5 healthcare marketing trends for successful campaigns
We’ve helped many organisations with their healthcare-related marketing campaigns, including the NHS, Beacon for Rare Diseases, and Oval Medical Technologies.
The right approach can make or break your campaign, and with challenges like Covid-19 continuing to impact the sector, healthcare marketing is more fast-paced than ever before.
From soothing anxious patients to setting clear campaign benchmarks, here’s a closer look at the healthcare marketing trends destined to make your project a success…
1. Help calm customer fears
Successful healthcare marketing often means instilling a sense of calm in the target audience. When people look for healthcare guidance, they want reassurance, authority, and honesty.
This was never more evident than during the pandemic when health anxiety reached a fever pitch. We were mindful of this during our public health campaign for Huntingdonshire District Council (HDC). Showing people how to stay safe during the era of Covid-19, we used a suitably soothing tone while giving plenty of practical guidance.
The campaign ran through Christmas and New Year, thanking people for following lockdown advice, and acknowledging the personal cost of missing out on social occasions during the festive season.
By addressing a national problem with local solutions, we helped keep a daunting subject grounded in practical steps rather than scaremongering. The campaign included friendly, visually appealing graphics to remain relatable to a wide audience, and all the messaging was in line with government guidance.
Our use of local targeting also ensured the right people saw the campaign, and we adapted our approach to stay in line with the shifting safety guidelines during the pandemic.
2. Communicate ideas with sensitivity
Marketing in the healthcare sector requires sensitivity. Health can be an anxiety-inducing subject, and some organisations deal with life and death situations that call for a very specific form of caring communication.
This was something we carefully considered while producing a social media campaign for UK rare disease charity Beacon. The organisation needed our help during the launch of a new 8-part podcast series, Rarely Heard, which shared intensely personal tales of living with rare diseases.
Our consultancy was influenced by compassion for the subject matter as well as helping the individuals featured in the podcast share their experiences in the most effective way.
We showed Beacon how to make the most of their content on social media, guiding them through the best tactics and platforms for cutting through the noise. The team also showed Beacon how to define goals and measure success.
By listening closely to the needs of both our client and their audience, we ensured these life-changing stories were given the respect and audience they deserved.
3. Know your target audience
No matter what industry your client is in, appealing to their target audience is essential. However, campaigns in the healthcare sector frequently call for local ad targeting – and can require intensive knowledge of the environment in which the client operates.
We worked with the NHS (CCG) to create a social media campaign to take the pressure off Cambridgeshire & Peterborough A&E departments during the busy winter months. The campaign outlined the alternative NHS services available, so we had to understand not only the care pathways on offer to patients, but how local people used them.
Understanding the patient journey helped us create a campaign that guided them to the appropriate care for their circumstances. The messaging and imagery reflected the local community, including a strong diversity focus and translation to help us access hard-to-reach audiences.
This emphasis on knowing how the target audience used NHS services also meant our digital advertising was more efficient, helping us to change audience behaviour by explaining the many positive alternatives to a trip to A&E.
Pinpoint accuracy in our targeting enabled us to avoid wasted ad spend and showcase where to get the right support and advice.
We have subsequently worked with NHS (CCG) again, creating marketing materials outlining their new Green Plan. The NHS is the world’s first health service to commit to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040. As with our previous project with CCG, we ensured we had a strong understanding of the target audience, which made our messaging clear, concise, and impactful.
4. Make your content accessible
Working with healthcare clients often means getting to grips with complex ideas and terminology. But to ensure the target audience receives the right message, it’s important to explain these concepts with accessible, easy-to-understand language.
This is something we considered carefully while crafting copy for the launch of our client GKMH’s website.
The organisation was founded by three specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry, championing Brief Psychosocial Intervention (BPI) to treat adolescent depression. The technique uses a blend of guidance, education, and practical steps.
GKMH’s main focus is on training mental health professionals in the application of the BPI method. This is achieved through practical examples, providing guidelines, and delivering all the handy tools practitioners need to help patients get great results.
It was crucial that the content appealed to customer pain points and communicated the benefits of BPI in terms that people with no training in the discipline could understand. We worked closely with GKMH to ensure both readability and relevance to the company’s brand.
The resulting copy presented complex terminology in a more approachable way, helping GKMH reach its target audience.
5. Set realistic and measurable goals
With so many other elements to consider while marketing for healthcare, it can be easy to let goal-setting slide.
But it’s vital to keep on top of your campaign benchmarks, so you can chart the success of the work you do.
Setting targets also helps you reflect on the next steps.
Our LinkedIn video campaign with Oval Medical Technologies, a creator of innovative medication injector technology, kept the needs of patients at the forefront of our messaging. We knew our audience was fascinated by the tech, so used clever opportunities to showcase that through our visuals, video and taglines across social media.
Before we began, we put together a clear strategy (complete with project benchmarks) and ensured clear communication with the client throughout.
This approach helped to avoid confusion and ensured we were agile enough to respond to change. Agility is critical not only in individual campaigns - but throughout sectors like healthcare where change is constant.
How to create a successful healthcare marketing campaign
To achieve the best results when marketing in the healthcare sector, remember these tips:
Keep the needs of the customer front and centre
Communicate with compassion
Get to know the audience
Create accessible content from complex ideas
Set goals to help keep track of the project
Apply these principles and you’ll be well on your way to a great healthcare campaign.
Need more help?
Read about our work in the healthcare sector or contact Sookio to discuss your healthcare project.