Are You Ready for the Mobile Majority?

According to an article published last year by Mary Meeker at Morgan Stanley, in 2013, more people will access the web from a mobile device than from a computer. This prediction could dramatically change the digital marketing landscape. And healthcare marketers can’t afford to lag behind.

Many of us wait to test new options, allowing the experiences of our peers — and competitors — to determine whether those options are good for business. Preliminary trends in mobile marketing favor early adopters. Consider these four reasons to invest in mobile advertising:

High Recall

An average of 37% of mobile internet users can remember seeing specific ads on their phone.

Location, location, location!

Mobile users can access your information anytime, anywhere. This can be critical for capturing people who may not always be in front of a computer — but who view their smart phone as an extension of themselves. This includes business professionals, moms, students and, of course, doctors.

For healthcare marketers, mobile advertising is an opportunity to connect with people who are seeking the closest hospital or general health information while away from a computer.

And, with the multitude of location apps like foursquare and Gowalla, there is also opportunity to associate value with the “check-in.” Consumers may become loyal customers of a medi-spa in order to reap rewards (such as discounts on treatments) for frequent visits.

Timeliness

Mobile allows you to reach potential customers when they need you most. For example, it’s estimated that there were about 116.8 million emergency room visits in 2007. Patients who don’t need an ambulance still need to know the location of the nearest hospital and the most efficient route. Since not all accidents occur near a computer, it’s important that a nearby hospital can be found in mobile search results.

Some of the most frequent health-related searches on Google are for “allergy,” “allergies,” and “allergies symptom” which total about 2,374,000 monthly searches in the United States. Many mobile users want to search for symptoms they are experiencing as they occur to best determine what action to take.

Here’s a fun factoid: Want to know the top city for allergy-related searches today? HCB Health calls it home: Austin, Texas.

Provide Instant Gratification

As I mentioned in a previous post, consumers love instant gratification. It’s in the best interest of marketers to provide this to potential customers before someone else does!

Imagine a doctor being able to submit a prescription to a pharmacy via smartphone app. They instantly receive information on the availability of that particular medication and when it will be ready for pick-up by the patient. This saves everyone involved time and frustration and could also develop a larger customer base for the pharmacy because of its convenience. Isn’t instant gratification beautiful?

Are you a healthcare marketer who has already jumped on the mobile advertising bandwagon? Share your experience so far by leaving a comment!