The digital healthcare space is growing now more than ever and it is set to hit new levels in 2019.
As technology advances and healthcare systems adapt, there’s no better time than the present to get your marketing up to speed and take advantage of the big changes coming up in 2019.
Here are six health technologies set to make waves in 2019.
1. Personalized mobile apps
The market for people wanting a convenient method to check up on their health is growing. Whether is tracking a run, measuring your heart rate or simply counting steps, there’s an app for it. As a healthcare marketer, you should be making the most of it.
By creating your own digital tools that customers can access at their fingertips, you’re allowing your business to grow in a way that needs minimal effort from you after launch.
Apps simply work as another channel to grow your business, without having to take extra time to see clients in person and putting extra pressure on staff.
Really, it’s a win-win situation. Out of all the health technologies out there, this is probably the one with the least hands-on effort from you.
2) Virtual reality
Medical virtual reality is about to take the healthcare world by storm. Traditionally, VR experiences have been associated with the gaming world for quite some time now, but its abilities outside of this sector are endless.
Virtual reality has been successfully leveraged to broadcast groundbreaking operations live to thousands of other doctors, treat soldiers with PTSD and fight the opioid crisis.
Most recently, Johnson & Johnson created a virtual reality training solution to help doctors improve in a safe yet realistic educational environment. The technology uses a combination of digital learning tools to teach orthopedic surgeons, nurses and medical students how to conduct various medical procedures.
Almost 80% of the surgeons who saw the procedure said they would love to use the technology frequently for their own training and 92% said they would recommend it to their medical peers.
The level of engagement introduced by J&J could be hugely beneficial to all healthcare organizations.
Customize the technology to suit your business and see your brand thrive.
3) Prep for voice searches
According to Digital Authority, voice search technologies soared over the past year with the rise of Amazon’s Alexa, and now the handy technology is proving to be beneficial to the healthcare industry too.
For example, the Amazon team working on Alexa is now looking into allowing caregivers the ability to keep track of the glucose levels of their loved ones.
Amazon saw the gap in the market and launched a health and wellness team, which all marketers should now be keeping a close eye on.
In addition, patients searching for healthcare options want to find somewhere nearby, which means your digital strategy should be optimized for local searches. To aim for the top Google result, use SEO on a local level through geotagging and local keywords. The content you create should be location-specific to connect you with potential clients effectively.
4) Data can be used to predict and prevent health issues
One of the biggest cardiovascular health technologies in recent years has been the effective implementation of data analytics in healthcare. Complex data analyzation (or ‘big data’) has been used to detect the top five critical factors for predicting the risk of someone having heart disease.
Doctors are set to have access to huge databases in the near future that will help them predict a patient’s likelihood of developing a heart condition. This will be highly personalized too at a patient level to the extent that the confidence rate for this technology is already at around 80% in 2018. Doctors will soon be able to enter their patient’s information and be given a prediction.
It is important that all healthcare services start to implement similar services, not only to speed up their line of work but to allow for this technology to take away some of the pressure from doctors who are already overworked as it is.
5) Chatbots will help personalize care without overworking staff
Chatbots are a great way for patients to access a human-like chat about a medical issue to assess the situation before taking up the time of a doctor. Healthcare staff are so overworked that this technology will come as a welcome relief.
The artificial intelligence behind many chatbots on the market today offers improvement in the organization of patients, managing prescriptions and helping in emergency situations.
Chatbots are already advanced enough to collect routine information from a patient and pass it to the healthcare staff. This technology can be easily integrated with other healthcare systems already in use to act as a helping hand.
Healthcare chatbots leave plenty to look forward to as the technology develops and gives more people handy, accessible healthcare.
6) Take advantage of video marketing
Uploading videos to your social media platforms or websites is a brilliant way to create an automatic connection with customers and make them more likely to share your content with others. Clients who watch videos of your staff discussing the company’s healthcare services will immediately feel they can trust the business more and can rely on the company to provide good customer service.
The idea is that the videos create a human element to your business, meaning that potential clients will already feel like they know you before walking through the door.
To keep the attention of your audience, videos should be no longer than 30 to 59 seconds in length. Make sure to use subtitles for those who wish to watch without sound and to allow screen readers to work.
Try to avoid simple, long interviews and instead provide overlays of the services you provide to keep the viewer interested. It is estimated that by 2019, 8% of mobile traffic will be video, so it’s important to be ahead of the game.
Also, consider live streaming to reach a large customer base.
People who follow your social media accounts will be automatically notified when you’re going live. Try implementing competitions, i.e. ‘win a year’s supply of vitamins by sharing our Livestream’ to increase the audience you are reaching and get more people interested in your pages.
This post comes from Digital Authority Partners, a Chicago healthcare marketing agency.
