Whether It’s Patients or Doctors the Goal Is Still Connecting

Walking the floor of the SHSMD healthcare conference in Washington D.C., I noticed booths from vendors promoting everything from high tech software solutions to branded clip-on epoxy signs for stethoscopes. All I could think of was that almost all the vendors were trying to help with marketing and engagement.

Every vendor and nearly every session were driving similar messages: get yourself noticed by your target audience. The difference was in the audiences and the goals. Some vendors were all about connecting doctors to patients, others doctors to hospitals and some healthcare vendors to other companies. With the exception of the woman pitching stethoscope baubles, it tended to be high tech solutions.

As I looked at every healthcare story and sign the key message was that regardless of industry, the goals are basically the same:

• Segment to a specific audience
• Drive a message that provides something of value
• Measure how effective you’ve been in getting your message across

In most cases at this conference it’s about picking the right doctor or facility to be treated at if you’re a patient, or what’s the best place to send patients if you’re a doctor. In all cases though, the basics seem to remain the same. It just proves that regardless of the industry or message that we are all just trying to find the right people to listen to our story.

I guess that’s the prescription from SHSMD this year.