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Healthcare medical marketing by TanAx change marketing agency
Background
marketing in pharmaceutical industry
While healthcare is on the rise due to the global awareness of its importance, many businesses have undergone a major digital transformation. A few companies have embraced the change and succeeded. Others are still exploring the digital world. Still, many businesses have found the transition difficult. Specifically, the marketing skillset required in the post-covid world is different. Since new marketing is patient-centric & relies on digital channels, it demands strong social media skills. Additionally, new tools are required to visualize complex subjects easily. Overall, this means a fast adjustment for any marketing department.
HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MARKETING
In this dynamic situation, some companies chose to revamp their marketing efforts internally. Since restructuring the marketing department internally, can be costly and lengthy, hiring an agency that has all the skills in place may be the easy route. Therefore, if you are considering an agency to help you cope with the shift in the marketplace, you are certainly justified. We can help you maximize your digital presence and build a strategy for future growth!
Today, we would like to shed light on a specific trend in healthcare medical marketing. The trend we would like to talk about is patient-centric marketing. Traditionally, the medical business has focused on marketing to healthcare professionals. However, in the past couple of years, the marketing efforts have started to shift towards the patient. This practically means a couple of things. Firstly, an acceleration of social media marketing. Secondly, the development of B2C type of marketing materials.
While many medical companies have experimented with social media marketing only some have been successful at it. Social Media marketing to medical professionals is no easy task. However, with a shift towards patient-oriented marketing social media is an absolute must. So in this article we going to look at a business case of strategic social media healthcare medical marketing.
Secondly, the type of marketing materials that are required for patient-oriented marketing are totally different from complex and clinical materials normally produced for doctors. While we will not cover all of the differences in this article, we will speak about a specific example of patient-centric marketing consideration in the Middle East.
IMPLICATIONS OF PATIENT-CENTRIC APPROACH
While there are many agencies, that claim they can run your campaigns at low cost, it takes more than pressing a few buttons. You need an expert & a partner to produce consistent results & high ROI. That is why we will discuss a few practical examples of healthcare medical marketing and the importance of a strategic approach.
Business case #1
Firstly, let’s focus on the new trend in healthcare medical marketing. While most marketing efforts in the past have been focused on Healthcare Workers, patient has emerged as a key priority in 2020 and 2021. However, very few companies got a grip on differences between approaches to healthcare workers and patients. Even fewer, understood how to benefit from the new patient-centric approach.
So, the example we will be looking at today is a medical aesthetics business. Let’s imagine a hypothetical company manufacturing products that can be used by Plastic Surgeons. Unlike many healthcare professionals, these doctors are practicing aesthetic medicine and their popularity is often defined by the celebrities they treat and importantly, their Instagram. Because Instagram is a very popular social media channel, it seems like this particular company will have a very easy transition from marketing to doctors to marketing to patients. After all, the channel is the same, right? Wrong.
HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MARKETING
The underlying issue here is that despite the same social media channel – Instagram, the type of content that doctors consume vs what patients want is radically different. Plastic surgeons will be interested in new techniques, information on patient safety, clinical studies, and alike. However, this content is extremely hard to digest for a patient. The images from the operating room are highly unlikely to make a woman desire plastic surgery. However, for a doctor, these are educational. The patients are much more likely to be interested in before and after pictures, beauty trends, new procedures available.
Therefore, the social media channel remains the same. However, the company now needs to find a new voice on Instagram. Many companies would take an easy way out and mix medical info for doctors with patient-oriented posts. However, that is not a great idea. The problem is that patients may really be discouraged by medical imagery and complex posts. While doctors will find the lifestyle materials useless. Hence, by trying to please everyone you will fail to please anyone.
What is the best approach you ask? The ideal approach is to separate the info into 2 brands and 2 Instagram accounts. One- entirely educational, clinical, and objective. With medical imagery to match. Another one for consumers, with attractive lifestyle images and short, but clear info. And, of course, with before and after pictures. Another approach would be to post medical content only on dedicated Instagram pages of Medical Associations and professional bodies. While keeping the branded Instagram account consumer-oriented. In any case, the moral of the story is that the differences in approach are very important and require strategic thinking. Even if the channels you are using are suitable for both, patients and doctors.
HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MARKETING
Business case #2
Another issue that we should take a look at when transitioning to a patient-centric approach is language. More specifically, social media channels in the local language. While it is not news for any multinational company, that marketing materials need to be translated and modified in different countries, a few have considered making separate social media communications for different countries. Generally speaking, healthcare medical marketing has been focused on highly educated medical professionals. In most countries, these educated people are comfortable with English. However, some large countries still require translations as a rule. Among others: Russia, China, and Turkey demand materials in a local language.
HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MARKETING
However, if you decide to focus on patient the picture changes dramatically. Saudi Arabia, the largest country in GCC, according to statistics has over 90% of families speaking Arabic at home. Obviously, some of them do speak English. However, compared to the medical community, this percentage is much lower. Therefore, transitioning from traditional healthcare medical marketing to patient-centric marketing would certainly require translating all your materials to Arabic.
Further more, lets look at UAE, another large market in the Middle East. While the medical professionals in United Arab Emirates are perfectly fluent in English, still 42% of population views social media in Arabic, not in English. This is almost half o the population that you would be missing out on, if you were adopting a patient-oriented marketing approach and skipped translation.
Therefore, not only you need to pay attention to translating your marketing materials, but also you need to consider social media in other languages as well. This is a strategic decision. You need to carefully weight the power of one strong consolidated social media channel in English versus the opportunities you will miss by not translating your content into major languages. You need to re-evaluate this decision for every important geography when planning your patient-centric approach.
HEALTHCARE MEDICAL MARKETING
IMPORTANCE OF CHOOSING Healthcare medical marketing PARTNER
While there are many agencies, that claim they can run your campaigns at low cost, it takes more than pressing a few buttons. You need an expert & a partner to produce consistent results & high ROI. Now, with the changes happening in the medical & healthcare industry what worked before no longer applies. That means, that you need to rapidly learn more about patient-centric marketing and social media. In turn, that may require you reorganize your marketing department or change your marketing agency. You need a partner who is aware of the complexity of healthcare medical marketing and is apt in social media as well.
Leverage our 15 years of expertise in strategic marketing & branding to expand your business. We have extensive, in-depth experience in markets of USA, Europe, Asia & Middle East, including major countries like China, Russia, India. Thanks to our extensive medical marketing experience, we are able to produce sensitive, regulated medical content suitable for doctors. Thanks to 10 years of agency expertise, we are fully fluent in social media. Hence, we are able to handle your marketing needs from A to Z. Additionally, we can facilitate your transition to patient-orienting marketing.
With TanAx as your marketing partner, you will unlock new opportunities! Talk to us today, and learn what we can achieve together! Check out our full range of marketing services for the Medical, Pharmaceutical, and Healthcare industries Special offer. You are also welcome to download our corporate presentation for more information about our company.