5 Healthcare Marketing Leaders Share Their Predictions for 2022

It has been a whirlwind two years for the healthcare industry, with the pandemic driving rapid and sometimes unexpected changes in the industry. Constantly changing conditions and the demands it puts on the everyday healthcare consumer has made its marketers more agile, more responsive, and more reliant on data to keep up. Personalization, access to telehealth and online tools are becoming more important to consumers, and that’s driving healthcare marketers to find new ways to anticipate and address the needs of patients to provide the best care possible. It’s also put issues like inequities in healthcare at the forefront and puts marketers in a position to respond. 

This year is shaping up to be another year of adaptation and change as the pandemic rolls on in 2022. Here are what some leading healthcare marketers are predicting and what opportunities lay ahead in the coming year.

What’s the #1 opportunity for healthcare marketers to deliver a patient-first experience in 2022?

I think the biggest opportunity for healthcare marketers in 2022 is to focus on the patient journey, not only to meet patients where they are in that journey but to also push them forward in their journey towards marketing conversions. There are so many ways that marketing can impact the patient journey, but I think advancements in telehealth, online scheduling, personalization, and martech will drive many of the patient-first improvements made in the coming year.

What can healthcare marketers do differently to make the biggest impact on new patient acquisition in 2022?

Marketers can make the biggest impact on new patient acquisition by utilizing all of the data their organization is already collecting during the patient journey. Those who can effectively tie multiple data sources together will be the ones most likely to find meaningful insights that will allow them to take actions that result in incremental business growth that can be tied directly to marketing. 

What’s the #1 opportunity for healthcare marketers to deliver a patient-first experience in 2022?

My focus will be on the consumer journey and helping patients navigate their well-being. From awareness through conversion, our focus should be on an inspirational, seamless experience. 

In prep for 2022, our team has identified what outcomes we want from our marketing efforts and worked with cross-functional marketing teams to ensure every step of the customer journey leads potential patients to the outcome we are wanting.

Covid has thrust healthcare into the digital world and we have lots of catching up to do. I'm looking forward to this opportunity in 2022. Partnering with companies like Invoca allows me to monitor the tools I have in place, listen to our consumers, and make adjustments and continue to improve the experience.

What’s the #1 opportunity for healthcare marketers to deliver a patient-first experience in 2022?

Get personal! Patients, now more than ever, expect health systems and their healthcare providers to “show me you know me” by anticipating and effectively addressing their needs — in a timely and convenient fashion — while guiding them to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. For successful healthcare marketing, marketers need to think like the patient, fully understand individual patient needs, and target and engage them throughout their healthcare journey. 

Retail giants and large-chain pharmacies have noticed, and are capitalizing on missed opportunities tied to convenience, price transparency, and consumer-centric engagement. These retailers are already experts at creating brand loyalty, with a full understanding that personalization creates an emotional connection, which positively influences both short- and long-term behavior. 

When developing targeted, personalized experiences, consider:

A professional answering service. A centralized, CRM-enabled contact center introduces a wider range of functions, making it easier for callers to get information 24/7/365. Possibilities include referrals, event enrollment, securing convenient appointments, smart alerts for proactive wellness suggestions, or individuals simply seeking more information.

The preferred method of interaction. Channel of communication preference is crucial to securing engagement. Whether opting for physical mail, emails, phone calls, or texts, communicating via preferred modes makes it more likely that a marketing message will actually reach the patient.

Check-ins between appointments. To reinforce engagement and an ongoing relationship, prioritize regular check-ins between appointments. This can be done through personalized interactions, social media, customer service, or focused marketing campaigns across digital touchpoints.

If you can get personal by understanding exactly who your audience is, their habits, tendencies, and preferences, you will be able to predict their next action, ensure optimized marketing spend, and demonstrate real-time, indisputable ROI.

What can healthcare marketers do differently to make the biggest impact on new patient acquisition in 2022?

It’s all about prediction! It’s no surprise that healthcare marketers have a lot on their plate, with quality patient acquisition playing a big part. The more you know your audience, the more you can intelligently predict how to efficiently and effectively reach, target, and engage.

To make the biggest impact, consider: 

Getting to know your audience. By identifying your key personas, you can optimize your media buy and plan your content and CTAs to nurture them through the funnel. 

Delivering the right audience with relevant messaging when and where they prefer. Efficiently capture consumers early in their journey across a vast network of display, social, and search, and employ different calls to action. For example, younger audiences prefer a form as a primary CTA, while a unique phone number appeals more to older audiences. 

Knowing the values of different channels across the journey. When consumers are looking to act, paid search tends to be specific and bottom of the funnel, while social media and display are more top of the funnel — working best for branding and awareness messaging. 

If you are able to effectively predict and target the right segments of consumers at their time of need, while precisely serving them with the relevant creative, messaging, call tracking, and online forms when and where they prefer, you are well-positioned to influence behaviors driving best next actions. 

What’s the #1 opportunity for healthcare marketers to deliver a patient-first experience in 2022?

Advocate for access. Work with operations and health care delivery partners to make the smoothest pathways to care. Digital can enable, but the ops side needs to be fully in sync in order to create future loyalty. 

What’s the #1 opportunity for healthcare marketers to deliver a patient-first experience in 2022? 

The Aspen Group was founded on the idea that there is a better model for healthcare that puts consumers in control. The pandemic has led to an even greater focus on proactive healthcare and holistic well-being and consumers across verticals are seeking solutions on their own terms. 

This acceleration of the consumerization of healthcare is pushing TAG to deliver a digital-first patient experience that meets the patient where they are and improves literally every step of the journey. Telehealth was only the beginning. We are working to build an integrated marketing tech stack for advanced targeting and content delivery, using AI signals to improve the call center experience, working on improved UX and mobile functionality of our site, building digital tools to aid in-office consultation, testing QR codes to help patients leave reviews, and so much more. 

What can healthcare marketers do differently to make the biggest impact on new patient acquisition in 2022?

At TAG we are focused beyond the traditional top-of-the-funnel view of acquisition. Getting a prospective patient to the website or the call center is only the first step. Acquiring a patient for us means they accept care or services. We need to thoughtfully overcome barriers at each step in the funnel so that the patient makes an appointment, shows up, accepts and completes treatment. 

We are working on several key coordinated initiatives at each step including ensuring next day scheduling for 1000+ offices, improving online ratings and reviews, developing even more robust financing options, accelerating our CRM nurture streams, and providing in office digital patient consult tools.

Learn more about Invoca’s AI-powered conversation intelligence solution for healthcare here.