| Today's Date: Friday, November 21, 2008 |
| Stop Thinking “Pink!” Part One: Use The Internet To Market To Women |
| Thursday, August 07, 2008 |
| Womens market in healthcare is profitable yet rarely attended to appropriately, with old school thoughts of pink backgrounds and smiling babies. Get an edge, by building a Website, e-mailing patients and tapping into their concerns, the Internet has proven to be a valuable marketing strategy.
“Recognize the power of the Internet. Women regard the Internet as a godsend when it comes to health care. That's where they're going for their information,” Genie James, executive director of Women Evolving, LLC, said during the audio conference, “How to Successfully Market Your Women's Healthcare Program and Build Community Awareness,” hosted by Women's Health Professional. James offered conference attendees her personal marketing strategies that have worked for her and are still working for her, such as using the Internet to her benefit and implementing the five Cs: Communication, Content, Commerce, Convenience and Community. Connecting on the Internet relies heavily on communication, “e-mail makes it easier than letters or even the phone to keep connections active,” said James. Making any Website interactive will keep the hit count climbing, said James, “we just changed our Website in the last six months and we're about to revamp it again to make it more interactive, but in the last six months we went from getting like 20 hits a day to getting 350 to 450 hits a day. That is one of our most active forms of communication back with our patients in terms of health information," she said. Content needs to be clear and have an abundance of information, “women want all the information they can get,” said James. The Internet is an important marketing tool because not only can it hold all the information a program wants to give, but it is also convenient for today's woman -- the professional, mother or caregiver; whatever their title may be they are all busy. “They spend a lot of time online researching questions about their health concerns, the health concerns of their aging parent, what's going on with their family. They can do it at night before they go to bed, they can do it between meetings, this is where they have the convenience,” said James. “Currently, online spending, 80 percent is attributed to women,” said James. “The most likely scenario is a woman's share of online spending is going to continue to rise. So what are you offering? Are you tapping into the retail segment? The self-pay market through your Internet strategy?” Community is a significant concern to women, James said. They want to know what the health program offers. “They want to know what your mission is. They want to know how you are contributing back to the community, back to society. They're aware that there is a desalinization of poverty in the nation. They're aware that single mothers are often ejected out of their homes because they can't pay their bills. What are you doing to take care of the underserved? That's a question that many women ask, 'What's your mission? How are you helping them to move past sick care, into preventative medicine and well care?'” Also a community can be created within the health program itself, by creating a chat group, a forum on the Website. “Because in chat groups,women are talking to women, about a topic they're passionate about or women are asking the opinion of other women,” said James. “Communication, content, commerce, convenience, and community – all critical for your Internet strategy,” James said. For more information on the audio conference and how to better market your women's healthcare program, please visit: http://www.healthresourcesonline.com/edu/womenshealthcare.htm. Editor's Note: Be sure to follow up part one with part two of the “Stop Thinking 'Pink!'” series, offering tips and insights on how to market your womens health program to increase patient census and improve the health of your community. A CD-ROM recording of the speaker presentations and all conference materials for “How to Successfully Market Your Women's Healthcare Program and Build Community Awareness” is now available to order online or by calling toll free (800) 516-4343. For more information please visit: www.healthresourcesonline.com/edu/wib.htm. |
This site serves executives who are responsible for the management and administration of women's health programs. Our community includes hospital women's health managers, as well as directors and managers of women's health programs of government agencies, other healthcare organizations, health insurance plans, women's health organizations, colleges and universities and community-based organizations.
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