Healthcare Digital Channels Overtaking Traditional Marketing

There are numerous healthcare digital channels today in the market, but selecting the right channel for your audience is the key to success. You could come up with a multichannel marketing plan or omnichannel marketing plan for your brand, but it will be of no use if you don’t understand the channels involved in these marketing plans.

To start with, let us first understand why we are emphasizing on healthcare digital channels over traditional marketing in healthcare for 2022. Over the last few years, you might have seen the growth of digital mediums such as smartphones, better connectivity, advanced laptops/desktops, free Wi-Fi and many other platforms for communication in real time. This growth has changed the way we look at our world and most importantly how we look at ourselves.

What we do if we get cold or fever today? First, we google it to find out ways to cure it or look for alternatives. Now we all are in some way self-proclaimed doctors and always ready to give advice too. This has created a chain of troubles yet opportunities, for healthcare marketers and companies. We will be writing a blog on how we can manage this situation. To get immediate updates about the blog, subscribe below.

Needless to say, before accepting any healthcare digital channel or multichannel or omnichannel marketing from any marketing or advertising company, we need to be familiar with the concepts of these various digital channels. Let’s have a look at this image and try to bifurcate each channel based on its reach and impact.

Enforcing healthcare marketing using digital channels should follow a discipline, and we recommend using this channel to our clients:

1. Spread the word – The objective of this step is to spread the word far as we can – reach as many target audiences as possible. Here we assume that audience hasn’t heard about your brand or has heard it but isn’t very interested in it.
2. Inspire – Marketing using healthcare digital channels is a matter of inspiring target audience with interesting content or images, and thereby building an impactful connection
3. Engage – This is where we ask them to make a transaction by sharing the content, images, liking social media pages, sharing emails and subscribing to newsletters.
4. Connect – This is a very crucial step, we need to ensure that the transaction process is easy for them. For instance, the app should be easy to load, great UI-UX design and compatible with the user’s smart phone.
5. Nurture – Here we need to nurture our client and not just forget or take them for granted. Send them a thank you email for instance or ask them about feedback.

Here is the list of healthcare digital channels which you can implement in your healthcare marketing plan.

1. Email Marketing

Attracting new patients and retaining existing patients requires a strong healthcare email marketing strategy, the same applies to even pharmaceutical companies too. We strongly recommend email marketing to take hold  of 90% of the marketing strategies that we plan to implement.

2. Content Marketing

Creation of sharable content such as articles, blogs, interactive posts, videos etc that does not explicitly promote a brand or product but is intended to stimulate the interest. Btw, social media and SEO are the integral parts of content marketing.

3. Podcasting

This is an old tactic used by various industries and is yet to be explored by healthcare and pharmaceutical companies. One can launch a breast cancer awareness podcast channel for their physicians or patients. A very small niche and it has got good potential and great ROI.

4. Infographics

Apart from the SEO benefits, infographics are easy to digest information as we absorb visual information very quickly as compared to text information. Infographics are used to build brand awareness and for getting a targeted message across your audience without losing their interest. If you are deploying content marketing as part of your marketing strategy then one must adopt infographics in it.

5. Research/Whitepapers

If you are planning to launch your brand then the first step of getting across to your patients and physicians is by developing a whitepapers as free downloads. One can submit their email IDs to get access to whitepapers, these emails can be used as part of your upcoming email marketing strategy. In healthcare marketing language, a whitepaper is a persuasive, authoritative, in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem and provides a solution to physicians or patients. Marketers create whitepapers to educate their audience about a particular disease area or product or explain and promote a particular methodology. Whitepapers are advanced problem-solving guides.

6. Social Network

There are ways in which healthcare and pharma companies can use social networks to reach out to patients and physicians. As part of our internal content marketing plan we have decided to write an article on healthcare social media marketing in next few weeks. Subscribe today to be the first one to know about it. Subscribe here.

7. SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a specialized research-driven process of analysing and editing your website in order to increase the rankings of your site pages for specific search terms in search engines. By targeting strategic key phrases that appeal to your target audiences.

8. Webinars and Webcasts

Webinars are very popular due to the fact they are inexpensive and easy to produce and can attract a large number of participants. The main advantage is that no one has to travel to get to a webinar or make any special arrangements or preparations.

9. Videos

Technology has made video creation very fast. Take a look how video in your marketing gives you and edge. 63% of businesses are using video content marketing. 82% of businesses feel video is an important part of the strategy.

10. Website

Having a website means customers are always able to find you – anytime, anywhere. Even outside of business hours, your website continues to find and secure new customers. It offers the user convenience as they can access the information they need in the comfort of their own home.

11. SEM – Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) involves implementing an online marketing strategy in terms of your website’s brand identity. This will ensure that your website is visible on the internet especially in terms of SEO, PPC and other forms of internet marketing such as banner ads.

12. Workshops & Conferences

In our busy social media crazy world, we often forget the importance of being in a live face-to-face setting with others from the business community. Being active in your industry trade association can bring with it many benefits. There is power in being connected to other people who are active in your line.

13. Immersive technologies

These are advanced tools and tactics to deploy patient and physician education programs. Let us know if you are interested to know how these technologies can be implemented in your setting and we will send you a detailed note explaining the same based on your industry and product setting.

1. Virtual Reality
2. Augmented Reality
3. Mixed Reality

14. Artificial Intelligence

Using the principles of machine learning and IBM Watson one can develop patient education platform using Natural Language Processing tool. This not only helps build awareness of a disease, but can also provide insights about type of queries patients are asking. This is to be done intelligently and should be mobile app based. Novel and Innovation are the key ingredients in Artificial Intelligence Patient Education Programs.

15. Mobile App Development

There is difference between native, hybrid and web-based apps but they all act like siblings. Based on the utility and target audience we need to decide which app will be of great benefit to the target audience. To know more about app development process, check out this link.

16. Referral Programs

A referral URL is great at accelerating a customer through signing up for a referral program. Contrary to referral codes, unique URLs will take users right to the sign-up page. The combination of the streamlined approach and the analytical benefits of URLs delivers a match made in heaven for many markers.

17. Affiliate Marketing

From an advertisers’ perspective, affiliate marketing is a favoured web marketing strategy, as it can have a significant impact on increasing the amount of traffic to his website. It can be cost effective, and the advertiser can benefit from gaining links from established websites and online marketers.

18. iPAD mobile games

Learning Highlights: Encourages matching skills and quick thinking. Social interaction and entertainment. Not to mention it can be a major stress relief. Plus, it’s high quality entertainment and it’s something you can do again and again after only having to pay once.

19. Interactive Display

Interactive retail displays offer both customers and retailers great benefits. They have the ability to transform the entire customer experience. They can change running an errand into an experience all together.

20. Multi-Touch Screen

Engagement is dramatically heightened with multiple touch and gesture interactivity. Collaboration is brought to a new level, with the ability to have up to six different students or student/teacher combinations working together in real

21. Photobooth

Photo booths—in all their shapes and sizes—are becoming increasingly popular at events. And they may be providing more than fun and games. When you have a photo booth at an event, you’re taking the pleasure of excitement and memories to the forefront.

In today’s world, healthcare marketing is simply expected to furnish the right message at the right time to the right audience, and then analyze the outcome. No longer do advertisements and sponsorships alone convince people to consider a brand to be the best for their healthcare needs.

Consumers are always connected to the internet, and can make a quick decision based on the appeal ability of a healthcare institution they wish to choose. The expectations are very high, and nothing less than state of the art is chosen.

At Moisaka, we thrive to provide step by step assistance to our clients by starting with basic level analytics, learning about the potential audience patterns and behaviors and targeted tactics, so that we are completely prepared to discharge our duties even before the client approaches us. We also believe in establishing a platform of confidence and trust and make the potential partnership unwavering.