Putting the Human Back In Healthcare Marketing

Traditional marketing strategies utilized by retail brands and airlines often don’t work for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Unlike other categories, healthcare marketers need to build relationships with people who don’t want a connection with their product.  

“When you get a diagnosis, it’s a club you never asked to join,” CEO of Publicis Health Media Andrea Palmer said. 

This year at the Leadership in Brand Marketing Summit at SXSW in Austin, Andrea and Chief Revenue Officer at Swoop Katie Carr came together to discuss the unique challenges of healthcare marketing, putting the human perspective into messaging, and the ways AI transforms patient engagement.

Health’s the most human thing.

A new diagnosis or treatment often leaves patients feeling vulnerable and exposed, and the marketing materials frequently come across as impersonal. Andrea advocated for brands to approach their campaigns as a relationship and conversation instead of using common ad techniques and impersonal messages. 

• Effective campaigns embrace personalization. Andrea recalled working on an HIV campaign that resonated with the patient community. “You have to create trust and relationships that are long term and constantly evolving,” Andrea said. “Digital communities help us understand not only if someone has the diagnostic markers that make them eligible but also know if they need support.”  People reached out to say they felt seen and understood by the brand. “That’s when we know we’ve done our job, when we know someone as a person, not just a patient,” Andrea said. 
  
  
• Strategy unlocks the real value of data in healthcare marketing. Constantly testing your creative, audience responses, and media buying is the heart of data strategy, and the brands that continually dig into their data are the ones that deliver authentic connections. 

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