Our Healthcare Practice

Marketing to the New Healthcare Consumer

By Robert S. Shulman, Founder Markitecture

Let’s start by defining just who are/is this “new health care” consumer. They are defined by the following four characteristics:

They are skeptical of institutions, such as their government, the FDA, healthcare companies/providers, and big brand pharma companies.
They are aging (baby boomers) who have recognized their own mortality and are freaking out – and they are desperate for solutions. They are seeking alternative medicine, cosmetic elective surgeries and are endlessly searching for cures to chronic main stream illness such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and they have the means to fund those endless searches. And yet, in light of their skepticism a seeming disconnect- distrust – of institutions causes them to step up their own search for solutions, many times coming around to those same institutions with a voracious, almost insatiable appetite for health care leading to an openness to try new products that can help them.
They are changing relationships with traditional healthcare providers – a sort of “Democratic Revolution.” Physicians are demanding information and attention; Hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are equally demanding attention and all of these are desperately seeking answers along with customer service. Ultimate consumers of health care are using their voices to put pressure on these institutions demanding changes and innovation to help them.
They are in recognition of the exploding cost of health care creating “haves” and “have nots” and working hard to be a “have”.

There is no simple solution about how to market to this “new healthcare” consumer – here are some “musts” however:

Pick a target segment – too broad an approach will produce undesirable results.
Differentiate your brand, taping into the key characteristics described above as defining the consumer: skepticism, mortality driven, openness to try new products, service-needy, informed, and cost sensitive.
Do your homework – the cost of failure is rising rapidly.