Category: Healthcare

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Healthcare Marketing/Business Personal Care
anti aging marketing scaled
anti aging marketing scaled

As the anti-aging product market continues to expand rapidly in the coming years, it’s time to get your anti-aging marketing strategy in shape.

Throughout history, nobody has looked forward to getting old, loosing their looks, and declining in health. In the modern, high-tech era, however, people are more youth-obsessed than ever.

In effort to capitalize on our growing need to look and feel young, more and more companies are releasing skin creams that erase wrinkles, sprays that eliminate dark circles from around the eyes, and other products that promise to turn back the clock on the aging process.

A Rapidly Growing Market

According to the Anti-Aging Products Market’s Global Anti-Aging Products Market research report, the anti-aging products market will reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 7% by 2023. Global Cosmetic Industry Magazine (GCI Magazine) echoes this prediction, estimating a 5% CAGR for anti-wrinkle product market through 2027, which would make wrinkle cream a $12.8-billion industry.

Developing an Effective Anti-Aging Marketing Strategy

Here are a few tips to help you make the most of the rapidly expanding anti-aging sector:

1. Concentrate on the right market for your anti-aging product

GCI Magazine identifies the best anti-aging product markets worldwide as the Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe. When it comes to specific countries, however, research analyst Amir Shaikh identifies the United States as the single biggest market for anti-aging products, devices, and services.

Anti-aging product marketers would also be wise to consider a both sexes when choosing appropriate outreach strategies. In the words of Forbes senior contributor Andria Cheng, men are becoming increasingly “style-conscious,” engendering a growing market for male anti-aging skincare.

2. Stress scholarship and science

As reported by the daily business and tech newsletter Trends, Harvard professor David Sinclair echoes the sentiments of his fellow anti-aging researchers, declaring that the makers of anti-aging products have gone from empty promises to a serious industry. In short, modern science has us living (and maintaining healthy bodies and minds) longer than ever before.

In light of this, marketers should tout the scholarship and science that underlie their various anti-aging products. Trends quotes Life Biosciences CEO Mehmood Khan, who stresses the fact that technology, academia, and medicine blend seamlessly with commerce in the anti-aging sector. “Gone are the days where you’re a businessman or engineer or academic,” says Khan. “In the modern age, those lines are blurred and rightly so.”

3. Build your brand to excel

Any college undergraduate who has taken “Marketing 101” can tell you that building an effective brand is essential for every modern company. But, for companies in the anti-aging market, branding is particularly important. Based on its analysis of current trends, GCI Magazine predicts that companies that establish prestige/premium brand associations will fare far better in the anti-aging market. People are also looking for clean anti-aging brands that promise organic, chemical-free, and naturally sourced ingredients.

In order to drive home these values, companies may want to consider tying their brand to an appropriate and worthy celebrity spokesperson. GCI Magazine reports that “celebrity endorsements will have a major influence over consumers purchasing anti-wrinkle products.” Just take care to ensure that your chosen celebrity affiliations reflect the underlying values and qualities of your products.

Contact Bigeye to learn more

A forward-thinking digital marketing firm Bigeye has the know-how to develop campaigns that are optimized for specific and emerging business sectors. If you’re ready to take advantage of the rapidly expanding anti-age product market, contact us today.

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Healthcare Healthcare Devices
medical device marketing scaled 1
medical device marketing scaled 1

An advanced medical device marketing agency will mix fact-based and relationship based marketing, communicating value propositions, and moving online.

The professionals at a successful healthcare marketing agency know that they can’t compare medical device marketing to promoting typical consumer goods and gadgets. While it’s helpful to understand marketing basics, a medical marketing agency needs to appeal to a very different and specific sort of customer.

To attract the attention of medical device customers, it takes creating the right message about a complex, vital, and typically expensive product while maintaining a human connection. To develop this skill, consider three important aspects of modern healthcare marketing.

Adding a human touch to medical device marketing

Naturally, the best tactics for marketing various medical devices can also differ in some details. Examples of this important kind of technology can range from pacemakers and infusion pumps to MRI machines. Even though devices and customers may vary, certain principals can help engage customers for a variety of different medical technology.

