Communications & New Media Nov 2015 Vol 29 No 11

FEATURE
Strategies to survive the digital health shakeout
The consumer digital health market is booming. Here are several
communications strategiest that marketers with clients in digital
health spaces can employ to ensure continued success.
The consumer digital health market
is hot. Private and public funding
for U.S. companies in digital health
reached $3.3 billion at the close of 2015’s
third quarter — on pace to exceed 2014’s
record $4.3 billion growth, according to
Rock Health, a venture fund that tracks
U.S. deals of more than $2 million.
While many think of the digital health
category as mainly wearables and biosensors
— which collect data — the market
actually has many facets, including:
Consumer engagement. These are tools
for purchasing healthcare products and
services or health insurance. Consumer
engagement is actually a new direction
for the health IT business, which historically
has been devoted to the “back office,”
submitting claims, generating bills, and
documenting clinical care. This new set
of consumer-facing technologies range
from online information resources, to
tech-based monitoring for consumers with
chronic conditions, and even patient portals.
Personal health tools and tracking.
These are apps — separate from fitness
trackers — that capture data on physical
activity, nutrition, genetics, as well as
health records.
Analytics and Big Data tools. These
tools cull intelligence and insights from the
data collected on patients.
Telemedicine. These are healthcare services
delivered via telephone and digital
communications.
High expectations by Silicon Valley and
Wall Street investors in digital health companies
appear to be matched by consumers’
growing enthusiasm for new health and
lifestyle management tools.
For example, about two-thirds — 66%
— of Americans say they would use a mobile
app to manage health-related issues,
according to the Fifth Annual Makovsky/
Kelton “Pulse of Online Health” Survey,
which was fielded in January to 1,015 nationally
representative Americans ages 18
and older. Millennials, not surprisingly,
are leading the charge, more than twice as
likely to express interest in using a mobile
app to manage their health as compared to
Americans 66 and older.
By Denise Vitola
However, bullish investors plus eager
consumers do not alone add up to success
for established or new players in digital
health. Of 258 digital health companies
garnering more than $2 million each in
investment last year, more than half are
deemed to fail, according to an Accenture
forecast.
A venture capitalist with Health 2.0 (who
requested anonymity) told MedCityNews
that even with a so-called B2B2C business
model — defined as when a digital health
vendor earns validation from clinical providers
before they go to the consumer market
— success will be elusive unless the
company gets the “C” part right.
What do they mean by the “C” part? It’s
the combination of providing consumers
a high-quality experience and the ability
to both engage and inspire consumers to
make changes in their behaviors that become
habits.
What do digital health companies need
to do to assure their futures? Aside from
an effective business plan and execution, it
comes down to three critical, overarching
communications strategies:
Articulate your mission
Expressing your company’s mission and
what makes you different is critical for all
companies, but is especially vital for companies
in a crowded, emerging field like
digital health.
Start with creating a concise narrative
that communicates your story in human
terms, and whose threads run through all
your communications channels to help
you stand out among audiences — whether
investors or regulators, or consumers,
providers or suppliers. This is hard to do
sometimes inside a company due to lack
of objectivity. Often companies benefit
from turning to specialists who have the
experience and objectivity to listen to the
executives, customer audiences, influencers
and competitors in order to develop a
compelling, compact and effective brand
message that can be carried consistently by
everyone in the organization over different
communications channels.
Build trust
Building trust, of course, is paramount to
any industry but none so much as in the
Denise Vitola
health industry. While the exact tactics will
be tailored to your company’s sector and
dependent on the current regard of your
customers and influencers,
the principles
are the same.
Keep your promises
to consumers and suppliers
and energetically
serve your community.
Go beyond to help
them navigate a complex
community, consistently
monitor and
respond to their queries
(positive or negative) — whether it’s
B2B, B2C or B2B2C, over social media and
other appropriate channels.
Be ultra-conscious of information security
and always preserve and protect the
privacy of customer information. Know
and communicate frequently to influencers,
and be “present” on the channels where
they get information.
A great example is MyRozi, a membership
site that helps individuals navigate
their health plans, network with caregivers,
learn more about their diagnosis, connect
with others with similar issues, find products
that address their medical needs, and
get tips for saving money, as reported in
CIO magazine.
Engage your audience
Ultimately, digital health companies will
navigate from the largely one-off solutions
of today, to being part of an integrated system
of healthcare tomorrow.
Why do more than half of people with
fitness trackers stop using them after a
while — with one third ditching the device
within six months of receiving it, according
to an Endeavour Partners survey? The
fact that only 8% of people who make New
Year’s resolutions are able to realize their
goals may be a failure of good intentions —
or perhaps it signals deficiencies in product
design and functionality, inadequate
marketing communications, or all of the
above.
How you engage with customers consistently,
with honesty and integrity, is the X
factor in success.
Denise Vitola is Managing Director at
Makovsky.
26 NOVEMBER 2015 | www.ODwyERPR.COM