It’s no secret that women are the primary decision-makers for consumer goods in the majority of households. And as much as 80-90% of all healthcare decisions are made or influenced by women. Yet it appears that the healthcare industry isn’t talking to women, failing to take into account their unique perspectives and experience as they develop and launch their marketing campaigns.
The women’s healthcare market is an underdeveloped opportunity, with two-thirds of women stating that they feel misunderstood by many healthcare companies. With the global healthcare industry estimated at $6.5 trillion, a healthcare marketing company that can really understand what women want, and develop campaigns that appeal to their buying needs and habits, will be better positioned to uncover and leverage huge healthcare marketing opportunities.
In two-thirds of all American households, women make the primary health care decisions and are more likely to choose the family’s health insurance. It also appears that women are more in touch and connected with health providers, staying up to date with the importance of check ups and shouldering the responsibility for the family. Yet women are also struggling with the growing amount of information online, and confidence in their ability to make good health decisions.
One of the biggest differences in healthcare marketing to women is building trust and satisfaction. That means tapping into their needs. Far from just using the color pink in advertising, along with some cliché-feminine taglines, women want to build a connection with brands, through trust and a deep understanding of their needs and desires. Women want to see their own behaviors exhibited in advertising, with genuine authenticity, such as true stories from people just like themselves. A good healthcare marketing company must take the time and patience to truly understand what women want, and then develop and market products that can help meet those specific goals.
The Internet and social media is a primary source of information for women so a healthcare marketing company must provide practical, useful and relevant information. Keeping your company’s website up to date is critical. Social media is also key, with research carried out by Lucid Marketing and HeardItFromAMom.com revealing that 84% of moms share health-related information via email and 69% often share via Facebook. Moms were also shown to go to Facebook and email for news (83%), and perhaps most importantly, 63% trusted word-of-mouth recommendations from other moms and 56% were likely to pass it along.
In general, women typically have a longer checklist of important factors when making decisions, including a preference for peer-to-peer recommendations. Websites with a healthy selection of reviews will be more appealing to women, something a healthcare marketing company can easily help manage.
[related_content] Online advertising is also a vital component of any healthcare marketing campaign, with women more engaged online than men. And digital advertising should lead to further dialogue with your target women consumers – through videos, webinars, blog posts and other valuable content.
With women holding such an important role in decision making for healthcare, healthcare marketing companies must strive to truly understand women’s needs and desires in order to identify and develop appropriate solutions and healthcare marketing campaigns. Advertising messages and realistic portrayals based on a deep knowledge of the desired female target market will help companies connect with women and assist their health needs.
Editor’s note: This post was originally posted in June 2016 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Posted on July 24, 2017 by Gretchen Kalthoff
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