There can be no doubt that in recent years, technology has entirely changed the sales and marketing landscape.

Consumers are now heavy users of devices such as smartphones and tablets, as well as always connected to the internet from their mobile devices. Consumer habits have evolved due to the widescale adoption of these technologies, and we must change our marketing tactics to target these new habits.

Of all of the new trends in consumer habits, the shift in levels of engagement away from flat, text-based content to more interactive forms of content such as video, is possibly the most transformational.

According to Forbes, half a billion people view Facebook videos every day. Forbes predicts that within the next four years, video will account for over 80% of all consumer driven internet traffic. This is a highly disruptive trend from a marketing point of view.

Why is Video So Popular with Consumers?

To answer this question, we need to refer back to the way that consumer habits have been driven by changes in technology. Where we used to read a newspaper, magazine or book on the train or bus heading to work every morning, we now engage via our mobile devices.

Look around in your local coffee shop or even the waiting room of your practice, you will likely see a high percentage of customers sitting with their smartphone or tablet, and a set of earbuds in their ears. Do you think they are reading a book or checking the local newspaper for news items? No, they are watching and listening to interactive content, including video.

Social Promotion of Video Content

Anyone who has ever used social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, will know that if somebody finds a good, engaging video, it is likely to get shared across a very wide peer group. Much more so than flat text-based content. Indeed, most social networking sites will play video from within a mobile app, meaning there is no need to click away to a web browser to view the content. This kind of streamlined delivery is powerful, and combined with social promotion is likely where the true power of video content exists as a marketing tool. It’s entertaining, easy to view, and takes zero effort to digest.

How Can Video Be Used in Healthcare Marketing?

Marketing healthcare services is quite obviously very different from marketing consumer goods. Yet this does not mean we cannot take effective consumer marketing methods such as video, and adapt them to suit the specific needs of healthcare marketing.

The basic driver for making a sale remains the same across every vertical. Convincing a prospective customer that your product or service is better than the competition, from a value point of view. Some of the ways we can use video for healthcare marketing are:

Publishing promotional videos that build trust in the practice, such as interviews with team members.
Building trust and authority via consumer education by publishing videos which explain specific symptoms, ailments or treatments.
Reinforcing brand messages by publishing videos which present successful resolutions to customer health issues.

These are just three great ways that video can be used in healthcare marketing campaigns.

Finding the return on investment (ROI) in Healthcare Video Marketing

Proving the return on investment (ROI) of a video campaign is something that retailers can do easily. Simply total up the value of products sold via promotional video. Unfortunately, in the healthcare sector, the situation is not as clear-cut.

The services which healthcare companies offer often have long lead times, these are services that are seldom purchased instantly. We also need to keep in mind that many healthcare treatments take some time to complete. Understanding this trend in consumer decision making when it relates to healthcare services is important.

We can, of course, attempt to simply total up the value of healthcare services sold via video promotion. But this doesn’t really give us the true picture. We also need to monitor other key performance indicators (KPIs) such as new client contacts and word of mouth referrals which link back to customers that were captured via video marketing. In effect, we are looking at customer value, rather than the value of sales. If our customer value is rising, then our marketing efforts are working.

“Splice Marketing filmed a professional video for us, edited it to strengthen our message, than ran a digital marketing campaign to promote us and our services using the video. We had 5 new patients in the first 10 days and the new patient numbers continue to increase. Let’s just say the return on investment has been more than worth it so much so we are doing it all over again to promote another of our services. Worth it!” – The Brisbane Spine Clinic

The Wrap-Up!

If Forbes is correct in its estimation, then unless you have fully adopted video as a healthcare marketing channel within the next four years, you are going to begin losing market share. Rather than playing catchup at a later stage, it makes sense to jump on this marketing trend now and begin exploiting video content to produce more ROI from healthcare marketing campaigns right now.