Five Things your Healthcare Marketing Agency Must Have
How to go about choosing a great healthcare marketing agency in India
The consumerisation of the healthcare industry has brought with it certain challenges for healthcare institutions, making it imperative to hire a healthcare marketing agency to reach out to its audiences and engage meaningfully with patients. However, healthcare marketing agencies need to be specialised and cannot be placed in a general basket of marketing services. Healthcare services as a field caters to a very critical service in society that is unlike any other. So it is important to carefully consider who you hire as your healthcare marketing agency.
Things to look for in your healthcare marketing agency in India
Healthcare industry experience
The experience that the agency has in the field of healthcare is extremely important. You want your marketing agency to be thinking two steps ahead of you – not for you to have to constantly be mentoring them on the ins and outs of the industry. This is something you can look out for by understanding people who helm the team, as well as other associated services that they provide. What are the team’s areas of expertise related to the healthcare industry? Is this a company that understands the entirety of the healthcare industry?
The marketing agency needs to understand associated risks that are generally involved in healthcare services. Is your agency HIPAA Compliant? Do they understand the general rules that must be followed in any communication by a healthcare provider?
Data focus and ROI driven
Your marketing agency must be talking in terms of measurable goals. While out-of-the-box ideas are perhaps what you are looking for, anything needs to be interlaced with a sound data mining plan and a way to measure outcomes. Make sure that outcomes defined are tangible and results are measurable, or else there may only be a lot of great ideas, opportunities tried but wasted and a relationship that will ultimately sour because you are unable to see any action translating into results at the bottom line.
Credible and proven
Ask your marketing agency for case examples of other clients from the field that they have worked with and the impact that they were able to make. While looking up online reviews is definitely helpful, how agencies are able to demonstrate their impact on healthcare businesses that they have engaged with in the past is extremely useful.
Integrated marketing
Your healthcare marketing agency should ideally be an integrated marketing agency, capable of using traditional and digital media in their marketing strategy. A digital marketing strategy without any perspective on other mediums could completely cut off a huge demographic that you will be wanting to reach out to. Integrated marketing also looks at weaving marketing strategies through various processes and opportunities that are present within existing healthcare services. A good marketing strategy afterall cannot simply be allocated to one manager – it needs to be built into the very fabric of your institution.
Creative thinking
Your healthcare marketing agency should be able to conceptualise creative ways of communicating with your audience. There are several kinds of healthcare marketing agencies in India to choose from that each have a different take on creative thinking. It is important to get a feel of how the team would approach a marketing campaign to see how they fit with your brand. Your marketing agency should also be able to look at creative problem solving, capable of finding novel ways of reaching your target audience and taking advantage of existing opportunities without having to reinvent the wheel. A creative and design thinking organisation can achieve better ROI.