In 2020, digital marketing in the healthcare world saw the emergence of new approaches and technologies. Here are our predictions for the year ahead.
The health crisis has disrupted the life of companies, the modes of relations and interactions between all health players. Digital transformation has accelerated significantly to meet the challenges of the crisis. Health marketing has inevitably been impacted by this upheaval.
Here are the main trends (not exhaustive) that we will observe in this year 2021 in digital health marketing.
Content is king
Infobesity is taking an increasingly important place in the world of health, especially in this context of health crisis. Snack content is becoming more popular (micro content that arouses interest in just a few seconds via video, visual or gif) and there is a proliferation of fake news. It is therefore essential to put in place a real content strategy.
In 2021, the content strategy will remain the priority in digital marketing to establish its positioning around various subjects, to differentiate itself, to generate traffic to its digital assets or to generate conversation. Quality must take precedence over quantity with content adapted to your targets, their expectations and needs, but also adapted to the distribution platforms. It is imperative to adapt the format, or even the content, according to the distribution platform: website, email, social networks etc …
As we often say in digital marketing : content is king!
Content is king
Content is king
Infobesity is taking an increasingly important place in the world of health, especially in this context of health crisis. Snack content is becoming more popular (micro content that arouses interest in just a few seconds via video, visual or gif) and there is a proliferation of fake news. It is therefore essential to put in place a real content strategy.
In 2021, the content strategy will remain the priority in digital marketing to establish its positioning around different subjects, to differentiate itself, to generate traffic to its digital assets or to generate conversation. Quality must take precedence over quantity with content adapted to your targets, their expectations and needs, but also adapted to the distribution platforms. It is imperative to adapt the format, or even the content, according to the distribution platform: website, email, social networks etc … As we often say in digital marketing: content is king!
Deployment of marketing automation
Marketing automation makes it possible to automate certain marketing tasks according to predefined scenarios or according to certain activities of the Internet user on the site. Often integrated into email marketing or CRM solutions, it has gradually become a standard for marketing teams with automated email marketing tools, A / B testing solutions, multi-channel campaigns or automated workflows.
Marketing automation makes it possible to meet the growing demands for personalization and brings many advantages: time savings with the automation of time, increased customer satisfaction with a rapid response, enrichment of the customer base …
Little used, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, marketing automation will develop more and more in the healthcare sector in 2021.
Social media: deployment of new formats
Social media has taken an increasing place in our society. They make it possible to generate many interactions, to maintain links, to federate individuals among themselves around a subject or a cause or to disseminate information quickly. In 2020, with the health crisis and periods of lockdown, the use of social media has exploded.
Social media have been implanted in the healthcare world for many years. All the players in the sector have become aware of the potential and have gradually taken hold of these new media at different levels. They are now a real area of expression for patients and the patient and caregiver communities will continue to develop in 2021.
In recent years, we have observed an increasing use of social networks by health professionals, which should continue in 2021. They have several advantages in practice: getting information and monitoring, accelerating exchanges and the dissemination of information. information, or exchange and network between peers.
Formats, previously used in other sectors of activity and little in health, will be deployed in 2021 such as remixing, the art of recreating existing formats, models or concepts to express one’s own personality or ideas; or memes, offbeat images accompanied by a humorous, ironic or sarcastic text.
Influence strategies
The influence impacts the modes of communication on social networks also in the health sector. This phenomenon makes it possible to free speech, fight against taboos or increase awareness of a cause or pathology. This trend favors free speech, rapid access to information and discussion. It makes it possible to bring out an illness, a condition of the shadows, to break the isolation, to break down borders.
Today, players in the health world are starting to integrate the essential role of influence in their marketing strategies by soliciting influencers to relay messages and amplify reach by viralizing content.
We are seeing the emergence of patients or healthcare professionals who become true opinion leaders on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and even TikTok. This is referred to as the Digital Opinion Leader (DOL) which leads a community of patients around a pathology and its problems or a community of health professionals around a specialty (research advances, news, study results, etc. ).
Continuing with 2020, regardless of the platform used (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Blog, etc.), we will continue to observe a rise in health micro-influencers.
In 2021, we will also see an increase in the influence strategies of players such as healthcare manufacturers through organized public speaking. We can cite the rise of the « Social CEO » where leaders speak up, are active on social networks such as LinkedIn or Twitter to share company values, commitments or news. Employee advocacy strategies will continue to unfold to engage, engage and empower employees to defend their business and brands on social media. The goal is to make employees, the primary vectors of communication, true ambassadors for the company on social media, thereby amplifying the reach of messages.
Audio: a popular format
Since 2019, we have seen a strong comeback in audio podcasts, notably with the opening of dedicated spaces in the main audio streaming platforms (Spotify, Deezer, Apple, etc.).
The world of health is no exception to this trend and has seen a few initiatives roll out in 2020 around medical news, patient support or e-health. Gradually, all health players are turning to this mode of communication. Audio podcasts will therefore become widespread in 2021 to offer a new mode of interaction.
