As amazing as it sounds, the novelty of a non-human almost instantly writing high-quality essays, authoring computer code, and scripting ads has pretty much worn off. That was so last November! There’s no getting around the fact that ChatGPT and the related onslaught of AI technology will radically change and restructure how we relate to each other in the world, not to mention how it will upend delivery and marketing of healthcare services over the next decade.
First off – no, this was not written with the help of ChatGPT. We’re not that tricky! After its public introduction, many people are talking big-picture about the future of AI technology, and publishing all sorts of things about what it can do. We’re going to limit the scope way down to talk about it specifically in the context of healthcare marketing, since that’s kinda what we do.
What AI Can Do (For Sure)
Generate factual, well-written content. ChatGPT has more than proven this. But we think the demise of person-to-person communication that this new technology could portend is a bit overblown. Yes, it’s a slick tool. No, it is not a complete substitute for communicating human thought and emotion.
Since our founding 12 years ago, we have always stressed to clients that we crave unique content for their marketing effort. That has not changed one bit with the rise of AI writing tools. In fact, the need has just become more intense. Your patients and prospects care deeply about you as a person and as a provider. Give them an authentic view of yourself and your ideas that no robot will ever provide.
Your marketing is not about standardized information that anyone can find on the web (and frankly, it never was). Instead, it’s about showcasing your experience, perspective and humanity in a way that engages people and convinces them to place trust in you. This content is unique to you and while AI tools may be able to enhance or scale it, they simply can’t produce it on their own.
Engage with your patients via automated chat. Chat tools have been around for many years, but the current crop is highly sophisticated and certain ones are capable of tricking users into thinking they’re talking with a live representative. But just like with ChatGPT, the power of these tools is only as good as the work and thought put into them ahead of time.
A good AI chat experience requires a considerable amount of work for a practice to “teach” the chatbot basic facts (hours, prices, etc.) and also the more nuanced aspects such as the “voice” of the practice and when to refer an inquiry to a staff member so that your customer service standards are upheld.
Crunch healthcare data. This will have some major benefits in the field of healthcare research. Examples of AI speeding through mountains of unstructured clinical data are numerous, and we suspect this will not only improve treatments and therapies for many life-threatening conditions, but also help to weed out the less effective techniques and technologies in aesthetic medicine. In short, before you jump on with the next “must-have” cosmetic device, make sure it has the performance numbers to justify its pricetag.
What AI Can Do (Sorta)
Evaluate your marketing performance and recommend adjustments. For very large marketers with budgets in the millions, it can make sense to have AI tools evaluate return on investment and make recommendations based on past trends and predictive analytics about where to spend future marketing dollars. That technology hasn’t scaled yet to make sense for smaller healthcare organizations, but it likely will soon.
But that doesn’t mean smaller practices are left out in the cold. Both Google and Facebook/Instagram ads use AI for various “smart” bidding and conversion measurement efforts. Even with a very small monthly spend on these platforms, AI is working behind the scenes to achieve pre-set goals, such as a maximum cost per conversion or a larger reach/audience.
Manage patient scheduling. We put this in the “sorta” bucket because all scheduling tools still need a human at the helm. Mostly, this is to manage the exceptions and last-minute adjustments that inevitably pop up in this inherently unpredictable world of ours. The technology also falls into the “sorta” column because from what we’ve seen, EMRs and related plugins or add-ons vary considerably in the quality of automated patient scheduling they offer. This is sure to improve over the next few years, and patients will be left wondering why they ever had to pick up a phone or wait on hold to manage their doctor visits.
What AI Can’t Do (Yet)
Understand your brand and manage marketing efforts that are in line with it. OK, now we’re getting at the heart of the services we offer to our clients. Your online marketing effort, if it’s worth a damn, involves orchestrating tactics with many different variables in play. Could and AI do it all someday? Quite probable. Are they capable of putting your marketing on autopilot tomorrow? Definitely not.
An experienced, skilled online marketing team has developed an innate sense of which tactics may or may not work for a particular marketing challenge. They will of course track performance with relevant metrics, and continually adjust to the shifting landscape of online channels, preferences and trends so that your office wins the battle for attention and new patient leads.
Replace your front office. We may see the day when instead of a friendly face greeting us at the door of a business, we get C-3PO. Or maybe not. Especially within the beauty industry, personal relationships matter a great deal. A trip to the med spa or hair salon is about more than the actual services rendered. It’s about social interaction and the feeling of being pampered and cared for. AI will certainly strip away many of the mundane administrative tasks in healthcare offices in the coming years. But we think there’s still a big role for delightful, talented people with high emotional intelligence who can offer a true concierge experience.
