Trust has always been a critical consideration in health and community care service provision. In the wake of COVID-19, your credibility and broader reputation as a provider has never been more crucial. Trust is built and fostered at every consumer touch point: from your email marketing to your inpatient experience. You can make prospective patients or clients more comfortable by providing a considered, clear, and supportive experience.

Tracking the impact and efficacy of healthcare marketing can be challenging with sophisticated patient journeys and multi-touchpoint referral pathways as par for the course. It’s crucial that you establish meaningful metrics, understand the impact and value you’re creating, and optimise activity over time.

Healthcare is complicated. Even the basics can be difficult to communicate: try to describe the difference between inpatients and outpatients in a single sentence. Healthcare marketing needs to communicate sophisticated information and niche concepts in a way that is easy to understand. Striking the balance between accuracy and simplicity is key.

Australia’s health and community care sector is competitive. The NDIS has empowered clients as consumers and it’s common for many providers to compete for a single prospect’s attention. It’s crucial that you cut through and connect with the right audience with compelling messaging, while adhering to ethical marketing practice requirements and aligning with regulatory laws like the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code.

Australian communities are a vibrant mosaic of cultural diversity, with a wide range of languages, preferences, and cultural norms. Crafting campaigns and information that resonate appropriately—with the right people at the right time, in the right way—is key to connection, and ultimately, crucial in providing care or support services for larger audiences.

Healthcare marketing teams are uniquely experienced. Unfortunately, that can make it difficult to find the right support. Public and private healthcare organisations alike can struggle to build well-resourced teams with the skills and experience to be effective within the sector. You need specialised suppliers with expertise you can rely on. You need an extension to your team that solves problems, creates value, and delivers efficiency, rather than creates additional risks.

Many community care organisations have a national presence but serve local communities in highly specific geographic areas. To be successful, you need to engage with local areas and tailor marketing activity to precise regional needs.

Whether you’re public or private, fundraising can be crucial to support the highest quality of service delivery, research, and innovation. Connecting with the right donors at the right time—and articulating the importance and impact of their contribution to incenetivise giving—is a careful blend of science and art.