Healthcare Marketing FAQs: COVID Edition

Our last Chartwell Agency Lunch Bites webinar focused on answering many common questions we received throughout the series, but also on questions we have heard from clients and colleagues around how to manage marketing during the COVID-19 pandemic. One of our areas of specialty is healthcare, so many of the questions we heard were on that topic, but some common principles can we applied to any industry.

Webinar attendance has increased during this time as people are hungry for connection and knowledge on a topic we are all trying to figure out together.

Below are some common questions we continue to hear along with our point of view on how to handle the topic.

Will there be a demand for our services? At what level?

The best piece of advice we can give now is to take the time to do some research and really learn about your customers. Whether that is having a conversation with them to understand their needs or participating in industry discussions and webinars to learn about new behaviors, it will all be important to understand if and how your services may need to evolve, so you can move forward and build your strategies.

What will help customers feel more comfortable as we plan to reopen?

Communication will be the key. First and foremost, let your customers know what steps you have taken to ensure their safety and the safety of your employees. Next, let customers know what to expect from you. How have your products, services or processes changed?

Share this important information through a variety of mediums such as email campaigns, website content, blog content, social media and signage.

What should we be doing to promote our telehealth services?

As you all know, telehealth is not a new concept, but this pandemic caused organizations to fast-track its implementation. And organizations that already had it may have realized they needed to do a better job talking about it.

First, you can certainly promote your telehealth services in the same manner you promoted your other services pre-COVID. If budgets have been cut, we recommend looking at strategies that are more cost effective such as social media and email marketing. If you do still have some budget to spend, digital marketing is targeted, allowing you to better track your spend and return on investment.

Secondly, make sure you invest in training for your staff for your services to ensure your patients are having the best experiences possible. Train your physicians and staff on your telehealth services and ensure your patients are receiving communications about what to expect and how the process will work. Remember marketing is not just advertising. Creating good experiences can turn into referrals for your organization.

How should I restart my ad buys and how should I prioritize those dollars?

We would recommend starting to look at your ad buys now. If you did have to pause your advertising due to budget or being closed, there is no reason why you can’t start to look at your customer behaviors and determine what strategies are best for you moving forward. Determine what your customers want and need and build your ad buy starting there. No one knows for sure when we will 100% reopen, but it will likely be very noisy in the marketing space when we do, so think about that, as well. How can you keep your brand in front of your customers so they choose you when it’s time?

Also, we have clients who come to us for help with ad buys because they tend to do the same things each year, so perhaps now is the time to really analyze how you have been spending your dollars and reassess based on the current situation.

How can I manage my team remotely?

The first thing you can do is understand the challenges such as technology issues, communication break-downs or distractions. If you can anticipate these types of challenges, you can create a plan to alleviate issues.

• Ensure your team has the tools and technology they need to work remotely.
• Set clear expectations for your workers (and those will be different from organization to organization and will vary by job).
• Communicate as often as you can. Set up a meeting for the same timeframe each week with your team, reach out daily to check in and set up deliberate time for team interaction.

Managing a remote workforce can be challenging and is new for many organizations, but obviously, it can be done. For a more detailed response to some of the FAQs, please check out our last webinar, Reimagining Your Future.