Healthcare marketing: Why helpful healthcare content matters more than ever

People want healthcare content from healthcare experts – doctors, psychologists, accredited clinicians.

Three-quarters of people engage with health and wellness content at least once a week, according to McKinsey. They’re searching for answers to critical questions about their bodies, their care options, and their wellbeing. But they’re increasingly getting this information from unqualified influencers or AI-generated blogs.

We’re living in a world where health disinformation spreads fast. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called it an ‘infodemic’. McKinsey found that 30-40% of social media posts about diseases, diets, or medical treatments contain misinformation. 

When health organisations don’t create content, that leaves ‘a big black hole of information that can be filled by nefarious actors or misguided individuals who share health information without the right qualifications or evidence behind it,’ says Melody Taba from the Sydney Health Literacy Lab. 

Healthcare providers should take advantage of this ‘untapped opportunity to use their clinical expertise and reputation to serve health media [with] medically validated, contextually relevant content,’ advises McKinsey. Not only will this help combat medical misinformation, but build trust, improve the patient experience, and drive demand for their services. 

What are the benefits of content for healthcare organisations?

Content is a critical component of healthcare marketing, building awareness, trust, and driving demand for your services. 

McKinsey notes that people are ‘more actively engaged than ever in the health ecosystem’, researching preventions, symptoms, conditions, and treatments – and 77% are looking for content that has been clinician-reviewed.  

Content helps people discover your organisation and understand what you offer. It’s the starting point for building recognition and trust. 

Some healthcare providers are already doing this well. Take Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa’s comprehensive advice hub on sexual and reproductive health, which answers FAQs on everything from contraception to reproductive cancers. Queensland Health has become famous for its social media campaigns, raising awareness of common conditions through cheeky memes accompanied by long-form posts.

How to optimise your healthcare content marketing

Many healthcare organisations are already creating great content – but it could be working harder for them. These three steps will help you make better use of what you already have and ensure your content is supporting both patient needs and business goals.

1. Conduct a comprehensive content audit

When was the last time your organisation undertook a clear-eyed review of your content ecosystem and checked it was aligned with your strategic objectives? Regularly auditing your content is essential to successful healthcare content marketing. A few questions to consider during your audit:

• Is your content aligned with your brand’s values and voice?
• Is your content clinically accurate and regularly updated?
• Are there content gaps across the patient or client journey?
• Are different teams producing siloed or inconsistent content?
• Are people engaging with your content in meaningful ways?

2. Refresh out of date content and plug the gaps

Once your audit is complete, use it to prioritise action. Out‑of‑date, unclear or underperforming content can undermine trust. Focus first on content that needs to be rewritten for clarity, reviewed for accuracy, or expanded to reflect how your services are actually delivered.

If you’re missing content on your services, the conditions you treat, or common patient questions – create it. Foundational content like this helps patients feel more informed at every stage of their journey, and can also reduce pressure on your staff.

3. Repurpose and amplify your content

Once your core content is in place, look for opportunities to repurpose and amplify high‑value pieces into formats that serve different audiences, across different stages of the patient journey. For example, a clinically reviewed guide could anchor a campaign supported by video, email, on‑site explainers, and in‑clinic materials.

Amplify across the channels that matter most – the channels where your patients are and where you know they want to engage with you (they might be on Snapchat, but that doesn’t mean they want to talk to you there). Then, use performance data to double down on the formats and channels that work.

Helping people starts with helpful healthcare content

People are actively searching for healthcare content – and they want information from sources they trust. They want clinically-reviewed answers to their questions, information about conditions and treatments.

With medical misinformation running rife, there’s an enormous opportunity for healthcare providers to step into this gap and create genuinely helpful healthcare content.

Need a hand with your healthcare marketing?

Whether you need a content marketing strategy, copywriting, or social media, we’re here to help. Get in touch here or email [email protected].