Healthcare Marketing in Nigeria - Excerpts from my discourse on the Brief Faculty.

Today’s Topic is Healthcare Marketing.

I currently lead the marketing team at SYNLAB Nigeria – a multinational Medical Diagnostic Firm.

The Healthcare sector has understandably been somewhat ignored by marketing professionals.

Hopefully, by the end of today’s discourse. Some people here may consider looking at healthcare space and change the way its marketing is being done.

So Healthcare Marketing is basically marketing strategies for healthcare providers, insurers, suppliers and advocacy groups use to attract new patients and increase awareness of their healthcare business.

Have you ever thought about it? how does hospitals, laboratories, health centres, and fertility clinics market their services? 

The health sector is conservative and highly regulated - No ATL advertisements, No kickbacks or referral commission and a whole more regulations.

A profound insight that someone pointed out here was that Medical regulations said No Advertising. Healthcare Practitioners understood that to mean No Marketing.

This is so insightful, as one of my mentors Mr Idiare Atimomo also pointed out, there are more tools in your toolbox than advertising.

Let us dive in and ruffle the toolbox for some tools, shall we?

So think about it, how did you choose your hospital? Asides from Emergencies?

 My First guess would be word of mouth from Medical Professionals, HMO lists or friends.

I realised on starting my role that the focus for most healthcare companies had been hitherto had been B2B, focusing mainly on Doctors, Hospitals, HMOs, Head of Labs and the likes. Which has obviously worked well for a long time

 However, you and I know that customers have taken over. It didn’t take me long to figure out how important it is to start focusing on B2C strategies.

I will be sharing a a few of the ways Healthcare Marketers can make a notable difference in the industry. Based on my experience.

 1.       Design the Consumer Experience End to End.

The consumer has been so increasingly aware of his/her power and ability to choose.

The days where the Doctors are seen as the ultimate decision makers are fast fading. People can now verify diagnosis, treatments and drugs online. Infact, everyone should!

I remember going window-shopping for hospitals last year. Yes oh, I was pregnant with my second, and I was determined that no HMO was going to force an hospital on me. I will choose by myself. I was going from one hospital to another to check.

I wanted to know where the labour room looked like, how equipped the hospital was, what the bathrooms/toilets looks like, in –house labs or not, neonatal ward, How clean is the hospital, who are the doctors, nurses? Etc…

Some hospitals declined and say they couldn't show me their facilities, In my mind, your loss!

In actual fact, it was their loss. I ended up spending close to 1M naira having my baby.

I chose the best hospital on my list, after I had verified them and checked everything possible. After all, I am going to be trusting this doctor andhospital with my life.

The Consumer Journey in the Healthcare industry is a tricky one- mostly because it is an emotional journey. Most of the time, the customers are grudgingly buying the product.

On this journey, lies the opportunity to make the end to end process an unforgettable experience. These consumers then become your brand loyalists who spread the word without any compensation. 

Most of my time at work is spent designing the customer experience from the moment the patient walks into our facility till he/she goes out.

2.       Content Marketing

Many studies have revealed that healthcare content is the second -most searched for service online. With so many people seeking expert healthcare information, it is important to capture these searches with relevant and unique content. In Digestible contents!

Developing content that answers patient’s questions and addresses their points is key to writing valuable content.

In this sector, Content is everything. This generation is spoilt for choice, such that we have overload of information to draw from.

 My son had rashes, I googled rashes and look for possible causes and solutions. Guess what, I was able to narrow down to few possible outcomes, by the time I went in to see a paediatrician, I could articulate what the issues were.

You need your content to be there when someone is looking for reliable information on their health concerns or symptoms. 

These content can be on your site, and/or on other sites that is trusted.

For example, if you work with a Children’s clinic. It would be very rewarding to have some of your quality content on sites like Babycenter, Mamalette and the likes.

I work with Medical Doctors and Scientists everyday. They are smart and know their stuffs. However, most of the content needs to be rejigged to suit a lane man. This is why they need you and me.

Have you seen Medical Doctors’ handwriting? Like seriously, nobody is meant to read that.

I want to know what my doctor is writing, I want to check it online and understand it better, I need answers. Healthcare consumers are more curious than before, don’t blame us…we have information at our feet.

 In creating these content, we need to put our readers in mind, would my reader understand ‘Gluthatione’ or are there other words that are more comprehensible?

Content can be videos, articles, documentaries, designs. Decide the best platform to get maximum traction.

The demonstration of knowledge can build trust in potential patients/clients before they even see you.

Healthcare marketers must invest in designing and implementing a solid content strategy 

3.       SEO Optimisation

Ranking top on Google Search is so important as people are always looking for stuffs on line. Your content needs to be optimised for people to easily find you.

Few SEO tips would be;

•  Use the right Keywords
• The right headline
• Write on trending topics - if there is an epidemic, jump on it fast.
• Be on the first page - top half if possible for searches relating to you.
• Optimize your mobile. People check for information on their mobile devices.

Lots of tweaking, evaluating results, monitoring web traffic to understand the pattern and maximize these visits for conversion.

 4.       Social Media Marketing

It is a no-brainer to be strong on social. Share visual contents, videos, tips, world heath days, campaigns etc. And most importantly know your TA very well to tailor your engagements to suit them.

Social Media is especially tricky because of ethics and privacy. Medical Professionals can only advise and not necessarily diagnose on social media. You cannot share customer’s stories or private information, so its usually an online to offline funnel for people to come in and see a specialist.

Being creative, telling compelling stories, building community engagements are creative ways to maximise the social media presence.

Truth is Digital is changing the way Healthcare Marketing is done, all the restrictions in ATL advertisement cannot apply on digital. So Invest in Digital. I know of a mid-sized IVF clinic; whose revenue is 80% digital.

In conclusion, the industry needs some of us who would find fulfilment in public health advocacy, to dig deep and specialise. I can assure you that this is a career path worth exploring.

A number of multinational healthcare companies are coming in, hospitals are getting huge funding; International NGOs wants to be associated with Africa. In short, the industry has been experiencing major investments in recent times. It is going to get even more. 

The Healthcare Marketing in Nigeria is not as evolved as the foreign counterpart - well, our healthcare system is not encouraging to be fair, however, as the sector rapidly grows, we need experienced marketing professional who understands the industry and can uncover insights to effective communication.

Thank you. I will be on standby for questions.