We have worked with healthcare systems and medical groups to create physician bio videos for more than eight years now. Yet, as we think about this type of marketing, we’re continually surprised at how slowly it has evolved. Especially, given the importance of this type of video to increase revenue by boosting patient acquisition. The goal of a Doctor bio video is to make the featured physician relatable, likable, trustworthy, as well as memorable.
Here are some of the things that I have learned along the way and some tips on how you could do it better.
Doctor Bio Videos Today Follow a Cookie Cutter Approach
Unfortunately, the majority of today’s Physician bio videos are created in a way that makes it impossible to convert new patients.
Today’s Physician bio videos are generally, “talking heads,” in white lab coats, most with white backgrounds, with the physician highlighting their education, board certifications, and answering a few questions designed to, “bring out the doctor’s personality,” like, “Why I went into medicine,” or, “What I do for fun outside the office.”
Are your physician videos falling into this trap? What kind of engagement are you seeing? Have you seen an increase in patient acquisition as a result?
Doctor Bio Video Production Challenges
I understand the challenges involved with producing Physician bio videos including overwhelmed and smaller marketing teams tasked with producing 5-10 physician bio videos with a minimal marketing budget.
As if this was not challenging enough, marketing teams are tasked with coordinating video production with extremely busy physician schedules. Many marketers are hesitant to ask for any more time from the doctor. We have seen first-hand what a difference a 15-20 minute pre-interview phone call makes on film day. Doctors come across as more confident, authentic and know what to expect during film time.
Sadly, this results in videos posted to Physician Profile web pages and/or the company YouTube channel which receive a trickle of views, are not engaging, all look the same and many times the video performance metrics are ignored.
Many times, the additional cost and time required to create an engaging Physician bio video, is small. Especially when you calculate the increased potential of converting new patients at a higher rate.
Is Having a Video of the Doctor Better than Nothing?
Sure, “Having a video is better than nothing,” you say. But is it? Could the lack of engaging content that connects with the audience actually be detrimental?
Here are some tips I have that will help break from the cookie-cutter approach and bring engagement and life to your physicians.
Physician Bio Videos: 5 Tips To Boost Patient Acquisition
- Don’t utilize valuable viewing time by having the physician state things the prospective patient already assumes and can easily be posted on the Physician bio landing webpage, like education, credentials, board certifications… this type of information is better served on their profile webpage next to the video.
- Use video in a much more effective way. For example, have the physician tell a story about themselves that aligns with prospective patients’ wants and/or needs.
- Pre-planning is essential in order to find the stories that will allow the Physician to be relatable, authentic and start to build trust. You can still scale pre-planning tactics so it’s manageable and is also respectful of physicians’ time. An example of this is emailing three questions to the Physician to find some possible storylines that will resonate with prospective patients. As mentioned above there are great benefits from conducting short pre-interview calls with the physicians.
- Stay away from a featuring the doctor as just a “talking head”… in a white lab coat, in front of a white background. This is boring and the viewer’s mind will start to wander after the first five seconds.
- Incorporate supportive “b-roll”(support footage) of the Physician’s office and/or the hospital. Since one of the goals is to humanize and make them relatable feature them doing what they are passionate about outside the office. If you can’t capture the supportive video to tell this story then see if you can get still photos from the doctor to help tell their story, this can be very powerful!
Pro-Tip: Maximize Marketing Resources and Physician Time
One challenge all marketing teams have is having enough good content for digital marketing.
At the end of the video bio interview ask the Physician some quick questions while on camera. Ask the doctor about the most frequent questions he gets from his patients. These will likely provide very helpful and sought out information for your audience.
These filmed answers can easily be edited into individual videos and posted to social media, posted to your website and even emailed to current patients to help educate them.
How Long Should the Doctor Bio Video be?
Lastly, there are varying stats as to when video viewers start to drop off but this is not a one size fits all problem.
Video viewing drop can be affected by many factors including the platform where the video is being viewed. For example, viewing metrics show that Facebook viewers are willing to watch longer length videos than Instagram viewers.
If you are including these videos on your website, here are some tips on choosing the right video player.
Remember, above all, quality content is the most important factor. Length is not as important as making sure you are telling an interesting and engaging story.
It doesn’t matter if your video is 10 seconds or 10 minutes if it’s not interesting and engaging no one will watch it.
My recommendation is to grab their attention quickly.
By following the 5 tips above, you will increase your chances to convert more new patients.
If you have questions about how to improve your Physician bio videos, how to scale a program to capture bio videos for all of your providers, please contact us. My goal is to leverage our experience to improve video marketing throughout the universe!
