Last month I identified several healthcare impact trends to track on your strategic radar. Following are priorities to consider for next year’s tactical marketing and sales plans.
Customer Segmentation – Understanding the lifestyle attributes of your prospects can provide an important competitive edge. Statistically sound customer data can recognize buying patterns and, help anticipate (rather than simply react to) customers’ needs. A narrowcasted view of your markets will define what messages and vehicles are most effective in reaching the most prospects.
Market Intelligence – Overtaking competitors requires an ability to evaluate their best practices, understand vulnerabilities and learn from their strategies. Competitive intelligence is an integral part of any enterprise. Learning from the opposition requires dissecting underlying motivations behind an organization's leadership, brand position, operations, marketing mix, and financial structure. Turn information into actionable intelligence.
Brand Differentiation – The ability to influence the market through a unique selling proposition that rises above the “sea of sameness” is critical. It takes distinctive messaging to articulate the most compelling features of your products or services. Then, link these features to benefits for your customers. In an environment of product commoditization, differentiation will come from a brand that’s both credible to the customer and has competitive muscle.
New Marketing – Customers are now dictating where, when and how they want their information. Search engines are changing sales cycles and redefining brands. Marketing has gone from one-way communication to a focus on building a relationship with the digital consumer. Advertising has moved from monologue to dialogue. With blogs and social networking, suddenly every web-savvy customer has the ability to provide an opinion.
Lead Generation – Growth relies on a robust new business pipeline. One of the most predictable prospecting methods is direct response…leads, leads, leads! Execution must be balanced and grounded in core DR principles. Customer data must be segmented for maximum targeting. Messaging must be persuasive and have a compelling call to action. Media must blend a range of target-specific tactics. And, tracking must accurately measure marketing ROI.
Distribution Expansion – Availability of detailed customer information is making single source distribution obsolete. The opportunity to effectively act on these information gems requires multiple sales channels. Sole reliance on an inside sales force or agent-driven outlets, such as captive, career or MGA, have become too limiting. They need to be complemented with direct-to-consumer selling that encourages instant customer interaction via Web or telephone.
Reverse Mentoring – Do you suffer from fogeyism, an adherence to old-fashioned ideas and intolerance of change? Try reverse mentoring—the coaching of senior staff by younger people in the organization in areas such as information technology, social networking, and mobile communications. For years, forward-thinking companies have used mentoring to pass experience downward (http://www.lindsayresnick.com/healthcare_strategy/2007/05/index.html). Given Gen Y’s technology prowess, reverse mentoring is a way to share knowledge, upward.
Healthcare marketing and sales executives will be hard pressed to meet customer acquisition and member retention expectations in a year of economic woe. This is complicated when competitors are working extra hard to steal your customers. By keeping a close eye on your marketing and sales tactics, and being quick to adjust, you increase chances for success.