Creative Marketing for Consumerism in Healthcare

Hey folks, this is Rudy Fernandez from Creative Outhouse. In this episode we're going to talk about consumerism in healthcare marketing. Here's how fast things have changed. Richard Schwartz, who's a brilliant healthcare strategist, told me that he often types in the beginning of statements into Google to see what people are searching for. Whenever he would type in the phrase "doctors are", he would get words like overpaid, overrated, quacks, lots of negative. Do that now, and the first option that appears is "heroes". That's one thing about healthcare. You don't appreciate it until you really, really need it. So a salute to those folks out there risking their lives for us. Sorry it took this for us to really appreciate you.

We recorded this episode with Miranda Madar a few weeks ago. In the top part, we talked about consumerism in healthcare and how healthcare and marketing need to improve the patient experience and go beyond just telling people how great they are. We also talked about women in leadership roles and Miranda has some really good things to say. It's a great conversation. Check it out. Welcome to Marketing Upheaval.

Chief Marketing Officer at Resurgens Orthopedics

Thanks for listening to Marketing Upheaval. My guest is Miranda Madar, the Chief Marketing Officer at Resurgens Orthopedics, the largest orthopedic practice in the southeast. Miranda has an impressive consumer marketing background. She has held both agency and client side roles, and has worked on several award winning campaigns across multiple categories. She was previously the global communications manager at the Coca Cola company, and was recently honored as a Hall of Fame woman to watch in medical marketing and media. We're going to talk about consumerism in healthcare, and the changing landscape of women in leadership.

Consumerism in Healthcare: Is it a Consumer Product?

Rudy: I want to start with healthcare marketing and consumerization. The trend in healthcare has been towards consumerism to treat it more like a consumer product. And it's been going on for a few years with ratings online consumers being more active in the decision. Have you respond to this?

Miranda: Some of the main challenges that I see is, you know, we often say we're not selling widgets. So we can't have flash sales or bogos, or even create impulse buying moments. We have to hope that people injured themselves or that their pain becomes unbearable enough for them to seek out treatment. That's really pretty morbid.

So there's also that unspoken, but very relatable barrier of confusion around insurance, with so many health plans and referral requirements, rising premiums, all of that, that they have to deal with, and sort through. People are afraid to go to the doctor, particularly if it's something that could be elective. Something that they don't really need but they probably should have, or if it can take them out of work for a long period of time. You know, it's just maybe not worth the effort or they just don't want to go through the trouble of exploring their options. And buying a product or buying a Coke for example, just doesn't seem that hard. Plus, you get that instant satisfaction wheras healthcare is a really long term investment.

Full transcript at: https://creativeouthouse.com/2020/04/22/consumerism-in-healthcare/

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