Importance of Healthcare Marketing

Introduction

Marketing plays a significant role in creating, communicating, and offering value in the healthcare sector too. Healthcare as an industry wishes to develop a sustainable relationship with its customers.

Often, they mix traditional techniques like advertising, sales promotion, market research, pricing, and distribution to create new strategies.

But why this is so?

Ensuring a continuous flow of relevant information helps greatly in attracting new customers.

Irrespective of the size of the medical business, healthcare marketing will help them grow and reach the target audience.

What is Healthcare Marketing?

Like any other sector, in the healthcare sector also, the marketing department’s job is to attract prospects, turn them into leads, and keep them for the long term.

Healthcare marketing requires that we treat the process as a business. Communicating messages to the target customers which promote the services. For people to become your patients, first they should be aware of the services on offer. 

From a marketing perspective, the process of providing healthcare services should be in sync with patient needs.

Healthcare marketing is an interdisciplinary field. It uses various concepts, methods, and techniques of traditional and modern marketing methods.

Marketing in healthcare is an indispensable ingredient to have for sustainable growth.

Without it, the footfall of new patients will decrease. Often, regular patients may slowly balk. The healthcare industry is truly dynamic.

Traditionally, it was a volume-based industry centered around physicians in the region. In recent times, it has become a quality-based industry centered around the patient. A tremendous difference indeed.

We do have multiple healthcare providers in an area that provides similar services. Marketing has the power to connect potential patients to the provider who stands above the competition.

Benefits of Healthcare Marketing

From leads to patients

Today, most people do not reach out to healthcare professionals unless they have researched it beforehand. It is imperative to provide relevant information to educate those “would be” patients. Information about the offered services on the website, pre and post-surgical process, the procedure followed, etc. helps patients significantly. At the same time, it builds trust in the services.

Effective healthcare marketing solutions like precise communication and targeting help generate numerous leads. Also, they give assurance, have a better conversion rate and make them long-term patients. So, from lead generation to long-term patients, proper marketing is needed.

Elevate patient experience

With an effective healthcare marketing system in place, patients tend to think that they are being cared for. From scheduling to sending appointment mails and then reminder emails can be certainly beneficial in improving the experience of patients.

Also, with the digital resources in the healthcare industry, patients can communicate with medical professionals round the clock and receive valuable information easily.

Patient retention

A great way for healthcare practices to keep their revenue stream flowing is to ensure they don’t let their existing patients go away. As we know, getting a new customer is always costlier than retaining the existing one.

By posting insightful healthcare tips and information via direct mailers or on social media platforms, organizations can position themselves as an expert.

The patient reviews and feedback forms on the website can tell a lot about the patients’ concerns and requirements.

Listening and acting upon these issues promptly and accurately improves patients’ confidence substantially.

Also, they would feel satisfied and would opt for the services again.

Brand image

Competition is, of course, tough for healthcare marketing service providers.

So it is important that people must notice that the method applied stands out as the best and unique.

With a targeted healthcare marketing plan, one can effectively and easily communicate with the patients, telling them about the value propositions.

The idea is not to sell the services but to a solution to the patient’s problems. When people find what sets your services apart from your competitors, the brand image is bound to strengthen.

Handling incorrect information

In the traditional form of marketing, there wasn’t any scope to correct or disapprove wrong or incomplete information.

However, in recent times, doctors or service providers can share their expertise online and update relevant and accurate information. This eliminates any sort of discrepancy.

Best Practices in Healthcare Marketing

Medical SEO

This ensures that the website is optimized with the right keywords. This optimization will make the website rank higher on the search engine pages.

With this technique, one can have a search-friendly website that brings potential patients to the website rather efficiently.

Content Marketing

One of the most important healthcare marketing techniques used to promote the services and expertise.

Educating people with relevant and precise information about the healthcare services and industry enhances the credibility,

This, in turn, leads to an increase in the patient base. Search engines like Google and Bing rank websites much higher that are updated regularly and provide relevant information.

Marketing Analytics

We cannot have a hundred percent accurate marketing initiatives and campaigns.

The refining and modifications of those are a continuous process. Based on multiple factors, the marketing analytics assesses the previous marketing initiatives.

Then this will be compared with their outcomes to make sure our latest strategy is an upgraded version of your previous efforts.

As the philosophy and marketing techniques in other fields cannot find applicability in the healthcare services, healthcare needs its own approach and present certain features that are not found in other industries (Thomas RK. Health Services Marketing, A Practitioner’s Guide, 2008, Ed. Springer).