Audio is also continuing its ascent with the democratization of voice search via mobile (Google Assistant, Siri, etc.) or connected speakers (Amazon Alexa, Google Home, etc.). After a few attempts in 2020, voiceboats will emerge in the healthcare world in 2021 to respond to these new uses: pharmacy services, access to information, follow-up in the context of chronic diseases, prevention tools, etc.
Gamification to train and inform
Gamification is more and more present in the healthcare world, whether in prevention, patient support or the training of healthcare professionals. It materializes in different aspects: mobile games, serious games, virtual escape games, digital simulation, virtual clinical cases, virtual and augmented reality, etc.
It is used in particular, via mobile games or serious games, for :
- deliver key messages through playful aspects
- support the patient in understanding the disease
- provide information and advice for daily living with the disease
Numerous online training solutions, based on gamification (serious games, virtual clinical cases, etc.) to support healthcare professionals in initial or continuing training, have been launched in recent years. In 2021, this deployment will continue, the playful levers of gamification allowing in particular :
- to train in procedures, gestures or the management of situations
- to acquire and update technical and non-technical knowledge and skills
- to analyze their professional practices
- to learn new treatments
The health context will promote the development of virtual escape games that began to emerge in 2020, whether for training, product information or PR facilitation.
The QR Code to create a link between a physical medium and digital content
After a period of hesitation, for lack of real use, the QR code once again becomes a strategic communication tool. We notably observed it in 2020 during the health crisis. Despite technological developments, the QR code remains an effective marketing tool that can be used on many media. The QR Code has various advantages: simplicity of its implementation, easy access for users or an innovative image.
In recent months, we have observed a return to this mode of communication. Several factors help to explain this phenomenon: the health context and distance; social networks are gradually deploying QR codes to easily connect members to each other; QR code detection is now a native component of iOS and Android; only link between a physical medium and digital content …
In the health sector, we are seeing increasing use and 2021 should be a year of significant deployment. Many use cases are possible at the marketing level: a QR code can be placed on dosage sheets, patient brochures or posters in the waiting rooms of medical practices or at the hospital, on POS in pharmacies …
The emergence of new formats such as video QR codes also allows use at events such as congresses. Placed at the heart of a video, the QR code allows you to make a direct link to a complementary source of information, an information website or the download of an application.
We can imagine many other health uses: link to a source of information (scientific studies, legal notices, product information, etc.); registration for a physical or virtual webconference-type event with a direct link to a registration form; automatic phone call triggered by a QR code to, for example, a customer relations or medical information service; sharing content or information on social networks …
The promises of 5G
After licensing in 2020, 5G, a new mobile phone format, will be gradually rolled out in France in 2021 with many promises in terms of communication and marketing.
First of all, 5G will promote the democratization and deployment of connected objects because the connection will be increased tenfold, white areas will be almost non-existent and users will be able to take advantage of virtually non-existent latency.
Then, it will allow the emergence of new, more interactive advertising formats, integrating animations or video, thus increasing the engagement rate. With faster web content load times, bounce rates will mechanically drop and advertising content will have better visibility.
5G will allow more people to access content online, so there will be a « natural » phenomenon of amplifying messages and communications.
Media: growing importance of programmatic and retargeting
In recent years, digital technology has revolutionized the codes of communication with healthcare professionals. A new revolution is taking place today with the deployment of new approaches based on artificial intelligence and big data.
In 2020, programmatic solutions for healthcare professionals, such as Ad4health, were rolled out to allow more precise targeting and fuel multi-channel strategies.
These new advertising approaches make it possible to personalize communications according to profiles, to offer new experiences and to generate commitment from healthcare professionals.
Programmatic advertising consists of the automation of advertising campaigns: buying space, setting up campaigns and delivering. It has been used in the BtoC world for many years to become the preferred digital advertising channel for marketing and communication teams
2021 will also see the rise of retargeting (or audience extension) campaigns targeting this target of healthcare professionals. Like everyone else, healthcare professionals use the internet and social networks for their personal needs. These audience extension models, integrated into customer journeys, allow them to be reached in a secure and targeted manner, by adapting to their daily uses.
Artificial intelligence for marketing
Artificial Intelligence is playing an increasingly important role in communication processes. In particular, it allows you to refine your customer knowledge by analyzing the behavior of different targets, search trends, and data from social networks. It facilitates the creation of personae and the monitoring of KPIs to optimize the management of communication campaigns.
Another aspect of artificial intelligence, little used until now in health marketing: chatbots and voicebots. Following the experiments and uses created in 2020, this year we will see an increase in the number of conversational agents, both on social platforms and on websites, to become real tools to generate interactions with these different targets and provide a new service. especially for patients and caregivers with information permanently available 24/24 and 7/7.
The first voice health services (voicebot) will emerge on Alexa or Google Home connected speakers to respond to these new uses: pharmacy services, access to information, follow-up in the context of chronic diseases, prevention tools, etc.
