Healthcare Digital Marketing

Healthcare Marketing: To Reach Moms We Have to Get Smart…Phones That Is

Becoming a mom triggers more dependence on smart phones. 

 A young woman has a baby.  And gets a smartphone.   That desk computer or laptop is pretty hard to manage with a baby on your hip.  And especially if you have two or three children.  But staying connected and having access is even more important.  Sharing those pictures and daily baby updates with family and friends is certainly essential.  So what do you do?  You get an iPhone, Android, Blackberry or other smartphone…  Or maybe an iPad.

A recent study by Babycenter cited research that states over half of new moms purchase a smartphone as a direct result of becoming a mom. The camera is a necessity as well as apps for getting things done and staying organized, social sites to stay connected to friends and family, and games to keep the kids entertained.   In fact, a study by Morgan Stanley estimates that in 2011 there will be more smartphones and tablets shipped than notebooks and desktops.

So for healthcare marketers, reaching moms should include a mobile strategy.    “If you are not reaching them through their mobile device, you have less and less chance to reach them at all,” according to Matt Carmichael in a recent article in Advertising Age.  And the study by BabyCenter also indicated there was a sizeable correlation between having a smartphone and moving toward a more digital mix of media consumption.  Forty-six percent of moms with smartphones have taken some form of action after seeing an ad on their mobile device.  And as reported in the Ad Age article, on average, moms with smartphones spend over 6 hours a day with mobile media, which includes email, mobile, web, apps, SMS and voice messaging.

Few hospitals have a well-defined mobile strategy or have even experimented with mobile marketing.  But in the future, it may become necessary for reaching moms. Moms are a key target for hospitals. They are the gatekeeper for their family’s healthcare and control an enormous amount of healthcare dollars.  Mobile is where they are.  It is the communication device they depend on.  It goes with them, stays with them, is the most convenient and fits into their hurried lifestyle. To build a brand and a relationship with them will mean having a mobile strategy. To reach them, we have to get smart too.

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Healthcare Marketing: Internet is Woman’s Best Friend

Women turn to the internet for health information over family, friends or doctors.

Women are uncomfortable discussing health concerns with other family members, friends, doctors or even spouses.  And as a result they turn to the internet for information and answers.  iVillage conducted an online poll for Harris Interactive, which revealed women’s dependence on the internet for health concerns.

Some of the results from the survey are:

  • 82% of women are uncomfortable discussing health concerns with family and friends
  • 62% are twice as likely to turn to the web over their own mothers about health issues
  • 64% use online communities to discuss health concerns
  • 49% stated that online would be the first place they would go to research health issues.  More than twice the amount who would go to their doctor first (25%) or family (15%) or friends (6%).
  • 30% gather information from online communities to prepare them for their doctor’s visit.

These results verify women’ s dependence on the web for health information.  Healthcare marketers must recognize this and develop web strategies for communicating to women. Robust web sites, web advertising and the development of social networking sites are some of the tools that may be used to reach women.  Even directing consumers to existing websites can be helpful in creating relationships and building strong brand perceptions.

Women are traditionally viewed as the primary influencer and decision maker in regards to their family’s health.  As they increasingly turn to the web for valuable information, healthcare marketers must recognize it and create ways to meet them there.


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Healthcare Marketing: Are We Overreacting When We Respond to Consumer Complaints?

After receiving resistance to their new logo, Gap went back to the old logo.  Did they overreact?  Patient Complaint

After undoubtedly a series of focus groups and extensive research, Gap decided it needed to change its logo.  They wanted a more contemporary look that was current but yet honored its heritage.  A tremendous amount of research and work went into developing the updated logo.  So Gap introduced it’s new logo on it’s website.  But four days later reversed the decision and returned to their original logo.

The change occurred because consumers took issue with the new mark and voiced their disapproval using various social networking sites.  The reaction was strong and fervent.  So four days later, Gap president Marka Hansen announced the logo change was being rescinded and the company was returning to the original logo.

Many people praised Gap for listening to its customers and paying attention to their concerns.  And for responding rapidly and answering the consumers’ requests.  It’s the way marketing works today.  Consumers are in control. They voice their opinions and solicit others in the network to join the crusade.  And a company is highly regarded for listening to consumers and responding to their concerns and wishes.  Everything you read about marketing today would affirm that GAP did exactly as it should.

Maybe that’s true.  But maybe not.  Was all the research conducted by Gap about their logo just wrong?  Was it bogus?  Did the resistance merit abandoning the new logo?  Were those complaining brand loyalists?  Would those who resisted the change stop buying Gap clothing?  Is it no longer strategically important to update the logo for the future?

