Chief Marketer recently talked with Lindsay Resnick, CMO of KBM Group: Health Services, to get his thoughts on the impact of healthcare reform on B2B healthcare marketers.
CHIEF MARKETER: What is the biggest challenge that healthcare reform poses to B2B marketers in the healthcare space?
RESNICK: Different companies are in different places. Some hope it will get repealed, and some hope the election will change things. But pretty much all healthcare marketers realize that healthcare is transitioning into a retail marketplace.
CM: How so?
RESNICK: There are still about 169 million people who get insurance through their employer. But, there are also 18 million under the age of 65 who purchase insurance themselves. More and more of the decisions are being made by individuals—and marketers need to understand who these customer are.
CM: What's the best way for them to go about accomplishing that?
RESNICK: Database marketing is a piece of it. They need to segment people who were never insured, who may have pre-existing conditions and may never have had to purchase for themselves. You need to know how to speak to them.
CM: What tactics work best for engaging B2B customers in this market?
RESNICK: We're seeing a couple of things. There are active groups on LinkedIn to deal with healthcare reform issues relating to segments of the market like Medicare.
We're also seeing healthcare exchanges being set up, built around online and social media components. These are becoming outlets for questions, as well as places for employees to shop for healthcare options.
CM: Are there any sectors that are benefitting from the current healthcare climate?
RESNICK: Wellness is a good subsector. A lot of companies are using the transformation of healthcare to reevaluate their brand and how they are perceived today. A wellness company that can partner with an insurer can be a huge selling point through an enrollment period.
Market research has shown that under 50% of the country really understands what healthcare reform means. Benefits coordinators are looking to figure out they can be good stewards of healthcare knowledge and benefit for their companies. This means that we're seeing a mix of traditional marketing and new media being used so brands can become a go-to resource for their B2B constituents.
Marketers also need to understand whether companies—and their employees—are more interested in price or brand quality, or what the customer service experience is likely to be.
