Data can power your healthcare marketing strategies

If your marketing strategy isn’t data-driven, you’re not alone. Data has played a role in advertising for decades, reaching back to market research and focus groups to understand brand sentiment. Yet in healthcare, data is often underutilized due to fragmented systems and a lack of integration between marketing and clinical data. With more than 97% of healthcare data still untapped, there’s a huge opportunity for creative, targeted solutions.

The future of healthcare marketing lies in combining the power of data with the power of human intuition to create targeted, personalized campaigns that resonate with specific patient demographics and healthcare providers. But even as access to real-world data (RWD) has become increasingly common, there is still a gap between a company having the data and actually deploying it to make data-driven decisions. We can’t all be database analysts with a decade of experience interpreting healthcare data. That’s a shame, because if we were, we would see more truly personalized, impactful campaigns and fewer brands changing agencies every few years.

The key isn’t to fire everyone without a data science degree, but to make data more accessible to a variety of skill sets. Here are three steps to separating the wheat from the chaff and developing an effective healthcare marketing data strategy:

1. Start with a clear goal

When faced with a sea of ​​data, the first step isn’t diving in; it’s establishing a crystal-clear end goal. Before you touch the numbers, gather your creatives, data scientists, and business strategists to agree on what you want to achieve. For example, you might want to increase prescriptions or grow market share among a specific demographic.

Don’t spend a dollar until you know how it affects both of you. Anchored in purpose, your analysis becomes purposeful: you can develop two or three hypotheses to test and let the data confirm or refute them.

This approach prevents endless rabbit holes and keeps your team focused. Maybe you feel like your creative isn’t resonating because it’s too broad: Can you use data to segment more segments and create messages that engage different personas of your target audience?

2. Let data inspire your creativity

At its core, data science is about curiosity and discovery.

If the data shows that a condition disproportionately affects Hispanic people, you can allocate additional resources to develop culturally appropriate marketing materials. If it primarily affects young adults, social media and influencer marketing should be central to your strategy. Additionally, data insights can help you tailor your messaging by media channel.

RWD also helps fine-tune timing and geography. Seasonal conditions like allergies peak by region, so a data-driven campaign ensures you’re reaching the right audience at the right time. Tools like PurpleLab’s cohort report reveal not only how many patients have a condition, but also important demographic data that marketers can use for highly targeted, relevant campaigns.

3. Make empathy the foundation of your strategy

The data points represent real people, many of whom have life-altering diagnoses. After all, we’re not just selling products; we’re interacting with patients whose health is at risk.

RWD can be your tool for creating empathetic, effective messages. For example, RWD can reveal what patients with difficult, lifelong illnesses need to hear on their journey from diagnosis to remission.

This is where healthcare marketing becomes a delicate balance of art and science, requiring creative storytelling and data-driven insights. The art is crafting compelling narratives that build trust and emotionally connect with patients and healthcare professionals. The science is using data to understand patient needs, treatment trends, and behavioral patterns, ensuring campaigns are targeted and effective.

Together, these elements help create marketing strategies that not only resonate, but also deliver measurable results in a highly regulated and complex industry.

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