CHAPTER 5
Increasing Consumer Awareness and Growing Market Share
CHAPTER 5
Increasing Consumer Awareness and Growing Market Share
Consumers have greater choices than ever in where to get care, which has made gaining a competitive advantage more challenging for provider organizations. Consumer expectations and their approach to healthcare have also changed. Because of these factors, today’s consumers are much more likely to switch providers to have their expectations met than they were a decade ago.
“An effective marketing approach involves in-depth investigation of the patients’ needs, identifying latent needs and offering new health services that patients have not explicitly requested.”1
Evolving consumer expectations
Fluctuation of payer networks and requirements
Consumer needs/desires can vary drastically based on individual health conditions
Keeping up with new technologies and services to stay competitive
Reaching consumers at the right stage of the decision-making process
Entry of well-known brands into the healthcare market (Amazon, Google, etc.)
A New Approach to Healthcare Marketing
Traditional marketing approaches in the past were fairly straightforward, primarily centering around ads on billboards, in the newspaper, or on the radio and TV. With the growth of consumerism, those approaches are no longer enough. According to McKinsey & Company, “The time has come for healthcare providers to wake up to the modern consumer and start building the alignment, capabilities, and infrastructure to support next-gen marketing in healthcare.”2
Providers that focus on improving the patient experience even in their marketing efforts can increase revenue by 20% while reducing costs up to 30% over five years.3
From a mass marketing approach to a more specific approach.
From image marketing to service marketing.
From “one measure for all” to personalization.
From the emphasis on a health episode to a long-lasting relationship.
From “ignoring” the market, to market intelligence.
From low-tech to high-tech.
Today’s providers need a better approach to healthcare marketing, one that reaches the right consumer at the right time and conveys value in a way that resonates.
Three-Pronged Approach to Optimal Marketing
McKinsey & Company recommends three opportunities providers can leverage to achieve maximum return on their marketing efforts.5
Working in a vacuum is a recipe for failure when it comes to marketing strategy. McKinsey & Company recommends chief marketing officers (CMOs) work together with all members of the executive team—from chief technology officers to chief financial officers to chief information offers and beyond. “Only when the C-suite is aligned on the importance of marketing to drive growth and continuity of care (and what it takes to do so) will the CMO have the permission and support required to effect change beyond their immediate influence.”6
Meeting consumer expectations requires providers to invest in building better systems to meet those expectations. For example, consumers like online registration, self-scheduling, and other digital options. Therefore, organizations will need to invest in technologies that enable these consumer preferences. In the past, no one would have considered investing in these types of services would be a part of marketing. However, that’s changed as the consumer experience becomes an integral part of marketing. Hence the need for CMOs to work together with CIOs and CFOs as all would be stakeholders in the effort to drive these types of strategic marketing initiatives forward.
The only way to know which marketing efforts deliver the greatest return on investment is to track and measure engagement at every part of the consumer journey. “Attribution analysis is a critical component of measuring the financial ROI of spending on digital marketing in healthcare.” Measuring is critical to connect the dots on which marketing efforts result in patients in the door.
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References
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6685306/
- https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/marketing-in-healthcare-improving-the-consumer-experience
- https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/marketing-in-healthcare-improving-the-consumer-experience
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6685306/
- https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/marketing-in-healthcare-improving-the-consumer-experience
- https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/marketing-in-healthcare-improving-the-consumer-experience