Topic: Three Things Every Marketer Can Learn From The Changing Healthcare Marketing Landscape

The marketing industry was turned on its head this year when, in one fell Covid swoop, total media spend dropped 19.1%. Brands and their advertising partners are now compelled to rethink, rework and reconsider plans. It was quite likely the jolt everyone needed.

Consider all the possibilities this disruption has created. Why not rebuild a marketplace that works for what we can do, rather than what we have been doing?

As a marketer, I’ve always preferred to push the limits of what brands can do — especially in healthcare, a highly regulated industry. Here, the prospect of innovation is much more interesting, and opportunities to break new ground need to be seized when presented. For example, our healthcare media agency has led health integrations in broadcast and primetime TV and pioneered health brands into previously untapped social spaces, including Pinterest and TikTok. We call these “Pharma Firsts” and actively look for new platforms, integrations and media opportunities to push the envelope, bring a brand to the next level, and most importantly, improve health outcomes for real people.

Simply put, you have to push the boundaries of the marketplace. And there couldn’t be a better time to do just that. Here are a few things to consider.

Mix up your marketing mix.

It has been far too long since many brands refreshed their marketing mix models.

With the pandemic, the safety net that marketers have created with audience propensity and potential has disappeared — people simply have abandoned old habits. Print, out-of-home and TV programming that in any other year would’ve been golden placements have become seemingly obsolete even as the use of social media, streaming platforms and gaming have skyrocketed in homes.

Channels are different and engagement is different, and it changes every day. If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is forever. So why do we treat marketing models like they are?

With the constant stream of media finding us at every turn and the sophistication of targeting available today, achieving reach through media is almost inevitable. But taking a brand from finding the right customers to delivering impact requires much more. It necessitates making some kind of material behavioral change, be it early-stage consideration, deeper understanding, or, ideally, real action.

Brands must be more agile in their marketing decision-making, employing real-time measurements and evidence-based outcomes, rather than past behavior to hypothesize, test and continuously optimize their strategy.

Adopting a nimbler marketing approach will force more nimble solutions in the marketplace.

Topic Discussed: Three Things Every Marketer Can Learn From The Changing Healthcare Marketing Landscape

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