By her own admission, Stacey Raiche doesn’t have a traditional direct marketing background. But Raiche, who recently joined marketing services firm Epsilon as senior VP, in support of the healthcare practice within Epsilon’s strategy and analytics consulting group, views this as an advantage.
“Every day there is a new piece of regulation and legislation,” Raiche says. “There is so much activity that the old rules of direct marketing don’t apply.”
The obvious changes include the number of channels healthcare marketers can use to approach targets. “Fifteen years ago, the DTC walls crumbled, and you could start communicating with consumers directly through television and print,” she says.
“Now you have social media. Over 75% of the population has an e-mail address. There are so many ways to communicate that didn’t exist five years ago.”
Social media’s rise comes at the same time the U.S. population is aging, and healthcare reform has created new needs for consumer communication. “Reform is going to bring a lot more people in who have limited experience with healthcare,” Raiche adds. “How are we going to get the right level of information and products and services [to them]?”
While marketers’ ability to microtarget has increased exponentially during the past few years, the rules that govern, for instance, packaged goods vendors don’t apply to healthcare.
“The basic rule of the road is that patient privacy is protected,” Raiche says. “Unless people opt in to a program and give permission to contact them directly, the law prohibits you from doing so. Many marketers who come from a non-pharmaceutical background find themselves hand-tied by that. They ask, ‘How can we do direct marketing if we can’t get the names and e-mail addresses of large groups we want to market to?’”
One answer is to generate opt-in marketing plans that go beyond simply rewarding consumers with coupons or copay cards. Raiche offers the example of smoking-cessation product marketers. “The programs they offer are very comprehensive. They include support groups, online counseling, tools and program management devices that really help support you in your effort to quit smoking.”
A coupon has value, she acknowledges, but having a 24/7 hotline someone can reach out to when the craving hits, having online nurse practitioners to coach someone through the urges, are more effective.
“Companies that do comprehensive support programs that wrap around some of the promotional elements are the ones that get a lot of people opting in,” she says. “And that is when you are able to build a real relationship with a customer base.”
The underlying philosophy of healthcare marketing has to move beyond the treatment regiment, and getting people to stick with their therapy. “You need to think about forging a relationship with the patient, and consider the impact of the disease on the patient’s life, and how to help them more broadly. In that way you will forge a relationship with the patient.”
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