“I think the biggest innovations of the 21st Century will be at the intersection of biology and technology”, predicted Steve Jobs about health tech a long time ago.
At its core, Healthtech includes any technology-enabled healthcare products and services that are primarily delivered and consumed outside of the hospital.
HealthTech vs Online HealthTech
Health Tech space has a wide-ranging suite of B2C and B2B offerings, such as:
- preventive and monitoring tools for consumers,
- analytic and administrative tools for healthcare administrators and commercial healthcare organizations.
Healthtech also consists of products that enable the burgeoning “healthcare at home” movement, which allows patients’ flexibility and convenience in how they manage personal care. (Telemedicine, blood testing, and genomics, for example.)
Healthtech may refer to specific solutions, including everything from websites and email, to software and hardware. The expression ‘online’ attached to health tech only makes the products/services more end-user-centric as consumers tend to have a huge digital presence viz, mobile searches, social media, and emails.
“Online health tech, or otherwise, Digital health is a broader term that focuses on the convergence of health and technology to improve health delivery and outcomes.”
Why Invest in Digital HealthTech?
Consumers and businesses across the globe are beginning to realize the potential of the convergence between technology and the health industry, as reports have already predicted its upward trajectory in the years to come.
One of the most important drivers for this upward trajectory has been “behavioral”, that is,
- Firstly, consumers are used to seeing technology disruption in other sectors, like the sharing economy, which has emboldened them to seek a better experience in other sectors too.
- Secondly, consumers are beginning to become more health-conscious, particularly in the UK and Western Europe. Digital health seems to have arrived at the right time as buying habits now reflect this new attention, for example, Wearables saw explosive growth.
Regulatory changes in the US have also fueled Health Tech’s growth in its market with the decade-old Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and the Affordable Care Act. Both these acts have simulated the adoption of electronic health records, supporting technology, and incentivizing the use of software in private healthcare.
Global health and population trends are also aging, and so innovative Digital Health Tech is evolving to meet these challenges.
Factoring in the COVID-induced lockdown and social distancing requirements, customers are moving more towards E-health startups for online consultation, treatment, medical tests, and medicine delivery.
73%
“Telehealth funding reached a new record of $2.8B in Q3’20 — a 73% increase from the previous quarter.” – Source
What Does “Online HealthTech” mean to various stakeholders?
Providers
- Hoping to increase patient engagement/ acquisition/ retention with technology
- Worried about how they will keep up with technical innovation while still maintaining a high level of patient care
Patients
- mHealth / Health and wellness apps/mobile = getting their time back!
- Telehealth and home monitoring solutions that enable virtual visits
- Saving time when doing paperwork related to provider visits, or clinical trial data entry
Insurers/Payers
- Interested in how home monitoring solutions can lower overall healthcare costs
- When and how do they decide to reimburse digital health technologies? Despite high demand from patients, the majority of payers are not reimbursing healthcare apps
Clinicians
- Overwhelmed by the vague definition of digital health (apps, sensors, social media, EHRs, data mining)
- Concerned it will be too disruptive to their practice – new processes, new technologies to learn, massive amounts of data to deal with
Every year, the world-famous American research, advisory, and information technology firm, Gartner releases the Digital Health Hype Cycle. It represents the maturity, adoption, and social application of specific technologies in healthcare.
Also refer to Digital Health HypeCycle for 2019, 2018, and 2017.
Components of Online HealthTech Branding
SEO and Schema Markup of HealthTech Articles
Content marketing is educational and less about the products the company sells. After all, branding is all about building a loyal audience base by providing useful information.
Being a digital health tech company, you are obliged to produce online content types like infographics, web content, videos, podcasts, long-form content, and market research content to generate organic traffic.
It is generally a good practice to link schema markups to health tech articles to boost your on-page SEO.
You can find more details on schema markups in our detailed guide.
Here is another link to Neil Patel’s guide on boosting your SEO by using Schema Markup.
Digital Marketing in HealthTech
Let’s compare the two most commonly used Marketing strategies, also used in the digital health tech space:
Where TAM- Total Addressable Market.
Image Source
However, for the sake of market characteristics, the hybrid approach as represented in the figure below may have better results.
Read our other blog on Why is Digital Marketing Essential for the Healthcare Industry?
Simple examples of applying automation in marketing health tech products/ services include:
- Email marketing: Delivering personalized emails at scale. include things like personalization at scale.
- A/B testing: Showing different versions of webpages, such as a copy, images, layout, etc. to specific users to test which version performs the best.
- Social media management: Scheduling tools help with planning and execution around posting on social media channels, as well as monitoring important keywords, hashtags, and brand mentions.
Digital Agency for Tech Partnership to Enable HealthTech with Your Brand
Printing advertisements and handing out business cards to promote your brand is now a passé. It holds true for health tech brands as well.
Your customers are online, active on social media, and searching through a wealth of information. They can research extensively before deciding on one health tech product or service.
“Google noted that consumers consult 12.4 resources prior to a hospital visit.”
When doing this research, they will consult YouTube videos, read patient reviews of specific doctors, read blog articles on healthcare websites, read reviews, the side-effects of particular medicines. They want to know everything, Period!
When consuming this information, they will choose the business that has established its online presence, has positive reviews, and provides a great customer experience, both online and offline.
This is where a digital agency comes in.
A full-fledged digital agency ensures health tech companies develop a unique branding identity and create an effective marketing strategy. Furthermore, a digital agency like ColorWhistle can help you with:
- Medical & Healthcare Branding and Logo Design Services
- Healthcare Website Development and Maintenance Services
- Healthcare API Development and Integration Services
- Healthcare and Medical Website SEO Services
- Healthcare Social Media Marketing Services
- Healthcare Digital Marketing Services
What your Health Tech brand can accomplish with these services:
- Create a repeatable process of revenue generation
- Add value and save your company’s valuable time by outsourcing
- Measure and make data-driven marketing decisions
- Build direct relationships with customers and prospects which adds up to brand loyalty and enhances brand visibility
Looking for Healthcare Digital Services?
Seize and experience the transformative impact of healthcare digital services with ColorWhistle.
Already planning to launch a Digital Health Tech?
Fill out a contact form or talk to us at 1 (919) 234-5140 about how to design a market access strategy that includes establishing an online presence for your health tech brand.
We look forward to working with you!