An effective marketing approach involves an in-depth investigation of the patients’ needs, identifying latent needs and offering new health services that patients have not explicitly requested (Purcarea VL. Marketingul Ingrijirilor de Sanatate – curs Universitar, 2017, Ed. Universitara “Carol Davila”).

Challenges in Healthcare Marketing

Healthcare marketing differs vastly from one type of service to another.

Second, the recipient may not be the target of the marketing campaign per se.

On one side, it is the physician who decides what, where, when, and how much will be provided for a particular service. On the other side health plan representative, a family member or someone.

Another point is that healthcare services also differ where the offering can be very complex and may not be easily conceptualized, some kind of surgery may be.

A lot of procedures used in healthcare, especially those based on technology, are complicated. It becomes pretty difficult to explain to a person who is not well versed in that field.

Another challenge comes from a monetary angle. For service providers, not all potential clients are considered “profitable” for a particular service. While service providers are required to provide services to all applicants, regardless of their ability to pay, still bias comes into play and marketing efforts get wasted at times.

Finally, the nature of the patient is difficult to predict. As we know, healthcare is a service where production and consumption happen simultaneously. So, the presence of the patient in the delivery process makes it even more complicated.

Strategies in Healthcare Marketing

We consider strategy as the way an organization operates under the influence of environmental factors. The marketing program defines a general framework of action in order to carry out its activity.

Creating marketing strategies specific to health services is a complex process. We had to take several internal and external factors, the interdependencies and links between them.

The favorable or unfavorable impact should be analyzed extensively. These all help in making strategic and firm decisions at present and in the future, too. 

Unlike traditional marketing, today with the help of internet marketing, almost everything can be tracked and measured.

Healthcare professionals and organizations nowadays get the insight almost instantly. With the relevant information in hand, of what is working and what does not, they can make an informed decision on how to improve their efforts, and regularly measure and evaluate them.

It is important to find out what differentiates our practice from others. There can be many factors that will make us stand out from the competition. We should leverage these aspects in the marketing plan. And also, project all these uniqueness in the marketing strategy.

The way we treat the patients says a lot about the services. A personalized approach will be attractive to patients, which makes them feel that we care for them.

The friendly staff.

One of the major concerns of many patients is that the staff don’t show empathy, many times, even mannerism is not appropriate.

Having an empathetic, friendly, dedicated staff is a big differentiating factor from the competition. This would be a key area to express in the healthcare marketing efforts.

A modern facility.

In the era of technology, having a modern facility is imperative. However, patients who until now have not experienced such a facility will be attracted to them strongly.

Needless to say, a clean, modern, aesthetically appealing facility will make a favorable impression on many new patients.

Today, people want to see and experience streamlined, well lit and pleasing facilities with modern treatments available under one roof.

Hosting online events.

This is a unique way to differentiate yourself from the competition. Organizing Q&A sessions and online seminars will really make a powerful impact.

The organization’s visibility will be enhanced and trust increases. When people are concerned about their health, reassurance will go a long way.

Examples of Healthcare Marketing

UnitedHealthcare

Campaign: We Dare You

The multi-award winning “We Dare You” campaign from UnitedHealthcare is considered the gold standard when healthcare organizations engage with their prospects.

They organize monthly “dares”. They are in the form of quizzes, and prizes on its website. United Healthcare encouraged followers to make one small healthy change a month and document the same on social media. This interactive campaign not only developed healthier habits in them but also fostered an interactive online community of brand loyalists.

(socialspeaknetwork.com)

The Mayo Clinic

Campaign: Sharing Mayo Clinic Blog

The Mayo Clinic has patients from literally all around the world. The goal of the Sharing Mayo Clinic blog is to unite these diverse sets of patients into a global online community. The blog showcases stories from patients, family members, and Mayo Clinic staff.

These inspiring stories and the sense of togetherness that comes from sharing those in a common place enhanced Mayo Clinic’s well-known reputation as a trusted healthcare resource.

(pinterest.com)

Headspace

Category: Meditation App

Headspace is meditation made simple. The app has many online techniques that are easy to learn, fun to do and relevant to your everyday life. The healthcare marketing video shows how meditation can help you stay stress-free and provide calmness and care to your mind.

(shillingtoneducation.com)

Conclusion

Since the evolution of life, healthcare had been an indispensable part of the system. So with that, even healthcare marketing has evolved extraordinarily.

Healthcare provides a plethora of opportunities, hence the marketing of the same has enormous potential.

The aim of marketing in healthcare is to project the quality of services offered to potential patients.

Organizations have now become brands. They have a clear and precise marketing tactic that empowers them to rise above the competition.