After all the mixed news about healthcare.gov and healthcare reform, I wanted to see how different healthcare industry marketers performed in the dawn of the Affordable Care Act. Did healthcare marketers increase their marketing activities? Did increased marketing activity correlate to increased website visits?
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I found a monthly upward trend in marketing activities (campaigns executed) for the healthcare industry as a whole, including manufacturers, payors, and providers. Healthcare payors showed the biggest spike in marketing activities followed by healthcare providers. It certainly looks like the health plans went on the offensive to enroll new brokers and members, and to increase share of voice in response to the disruption in the healthcare market.
So did these marketing activities succeed in increasing awareness about their products or services? To answer this question I examined website visits by segment. The data indicates that the marketing activities worked - the number of average web site visits spiked upward for healthcare payors and providers. It certainly looks like the payors and providers segments drove increased number of visitors to their websites.
I expect these trends will continue:
• Healthcare payors need to educate the public on healthcare reform, boost enrollment, and retain their best customers.
• Healthcare providers need to educate the public on their services in the new era of accountable care.
We will continue to examine trends in Healthcare marketing in the new year. In future discussions we will delve into channel performance by sub vertical to understand the most effective techniques by sub segment. We look forward to hearing from you all.
Peter Rojas
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