3 Strategies for Powering Up Word-of-Mouth Healthcare Marketing

3. Seek local connections and partnerships

UK Healthcare also made a point to let local runners groups and athletic companies know about the clinic.

For example, after Gombeski and his team reached out to local organizations footwear store John's Run/Walk Shop wrote about the new clinic in its newsletter and the president of a Lexington runner's club discussed it on the club's website.

As a result of these three word-of-mouth marketing efforts UK HealthCare found that 60% of patients in the first three months came from word-of-mouth referrals, usually from another runner.    

"The reason [patients are] using word-out-mouth to make the decision is healthcare can be very complex," Gomeski says. "You want your procedure done at the hospital that has the best outcomes, but sometimes the advice of people you trust—like friends, family, a nurse, or a doctor—matters more and you're much more likely to use that information to make your decision. It happens so much that if you're not capitalizing on it, you're losing out on helping your patients choose you for their care."