With the healthcare consumer
taking more control of and in their healthcare choices in a market that
is evolving to a semi-retail model of healthcare, has the tipping point arrived
in healthcare marketing to move from marketing communication activities to a hybrid
consumer marketing model?
Being responsive, outcomes transparent, delivering an exceptionally
consistent patient experience from first contact through post purchase and the
coming pricing wars, will have great influence on how to execute marketing at
the hospital or health system.
An organization will still need to compete for that individual patient
at some level in the five markets that you serve: Medicare; Medicaid;
Exchanges; Commercial; and Uninsured. And within those market segments will be
the ACOs, patient medical homes, narrow networks, bundled payment mechanisms,
employers etc.
It really comes down to the
tipping points of the market- sustainability, presence, perception, outcomes, price
and experience.
These are what healthcare
providers need to focus on and incorporate for success in their marketing
operations and campaign efforts in a consumer-driven market.
Sustainability- The resources
to effectively and continuously communicate brand and differentiate what you’re
offering across multiple channels.
Presence - By maintaining a
continuous presence across multiple channels as in so many other
consumer-directed industries you build brand preference.
Perception- With a
sustainable, continuous presence in the marketplace, sooner rather than latter,
your key messages become the opinion of consumers and they become fact in their
minds.
Outcomes- No longer the great
secret of healthcare, quality information is available from any number of
consumer directed sources. The healthcare consumer and employers are seeking
out that information. It’s another one of the tipping points in healthcare marketing. Ignore it at one’s own peril. Define the
market along outcome attributes or have competitors or the market define you
good or bad.
Price- As with outcomes
information, price information good or bad is available. It’s another tipping point
in marketing to the healthcare consumer.
Price could become the answer to the why should I go here, when all other
factors are equal in their mind.
Experience- The actual
customer experience matches the brand image, perceptions and opinions of
customers that you created in the marketplace, that had been communicated in an
integrated multi-channel sustained effort, that includes social media
engagement.
The tipping point in the transformation of healthcare marketing has arrived.
To my readers- I offer my
apologies for not posting for nearly two weeks now. The fastpitch travel softball season has started
for my daughter at the 16U A level. Alex
is a left-handed pitcher. What is different
for this season is that after 10 years of playing, it all comes to an end. She
will stop playing at the end of the season in August after the USSSA National World Series where her tarvel team has been invited to play. Alex has also made the decision not to play in
college. She just wants to be a normal student figuring out what she is going
to do with the rest of her life. Great wisdom
from one so young.
This has been a big part of our
lives for the last 10 years. I have seen her win tournament championship games,
pitch a no-hitter and handle adversity with grace and dignity. Skills which
will last her a lifetime. I will miss it, especially the coaches, parents
and players of the teams that she has been on. And much deep gratitude to Lisa, her private pitching and hitting
coach who has helped her in ways un-imagined when this all started. And I will enjoy every last minute of it as a
proud parent should. So I will post but only when the opportunity presents.
Have a great summer. I know I will.