I've mentioned before that every fertility center is, in fact, a media company. This thesis should inform your fertility clinic's entire content marketing strategy. First, let's define content marketing as the process of creating and curating relevant and valuable content. So how do we know what's relevant and valuable? We have to reverse-engineer the attention of couples and individuals struggling with infertility.
Sites like the Huffington Post produce some of the most popular infertility content on the internet. I believe that the future of content marketing for fertility centers will look more like this.
Do people experiencing infertility pay attention to clinical information and FAQs on a fertility clinic's website? Of course. But this educational content represents only one segment of the patient's attention. Generally, this attention-segment is the only one that fertility centers compete for. Other fertility centers are your competition with respect to the services you offer. But when it comes to the attention of your prospective patient, your competitors are people like the Huffington Post.
For example, this post about how fertility is especially painful at the holidays, received over 2,500 likes on Facebook. When is the last time that happened for an article you posted from ASRM's Fertility and Sterility? Educational content is necessary, but the narrative of infertility doesn't end with clinical information. Who is relating to your patients about a gut-wrenching silence at the Thanksgiving dinner table? Who articulates the spectrum of emotions they feel when they see a friend post a pregnancy announcement on Instagram? You may or may not feel comfortable speaking in that voice as a fertility center. I understand. You don't always have to be the messenger. You can be the medium.
Media companies have contributors. You will need HIPAA release authorizations, a media policy, and public disclaimers, but you have an abundance of contributors to court. Some of your existing and former patients would likely love to write about their own experience and share it on your site. Dozens of infertility blogs need greater distribution and promotion. Authors and books like The Doctor and the Stork provide some of the group-connection that your patients seek online.
This is the (hopefully near) future of content marketing for fertility centers. People experiencing infertility have shown us what content they want to view and read. The question is, will it come from the New York Times or will it come from you?