Balance relationship-based and evidence-based messages

In the medical field, customers may include doctors, researchers, and medical engineers. That’s why reaching them generally calls for a combination of evidence-based and relationship-based marketing messages:

  • Evidence-based marketing: As the name implies, evidence-based marketing relies on the results of tests, studies, and other sources of hard data.
  • Relationship-based marketing: While medical professionals will certainly care about facts, they’re still people and will also respond to emotional drivers, just like everybody else.

Relationship-based marketing can help establish a human connection by telling stories about other customers or even patients. Customers may want to know that a product has a 99-percent success rate, but a story about an individual success or two can help them understand how the purchase will help them, their patients, or their healthcare facility.

Establish competitive differentiators and value propositions

Anybody who works for a healthcare or pharma marketing agency knows that they’re rarely the only representative that customers communicate with. Value propositions succinctly outline why the device provides a good solution, touches on benefits, and explains how it compares to major competitors.

Presenting this information early in the process can quickly gain attention and in some cases, motivate buyers to act.  For instance, a hospital executive may hesitate because of concerns over the cost of retraining medical staff to use the new device. It’s important to understand these concerns and explain how this better solution can save money in the long run, reduce risks that could lead to poor outcomes, and other important benefits that outweigh drawbacks.

Add online marketing to the mix

All kinds of companies advertise online these days. This includes B2C companies. At the same time, it seems like medical device marketing has moved slower to transform parts of their marketing from offline to online. In-person visits still may work very well, but an internet platforms gives marketers a chance to scale their efforts to reach a much wider audience.

Consider a few of the main benefits of online marketing for medical devices:

  • Busy prospects can research information whenever their schedule allows, without always having to set aside time for an appointment or a phone call when they have questions.
  • Social media and blog posts can develop relationships and communicate value propositions with a global audience.
  • Video demos and online meeting software can help educate prospects without having to spend extra time and money on travel.
  • Website analytics and other tracking tools make it simple to see how well marketing campaigns perform at each step.

Generally, an experienced medical marketing agency won’t suggest skipping office visits, trade shows, or other productive types of in-person marketing. At the same time, they will help you understand how much easier it is to scale your marketing to a national and even an international audience when you take advantage of online communication.

Through the use of various media, reaching customers online won’t mean losing a human connection. In fact, such marketing channels as webinars, videos, blog posts, and social sites can help develop relationships with a lot more people. Because the internet is always turned on, it also provides the perfect way to satisfy the demands of busy customers.

The importance of medical device marketing

While marketing medical devices can prove tricky, a good healthcare marketing agency can enjoy a large market. According to the U.S. government, American healthcare agencies spend $156 billion on a variety of devices, and that’s expected to grow to over $200 billion within a couple of years. In addition, the country exports over $40 billion in medical devices, and the overall industry supports missions of jobs.

Marketing medical devices may have challenges, but it also offers plenty of opportunities. Effective tactics include offering both relationship-based and evidence-based marketing messages, quickly establishing the value proposition, and taking advantage of additional online marketing channels.

Categories
Consumer & Healthcare Healthcare Healthcare Devices Video Production
video marketing scaled 1
video marketing scaled 1

Video is an incredibly powerful tool for healthcare marketers, if they know how to use it right. Here’s a quick guide to doing video marketing well.

How effective is the use of video in marketing? Studies show that marketers who use video grow revenue nearly 50% faster than those who don’t. Consumers are watching billions of hours of video each year on social media platforms, with more content being uploaded every 30 days than all combined content created by TV networks in the last 30 years.

For healthcare businesses, video can be the tool that helps drive more patient sign-ups while deepening engagement with current patients. Let’s take a look at a few methods for using video to connect with audiences, and how a third-party video production company that specializes in this approach can help you optimize your campaigns.

Why video content is becoming ubiquitous

Virtually every Internet user in the US watches video on their devices — and 54% of these users want to see more video content from the brands and businesses they patronize. Consumers report preferring video to other mediums because it aligns with their browsing preferences, providing fast access to rich multimedia content. In other words, watching a video is high impact, but low effort for audiences.

That’s one reason why this approach has been so effective. Nearly 90% of video marketers report being satisfied with the ROI attached to their campaigns. Video marketers also receive 66% more qualified leads per year and a 54% bump in brand awareness. The average user spends 88% more time on websites with video, and consumers report being highly influenced in their personal buying decisions by the video content they’ve consumed.

Add it up, and you’ve got a highly compelling case for incorporating more video into your marketing mix. The healthcare field, in particular, is especially ripe for a video-heavy approach — as many brands are currently proving.

