In the previous post, we discussed the power of patient persona building and the benefits therein. Here, we’ll discuss how to actually get started with building your first patient persona. Without further ado: commence by focusing on your most significant target audience—the individual for whom your primary service line has been specifically designed. Throughout this article, we’ll assume that you have identified a single service line or specialty that you wish to create content for and are in the process of developing a content marketing plan around it. Once you’ve accomplished the initial persona-building process, you may apply the same approach to persona-building for your remaining service lines, thereby crafting specific content pieces over time that resonate with your entire audience.
To begin, it is essential to create a detailed profile of your target individual to ensure that you can develop effective content that addresses their specific needs and preferences. Whether you have a large practice with multiple specialty areas, or you’re a solo physician with focused areas of specialization, persona building will help you resonate and connect with your community at large by focusing on segmented geo-psycho-demographic niches one at a time.
If you haven’t yet constructed your target patient persona, now is the time to do so – the rest of this post will help you accomplish this.
Getting Started With Your Patient Persona
Consider the following recommendations for crafting your initial persona:
- conduct interviews with current patients who utilize your preferred service line, either in person or over the phone. During these conversations, center your inquiries on their health journey, with particular attention to their affliction and how you can offer a solution. Additional topics to explore include:
- the onset of symptoms (acute or chronic),
- the manner by which they discovered your practice (through referrals, online searches, or word of mouth),
- their initial contact with your organization,
- the ease of scheduling a visit,
- any follow-up visits that occurred,
- the quality of their on-site experience (including matters such as parking, signage, and reception services),
- any other points of engagement that occurred between them and your practice.
Assess the analytics of your website’s content to identify patterns in the methods by which visitors discover and engage with your content. Methodically scrutinize the sources from which they arrive (such as social content, websites, emails, or landing pages), as well as the highest traffic content pieces on your site.
Deep Diving Into The Details
To architect a patient persona for your practice, it is recommended to adopt a systematic approach. Here is a persona-building outline to help you streamline this process:
General Healthcare Data:
- Data regarding their role in their own, and their family’s, healthcare
- Essential details about their household and family makeup
- Crucial information regarding their health as well as that of their family
Geographics:
- Residential distance from you
- Residential location type (rural, suburban, urban)
- Daily travel patterns
Demographics:
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Household income
- Preferred online resources for health-related information
- Preferred online platforms for entertainment
- Preferred online channels for social connectivity
Psychographics:
- Technological proficiency
- Cultural norms
- Religious practices
- “Generational” attributes
- Interests
- Dietary and beverage preferences
- Travel habits
- Leisure activities
- Political affiliations
- Distinctive personality traits
Objectives:
- Main health objective
- Additional health objectives
Obstacles & Grievances:
- Main health challenge
- Additional health challenges
Our Assistance:
- How we tackle the challenges faced by the persona
- How we support the persona in accomplishing their objectives
Possible Concerns During The Patient Journey:
- Insurance coverage?
- Availability of specialists?
- Appointment delays?
- Finding parking downtown?
Sought Content:
- What knowledge is your persona looking for?
- How should you deliver your content and solution to your persona?
Bring Them To Life:
- Choose a name (a name generally reflective of the demographic the persona represents)
- Add an photo image (get one from the internet or use an AI tool to create one with your prompts)
- Include a few authentic quotes obtained during interviews that represent your persona accurately
Personalizing and “ensouling” your patient persona makes them more relatable to orient your content generation team and overall marketing efforts.
Contending With Your Creation
Utilize the persona you have developed as a guide for crafting content that is tailored to their specific needs and preferences. Challenge yourself, your content, and all of your marketing efforts to target, connect, and resonate with your persona. It is crucial to resist the urge to produce content for a generalized audience or widespread demographic and instead focus on creating content for your persona. This approach enables you to address your target audience in a more personalized and meaningful way, demonstrating an understanding of their unique needs, fears, and concerns.
To achieve a deep level of connection, it is imperative to consider the perspective of your persona and put yourself in their shoes. By doing so, you can provide answers to your real-world prospective patient’s health-related questions, alleviate their concerns, and overcome objections they may have about seeking care from you. By engaging with them in this manner, you establish yourself as an authority figure in the niche area they are seeking information on, thereby instilling trust and loyalty in your audience.
The beauty of persona building is that, while you are speaking to one person – your persona – there are in fact a multitude of real-world current and prospective patients that have similar needs and concerns who will directly benefit from the content that you generate for your persona. By speaking to just one person, rather than generalizing your speech to a nebulous statistical demographic, prospective patients will feel that your content is designed precisely for them, and that you have the experience and credibility to help people just like them.
