Imagine a scenario where you want to test how your patients would respond to a new email offer. You go through the lengthy process of compiling a mailing list, cleaning it up, fine-tuning the copy and design, and getting the necessary approvals. Finally, after five weeks, you’re ready to go.
In a world where consumers make split-second decisions and expect immediate solutions, waiting five weeks for an email test pushes your healthcare organization to the brink of irrelevance. Unfortunately, for many healthcare organizations, such a glacial pace is standard.
However, the landscape is changing rapidly, and one of the drivers behind this transformation is the rise of private equity-backed rollups. They’re not only reshaping the healthcare industry but also accelerating the demand for agile marketing technologies tailored specifically to healthcare organizations.
What’s agile marketing, you may ask?
Simply put, it’s an innovative data-driven methodology that focuses on delivering value to customers quickly and continuously. This revolutionary approach emphasizes collaboration, experimentation, and adaptability, enabling you to pivot your strategies rapidly and respond to market changes with ease. Unlike traditional marketing, where strategies are mapped out months in advance, agile marketing is all about testing and learning, refining campaigns based on real-time data, and adapting quickly to maximize results.
In healthcare, agile marketing can be a game-changer that empowers you to develop and execute campaigns efficiently. With healthcare consumerism on the rise, patients are more empowered than ever before, seeking out personalized, convenient, and value-driven care experiences. On the other hand, agile marketing in healthcare allows you to create patient-centric campaigns that resonate with your target audience, increase engagement, and drive patient loyalty.
If you’re feeling like you’ll pass on this idea, let’s remind you of the significant growth of private equity in the healthcare industry over the last twenty years. In 2000, PE deals amounted to $5 billion, which skyrocketed to a staggering $725.4 billion in 2018, and crossed the monumental $1 trillion mark in 2021. Just last year, private equity firms and PE-backed companies closed around 863 deals in healthcare services.
If agile marketing in healthcare still hasn’t caught your attention, think about this — do you want to stay behind the curve or be at the forefront, delivering timely and efficient value to your patients?
How Agile Marketing in Healthcare Meets the Changing Needs
While PE-backed roll-ups in the healthcare industry bring numerous benefits, including accelerated growth and operational efficiencies, they also present a unique set of challenges that require you to adapt your marketing strategies.
First of all, healthcare organizations that undergo rollups often expand their operations across multiple states, opening themselves to complexities due to varying regulatory frameworks, diverse patient demographics, and regional dynamics. Agile marketing in healthcare proves valuable in this context as it allows you to adapt your marketing strategies to meet the specific requirements of each state. By being flexible, you can tailor your messaging, campaigns, and outreach efforts to resonate with the unique characteristics of each market.
Similar to technology startups, healthcare rollups prioritize growth as a key objective. This approach entails a focus on metrics such as growth rates, total addressable market (TAM), and shorter time horizons for achieving desired outcomes. On the other hand, agile marketing in healthcare aligns well with this mindset as it enables you to be nimble and responsive to changing market dynamics. When you constantly monitor performance, iterate strategies, and leverage data-driven insights, you can optimize growth opportunities and adapt your marketing efforts accordingly.
In addition to this, when healthcare organizations undergo rollups, business executives with non-medical backgrounds often take over leadership positions, shaping the direction of the organization. They also bring a fresh perspective and different expectations to the table, prioritizing operational efficiency, profitability, and scalability. In this scenario, agile marketing in healthcare proves to be useful because it allows you to align your strategies and goals with those of business leaders. In other words, with agile marketing methodologies, you can demonstrate the value and impact of marketing efforts in terms of business outcomes and bottom-line results.
Finally, healthcare organizations involved in rollups frequently offer highly specialized services that require careful positioning and marketing. However, it can be challenging to effectively promote these services without making them look like a commodity. Agile marketing strategies address these conflicts by emphasizing the unique value proposition of specialized services. Through targeted messaging, personalized communication, and highlighting the expertise and differentiation of these services, agile marketing in healthcare enables you to showcase the value you bring to patients in a compelling and distinct manner.
Transformation of the Physician Role
Traditionally, physicians within large healthcare practices hold positions of authority and are often viewed as top decision-makers and leaders. However, in the context of PE-backed roll-ups and the changing dynamics of the healthcare industry, their role is undergoing a transformation.
Physicians are now being recognized as highly compensated and highly trained key employees within these larger practices. This shift stems from healthcare organizations’ growing emphasis on operational efficiency, standardized processes, and scalability. Rather than being solely responsible for decision-making, physicians are becoming integral members of a broader team that includes business executives, administrators, and marketing professionals.
Agile marketing strategies play a crucial role in engaging and empowering physicians in this evolving landscape by actively involving them as stakeholders in the marketing process, seeking their input and insights, and aligning their goals with the broader marketing objectives.
Agile marketing in healthcare also enables you to communicate the value of marketing initiatives to physicians effectively. By recognizing their expertise and actively involving them in the marketing process, you can capitalize on physicians’ insights, enhance practice growth, and foster a patient-centric approach that benefits both physicians and patients.
Accelerate Growth and Patient Engagement
In a world where private equity investments in healthcare are skyrocketing, embracing agile marketing means ensuring that your organization remains relevant, competitive, and at the forefront of delivering exceptional patient experiences.
Embracing agile marketing strategies in healthcare allows you to break free from lengthy processes and adapt to the fast-paced digital age. It’s about testing, learning, refining campaigns in real-time, leveraging data-driven insights to make informed decisions, and swiftly adapting to the ever-changing market dynamics.
If the challenges of implementing agile marketing seem overwhelming, SocialClimb is here to help. With access to comprehensive data from various sources, including patient demographics, behavior patterns, and market trends, we empower you to make informed decisions and optimize your marketing efforts in real time.
Our platform enables you to collect and integrate patient feedback into your marketing initiatives. Patient reviews and surveys provide you with valuable insights into patient experiences and preferences, allowing you to fine-tune your campaigns and align them with patient expectations. In addition, using our tools, you can swiftly test, learn, and refine your marketing initiatives, creating flexible and adaptable campaigns that resonate with patients.
So, the real question here is — are you ready to embrace agile marketing in healthcare and embark on a journey of innovation, responsiveness, and patient-centricity instead of clinging to outdated approaches and risking falling behind?
The choice is yours, and we are here to support you every step of the way in creating a healthcare ecosystem that is agile, efficient, HIPAA-compliant, and committed to delivering outstanding value and care to patients.
