Healthcare Marketing: Meaning, Importance and Strategies

“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”

-Tom Fishburne

 

Nearly everyone who has worked in healthcare has heard the story of Elizabeth Holmes. Healthcare Marketing was the key aspect of Elizabeth Holmes succeeding in making Theranos a billion dollar empire. Even though the fall of Theranos was quick and efficient, the tagline 'Changing the face of medicine' still resonates within the healthcare industry.

 

In this blog you will learn more about Healthcare Marketing.

 

Also Read | Important Marketing Terms

 

 

What is Healthcare Marketing?

 

Healthcare Marketing is the strategy employed by medical professionals and the medicare industry for bringing in new consumers and keeping them engaged. In today's world, everything is handled online. So keeping up with the times, an integrated online and offline model to drive engagement and growth and focusing on market-specific output would ensure maximum return on investment.

 

A good Healthcare Marketing strategy is essential to bring in new and recurring patients. Healthcare Marketing is important both for the Healthcare Company as well as for the consumers. 

 

Importance for Healthcare Companies

 

The competition in the Healthcare industry is huge. In order to make a name for oneself in this industry one should be different from their competitors to stand out in the public’s eye. The competition depends upon both the cost and quality of care. 

 

With everyone aiming to give their consumers the best care possible, the cost and quality of care is almost the same for immediate competitors. Here, marketing comes into play. 

 

People would choose that healthcare company whose visibility is more compared to the other. Through marketing, people would come to know more about the services offered by the Healthcare Company.

 

Importance for Consumers

 

Even though word-of-mouth is a good way of securing new consumers, it is not very reliable. Misinformation tends to spread quickly via this method, which is harmful for both the company and the consumers. 

 

In the healthcare industry, misinformation is deadly (literally), and it is in the consumer’s best interest to learn everything about a company before receiving the facilities provided by it.

 

Types of Healthcare Marketing Strategies

 

Marketing adopts numerous strategies to make the marketed product visible. One can adopt different Healthcare Marketing strategies to bring in more consumers. Some of the healthcare marketing strategies are discussed below.

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Healthcare Marketing Strategies

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1. Unique Healthcare Branding

 

Branding is the main component of generating publicity. Every well-known billion dollar industry thrives on their branding and the consumers themselves are attracted to aforementioned branding. 

 

The branding should keep in line with the uniqueness of the healthcare company and rely on catching the consumer's eye. Ways to achieve good branding are given below.

 

• The name of the brand, type of brand and unique visual identity are the most important parts of branding. It should be unique and distinguishable, yet mainstream enough to attract consumers. 

 

Creating a brand logo is the primary step in building a brand. Almost all famous brands have a recognisable brand logo which they have been using for ages with minor alterations.

 

• Social media is our friend. Employing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Instagram to build the brand is a valid and profitable venture. Using the same visuals, graphics and texts in all social media platforms will make the brand more recognisable. The consistency in post will help customers to recognise the brand even without its own logo.

 

• Sponsoring and partnerships also go a long way in securing a good brand image. Making someone the face of the brand makes people feel more seen and heard, and securing partnerships with other reputable brands also helps to build up the brand.

 

• Customer service and pricing strategy is also a part of branding. Making the experience pleasing and unique for the patient guarantees a better brand image.

 

2. Online Advertising

 

The internet has changed the way businesses function. Consumers want to know all about a company online before entrusting themselves to their care and hence, the healthcare company should ensure in providing their patients a good online experience in order to lure in more consumers. Some online advertising strategies are given below.

 

• For proper advertising, a fully functional and well-documented website with detailed description of all the services provided by the company is the way to go. The website should also be unique to the company with a good user interface. Utilizing SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques would improve the visibility of the website.

 

• Making a company easily accessible by allowing a consumer to contact the company via their website is also a good step in building a good user-experience.

 

• Paid search, also known as pay-per-click advertising, is an effective way to bring in more consumers. Paid search allows you to bid on relevant phrases that will show text-based ads to the consumers when they search for that particular word or phrase in a search engine.

 

• Paid social media is another way to target prospective consumers by their demographic data. Knowing and understanding the type of consumer and bringing in specific advertising catered to their interests will help to bring in more consumers.

 

• Simply publishing ads and hoping to bring in consumers is not enough, one should know how well their ads are working to prevent misuse of funds. Analytics tools show everything related to the advertisements. 

 

Traffic source, click-through rate, trends over time, everything can be analyzed to make any edits to the advertisement campaign, if required. 

 

• Email marketing is another useful tool , which combined with the other methods of online advertising, can be highly effective. 

 

For email marketing to work, one needs a list of recipients, an Email Service Provider (ESP), which is a software that helps to manage the list of recipients, and the required goals which need to be achieved.

