COVID-19 has had a ripple effect across practically every business, particularly in the healthcare field. The global pandemic of the coronavirus (COVID-19) has caused changes in advertising, marketing, promotional, and media spending, pushing businesses and brands to rethink existing and future advertising and marketing initiatives to retain a consistent stream of revenue. While companies are attempting to set the correct tone during a global health emergency, the future foreshadows market change, more competition, and a requirement for innovative and aggressive marketing strategies. As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, hospitals and health systems are altering their messaging to patients and the public.
As the world watched how countries dealt with COVID-19, a handful stood out for their rapid and effective response, South Korea. In December 2020, research named COVID-19: Lessons from South Korean Pandemic Communications Strategy was released (Choi & Powers, 2021). The study demonstrated how South Korea effectively conveyed crucial COVID-19 information through communications tactics, resulting in necessary citizen compliance.
A notion known as social marketing is at the center of it all (not to be confused with social media marketing). According to the study, social marketing fosters voluntary trade, which means that people will gladly accept what the messenger is giving if they genuinely believe it will benefit those (Choi & Powers, 2021). Fear and confusion are eradicated and replaced with a readiness to cooperate in public health messaging by offering transparent and thorough information communicated by reputable spokespeople across different media platforms.
ZocDoc, Vitals, and WebMD are well-known websites for those who work in healthcare communications. These websites are utilized not only as doctor directories but also to help patients make appointments. Patient Pop discovered that 42 percent of potential patients prefer to arrange an appointment online rather than contacting the office, as society embraces the convenience our digital world gives us. Furthermore, as of 2019, 66 percent of healthcare institutions in the United States had or intended to offer online scheduling (Hoekstra & Leeflang, 2020).
The benefits of a better digital experience do not end there. “The quality of [a] website plays a key impact in influencing consumer behavior and the retention effect rate,” says Hibah Khalil of the University of North Florida (Khalil, 2017). They discovered that the quality of a website affects reaching corporate goals and the consumer’s first intentions.
Digital content development is critical for various reasons, as evidenced by statistics like these, which highlight how crucial it is for firms to focus on their digital strategy. In 2018, for example, 80% of doctor.com survey respondents said they utilized the internet to search for healthcare information. According to the same survey, 63 percent of respondents would prefer one supplier over another if they had a compelling web presence (Teicher, 2020).
Healthcare providers used a hybrid content marketing strategy to stand out. This includes using blogs, social media marketing, videos, and a content hub on their website, among other things. Each piece of content contributes more to making your company appear more legitimate, trustworthy, and reliable than the others, removing the need for comparison. According to a survey by contently.com, videos are eight times more engaging than textual content, and 75 percent of marketers get a higher return on investment when they utilize visuals to deliver their messaging (Teicher, 2020). As a result, several healthcare organizations have begun to use social media platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and even TikTok.
Because of COVID-19, people’s daily lives have changed, so has the healthcare marketing paradigm. Brands are emphasizing nutritional value and physical distancing options like telehealth and digital engagement tools, according to pharma agencies strategies. Aspects of health and wellness, such as health protection, hygiene, and nutrition, have all become much more important to consumers, so brands are emphasizing nutritional value and physical distancing options like telehealth and digital engagement tools.
References
Choi, S., & Powers, T. L. (2021). COVID-19: Lessons from South Korean pandemic communications strategy. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 14(1), 271-279.
Hoekstra, J. C., & Leeflang, P. (2020). Marketing in the era of COVID-19. Italian Journal of Marketing, 1–12. Advance online publication. Web.
Khalil, H. (2017). The role of the quality of a website in consumer perception.
Teicher, J. (2020). State of Healthcare Content MARKETING: 5 Trends transforming the industry. Contently. Web.