Patient “Near-Me” Journeys
According to Google’s “The Evolving Digital Patient Journey” study, patients are looking for specific experiences in their online search as part of their health journey.
What patients want:
- Information “now,” including “near me” information
- To feel “empowered”
- An “easy” experience
One clear change the mobile phone is bringing to marketing is the “near me” phenomenon. Near-me searches are simple searches that include the words “near me,” “nearby” or “close.” These kinds of searches have dramatically increased in the past year.
The widespread use of smartphones will increase these kinds of searches even more. Now, combine that information with the knowledge that more than 75% of a digital patient’s health path starts with an online search and you have a new appreciation for the value of an online experience for healthcare. And that means your website must be search ready and search optimized—not just to be found, but ready when someone finds you.
More than 75% say they drop a mobile site if it doesn’t make it easy to find what they are looking for.
A journey map helps chart a course and keep you between the ditches. If you are not starting with a patient journey map, your advertising may be going off course. You can miss the forest looking at one tree. You need a more holistic approach to make sure you are in the now, empowering and easy.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.