Learning from the best video campaigns in healthcare marketing

One of the simplest ways to understand how video is used effectively within healthcare is to review campaigns that have been successful. Let’s take a look at a few of the best approaches:

  • The fabled Mayo Clinic is one of the leading names in medicine. That institution’s “Mayo Clinic Minute” is a compendium of 60-second videos that give a bite-sized (but not shallow) dive into a health issue that has some resonance for everyday consumers. These videos give consumers exactly what the doctor ordered: Actionable information in a quick and accessible form.
  • While video is a powerful, immersive video is even more potent. The Royal London Hospital and a tech firm called Medical Realities created this 360-degree, deeply immersive video that takes viewers on a close-up tour of an OR surgery. Audiences can scan around the room and view from the perspective of the surgeon or the patient, and move objects around in space by using AR/VR hardware. This kind of augmented reality simulation can create an exhilarating experience for viewers and spark interest in a way that more static marketing could never approach.
  • Another essential element is effective video marketing is narrative. If you don’t craft a cohesive and compelling story that grips the audience, the inherent power of the video format can only take you so far. This video from Bupa, a dental firm, cleverly retells the story of the Tooth Fairy in a way that forms a nostalgic bond with the viewer and raises the video’s impact.
  • Dr. Sandra Lee (also known as “Dr. Pimple Popper”) has nearly a billion combined video views, making her one of the most omnipresent social media stars in the healthcare field. Her YouTube channel is filled with her trademark videos, which revel in the “gross” side of dermatology. Her incredible success teaches a lesson: Healthcare videos don’t have to be staid or boring. You can push the envelope on content and reap the benefits.
  • Do you know what else audiences gravitate toward in terms of video content? Ideas or lessons they can immediately apply in their own lives. St. Elizabeth’s Healthcare’s video marketing series provides audiences with short, well-produced videos that offer healthy eating recipes. Health and wellness content is always popular, and the prospect of learning a new healthy recipe in just 30 to 60 seconds is an enticing prospect for audiences.
  • Following the “short and sweet” line of thinking, healthcare-related firms such as Walgreens have also extended the impact of their marketing by creating extremely short videos or animated GIFs for their social media accounts. These ultra-bite sized videos are a great way to extend the impact of a simple social media post.

All of these ideas can help healthcare marketers gain the interest of new patients and deepen relationships with existing patients. To get the most from a campaign, however, sometimes it’s necessary to partner with a third-party marketing video production firm that specializes in this approach.

Finding the right video marketing agency

At Bigeye, we have deep expertise with video marketing services, making us one of the leading healthcare marketing agencies in the southeastern US. If your firm needs help creating video content that moves the needle, don’t wait to contact us today.

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Branding Consumer & Healthcare Healthcare Healthcare Devices Technology, SAAS, & Other High Tech
health and wellness marketing scaled
health and wellness marketing scaled

Healthcare and technology companies are quickly converging. Here’s what brands need to know about health and wellness marketing to take advantage.

A few years ago, tech visionary Marc Andreessen published a famous essay that asserted “software is eating the world.” Everywhere we look, companies are shaking off legacy or analog approaches in favor of software-driven innovations — and the healthcare industry is no exception. Tech and medicine are converging at a rapid rate, something that should be a dominant topic in any discussion of health and wellness marketing.

Why healthcare companies are tech companies

Not too long ago, healthcare was a reactive endeavor. People sought treatment when an acute medical issue arose and submitted to a perfunctory yearly physical examination.

Preventative medicine helped change that, as people began to seek more regular interactions with the healthcare system. Now, thanks to technology, consumers have become even more tightly integrated into the healthcare system.

Consider the case of Apple. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, recently said that he expects the company’s greatest contributions won’t come in the realm of communications or pure computing, but in healthcare.

The company’s Apple Watch is an example of a smart wearable device that can be used to gather real-time health data. That data can be analyzed by the watch owner or exported to the cloud and analyzed by a healthcare professional. Either way, it provides important bio-feedback that can be used to make much more informed healthcare treatment decisions.

The healthcare sector is an attractive opportunity for large tech firms such as Apple, as it represents about 18% of the total U.S. economy. Scrappy startups, too, are entering the space in force: Venture capitalists spent more than $20 billion backing healthcare plays in 2019.

