The 4 Essentials for Healthcare Digital Marketing Tools

Evaluating new technology to fit your healthcare organization’s needs is hard, especially for digital marketing tools. In an ever-changing market with an ever-changing solution landscape, healthcare marketers are finding it increasingly difficult to cut through the noise and evaluate the core functionality needed in a digital marketing platform. 

A new reality of consumer expectation is here. Patients expect personalized and engaging digital journeys with their providers. Increased communication means providing easier access to your healthcare organization’s care. 

Healthcare marketers must focus on the core functionality that allows them to effectively reach patients, members, and customers. Here are the four things healthcare marketers need in a digital marketing tool:

Protect your PHI but use it to personalize outreach

It is nearly impossible to find a platform that truly secures PHI in a way that allows it to be used in communication

First and foremost, you need a digital marketing platform that securely leverages first-party data to send HIPAA-compliant emails. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) restricts the marketing communications you can send to patients. HIPAA-compliant platforms do the work for you by inherently following these regulations, allowing you to focus on delivering content to your audiences. 

Of critical note is that some vendors give the illusion of HIPAA-compliance by being willing to sign a Business Associates Agreement (BAA). While this does, technically, provide you with legal coverage should a breach occur, it says nothing about the vendor’s underlying technolgy and commitment to compliance or your ability to use or include PHI in your communications. Don’t just take our word for it, see these three stories of BAA data breaches that will shock you. 

Not all digital marketing platforms follow the strict compliance needs of healthcare organizations. Many HIPAA-compliant solutions are complex, lacking intuitive and automated features. These platforms require a significant investment of time and budget to achieve your digital marketing goals. Ideally, healthcare marketers would use a compliant, intuitive platform with built-in automation to enable them to reach their goals faster.

Key Takeaway: Focus on finding a platform built with security and compliance in mind. 

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Communicate with your patients the way they want

Healthcare doesn’t treat its patients like consumers and isn’t proactively communicating using channels those patients are looking for; the digital ones

Forward-thinking healthcare marketers realize that a shift to putting healthcare consumers at the center of care is happening. Accelerated by COVID-19, healthcare organizations are transitioning from traditional communication methods to digital ones, enabling real-time outreach and engagement with patients. Patients expect personalized and engaging journeys.

Healthcare marketers have a massive opportunity to reach patients with personalized, relevant information showcasing the value of their health organization. The Cured platform offers a  catalog of 80+ healthcare-focused campaigns with curated content, audiences, and automations, we call them ‘Curations.’ Curations span every stage of the patient lifecycle with the most valuable interactions for healthcare organizations. The campaigns are interconnected, tailored journeys powered by first-party data models, allowing personalized interactions across the channels your patients prefer with compelling content proven to convert. 

First-party data powers Curations to ensure patients receive personalized and relevant communications for their health needs. First-party data is data patients willingly provide in exchange for services from a health system. Your health system is likely sitting on a wealth of knowledge about your patients that you could leverage to offer your wide array of services to patients, prospective patients, and other relevant audiences. 

Key Takeaway: Reach patients in the right channel, at the right time, with the right message. 

See acquisition and conversion Curations here. 

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Manage your own marketing campaigns

A platform isn't very useful if you have to outsource skills in order to use it

Campaign management is difficult, especially when navigating the extensive nuances of healthcare marketing. The steps to create and execute impactful campaigns can be countless and detailed - brainstorming, goal setting, asset design, audience creation, testing, approvals, rendering, testing again, more approvals, tracking, analyzing, reporting, the list goes on and on. 

Look to maximize your time and effort while driving value for your healthcare organization. With Curations, 80% of the work is done for you! Your marketing teams can implement, maintain, and optimize campaigns without ongoing, time-consuming development. These campaigns provide a verified strategy, audience recommendations, content proven to convert, and advanced layouts to drive engagement. Results are measurable and provide actionable insights into impact and patient outcomes. 

Key Takeaway: Drive growth and loyalty more efficiently for your healthcare organization.

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Prove revenue impact and improved outcomes

Healthcare sees new technology is often seen as a cost, rather than a revenue generator

Accurately measuring revenue impact can be very challenging for marketers. The inability to effectively measure the revenue impact of healthcare marketing initiatives can lead to suboptimal patient outreach strategies, reduced business value, and an inaccurate perception of healthcare marketing departments as cost centers rather than as value drivers.

With built-in analytics and and revenue tools, Cured allows you to see insights across many levels – from holistic digital marketing program down to individual contact level. These are the  reports and dashboards you need to tell the story of your health marketing success. With the help of insights monitoring campaign performance, you can plan your next engagement point to deepen relationships and confidently accelerate patient interactions. 

Key Takeaway: Measure performance to accelerate patient and revenue impact.

Try our revenue calculator.  

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To recap! The 4 Essentials in Healthcare Digital Marketing Tools:

1. Focus on finding a platform built with security and compliance in mind. 
2. Reach patients in the right channel, at the right time, with the right message. 
3. Drive growth and loyalty more efficiently for your healthcare organization.
4. Measure performance to accelerate patient and revenue impact.

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