A survey commissioned by AdAge and conducted by Ipsos Observer found that 80% of consumers had no idea the logo had changed.  Is it possible to put too much emphasis on consumer social networking responses?  Do consumers know what is best strategically for a company’s future success?  Are consumers always right?   What happens when Gap someday raises prices to remain economically feasible and they meet resistance in social media?  Do they sacrifice the company’s financial health because some consumers express dissatisfaction?

This real life example raises questions about how much influence unsolicited consumers should have on your brand.  I don’t have all the answers.  I commend Gap for listening and responding to consumers.  That’s the value of social media.  But I also cringe somewhat because they caved to the wishes of a relatively small amount of consumers.  I wonder why some opinionated consumers who didn’t like the new logo trumped all the research that had indicated an update was needed.

Healthcare marketers should listen to consumers.  They should be responsive to consumer feedback and input.  But should they forsake research findings and strategic planning for the wishes of a small percentage of customers?  I know social media experts say we should respond quickly to consumer complaints but I would have liked to have known who the complainers actually were (consumers or non-consumers) and if they were consumers who would have stopped buying Gap products because of the logo change.

Social media is helpful and exciting. But should it hijack and derail strategic planning that’s based on solid research?  It’s a serious dilemma and deserves further consideration and study.

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Healthcare Marketing: Consider Newspaper Website Ads

Although newspapers have been pronounced mortally ill they now reach 61% of the adult population –  online.

Newspaper websites reached a total of 102.8 million unique visitors in September of 2010.  That represents 61% of the total adult population. A study conducted by comScore and reported by the Newspaper Association of America found that on an average day newspaper websites attract 20.3 million unique visitors and the average visitor makes 8.5 visits per month.

These web visitors spent more than 3.3 million minutes reading newspapers online and viewed over 4 billion page views. Newspapers readers online outpaced other web news sites.  Yahoo News reached 51% of the adult population, 22% visited CNN online and 26% visited MSNBC.

And those who visit newspaper websites tend to be more affluent too. Twenty-five percent of adult visitors to newspaper websites had annual household income of over $100,000 compared to 21% of all internet users.

So even though newspaper circulation is declining, more consumers are reading their newspaper online.  Healthcare marketers should take notice and seriously consider a web presence on local newspaper sites.  The web audience will undoubtedly continue to grow as circulation continues to decline and healthcare organizations can capture this growing audience by having a significant web presence on newspaper sites. Readers are going web and so should healthcare marketers.

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Healthcare Marketing: Boomers Spending Big on Technology

Baby Boomers are into technology, spending more money on technology than any other age group.

Technology and social media are ways to reach the younger generations.  Right?  Not so fast. Baby boomers might be the real target.  The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that baby boomers have fully embraced technology.  They are the biggest spenders on technology according to Forrester Research’s annual benchmark tech study.

Think about the boomers you know.  The typical boomer has a desktop computer at work, a laptop at home, are on facebook, have a smartphone, have multiple accounts on the internet, DVRs their favorite television shows and is wishing for an iPad. If they don’t already have one.

“It’s actually a myth that baby boomers aren’t into technology.  They represent 24% of the population, but they consume 40% (in total dollars spent) of it”, stated Patricia McDonough, senior VP-analysis at Nielsen and reported by Beth Snyder Bulik in Ad Age.

Baby boomers are not early adapters but they certainly pile on.   Ten years ago only 25% of boomers went online daily.  Today 70% go surfing everyday.   And examine these stats about baby boomers:

  • 47% use social media
  • One in five use social media every day
  • A full 66% use their cell phone for texting
  • 91% use email
  • 88% use search engines
  • 78% use the internet to research health information
  • 74% get news from the internet

Baby boomers are aging and have become huge users of health services and that will grow tremendously as they age. To healthcare marketers they are a huge and critical target audience and if we think they can only be reached by traditional media we are making a critical mistake. Technology and social media have been embraced by boomers and have become a very common and pervasive part of their lives.  Technology, new media and social networking are effective ways to reach, communicate and even build relationships with those 45-64 ears old.

Boomers are the greatest spending generation.  And they spend their money and their time on technology.  It would be a huge disconnect for healthcare marketers to assume otherwise.

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Healthcare Marketing: How Consumers Are Using Internet as Health Resource

Almost 90% of Americans who use the internet have gone online to search for health information.

Next to their doctor, Americans depend on the internet more than any other source for health information.  And the type of website visited depends on the stage of the health condition.  The MARS Online Behavior Study was recently released and provides a wealth of information about how consumers use the internet as a health resource. The study conducted by Kantar Media reveals that consumers use health information sites more than search engines across all stages of the 40 ailments covered in the study.  And the sites most visited are those that offer helpful tools or connect them to a larger community of people with the same condition.   Sites that offer access to medical professionals are also generally preferred.

