The highly regulated nature of healthcare and related privacy issue make it a challenging marketing niche. Chief Marketer recently talked with Daniella Koren, founder and president of healthcare relationship marketing firm DKI, to get her take on healthcare marketing trends going into 2013.
Mobile
Mobile marketing is becoming especially hot in healthcare, as the majority of sales reps now carry tables with them to meetings, rather than laptops or binders of paper brochures. And on the consumer side, apps to do everything from manage doctors appointments to track blood transfusions to what diet you should be following if you have a condition like gout.
“Health and wellness apps are available in abundance, and that can be confusing for consumers,” notes Koren. “May wonder whether there is one app that would help them do everything. As for whether they work and what the ROI is, the jury is still out.”
Big Data
As with many niches, big data is having a significant impact on healthcare marketing, as companies wade through the tremendous amounts of data at their disposal. “Marketing initiatives are producing a lot of data we can analyze about segments and leverage,” she notes.
One of the most important factors for marketers is where a patient is in the treatment continuum, notes Koren. “It’s helpful to know what their status, or whether they are just Googling around [for general information].”
Direct Mail
While her firm doesn’t do a lot of direct mail, for many in the healthcare sector it isn’t at the top of the media list, says Koren. Why? It’s expensive.
“But we are seeing it being used selectively, with dimensional mail going to high-value patients,” she adds. “If someone is already taking a product, [a mailing] can help make sure they are using it properly.”
Social Media
Pharmaceutical firms have been criticized for not being as transparent as other types of firms in the social sector, but social media can be tricky for pharma, given all the regulations and legal implications of consumer comments, both pro and con.
But, says Koren, there is a lot of innovation socially happening in the disease awareness sector to educate consumers. “We’ve a lot of great initiatives on YouTube, Facebook and even Pinterest. There’s a lot of experimentation and that’s a good thing.”
In healthcare, the vague sign-up promise of “give us your email and send you updates” is a pet peeve for Koren.
“We’ve found that preference-based email content is successful,” she says. “Make sure that users can select the topic that they want to hear about next and make it relevant.”
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