 

 

3. Reviews from Patients

 

The healthcare industry depends on word-of-mouth and the company should adapt a strategy to obtain positive reviews from their satisfied customers. Some ways to do so are given below.

 

• Typically, patients only leave reviews when they are motivated to do so, so offering incentives like discounts, during the initial stages of the company, would bring in more positive reviews and in turn, bring in more consumers. 

 

• Automated reviews, like asking patients for a rating on a scale of 1-5, is also a good strategy. The reviews show up directly on the company’s website and improve the overall ranking of the company.

 

• A bad review can also hamper the company, so following up with the patient after a bad review ensures that no patient is left unsatisfied. Learning more about why the patient left a bad review would help to provide better service in the future.

 

• Review sites like Yelp helps the company to respond to patients, in case of a bad review, and helps to improve future experiences.

 

 

4. Follow up for previous patients

 

Old is Gold. Previous consumers make up a good portion of a healthcare company’s clientele. Some tips while following up with previous patients are given below.

 

• Following up with previous consumers after an appointment and sending them personalized emails and reminders for follow-up check up will help to maintain a long and recurring relationship with them. 

 

• The consumers will appreciate the efforts taken by the company and would help recommend the company to their acquaintances.

 

• A loyalty program or exclusive membership offered by the company would also help the previous consumers to feel more “wanted”. This will also help to bring in more revenue.

 

 

5. Traditional Advertising

 

The older generations find it hard to rely and believe in new methods of advertising, which is mostly circulated via the internet. Therefore, it is important to refer to more traditional methods of advertising to attract them. Some traditional methods of advertisement are given below.

 

• Advertisements via radio, billboards, television and newspapers are a major investment to secure a vast consumer base. These types of advertisements are more accessible to a wider demographic. How these different forms of traditional advertising help marketers has been pointed out below :

 

1. Radio Advertising 

 

Advertisers can pay commercial radio stations for airtime and the radio station broadcasts the commercial to its listening audience. Car rides are unthinkable without the radio playing in the background, and the time spent in traffic increases our radio consumption by a lot. This can be utilized by advertisers.

 

2. Billboard Advertising

 

Large, bright graphics on a large scale print advertisement is sure to be eye catching. They leave people with a lasting impression. This is a surefire way to attract new consumers.

 

3. Television Advertising

 

A television commercial is one of the most effective ways to create awareness. The more popular the program, the more viewers would be watching the ads, which would result in a wider reach. The number of times the commercial airs will also have an impact on the reach.

 

4. Newspaper advertising 

 

In a newspaper, the advertisement occurs along with regular editorial content. Since a newspaper displays mostly “hard news”, ad content in such a space is impactful and brings in more audiences

 

These advertisements should run in channels where the target demographic is likely to encounter them, otherwise it would be a waste of investment.

 

 

6. Doctor Referrals

 

A healthcare consumer is more likely to trust doctors more than any other means of advertisement. Some good ways to procure doctor referrals are given below.

 

•  A physician liaison is a person who represents doctors, healthcare practices and hospitals, who helps in maintaining partnership and communication between physicians and healthcare practices. They help to secure more doctor referrals for the company.

 

• In absence of a physician liaison, the front desk at the company can also be included in this venture. The people at the front desk could reach out to doctors and communicate with them to secure a referral.

 

These strategies in healthcare marketing will help bring in new patients and also retain the previous ones.

 

Also Read | Targeted Advertising

 

Advantages of Healthcare Marketing

 

One who can fully employ Healthcare Marketing for one’s own needs will be able to reap huge benefits. The many advantages of successful Healthcare Marketing are given below.

 

1. The world has turned competitive to the highest extent. Every obscure niche has many ventures. The Healthcare industry is very big in this aspect and hence, it is very hard to successfully carve one’s place in this industry. 

 

Healthcare Marketing helps us to do so efficiently. A company with a good Healthcare Marketing strategy will definitely have undue advantage over a company with no good Healthcare Marketing strategy.

 

2. Healthcare marketing helps to improve the visibility of the company. If people don’t know who you are, they probably won’t choose you. Even a very good Healthcare Practice is useless if no one knows about it.

 

3. Healthcare marketing is essential in building a solid reputation among consumers. People are more inclined to keep visiting their previous Healthcare Practice, whom they know and trust, rather than search for a new one. 

 

A good reputation among patients ensures that the patients won’t venture out in search of another practice when their current one is keeping them satisfied. A good reputation also attracts new patients.

 

Also Read | Customer Retention Marketing

 

Understanding Healthcare Marketing is therefore necessary, if one is thinking of putting their foot in the healthcare industry. These strategies will help transform a profitless venture into a profitable one.