Here are other findings from the report:

  • Of the 178 million Americans who go online monthly, 89% have used the internet for health research with the typical user being females under the age of 50.
  • The primary reason for going online is to gain general information about a condition (71%) followed by researching specific symptoms (59%).
  • 56% stated a healthcare professional recommendation makes a site trustworthy followed by 46% who cited inclusion of academic articles or scientific research.
  • 79% believe the internet is very helpful in providing health and wellness information but 74% were very cautious about which sites to access.

For those recently diagnosed with a condition, 77% say they turn to the internet for information second only to 81% who depend on a healthcare professional.

It’s obvious, and no surprise, that the internet is a major source of healthcare information.  For healthcare marketers, the challenge is to discover how to tap into this behavior and become a viable source or clearinghouse for Americans who rely heavily on the internet for health information.

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Healthcare Marketing: When Creating Mobile Marketing Strategy, It’s Important to Consider the Heavy Users

African-Americans, Hispanics, women, southerners and teens talk and text on their cellphones more than others.

African-Americans average 1300 minutes per month on their cell phones, the most of any demographic.  Hispanics are second averaging 826 minutes per month.  This is compared to Caucasians who average only 647 minutes per month.

Nielsen conducted a yearlong study to determine who used their mobile phones the most.  In their report, Mobile Usage Data, they determined that African- Americans and Hispanics also text the most.  African-Americans average 780 messages a month with Hispanics averaging 767 per month.  Caucasians average 566 texts per month.

The survey analyzed the cellphone bills of 60,000 mobile subscribers each month in the United States.  The analysis indicated women talk more than men with 856 minutes per month and 666 for men. They also text more than men averaging 661 text messages per month compared to 447 for men.

To no one’s surprise, teen’s text the most, averaging 2,779 texts per month.  The average each month for age 18-24 decreases to 1299 texts per month and 25-34 decreases even  more to an average of 592 messages.  Voice usage is more uniform with 18-24 year-olds using 981 minutes per month while 25-34 age group averages 952 minutes per month.

Additionally, southerners use more mobile minutes than those of other regions, averaging over 800 minutes per month.

As mobile marketing becomes more viable and more adopted by marketers, it’s important to identify the heavy users of their mobile devices.  The use by calls or texts varies significantly among different demographics.  Practically everyone is relying on their mobile phones to communicate and the numbers continue to increase. Mobile marketing has indeed become a mass medium. And as health care marketers discover and implement mobile marketing tactics we can know whom we are most likely to effectively reach.

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Healthcare Marketing: Consumers Can’t Get Enough Media

Americans are watching more, surfing more, texting more and consuming media more!

Americans continue to consume more and more media. And there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.   Due to a slow economy, ubiquitous broadband, widespread Wi-Fi access, increased multi-tasking and the proliferation of new devices and technology, consumers are living a lifestyle of almost continuous media consumption. In the past 18 months we watched two more hours of television per week, sent and received half a trillion more text messages and spent 1.3 more hours on the internet.  “We’re finding a way to do more of it, watch more of it and take more of it with us”, stated Patricia McDonough, VP-analysis, Nielsen Company.

Beth Snyder Bulik reported in Ad Age some  of the latest figures for U.S media consumption.

Television

  • 116 million Americans have at least one television
  • 55% of households have at least 3 televisions
  • There are more televisions than people in the US
  • Americans spend an average of 35 hours and 34 minutes per week watching traditional TV
  • Another two hours is spent each week watching time-shifted TV, such as DVR
  • We spend an average of 20 minutes per week watching videos on the internet
  • TV watching is shared with social networking  (21%), playing video games (16%), purchasing products online (15%), participating by phone or internet with what’s happening on TV (7%) and tweeting (4%).

