Health Care Marketing

Hello, and welcome to today's post about marketing in the health care arena. I'm Chris Teague, and I thank you for reading my blog. Let's dive into the waters of health care marketing...

Do you have friends that think the pharmaceutical industry is an evil marketing machine? I do, and I find the rants and ravings of how horrible pharmaceutical advertising is to be quite entertaining. From my marketing perspective, I look at health care marketing as an art of persuasion that is rivaled by few in the marketing world.

Let's take a look at how this health care marketing process works. First, we have the initial condition. Take "restless legs" as our condition. Now, we all know that the problem with having restless legs is a lack of sleep. In fact, my wife will tell you how much she suffers from my moving legs! Instead of my diagnosis being called, "running in my sleep," I have been educated on the clinical terminology, so I now know that my actual condition could be restless legs. This education of the condition is the first step to health care marketing, and it is powerful.

What happens next? Well, I might actually take my wife seriously and go to a site like WebMD to see what this restless leg stuff is all about. Now, the marketing done to get me to this point really picks up a notch because I want a cure, right? I need to make my wife happy, and since I have pretty much self-diagnosed my condition, I now can find a remedy. It's on the final powerful tool of health care marketing.

What is the remedy for my condition? Why, it's a pill of course. However, I can't just go to the local drug store and pick up what I need. I must have a prescription, which requires me to see the doctor. This is the beauty of the marketing game! I am not only going to purchase the pill that cures my condition, but I also have a nice little co-pay for my doctor's visit. You see, the entire health care system wins in this scenario, which is a brilliant representation of the art of health care persuasion.

I was educated about a condition I didn't know existed before the advertisements and communication efforts hit the air waves. Once I learned I had symptoms for restless legs, I was convinced to take action. No, I wasn't directly told to go to WebMD, but I did because I knew it was a good resource of health care information. Finally, I discovered a solution and took the final step by going to see my doctor and having a prescription filled. Can you tell me that the art of persuasion isn't strong in health care marketing? You should try to apply this art to your marketing and see what happens.

Be great today because you can't tomorrow...

Your friend,
Chris Teague- an avid learner of marketing and its powerful uses