The intent of a well-developed digital strategy is to attract and engage consumers. “Consumers” means everyone—not just patients: from at-risk populations still outside the health system to employees and more. How can you ensure your digital strategy meets the needs of your community and ensure engagement once solutions are launched to meet those needs?
In conjunction with the 2022 Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development (SHSMD) Connections annual conference, marketing and strategy executives gathered near Washington, D.C., this fall to discuss best practices, successes and challenges in engaging our communities in digital strategy to maximize success. Their thoughts are summarized in a new report. These were the top insights from the report.
Marketing experts agree that an effective digital strategy for engaging our communities involves a deliberate focus on:
- Human-centered design (HCD) | HCD means starting with the consumer’s needs and wants in mind rather than starting with what we want to tell consumers, which can result in incorrect assumptions. HCD should be embedded in the culture of our health care system. It involves getting feedback from the people we are trying to serve, a willingness to hear what is broken, and piloting new initiatives slowly so we can make course corrections along the way until we are truly meeting the needs of our community.
- Care coordination | Care coordination is helping consumers find the appropriate care unique to them and making it easy to take the next step in their health care journey. It’s the human touch that says, “Let me schedule that for you.” Care co- ordination helps retain referrals after an interaction, decreases costs and wasted resources, and helps unclog the system. It’s a win-win for patients and the health care system.
- Health equity | Marketing teams need to solicit as diverse inputs as possible rather than relying on the same types of people over and over again. Reaching an under- served population often takes more time and money—and thinking creatively. One key to impacting health equity is partnering with trusted advisors in communities who can help build bridges and connect health care resources and education with those who most need it.
- Better data governance and CRM that spans the continuum of care | Health care marketing experts are working to bring customer relationship management up to the level of other industries.There is a need for tools to track and serve a patient’s health care journey from beginning to end—while trying to avoid overwhelming and confusing consumers with too many apps. Marketers are trying to better lever- age artificial intelligence (AI) to automate not just appointment reminders but all kinds of follow-up information with patients or would-be patients to improve care coordination. They are working hard to partner with physicians and other stake- holders to improve trust and give them the confidence to cooperate with digital health transformation, such as online scheduling.
The new report dives into these key findings with quotes and insights from a range of marketing executives, including representatives from Cedars Sinai, Renown Health, and UNC Health. Download the full report for more details.