It’s impossible to make detailed predictions for the year ahead as the pandemic pandemonium continues. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible for health tech suppliers to plan or draw up effective marketing and communications strategies.
For a start, while it’s not possible to plan out the exact trajectory of the coronavirus pandemic and the government’s response to it, the broad outlines of 2021 are reasonably clear. All four nations of the UK are set for a very difficult spring and it’s likely their health and care systems will need the summer to recover: by which time the NHS will be at the start of its normal ‘winter planning’.
However, two vaccines that protect against Covid-19 are now available and, if they can be rolled-out effectively, they will be offering at least some protection to the old, vulnerable and key workers by early summer, with a wider vaccination programme in sight.
That should enable the UK and its healthcare services to look ahead to a ‘more normal’ 2022. And, with luck, the arrival of integrated care systems in March 2021 should mean that the ‘new normal’ includes new digital services that build on the roll-out of remote working, virtual consultations, and basic telehealth during the pandemic.
Secondly, there’s the old adage that failing to plan is planning to fail. Health tech companies need a strategy to stay on top of events and to be ready to respond to customer needs and opportunities as they arise.
Here at Highland Marketing, we have nearly twenty years’ experience of working in health tech marketing, PR and communications, and we’ve seen upswings and crises come and go. So, what should the marketing, PR and communications element of this strategy look like?
We’ve put together six pointers to see you through this period of uncertainty and make sure your messages are front of mind when health and care organisations are ready to receive them:
The Covid-19 pandemic is a once in a lifetime event (hopefully). But in healthcare, in technology and in business, things change all the time. The current situation may be particularly hard to predict, but health tech companies will always need to be able to respond to events without being driven by them.
When it comes to marketing, PR and communications that means you need: a strategy, but one that can be flexed when necessary; new thinking, that isn’t pinned to one-off events and media opportunities; and a willingness to use new channels that give you more control over your content and its presentation.
But more than anything it means a focus on the basics: how are you going to be ready to get the right message, to the right person, in the right format, at the right time?
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