Five Consumer Trends
and
How They
Impact Marketing
Jeanne Davant
Editor’s Note: With healthcare spending pushing ever closer to consuming 20% of America’s economy, it is reasonable to think that changes in healthcare marketing will impact consumer expectations and behavior in other domains. In this article we take stock of changes that marketing professionals are observing in consumer behavior and marketing technologies in the healthcare sector. Even if your work seems remote from the healthcare field, these observations may well shed light on changes that you have begun to sense in your own industry.
Healthcare organizations often are reluctant to adopt new technologies, but they would do well to consider consumer trends in formulating their marketing efforts, according to world-class marketing executive David Bellandi.
According to Junto, an online gathering of healthcare marketing professionals, several trends are influencing healthcare marketing in 2011 and will carry over into 2012.
NSI Partners asked Bellandi how healthcare organizations can address these emerging consumer needs and priorities through online marketing.
In a career that spans more than 20 years, Bellandi has managed all phases of marketing for national and international companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Agilent, Accanto and FrontRange Solutions (Goldmine). As the Founder and CEO of The Bellandi Group, he has provided VP-level consulting services in marketing for clients including Intraware, MossWarner, Sunrise Telecom, E-Stream and Zoot Enterprises. Currently, Bellandi is Chief Marketing Officer at Medical Voyce Multimedia, LLC, which provides a virtual platform for both medical providers and consumers, including physician directory services.
Trend #1: Maturialism
Consumers today, and healthcare consumers in particular, are no longer willing to be viewed as naïve. Healthcare consumers are looking for honest, factual information and conversations; they know how to find information online at sites such as WebMD. “Maturialism” defines the combination of maturity and materialism. This trend is particularly noticeable in how healthcare practices are receiving referrals.
Physicians traditionally have capitalized on referrals from friends of patients to build their practices. But now, the trend is moving away from friend referrals and toward Internet reviews, Bellandi notes.
“Most practices now have a Google Map listing and an ever-growing list of consumer reviews,” he notes. “If you can read 50-plus reviews about a physician, do you really need to ask a friend for a referral? This puts more emphasis on healthcare professionals to train their physicians and staff on delivering quality services and ensuring they are capturing and leveraging these positive experiences in their web and marketing efforts. Otherwise, the negative complaints will naturally dominate.”
Trend #2: Generation G
Consumers, especially younger ones, appear to be more focused on generosity and realness and expect more personal, genuine social interactions. Trendwatching.com calls it “Generation G”—for generosity, replacing greed as a social and business mindset.
This trend reflects consumer disgust with greed and the dire consequences it has had on our economy. Many industries are responding by increasing social media activity to build good will and “humanizing” themselves through online marketing.
“Younger generations are turned off by ‘push marketing,’ flashy taglines and too much spin,” Bellandi says. “Transparency is inescapable with today’s technologies and rapid communications practices. Most companies are realizing that their brand is no longer the outcome of some clever branding firm or some cute marketing campaign, but is in the hands of consumers.
“Research shows that consumer sentiment is increased when consumers are asked to participate in the formation of the branding in activities that are now called ‘community branding’ or ‘participatory marketing.’ Many social media vehicles provide the interaction and participation needed for this to occur, while reputation management technologies can provide initial benchmarking and measure progress in branding sentiment.”
Bellandi recommends that companies interested in learning more about community branding and participatory marketing check out shareware presentations on these topics.
Trend #3: Pricing Pandemonium
The sour economy has made consumers ever more price-conscious. This trend shows up in numerous ways in the healthcare industry.
The effect of pricing on consumers is a very complex question, Bellandi observes.
“We are seeing consumers that simply don’t go to their physician as often, to save money. However, the census at many hospitals stills swings wildly. Some weeks are slow and others are packed. The same would be true if you monitor some of your favorite restaurants.
“Quality services are still being purchased when needed, and it seems to be areas of healthcare that are proactive and not urgent that get pushed out,” Bellandi continues. “However, with an aging population, the growth in health problems will eventually overtake this trend, and the number of visits to healthcare facilities will move from proactive to reactive, despite the economy. What then becomes the issue is not the pricing, but the ability of consumers to pay for healthcare needs that must be addressed.”
Trend #4: Wellness
Growing numbers of consumers place a high value on achieving and maintaining good health. It’s a quality-of-life issue. This trend reflects the preceding three, and would seem to point toward sharing more information and rewarding consumers for achieving health goals—a practice increasingly being embraced by consumer-conscious healthcare organizations.
“As healthcare companies increase their communications to consumers via interactive, online marketing, they naturally get more proactive in their marketing messages with respect to maintaining good health,” says Bellandi.
“We are seeing more marketing programs focusing on cardiac tests to avoid heart problems before they appear, more educational programs on diet and exercise, and the recognition from healthcare companies that both the Baby Boomers and younger generations are more responsive to efforts to maintain or improve their health than ever before.”
Trend #5: Mobile Apps
Healthcare consumers are searching and sharing online, and mobile health apps are exploding in growth. Trend watchers expect health monitoring to become more portable and affordable. Yet the healthcare industry has been reluctant to catch the mobile wave.
Bellandi goes on to note, “Healthcare historically has been slow to adopt new technologies, but the explosive growth of apps from the App Store for iPhones and those available from Google for Android phones has gotten everyone’s attention.”
“With more than 7 billion downloads to date from Apple’s App Store alone and the rapid adaption of smart phones, mobile applications are a must for every healthcare company’s marketing plan. We are seeing some early apps in the health gaming area but are expecting a much broader selection in all areas of healthcare in the coming months and years.”
In addition to these five trends cited by Junto, Bellandi says healthcare professionals will see an increasing use of online physician directories and electronic health vaults.
“As electronic medical records (EMR) systems expand and are standardized, access to your electronic health information will increase. Consumers will not want to be tied to an electronic health vault that is aligned with only one healthcare company or service provider, but will want their own. They will keep their physician appointments here, their health records for themselves and their kids, and educational information that will allow them to better manage their health.
Broad Implications
Several of Bellandi’s key observations relate to any industry: the increasing maturity of consumers who research, compare, and seek advice from their networks before making a purchase; the expectations for “participatory marketing” from “Generation G” and other web- and social network-savvy consumers; and the growing importance of mobile platforms.
It shouldn’t be overlooked that these particular trends are not necessarily independent of one another. The explosion in always-on mobile internet access means that consumers can get advice from friends while they are standing in a store considering a purchase. Organizations can increase participant feedback during conferences by offering mobile-enabled forms, incentivizing participants with a prize drawing from among those submitting feedback.
As more and more consumers opt for internet-enabled phones – and an increasing portion rely only on their mobile devices, seldom connecting to a desktop, laptop or even a tablet – consumer expectations of how you will interact with them are rapidly evolving. The new paradigm of consumer connectedness has much to offer organizations willing to adapt, and even more to offer those who are willing to drive the evolution.