Internet

  • On an average day, 78% of Americans with internet access go online
  • 62% send /receive email
  • 49% use a search engine to find information
  • 43% get news
  • 38% go online for fun
  • 38% use social media
  • 34% check the weather
  • 26% do banking
  • 23% watch video

Newspapers

  • Only 31% of those surveyed read a newspaper on a given day
  • 65 and older – 62%
  • 50-64 – 44%
  • 40-49 – 39%
  • 18-24 – 20%

E-Readers and iPads

  • 3.7 million e-readers sold last year
  • 10.3 million predicted to be sold this year
  • 15.5 million predicted sold next year
  • 30 million predicted sold by 2015
  • 10 million American’s either already own an iPad  (2.5 million) or intend to buy one (7.4 million)

Mobile Phones

  • In 2009 there were 286 million wireless subscribers
  • 72% of consumers now text
  • There are 153 billion texts sent each month
  • Teens send and receive an average of 50 texts per day – adults an average of 10
  • 42% use their cell phones to access the internet
  • 30% do mobile search
  • 27% download apps
  • 26% use it for buying products
  • 15% use their cell phone to purchase products

Social Media

  • Linkedin has 75 million members
  • Twitter has 100 million members
  • Facebook has 500 million members
  • 40% of Americans maintain a social-networking profile
  • 86% of adults 18-24 use social media
  • 47% of boomers use social media
  • 26% of adults over 65 use social media

It is clear that Americans consume an enormous amount of media.  And it continues to increase.  These figures vividly show the power and influence of the media.  They are tools, when used wisely, that can deliver our messages to consumers.


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Hospital Marketing: Strategy First, Social Media Second

Social media is not the answer to marketing woes. But a strong, strategic plan is.    

“TGIF” – that’s Twitter, Google, the Internet and Facebook. And listening to some people you might get the impression the answer to every marketing problem is one or all of the above.  We just need to use these four tools, use them more often, invest more money and resources in them and we will become the market leader.  There is no doubt these four revolutionary developments have forever changed how we market products and services.  But are they the answer to all our marketing issues?

I think not!  As powerful and effective as these mediums can be, they are not at the core of what makes brands strong.  The most important thing is an effective marketing strategy. Without it, no combination of TGIF can resurrect a bad brand or sustain a good one.  Al Ries, chairman of Ries & Ries effectively made this very point in an article in Ad Age.  He emphasized that better strategies, not better weapons, win wars. And he gave some compelling examples.

Linen N Things didn’t go bankrupt because it didn’t effectively use Twitter. It went bankrupt because it was a knock off of Bed Bath & Beyond and never differentiated itself from the market leader.

DHL didn’t pull out of the U.S. market because it didn’t buy enough AdWords from Google but because it was the No. 3 brand in a category dominated by UPS and FedEx.

Kmart didn’t go bankrupt because it couldn’t figure out how to use the internet to promote the brand. Rather it went bankrupt because it was caught in no man’s land between low cost Wal-Mart and the high end Target.

Coca-Cola didn’t fail in 3 attempts to build a leading energy drink brand (KMX, Full Throttle and Tab) because it didn’t have a Facebook page but because it waited too long after the launch of Red Bull.

The point is obvious.  While TGIF are useful, effective and should be important elements in most marketing campaigns, they will not compensate for a bad marketing strategy. As Ries states, “what wins wars are better strategies.”   We sometimes spend a lot of time analyzing and utilizing Twitter, Google, the Internet and Facebook and not nearly enough time developing a strong effective strategy.  Without a good strategy, no medium will be effective.  With an effective strategy, just about every medium can be effective.

Let’s do the hard work.  Let’s focus on our brand strategy.  Then we will be prepared to choose the appropriate tactics to win the brand wars.


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Healthcare Marketing: When Under Attack – Navigate the Social Media Water Carefully

When a brand is under attack, the reaction is honest and clear communication.

Nestle is one of the latest brands that has come under attack on social media sites.  Recently, Greenpeace released a video of a guy eating a Kit Kat and dripping blood from his mouth onto his computer.  The tagline was “Give Orangutans A Break” which is a takeoff of Kit Kat’s branding line.  The beef was that Nestle purchases palm oil from sources that destroy rainforests.

The video was effective.  It started a deluge of complaints.  And Nestlé’s response angered consumers even more. And as the harassment intensified, Nestle went quiet.  Not the best response.  In reaction to Nestlé’s bungling of the situation, Marketing  Profs offered a few pieces of good advice:

1. When people attack, don’t see it as a siege. Rather view it as a desire to trust your brand again.  People want to eat a Kit Kat without feeling guilty.

2. Be open and honest.  Nestle has stated they will try to be 100% sustainable by 2015.  Other than that, Nestle has been quiet.   Worse, people don’t feel the company is doing its best to remedy the situation.  Especially in the face of Cadbury giving up palm oil in 2009 in a few weeks following similar protests.

3. Show your human side.  When things go wrong, it’s okay to share your mistakes, regrets and your desire to address the issue(s).

Every brand faces problems and difficulties from time to time.  And in today’s environment social media networks will air the problems and perhaps follow it up with a wave of complaints.  The social-media seas can be stormy ones.  An honest, open and sincere response is generally the best way to navigate the storm.

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