Under the Microscope: How AI is Transforming Healthcare Marketing

Welcome to Ask Yext, our newest blog series, where we answer marketers' questions about trending topics. Today's topic: AI's impact on healthcare marketing.

AI is transforming how patients search for and connect with providers — and it's changing how healthcare marketers do their jobs. Some marketers are hesitant to use AI tools because of ethical, privacy, or compliance concerns. For others, it's uncertainty about how (or where) to start. But AI has a lot to offer, and it's time to tackle your biggest AI questions head-on.

Let's get to it:

• Should I be concerned about losing my healthcare marketing job to a robot?

• Are patients using AI to make decisions about clinics and providers?

• Do I need special training to use AI for marketing?

• Can AI help my small marketing team get more done?

First things first — let's take on the question that's raising every marketer's blood pressure…

Not a chance. AI isn't here to replace you — it's here to make your life easier. It's no secret that healthcare marketers have had too much on their plates for too long. But now? You have AI – an always-available versatile assistant that's primed and ready to take on any task, freeing you up to focus on strategy, creativity, and big-picture initiatives.

AI is perfect for:

• Digging through marketing data to identify trends

• Automating repetitive, time-consuming tasks

• Creating on-brand, compliant copy for social posts, review responses, and more

Bonus - it never needs coffee breaks.

Our advice: Don't fear AI – befriend it. Start getting to know a chatbot or two and explore the many ways it can save you time and make your life as a marketer easier.

A lot of them are. We conducted a survey to investigate this question, and the answers were quite surprising.

Of the 1,051 adults who looked online for a healthcare provider in the past year:

• 49% said they "always" or "often" use AI tools to research healthcare providers

• 87% reported being "extremely satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the accuracy of healthcare information provided by AI tools

• 62% said they are "completely likely" or "very likely" to trust the information AI tools provide about a healthcare provider

Patients are already using AI tools to learn about providers and ask healthcare questions. Are you effectively answering those questions?

Now is the ideal time to analyze your content to make sure that what makes your clinic unique is clearly and consistently highlighted across your digital presence. Doing so will help patients find answers to common questions on their preferred channels – and reduce the number of inbound phone calls and digital inbox messages you receive.

Nope. There are many things you need special training, credentialing, and education for in the medical industry — but using AI to support your marketing efforts is not one of them.

Most AI tools are designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, which means you don't need a data science degree to take advantage of them. In fact, you're likely using AI-powered content generation or optimization tools inside programs you work in each day without even realizing it. Perhaps you're using a content generator to draft provider bios or generate review responses that you can edit and approve.

Absolutely. If your marketing team is small but mighty, AI can help you scale without working around the clock. Take review management, for example. Keeping up with hundreds (or thousands) of patient reviews across multiple providers and locations is overwhelming.

AI-powered review response helps you:

• Issue hundreds of responses per day across multiple review sites

• Respond to reviews as much as 80% faster

• Make sure your patient engagement is consistent, pre-approved, and compliant

And you can do even more with powerful analytics.

AI-powered sentiment analysis helps you instantly see how patients feel about a practice or provider and easily identify emerging trends or issues. Using AI to stay on top of patient experience management turns patient feedback into a powerful trust-building tool — without adding more to your plate.

Healthcare marketers are laser-focused on optimizing the patient experience, but between endless to-do lists and not enough hours in the day, most marketers are just trying to stay afloat. Thankfully, technology tossed you a life raft.

Right now, you have a golden opportunity to experiment with using AI as a productivity tool. Heck, maybe you'll even finish your coffee while it's still warm (or cold, if you prefer your caffeine iced like me).

Need some inspiration on how to get started or advice on how to get leadership buy-in? Check this out.