Using mobile to improve healthcare marketing
February 02, 2009
By Eric Holmen for Mobile Marketer
As we enter into a new year and hopefully a new era of improved healthcare for all Americans, the rising cost of healthcare remains a top-level item on the agenda for the Obama administration.
The administration's budget director, Peter R. Orzag, is already looking at steps to "increase the efficiency of the health care system, develop greater use of health information technology and provide new incentives for disease prevention, healthy living and better care rather than more care."
This certainly is great news for the nation, but it's not expected that such improvements will happen quickly.
However, a number of forward-thinking healthcare agencies are already using mobile devices to improve emergency medical care, advance local health initiatives and to affect behavioral change across generations -- something that has previously proven difficult through a single communication channel.
The sheer scale, utility and omnipresence of mobile phones has formed a global network unrivaled by any other human innovation since the Internet, with society fully embracing the power of voice and text to connect with one another.
And while SMS messaging is rapidly emerging as the latest technological advancement to improve society's health behavior, mobile marketing is also allowing healthcare professionals to reach thousands, even millions, of people on a massive scale at significantly lower marketing costs than any traditional medium. It is also enabling healthcare practitioners across public and private sectors to capitalize on this powerful communication tool.
Here are some examples of how mobile healthcare initiatives might look like in the very near future:
DIABETES DAILY:
REPORT YOUR BLOOD SUGAR TO DBETES (323837). DON'T FORGET TO FOLLOW YOUR MEAL PLAN, THANKS! CALL 866-DBETES
REPORT YOUR WEIGHT TODAY, TO DBETES (323837). DON'T FORGET TO TAKE YOUR MEDS, THANKS! CALL 866-DBETES
Here, diabetes sufferers are enrolled in a prevention and monitoring program that prompts them to submit their blood sugar reading and weight levels daily.
Messages of less than 160 characters also remind patients to look after their condition by taking medication and following their meal plan.
Data is captured and stored to improve compliance and reliability, and gives case/health workers the ability to measure and review data over periods of time -- as well as spot any potential signs of trouble.
MT.HOLLY HA:
Pls tell us how you are feeling 2day, water/food consumed, pain level, mobility and overall condition. 1=excellent, 5=bad. Or login to www.mtholly/acare.org
Here, post-op or post-visit hospital patients receive a daily message to find out about their condition and to request data to monitor their recovery, including food/water consumption, pain levels and overall feeling.
Patients can also log-in to a microsite that will capture data, helping doctors and health worker to monitor their condition and alert them of a relapse or problem.
For the healthcare industry, the key to any successful mobile campaign is to develop a plan that will maximize the impact of each initiative, comply with existing laws and deliver messages that are relevant and wanted by the recipients.
And for this industry, we have found that mobile works best when used with other channels including IVR, Web or even traditional advertising.
For healthcare providers, there are some important points to consider when implementing a mobile marketing campaign.
Firstly, do not think of mobile as something to replace a traditional media channel in an existing marketing mix that has already proved successful.
Instead, think of mobile as an extension of reach to complement marketing existing efforts.
Secondly, when planning a mobile campaign, think long term.
As with other communications and outreach initiatives, if there is no solid strategy and longer-term goals to measure against, it is very hard to execute a campaign that will deliver results being anticipated. Mobile marketing is no different in that regard.
Following are a number of steps that we use when working with healthcare agencies and providers in developing mobile outreach campaigns and initiatives.
Step 1: Build a permission database
Obtaining permission is the cornerstone to a mobile campaign, delivered in an age where consumers have far greater choice than ever before to control the marketing messages they receive -- dictating how and when businesses can communicate with them.
We call this the permission marketing era, where organizations and providers must get permission to send messages from consumers and patients by asking them to opt-in to their marketing campaigns.
In this way, communications are respectful, engaging and, most of all, wanted by the recipient, making them far more valuable and effective than traditional advertising.
Step 2: What's the message?
Being relevant and focused is essential for mobile healthcare campaigns.
For example, we could be working on a campaign to raise ovarian cancer awareness, so including male recipients in this campaign is not going to be effective unless it is a message prompting men to raise this issue with female friends or family. Or take a reproductive health initiative -- we won't be targeting boomers or senior citizens with that message.
Keep messages simple, but compelling and make sure they are relevant and timely.
At this point, it is also important to view mobile marketing as transactional -- we are not just sending a message but starting a dialogue with an audience.
Keep this conversation going, by collecting data, monitor responsiveness towards campaigns and build relationships with the community.
Step 3: Choose the channels and integrate
Organizations must provide their subscribers with content and services that fit their lifestyle and improve their lives. So how is this achieved?
By ensuring that communications are integrated across all media channels, and these also include digital and interactive voice response.
As consumers shift their responsiveness from mass media to personalized messages, don't leave these languishing on a to-do list somewhere.
Get out of the print rut and learn how to fully integrate marketing channels to create awareness about important health initiatives.
Step 4: Think beyond the SMS
Mobile devices are always on, always connected and so should healthcare agencies be -- with the community and their needs, and preferences.
While SMS is the most recognized format of marketing via mobile, think beyond the traditional "HOWRU2DAY" message.
Think content downloads, surveys, health alerts such as vaccination reminders or even reminders for periodical check-ups and examinations -- all designed to provide important information and build relationships with the community and subscriber base.
Today, SMS messaging is really the only viable, interactive means of reaching people on a massive scale around the nation. The mobile channel also represents an enormous untapped potential for changing health behavior on a massive scale.
Our industry has the opportunity to help make the healthcare system more efficient, to help agencies make better use of existing data, to help reduce costs and to help consumers improve their health and their lives through a medium they understand and embrace.
We, mobile marketers, have the ability to help enact real, practical change in the fundamental way that health services use text and SMS messaging in the future, and improving the health of Americans along the way.
Eric Holmen is president of SmartReply Inc., a mobile and relationship marketing firm in Irvine, CA. Reach him at
eholmen@smartreply.com.