Healthcare Trends
Healthcare marketing developments B2C healthcare marketing: media on demand
Netflix, Twitter, Instagram and the like: the population’s media usage patterns have changed strongly over the last ten years. While the magazine market is under pressure, the market for video on demand (VoD) is booming. In many cases, online portals are replacing the morning newspaper read, and social media has grown into an everyday medium for exchange for most people. These new information and communication habits have left media agencies facing major challenges, however, they have also created new possibilities and opportunities for appealing to end consumers.
Whether on public transport, in the workplace or at a restaurant, the mobile phone held in the hand of many people is a visible manifestation of the major transformation of communication patterns brought about by digitalisation. The most important thing to note in this context is that the classic channels for information and communication have, to a significant extent, relocated to the internet. Print products have been eschewed for online formats, while radio and television are much less relevant sources for news consumption. The changed media usage also affects the healthcare market – and therefore the work of media agencies operating in this field. ‘Thanks to the digital dynamism of media usage, classic channels such as magazines are being increasingly questioned and, in part, substituted,’ explains Frank Suh, General Manager at healthcare media agency WEFRA LIFE MEDIAPLUS.
With digital channels increasingly taking the place of classic ones, what does that mean for the concrete steps taken for media consulting, strategy and planning? What do media agencies need to offer these days to safeguard success for their clients in this dynamic communications market?
New demands,
new solutions
In view of the rising number of media channels currently transforming, the advice provided needs to be absolutely neutral and independent, says Suh’s colleague Dr Sebastian Vögler, Co-General Manager at WEFRA LIFE MEDIAPLUS. He also says this is what clients expect as they now also wish for their planned media strategy to be covered by one company as far as possible. ‘Those which, for example, contracted search engine marketing, social media, programmatic/display and video advertising and lower-funnel initiatives to different agencies are now seeking to consolidate this in order to get around the intrinsic profit optimisation and self-optimisation in the individual disciplines.’ The success formula developed by WEFRA LIFE MEDIAPLUS involves ‘360-degree’ media consulting, ‘an all-inclusive package where all media categories are covered by healthcare specialists.’ The media planners are also seeing increased client requirements in relation to the stronger connection of awareness and sales measures. According to their observations, the entire patient journey, including the lower funnel/POS, needs to be taken into account and included in the planning. A further key requirement for a powerful, high-penetration healthcare marketing campaign for end consumers has remained the same in principle: the target audience analysis. These continue to be done by the agencies for the specific brand and indication as they have always been done. ‘Our standard suite of measures includes planning based on the target buyer audiences and using panel data from market research companies,’ Frank Suh explains, ‘Before we get to this planning, we provide intensive advice about using media to create a contrast from competitors.’ Classic media sees premium placements, special advertisement formats and cooperation partnerships being created with marketers, whereas in digital you develop client-specific, data-based solutions. However, Suh notes that the idea of a fixed, annual plan is outdated, ‘Contracting and billing for annual planning that is issued once and set in stone belongs in the past.’ He says that market trends need to be examined for efficiency and effectiveness repeatedly, for specific target audiences, and flexible optimisations made where needed. ‘What is important is to react to changing market conditions, including at short notice, and to seize new opportunities.’
Much has also changed in relation to the popularity of certain media formats in recent years. Video in particular has gained relevance in all sectors, and this is a trend that will last. ‘In social media, for example, static ads are being displaced by video,’ Frank Suh observes, ‘That is why integrated video planning – be it TV and online video, or YouTube or other video platforms – is a core element of our regular planning in order to optimise penetration and contact. TikTok, for instance, is increasingly being incorporated into the media mix, too.’ He adds that ad-financed VoD offerings are similarly of interest. ‘Consumers are willing to accept advertisements for free streaming offerings. Amazon Freevee, for example, is already in the market, while Netflix has followed suit with a lower-priced plan,’ Vögler says.
Keeping up, not standing still
Digitalisation will continue to have a strong influence on the preferences and habits of end consumers in the healthcare and health style markets in the future, too. This is also likely to bring greater autonomy for patients and consumers, Frank Suh predicts, ‘Consumers can take an increasingly active role in promoting and shaping their preventive healthcare and treatments thanks to digital connectivity.’
In a world of communication that is changing so rapidly, media agencies have the challenging task of optimally ensuring the visibility and effectiveness of the projects entrusted to them. Digitalisation provides them with an important tool for this: a deep data basis that can be used to identify or even anticipate trends. The second and in no way less important success factor in media work are the media planners themselves, who are capable of combining a knowledge of numbers with an ability to empathise with the target audience – they are, by nature, part of that very target audience that the message is trying to reach.