Although not always easy to put into practice, effective marketing is fairly straightforward if you possess a strong understanding of the core principles and can effectively work with your business partners. Marketing healthcare adds layers of complexities and complications that take time to fully understand. I hope this slide deck will help you navigate our industry just a little bit more easily.

1. 2021 update
alanshoebridge.com
Everything you need to
know about healthcare
marketing (in 5 slides)

2. Six long-term trends affecting healthcare
1. Mergers and acquisitions will continue
2. Retail is figuring out healthcare faster than healthcare is figuring out
retail (but healthcare is hard!)
➢ Amazon, Apple, Walgreens, Walmart and others are making inroads
into the healthcare industry
3. Patients would like to be better consumers, but we make it very difficult
4. We’ve moved from being almost independent of digital to highly
dependent on digital
5. What the heck is happening in DC?
6. What does the COVID-19 “recovery” look like?

3. One MAJOR new development
COVID-19 was the disruption the industry didn’t see coming
 Known impacts
➢ Staff burnout
➢ Patients delaying care
➢ Seriously impacted hospital/healthcare finances; rural hospitals suffering
➢ Strong initial shift to technology
 Unknown impacts
➢ When does COVID “end?”
➢ Will the innovation pace continue?
➢ Will there be even more industry consolidation?

4. One big challenge facing our profession
1. Product, price, promotion and place is a good, but not
perfect, framework for healthcare marketing
➢Many of our “products” aren’t right for marketing as they are
highly specialized and depend on referrals
➢People often don’t want our products until the moment they
need them: “I just broke my leg, what do I do now?”
➢Pricing doesn’t make sense and is highly variable
➢We have little ability to control the patient experience

5. Six questions you MUST always ask
1. Is there access for new patients?
2. Is the patient experience good?
3. Can people self-refer?
4. How are we going to measure results?
5. Is it profitable or strategically important?
6. What would really happen if we didn’t do this?

6. Four things you can do in 2021
1. Know your audience and target effectively
➢ Conduct research and ask patients/consumers what they want
2. Resist the temptation to “increase awareness” and strive for
improved preference (good) or action (better)
3. Use a mix of digital marketing, social media, PR and
“traditional” marketing
4. Build a marketing plan, work your plan and report out
➢ Measure: Aim for at least 50% of your tactics being measurable

7. alanshoebridge.com/blog-1
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Twitter: @alanshoebridge