The digital age sees many industry players in different fields of life scrambling to utilize the internet and the digital market as a means to reach the right audience and ultimately transform lives through effectively marketed products and services. Impressively, the healthcare system seems to be catching up with the rave as more and more healthcare technologies happen to be on the rise now than ever, such that the need to champion the healthcare market drives unique methods of staying abreast of industry trends.
However, digitally marketing healthcare solutions and answers has set some trends in the world of medicine and healthcare and has also faced some setbacks and challenges. Below in this article are 3 top digital marketing trends and challenges in the healthcare industry:
Healthcare Digital Marketing Trends
1: Virtual Healthcare and Telemedicine
Virtual health gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most people were forced to stay home due to the severity of the virus. From a marketing option to reality, it became popular as patients sought solace in virtual therapy, consultations, online prescriptions, and whatnot, which was heavily promoted by the use of virtual communication technologies like Zoom. This trend has, however, continued post-COVID.
2: Personalized and Patient-focus Healthcare
Gone are the days in healthcare where health issues are lumped together. The trendy digital marketing option is to show patients that medicine is revolutionizing such that there is more personalization of health issues, which drives a patient-focused approach in the healthcare system and ultimately leads to tailoring solutions to meet individual needs.
3: Improved SEO Strategies
Most healthcare centres and hospitals now pursue online visibility both on social media platforms and Search Engines listings, as patients are rapidly becoming consumers. To achieve this, industry players in the health system use dental SEO and other strategies with the help of agencies like Vendo Digital to optimize their websites by maintaining traffic on their sites and social pages to drive overall business growth.
Healthcare Digital Marketing Challenges
1: Lack of Patients’ Trust
Some people may find it hard to fully trust healthcare services or advice found online because of the sensitivity and seriousness of the health system. Therefore it may be challenging to draw the right audience and gain their full trust in any healthcare business starting their digital marketing journey.
2: Underfunding of Marketing Plans
Marketing digitally may cost a small fortune, depending on the desired end goal of the marketing and the strategies to be employed. However, where such efforts are underfunded and underinvested in, it will be a challenge to effectively market your healthcare services.
3: Legal Restraints and Bureaucracy
With digitalization comes the issues of data protection and privacy, and with patients’ data transmitted digitally comes strict regulations against violation of data privacy. From various NHS Regulations to the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which provides for the privacy of healthcare data, it can be difficult to leverage medical data for marketing purposes without violating the legal rules and regulations protecting data.
Irrespective of the challenges to healthcare digital marketing, its trends are here and have come to stay. You can leverage the opportunities available to grow your healthcare brand while offering quality services to patients and ensuring you navigate these challenges.