Practical Steps to Modern Healthcare Marketing

At MERGE, we have the privilege of working with some of the best healthcare providers and marketers in the country, granting us a birds eye view into many aspects of what works and what doesn’t within marketing organizations.

We also know that the healthcare landscape is highly competitive and dynamic, with most calling for transformation and innovation in the space. But given the turbulence of recent years and the imperative to drive revenue and reduce cost at the same time, a healthcare transformation seems impossible.

Meanwhile, patients have more choice than ever before and it is increasingly complex for consumers to navigate their way to the care they need. Channel proliferation - paid, earned, and owned - has multiplied strategic choices around how and where to invest with the same limited budgets.

Ultimately, the highest performing marketing teams are those that are revenue drivers. To share observations and ideas from across the digital marketing ecosystem, MERGE assembled a panel of some of its most forward-thinking experts. The panel discussed the importance of putting the patient first, as well as the steps that need to be taken for healthcare providers to modernize their marketing approach in order to comprehensively cater to the patient of today.

Our panelists include:

• Kellie Bliss, EVP Practice Lead, MERGE
• Becky Minervino, EVP Strategy Lead, MERGE
• Ted Neiger, VP and Tech Leader, MERGE
• Niki Stone, VP and CRM Strategy Leader, MERGE

Key themes featured during the panel discussion include:

• Prioritize the patient! Core decision-making factors help inform and hone patient priorities, ultimately leading to purposeful and strategic choices that help drive the business forward.
• Lean into the integration of the funnel with the journey
• Then leverage journeys to drive strategic proof-of-concept (POC) opportunities to pilot new ideas and initiatives and prove value as you go.
• Develop implementation plans focused on priority segments vs. service lines.
• Don’t overinvest in a tech stack without a strategy and make sure you have the right players to work with IT on your marketing team to develop that strategy.
• Use strong measurement and reporting to gather intelligence and insights, and leverage it to merchandise success and optimize moving forward
• Integrate brand and demand and understand what is the right mix. A sustained and strong brand development effort will lead to better results in demand effort.
• Think about these things across all channels and across the entire marketing ecosystem, regardless of legacy organizational structures.

Access every second of insight from our webinar panel.

Kellie Bliss 
EVP Client Service, Health & Wellness Practice Leader

The original version of this page was published at:  https://mergeworld.com/insights/merge-insights/practical-steps-to-modern-healthcare-marketing