any business, but it goes double for healthcare. Video storytelling can be used to tap emotions. 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.”

Physician profile video example

Why video is important in healthcare marketing

With video, everyone wins. Here’s how healthcare video marketing can bring you results.

Video helps you rank

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. Video search is less competitive.

Search results are featuring more video listings as a response to the popularity of shortform video on social. Video content also appears higher on SERPs depending on the keyword. As Search Generative Experience (SGE) continues its rollout, we can expect even more emphasis on video listings.

You don’t even have to target video rankings specifically to reap the reward of video content. Google is rumored to rank pages that feature video higher than text-only pages. One company claims to see up to 250% boosts in traffic from added video content to existing blog posts.

Hear from Michele Constantineau at Point Across Media about how video content can improve search rankings:

“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.”

Consumers are looking for video

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 in your content ecosystem by serving them what they’re looking for on your marketing channels.

Videos are repurpose-friendly

“Repurpose” is a marketer’s favorite word. One strong video (like a professionally produced healthcare video for an ad campaign) can be repurposed into several pieces of content:

• Patient stories on your website
• Clips for your hospital’s TikTok or Instagram
• Future ad campaigns
• Supplementary videos to boost blog rankings (see above)
• Patient education materials

Videos can even offer a unique way to engage your email list and improve clickthrough rate. The sky is the limit.

Patient education video example

5 Tips for Incorporating More Video in Your Strategy

What do marketers need to know about featuring more video in their strategy? Read 5 tips for effective medical video marketing.

1. Use a good hook

Some things never change. Your hook is just as important in video marketing as when writing a blog or social post. Start with a question, interesting fact or something unique that will grab a viewer’s attention.

Related: Learn how to get more eyes on your video with a clear title and captivating thumbnail.

2. Don’t overly-script

Type A? Us too. We understand the urge to script every single moment of your video, but it could end up harming more than helping in the long run. 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 to go to work … Those kinds of questions give you a good backstory and more authentic content.”

3. Remember to include subtitles

Subtitles make your video accessible to more viewers. Transcription tools like Descript can help automate the subtitling process and turn around fairly accurate subtitles in minutes.

4. Mix it up

Whether your video is a minute long or it’s a 30-minute recording of a webinar, find different ways to keep people engaged. Here are some ideas:

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

Take inspiration from TikTok. Videos on TikTok are already short, but content creators still experiment with unique ways to keep people engaged, like overlaying clips from people playing the game Subway Surfers onto their videos.

5. Focus on the 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.

Patient testimonial video example

Need Support With Your Healthcare Video Content Strategy?

iPhone footage has come a long way, but working with a professional production company for certain types of videos will bring the best return. Learn how Aha Media can help you create high-quality, evergreen video content for your health system.

Healthcare Video Production Services