As 2020 continues to roll out fresh challenges, cities across the globe are strewn with shuttered businesses. One industry, however, shifted into high gear and is giving its all to meet the public’s pandemic demands.
From biotech to med-device, from hospitals to HCPs, the healthcare industry is at the heart of this global crisis. Tasked to inform, treat, and monitor patients – be it in person or virtual – all members of the healthcare community must rethink and adapt their operations – especially their marketing campaigns.
To help your healthcare business during the coronavirus pandemic, here’s a breakdown of ways to adapt your healthcare marketing campaigns.
Go Digital
With rolling social distancing and lockdown protocols sweeping across countries, operating your business online is essential to sustainability. The US healthcare industry was slow to embrace the digital age for many reasons, including a lack of government regulations. Because of this, there has been no need for the healthcare industry to go digital. COVID-19 is changing all of that.
Changes in insurance coverage options for telehealth, along with other regulatory evolutions, offer unprecedented opportunities for the healthcare industry to provide essential services digitally. Even after the pandemic, consumers will undoubtedly demand the virtual convenience they’ve grown accustomed to. So, walking back many of these changes will be difficult.
Many of Your Patients are Seeking Online Service
There will obviously be a certain percentage of your patients or customers that do not have access to the internet — namely patients older than 70 years — but the majority of people are digitally savvy (enough!). More than half of millennials support (and often expect) telehealth — healthcare services via email, phone call, or video call — to replace in-office visits. We are already seeing doctors, therapists, and physiotherapists, providing their services digitally through video calls, emails, and websites.
Pivot Your Healthcare Marketing Campaigns
Over the past 10 years, there has been a significant shift towards virtual healthcare management, telehealth, and digital health. Even though slow-moving due to regulations, there is a forward movement. Whether you’re a general practitioner, therapist, or pharmacy, you must pivot your healthcare marketing campaigns towards going digital so that you can still reach your fundamental goals. Here are three ways to do so for the COVID-19 pandemic:
1. Introduce Digital Services
If you can, and if the law allows, introduce digital services to your patients and customers. Digital services can come in many forms, but they must benefit customers while still helping you reach your marketing goals. This can be done in the following ways:
- Consult patients via video calls or telephone calls.
- Provide prescriptions via email.
- Send accounts/bills via email.
- Introduce delivery services for medication, medical devices, and medical supplies that are solely run online.
2. Provide Patients With Reliable, Relevant Information
As a healthcare professional, you must communicate the right information to patients in the most effective way. You can do this in various ways:
- Update your website with a COVID-19 tab/page with useful information.
- Send your patients a bi-weekly informative email regarding new breakthroughs, busting myths, and global news about the virus – or offer other helpful tips, but keep the line of communication open.
- Add helpful tips to your website and share them in the Channels mentioned in #3.
3. Create New Channels To Communicate About COVID-19
The public has a lot of questions surrounding the coronavirus, and as a healthcare practitioner, you must answer them. By creating new channels to discuss the pandemic, you’ll give your customers a reliable source of information. The new channel can come in many forms but keep this group of channels dedicated to COVID-19 questions. The channels can include the following:
- Email address
- Online chat
- Contact form
- Phone number
- Facebook group
With the healthcare industry going digital during the COVID-19 pandemic, as healthcare workers, you need to adapt to ensure your business keeps thriving.
Is your digital marketing performing for you? Whether you need to build a foundation or optimize your digital presence, Elevated offers the expertise and support your business needs to achieve digital marketing growth.
Contact us for a free assessment. We love to talk marketing and share our experiences in healthcare.