How tech and medicine are converging

If you want to see some examples of tech and healthcare converging, 2019 provided no shortage. Here are a few of the most compelling trends that drew media attention in the last year:

  • Bringing ancillary healthcare to your doorstep: Digital-first companies are providing a range of complementary healthcare services. Warby Parker offers prescription eyeglasses, Curology offers personalized acne and skin care treatments, Smile Direct Club provides dental care and teeth whitening. All of these services are available without a visit to a doctor’s office.
  • Telemedicine: The Internet and mobile devices have freed us from the tyranny of proximity (although they’ve greatly increased the number of tedious conference calls we have to endure). This remote model has helped establish the field of telemedicine, where healthcare professionals can offer long-distance evaluations and consultations for both mental and physical health. For people in remote or rural areas without access to healthcare, this is often a huge benefit.
  • Biotech breakthroughs: Technology is helping to unlock extraordinary new advances in medicine. Surgeons are operating with robots, human genes are being edited to help fight disease, targeted and personalized medicine promises to help us create customized drugs to work on a single person with maximum efficacy, face transplants have been performed, and what was once a figment of our imagination is now possible and happening thanks to technology. It is now even possible to create human organs via 3D printing.

Is your health and wellness marketing agency up to the task?

Technology and medicine are converging at a dizzying rate, leading to advances that would have seemed more like science fiction just a decade ago. Yet few pharma marketing agencies or medical device marketing agencies are keeping pace.

At BIGEYE, we understand health and wellness marketing on a fundamental level. If other healthcare advertising agencies aren’t serving your needs, we urge you to contact us today.

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Consumer & Healthcare Health & Wellness Healthcare Marketing/Business Pharmaceutical
neutraceutical market scaled
neutraceutical market scaled

The nutraceutical market is booming. Here’s what you need to know in order to make your product stand out in the crowd.

With the US population aging and rates of many chronic diseases continuing to soar, consumers are in need of new products that promote health and wellness. Nutraceuticals, with their emphasis on natural health benefits, are one popular option.

Nutraceuticals, which have been positioned as a natural alternative to pharmaceutical treatments of physiological problems, have seen substantial growth in recent years. The global market is worth roughly $241 billion and is projected to reach $373 billion by 2025. 

Nutraceutical marketing, however, can present something of a challenge for people without true domain expertise. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at a few key tips for optimizing your nutraceutical marketing.

Understanding What Motivates Buyers in the Nutraceutical Market

Nutraceutical development is often targeted at physiological conditions that have a nutritional component. Certain diseases have dietary risks that are related to disease progression; other diseases simply do not have a long list of viable medical treatments. Patients that fall within these groups, naturally, are highly motivated to seek impactful medicines or supplements.

Smart nutraceutical marketing is aware of these distinctions, and should make an effort to target and activate consumers and patients who are being poorly served by traditional healthcare approaches. Brands should also be cognizant of buyer preferences within this niche; for example, nutraceutical buyers want green and sustainable product packaging.

Finding Where Nutraceutical Prospects Live Online

Buyers of nutraceuticals blur the line between patients and conventional consumers and this is reflected in their online behavior. When developing a nutraceutical marketing strategy, brands should focus on health and wellness websites, patient support groups and any channel where large numbers of people with medical issues congregate. That said, brands should also focus their marketing efforts on the segment of the nutraceutical audience that is motivated more by wellness, fitness and preventive medicine.

Differentiate Your Offering

The nutraceutical market is highly fragmented, with a few large multinationals at the top and thousands of small players operating in the industry. In order to stand out in this landscape, companies need to differentiate.

The problem is, most companies are selling variations on the same products. This means that branding is a critically important differentiator. The brands that do the best job of developing a valuable brand and building awareness will be in the strongest competitive position.

Leverage the Latest Technological Tools

If your nutraceutical brand isn’t devoting significant resources to cutting-edge digital marketing, you’re putting your organization at a significant disadvantage. Digital outreach, whether it’s via programmatic ads or social media campaigning, is critical. Without it, you can’t properly segment and target your audience and gather important insight into the efficacy of your marketing efforts.

Savvy brands go one step beyond traditional approaches and employ more sophisticated digital tools, including geo-targeting and search-based targeting, then support these efforts with advanced analytics that offer deeper insight into campaign performance. 

