eHealth Articles & White Papers
The Changing Landscape of Online Communications
Linda Barnes - Vice President of Business Development
One of the interesting challenges in marketing is determining which channels are most appropriate to which audiences - and to address which topics. To date, "the Internet" has been considered one channel, but in reality, the Web gives us opportunities to talk to our many audiences in various ways.
Marketers have long segmented their traditional marketing efforts, focusing at various times on print pieces, radio, television, outdoor advertising and direct mail, among others. As website usage by health consumers has grown, the sophistication of online communications within healthcare has increased, and organizations are beginning to develop similar strategies to segment their online efforts.
The expanding toolbox
At one time, just having a public website was considered online marketing. But now there is a continuously growing list of options to leverage a hospital's website - not to mention the seemingly endless opportunities provided by social networking.
To help evaluate the many tools at a marketer's disposal, it's helpful to mentally break them down into three general categories of communications - broadcast, dialogue, and community that simultaneously look at both the sender(s) and receiver(s).
Broadcast: One-to-many communications
Most healthcare marketers feel comfortable with broadcast communications because they have long been using them to air their messages. These one-to-many communications channels allow marketers to reach a large group of people using a single message.
Traditional broadcast communication channels include television, radio, signage (outdoor and transit), while online broadcast communications typically include public websites and generic (non-targeted) email messages.
Broadcast communications continue to be excellent vehicles for building community awareness and enhancing brand. However, they have limitations. The reach of broadcast communications is balanced by the generic nature of the information that can be effectively conveyed through them.
It is also difficult to focus broadcast communications on particular audiences, making them inefficient ways to manage targeted promotions.
Dialogue: One-to-one communications
While broadcast communications have historically been the bread and butter of marketing communications, the effectiveness of personalized communications have made them increasingly popular. Tailoring marketing messages to resonate with an individual make them much more successful. This is equally true online and offline.
Personal dialogue - one-to-one communications - deliver messages from the organization to an individual that is relevant and makes his or her interaction with the organization easy and effective.
Traditional channels include targeted direct mail pieces, patient encounters with their providers, call center communications, and messages on hospital bills. Online tools, which have come a long way in enabling personalization, include patient portals, personalized URLs, and email.
Community: Many-to-many communications
Social communications are conversations that happen between groups of people and may happen with or without the organization's participation. Traditionally, social conversations about medical conditions, doctors and hospitals took place among small groups of acquaintances around the dinner table or in other social settings, such as support groups.
However with the advent of online social networking, commonly called Web 2.0, these conversations have been given unprecedented reach. Blogs, videos, tweets, or other social networking activities provide commentary that among some demographics may be seen as more valuable than corporate messages, and therefore, highly influential.
Fortunately, unlike dinner table conversations, online conversations are largely accessible to healthcare marketers. The minimal role for an organization in this community conversation is to be sure they listen, track consumer sentiment, and have an awareness of the conversation. Even better, they should be prepared to respond constructively or offer feedback to continue the conversation.
Blurring of the lines
Many healthcare marketers will go a step further, choosing to engage in the online conversations. But when an organization gets engaged in the conversation, consumers often expect them to resolve their issues.
The best brands across a variety of industries are doing just that: addressing customers' concerns in real time. That has the effect of bringing the community conversation back to a one-to-one dialogue, where the organization is speaking directly to an individual - yet ‘overheard' by the rest of the community.
Like other organizations that have effectively inserted themselves in social media conversations, healthcare organizations need cross-functional customer service staff that track customer concerns online and are empowered to act for that individual, while still understanding the impact of that conversation taken in a broader context.
Guidelines for moving forward
When looking at how the array of online and offline communications channels fit together, it's critical to remember the basics. Each channel is simply a tool to solve a communication challenge.
The channels still require the development of a coherent communications strategy that addresses how the messages and online and offline channels work together to build a strong brand and communicate appropriately with consumers.
