Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Marketing with Google

Finding Clarity in the Uncertainty: Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Marketing with Google

In today’s fast-paced world of marketing and advertising, finding clarity in the uncertainty is a challenge we all face. Our ability to adapt, evolve, and make informed decisions is essential. This sentiment rings especially true in healthcare marketing, where recent years have seen unprecedented changes and challenges. In this article, we explore how healthcare marketing can navigate this ever-evolving landscape.

Maximizing Marketing Metrics for Business Priorities

It’s critical to align marketing strategies with your business’s core priorities. In the healthcare industry, this involves a multi-faceted approach:

1. Maximizing Volume and Sophisticated Tracking: One of your primary business objectives is always to maximize revenue and sales. Achieving this requires a deep focus on volume, but not at the expense of quality. Sophisticated tracking mechanisms are essential to monitor the effectiveness of marketing efforts. This involves not only tracking the number of leads and conversions but also understanding the customer’s journey from awareness to conversion, and having deep tracking throughout that journey.
2. Marriage of Offline Conversions: Maximizing profit from sales entails marrying up offline conversions with online activities. In the healthcare sector, offline conversions might include clinic or hospital visits. By connecting these offline actions to digital marketing initiatives, you gain a holistic view of your customer’s journey and can optimize your strategies accordingly.
3. Forecasted Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): The ability to predict the lifetime value of a customer and the return on investment from advertising spend is invaluable. This allows you to allocate resources efficiently and make data-driven decisions. 

 

As mentioned earlier, we have all undergone significant business transformations. The pandemic accelerated changes and challenges, making it clear that what got us here won’t get us “there.” 

1. Rapid Growth of E-commerce: The pandemic condensed a decade’s worth of e-commerce growth into mere months. Consumers embraced online shopping and virtual healthcare services, demonstrating a shift in behavior that’s here to stay.
2. Consumer Impatience and Time Saving: Today’s health consumers are driven by impatience and a desire to save time. They seek convenience, and this needs to be a central focus for healthcare marketing strategies. Giving them detailed information at the tip of their fingers is critical now more than ever. 
3. Historic vs. Future-Focused: Healthcare has long been tied to historic trends, but it’s time to embrace future-forward innovations. Digital media and new ways of consuming information are no longer a nice-to-have but an imperative. As stated above, we (as healthcare professionals) must provide tangible value at the click of a mouse. 

The Evolving Customer Journey

The customer journey in healthcare is changing, and marketers must adapt:

1. The Empowered Patient Shift: The trend that we’re moving along is that we need to move patients from being merely connected to their health to being empowered about their health. This empowerment comes through information and relatability with others who share their experiences in the healthcare community.
2. The Hunger for Information: Consumers are hungry for information, but they’re tired of the constant bombardment of “buy this” and “book that” messages. We must provide relevant, informative content that is key to engagement.
3. The Rise of Long-Form Video: Especially in healthcare, long-form informational video has become essential.  Google and YouTube are the top two choices for patients seeking information (followed by family and doctors themselves). Marketers should invest in creating high-quality, informative video content to reach audiences effectively.

The Unignorable Role of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming an integral part of the marketing landscape and healthcare will be no exception. Generative AI is that which “unlocks a world of creativity.” Content generation, chatbots, and personalized recommendations are just a few examples of this specific AI-driven capability.

Predictive & Analytical AI is that which “optimizes the world around us.” Predictive algorithms in Google, for example, help us in forecasting trends and making informed decisions. Analytical AI enhances data interpretation, allowing for better-targeted marketing efforts.

It’s important to remember that in the healthcare marketing space, you aren’t competing with AI; you’re competing with marketers who are effectively utilizing AI and embracing these tools can help you stay ahead in the game. It involves aligning your marketing strategies with business priorities, staying informed about evolving consumer behaviors, and harnessing the power of AI to enhance your efforts. While challenges do exist, with the right strategies, healthcare marketing can navigate this ever-evolving landscape and thrive in the face of uncertainty.