Partner with a Third Party When Necessary

Let’s face it: Many nutraceutical brands don’t have the in-house expertise to develop the kind of tech-centric campaigns that move the needle. In cases such as these, it makes sense to work with an outside marketing agency.

Choosing the right agency is imperative, however, as few have true nutraceutical domain expertise. Without that key element, you simply can’t create informed and authoritative advertising and marketing content. If you choose to opt for an external agency, make sure that your partner has experience with the nutraceutical niche.

Why Bigeye is the Ideal Partner for Nutraceutical Marketing

At Bigeye, we are domain experts in the realm of nutraceutical advertising and marketing. This allows us to create campaigns that are highly targeted, strategically sound and easily scalable without breaking the bank.

Contact us today for more information about what Bigeye can do for you.

Categories
Audience Banking Consumer & Healthcare Consumer Insights Healthcare Technology, SAAS, & Other High Tech
consumer trends 2020 scaled
consumer trends 2020 scaled

Making predictions is a risky business. In 1994, the Rand Corporation — a famous quasi-governmental think tank long-celebrated for their strategic prognostication — confidently predicted the following:

“During the 21st century, those houses that don’t have a robot in the broom closet could have a live-in ape to do the cleaning and gardening chores. Also, the use of well-trained apes as family chauffeurs might decrease the number of automobile accidents.”

While selectively breeding an army of highly intelligent ape butlers and chauffeurs might seem ridiculous to those of us living in 2019, it probably seemed semi-plausible then — and that’s the risk that comes with forecasting. However, when you’re right, the payoff can be immense. If you can predict what’s next, you can position yourself (or your organization) to profit from this shift before it occurs.

That brings us to the subject of this piece: “Connecting the Dots: Consumer Trends That Will Shape 2020.”

What We’ve Learned By Connecting the Dots

Recently released to the public, “Connecting the Dots” is a research and forecasting document compiled by GlobalWebIndex. The report, which is produced annually, offers a valuable window into technology, society and marketing.

For pure prognostication, GlobalWebIndex has a reasonably strong record. In last year’s report, it was predicted that e-sports would finally enter the mainstream. 2019 subsequently saw 50% year-over-year growth in e-sports, the Fortnite World Cup and top e-sports stars appearing on famous late night talk shows. Last year’s report also perceptively noted the continuing trend of social media becoming less social and more utilitarian, as platforms such as Instagram and Facebook become closer to one-stop-shops for consumer needs.

So what does the latest version of the report predict for the upcoming year? Let’s take a closer look at a few of the most relevant predictions offered in the report.

The Emergence of Online, On-Demand Healthcare

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if booking a physician’s appointment was as simple as booking a ride with Uber? That’s the future we’re hurtling toward, as AI and telehealth begin to augment — and in some cases replace — conventional primary care.

Today’s AI-powered health offerings are a far cry from the limited telehealth patient sessions of a few years ago. Healthcare operators are also taking things a step further by combining telehealth services with mobile clinics and pop ups. By marrying the two approaches, providers can offer the same suite of services found in any brick and mortar doctor’s office, yet in a far more accessible way.

The public interest is certainly there. According to “Connecting the Dots”:

“Our global research reveals 36% of consumers are using the internet to research health issues and healthcare products, jumping up to 42% for users aged 55-64, where a focus on health becomes even more crucial.”

The study also found that:

  • 75% of consumers use the Internet to research which medications to purchase
  • Half of consumers say that video physician consults will help them manage their health more effectively
  • 70% are willing to make their health data accessible via smartphone

In a world that’s conditioned to expect on-demand services — and where access to healthcare remains an intractable problem — this is one projection that seems almost certain to be realized.

Privacy and Cashless Societies

In some ways, privacy has become almost a quaint notion in the digital era. We trail streams of data as we navigate our phones and the web — much the same way that city buses trail exhaust fumes. Every follow, like or page visit is duly recorded and used to optimize our marketing and ad profiles.

This hyper-transparency has been largely shielded from two key areas, however: Medical records and financial data. Both areas are regulated to varying degrees. Yet our daily financial transactions could soon be subject to the same level of transparency as our daily web browsing.

That’s because digital currencies are on the rise. Bitcoin, Facebook’s Project Libra and efforts by China to develop a national digital currency all differ in some key regards. Yet they all share one characteristic: Anyone using these coins/tokens will have their transactions recorded on a public and immutable ledger. That’s the nature of blockchain technology.

