Health marketing mistakes are easy to make – after all, healthcare marketing can be a tricky beast. When you are helping your consumers make the right choices for them, their physical, and their mental health, you need to be conscious of the messaging you create.
But the importance of health marketing goes beyond that. Health startups and health businesses are usually started from a real passion to help others, and so alongside the medical communications, those values need to come through.
Whether you are marketing health and wellness or moving into a role that requires you to market the health and fitness industry, these are the three health marketing mistakes you should absolutely NOT be making.
You focus on the jargon, not the person.
There are few industries that have as much jargon in them as the healthcare industry, and even though they’ll make sense to you, that doesn’t mean they will make sense to ANYONE else. By focusing on the medical terminology, it’s easy for the person to get lost, and that will make your readers feel lost. If they don’t feel prioritised, why should they purchase from you?
Fix this health marketing mistake: Before you complete anything, sleep on it for a day and then read it again. Is there jargon in there? Is it necessary? How easy would it be to replace with normal words?
You don’t have any data to back up your statements.
Fake news, fake numbers, fake data: it’s a growing concern the world over, and the last thing you want to do is introduce any concern in your audience that you don’t actually know what you are talking about – or worse, that you’ve been hyping up your claims. Trust is everything in health marketing, and it would be a mistake to lose it.
Fix this health marketing mistake: Ensure that anything you say is not only backed up by your own evidence, but if possible, from an external and neutral source.
You ignore the values of your brand.
We end where we started: with your values. Why did you found or join this health company? Although there will be a financial element in this, most healthcare businesses are looking to make a positive impact in the world. Do you have a personal story that started you on this journey? Did something happen to you or someone you loved? Were you inspired by a medical person when young? Drawing out those values will help give your marketing real heart – and ignoring those values will leave your audience cold.
Fix this health marketing mistake: Consider how each of your marketing tactics will make someone feel. Informed? Joyful? Confused? Are those the emotions you want to impact?
Health marketing mistakes are there to be fixed, but if you need to focus on the growth of the business, it’s easy for them to fall by the wayside. Let us take up the strain and deliver healthcare marketing that gets results. Talk to us now.
