Healthcare Marketing Trends

Medical Marketing and Media magazine and Ogilvy Commonhealth Worldwide did a good study of health care marketing trends, which was published in the June 2013 issue.

Here's what I highlighted as I read the report:

• Direct marketing is being used by 67% of respondents, about the same as in 2012, but 35% increased budget devoted to direct marketing, whereas only 28% decreased spend;

• Marketing service companies must integrate their offerings and become more dynamic to serve the changing needs of the health care industry;

• Health care marketers use referrals and relationships as their primary method to find sources for marketing services, but procurement plays a much larger role in larger companies;

• Physicians remain the most important audience according to respondents, followed by nurse practitioners (NPs) and (PAs), although it is thought that Affordable Care Act (ACA) implementation will make NPs and PAs a more important target;

• The elimination of lifetime health insurance benefit caps could substantially help marketers of high priced products.

       You can access the report here.