A recent review of Nucleus Medical Media research shows a 21% increase in the number of hospitals and healthcare systems turning to medical animation for patient education and marketing needs from 2012 to 2013.
Data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows an 82% increase in the number of people who use their mobile phones to research health information. Meanwhile, Business Insider Intelligence reports that “40% of YouTube’s traffic now comes from mobile.” The same report states “about 50 million people in the U.S. now watch video on their mobile phones. Fifteen percent of all online video hours globally are viewed on tablets and smartphones.”
In a recent article, Stephen Moegling confirms that mobile is direction healthcare marketing is moving in 2014, “Our health care audiences today are vastly different than our audiences even 36 months ago. They use their smart phones to find physicians, turn to the newspaper less and less for their news and information, and instead of ignoring healthcare messages, quality, access and cost are top of mind like never before.”
“Most adult consumers spend 26 percent of their media time on the Internet, but the average hospital only spends about 9 percent of its media budget on online vehicles. In 2014, we will prioritize our media expenditures based on where our audience spends her media time.”
These two trends coupled together can mean only one thing: mobile-friendly video is the next big thing in patient education and hospital marketing.
If more patients are going online for their health information, having mobile-friendly websites and resources are now matters of patient satisfaction. People want to feel like you’ve thought of everything they could want or need, and prepared for it. Got a resource people can watch on the go or at home? Press Ganey reports that happy patients mean benefits for hospitals:
- Lower malpractice costs
- Fewer patients finding other doctors
- More word of mouth advertising
- More referrals from satisfied consumers.
The resources that hospitals provide for patient education are (surprisingly) some of the best types of hospital marketing that exists. Patients and healthcare consumers don’t look online for a tour of your hospital. Pew says that online health searches are the 3rd most common online activity. The “Altruistic Marketing Approach,” coined by Dr. Edgar Huang, is one of the most effective for hospitals.
The basic approach of Huang’s research was to see which types of videos performed best with patients: advertising, informational, educational, or entertainment. The latter two categories are the most searched and most watched. Therefore, more hospitals would benefit from the type of videos that Nucleus Medical Media produces—educational, 3D medical animations.
This patient education as marketing approach is even more effective when you feature a provider or nurse in your video. Think of how popular doctor-featured television shows work. Patients like having someone explain medical conditions or treatments while they learn on their own time, at home, and even on the go. Provider videos on YouTube put patients and healthcare consumers in control their health and health information.
The combination of medical animations and mobile for hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems is a match made in marketing and patient education heaven. The key to effective marketing is meeting your consumers where they are and giving them what they’re asking for.
To learn more about using medical animations in your hospital or how to effectively optimize your mobile marketing strategy, contact the Nucleus Medical Media healthcare team.