61% of Adults Search for Health Information Online

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

Medical Practice Marketing: The Shift Of Media Mix to Online

A recent 2009 survey by Pew Internet and American life project identified the adults searching online for health information as ‘e-patients’. The internet is the one of the first sources Americans will turn to read about a health condition, or other health-related info. Medical practices in all specialties need to evaluate the return-on-investment (ROI) of their traditional offline (print, radio, TV) as compared to that of their online/digital marketing. If the ROI is greater for online, then more of the marketing budget/media mix should shift to those online channels.

61% of Adults Look Online for Health Information

That important online ROI data is only available if medical practices are willing to test (properly vetted) online marketing channels for comparison against the more traditional media. This is often times a difficult decision to make against the myriad other competing demands on time for medical practice managers. There are the community events, physician referral marketing, the print ads that ‘appear’ to be working, the radio spots that make the phone ring, the billboard that seemed to do the same, etc. Measuring media return on spend is a critical component of successful medical practice marketing, yet it requires an internal medical practice commitment and collaboration with an online ad agency or other professional advertising/media entity.

That 61% figure, includes a highly enthusiastic and vocal population that are the ones from which medical practices may derive the most value from their marketing efforts. 20% of those e-patients head to social-networking sites to talk to medical experts or other patients. First-person accounts of treatments and side effects from medications, etc are becoming commonplace. Others will record and post them as podcasts. Then they’re keyword tagged and become part of the swirling social media health conversation online. People (i.e. – potential patients) are using their social-networking tools to connect with health professionals and access a deeper level of information.

The Pew study found that 39 percent of e-patients already use a social-networking site like Facebook. And mobile devices are making it easier. But the source patients say they trust the most remains a traditional one: their own doctor.

Another study conducted in 2008 shows similar data:

Conclusion: Medical practices need to address the growth of online health information research and become part of the online conversation, not just with their websites, but engaging with their potential (and current) patients within the social networking context.