While there are so-called privacy coins that obscure transaction history, these offerings are not likely to see the wide consumer adoption associated with a Facebook cryptocurrency or a state-sponsored digital asset.

For those invested in privacy, things aren’t completely dire. The European Union has introduced the world’s strongest digital privacy protections — laws that give consumers much more control over how their data is harvested and used. Yet in a world that is quickly going cashless, maintaining financial privacy may soon become a much more difficult challenge.

A Mediated Existence

Just how mediated through technology have our daily lives become? Consider this: The average person, globally, spends almost seven hours per day online. As companies and industries pursue greater degrees of digitalization, it is only a matter of time before seven hours seem like an exercise in restraint.

Given how much of our lives are now lived online, is it truly possible to detach? Have we lost the ability to prioritize the human touch without sacrificing convenience?

According to “Connecting the Dots,” many people now fear the answer is a resounding “no.” The number of people who report that technology complicates their lives, or who report being constantly connected online, continues to rise each year.

These concerns are shared by the people who seemingly know best: Silicon Valley CEOs and developers. Over the last year, we’ve seen repeated articles in the press about “dopamine fasts” and “technology detoxes.” Many tech leaders have mentioned that they strictly regulate screen time for their own children.

The scale and rapidity of the “tech takeover” of modern society is astonishing, if you take a moment to place it in context. A generation ago, personal computers cost thousands of dollars, had limited utility and were not owned by most households. Tech, in general, was not a lifestyle, except for hard core enthusiasts. 

While increasing computing power and the birth of the Internet ignited the consumer tech takeover, it wasn’t until little more than a decade ago — with the development of social media and the smartphone — that we truly began to live mediated existences. In fact, we’ve hurdled headlong into a radical societal shift, in a very brief period of time, without any real idea about the consequences.

Politicians have become aware of this anti-tech sentiment. Several US senators have urged social media platforms to take steps to make their products less compulsively engaging, claiming that the current paradigm is bad for the mental health of heavy users.

“Connecting the Dots” makes the case that while the tech takeover may be in full flight, human concern about (and opposition to) our new reality will only get stronger.

About Bigeye

Bigeye is a leading creative agency based in Orlando, Florida. We help clients create marketing campaigns that are driven by exceptional creative work, domain expertise and sophisticated technological tools. For more inspired reading, visit our Insights page.

Categories
Consumer & Healthcare Healthcare Healthcare Devices Pharmaceutical
ingestible technology marketing scaled
ingestible technology marketing scaled

The next logical step in the evolution of the health and wellness market, ingestible technology is poised to occupy a huge place in the healthcare marketplace over the next three to four years.

The Basics of Ingestible Tech

Otherwise known as “smart pills,” ingestible technology refers to electronic devices that are swallowed by patients to accomplish or aid in a broad spectrum of treatment or diagnostic healthcare processes. In general, this technology is dominated by a range of medical sensors, each one specifically designed to detect, record, and report a particular heath/wellness characteristic or condition. 

But what are ingestible sensors, exactly? And how to they work? Briefly described, an ingestible sensor looks similar if not identical to a traditional pharmaceutical capsule. Although small in size, these high-tech pills include a range of tech components such as microprocessors, controllers, power supplies, and monitoring instruments. Of course, because these smart pills are designed to pass through the human body, they must be made of materials that are wholly biocompatible and completely safe to swallow.

Although huge sections of the general population remain unaware of ingestible tech and its enormous potential, scientists and physicians are already accomplishing amazing things in this rapidly emerging sector. Subhra Pradhan, a PhD in chemical biology with a focus on the molecular genetics of pathogenic bacteria, presented just a few examples in a 2019 article for the independent research organization PreScouter.

These examples include a pill by Proteus Digital Health that can actually record the moment that a patient takes it. Connecting to a digital network, this pill contains a sensor that becomes activated by electrolytes within the body upon consumption. This allows concerned friends and family members to rest easy because they will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, when an elderly loved one has taken his or her medication on a daily basis. Each of these Proteus Digital Health pills contains a sensor that is only one square millimeter in length but can communicate exact dosage information to healthcare providers and other interested parties in real time. This sensor is coated in copper and magnesium – two digestible metals that occur naturally in the typical human diet, but can work wonders when it comes to tracking regular medication compliance.

Other remarkable ingestible tech products detailed by Dr. Pradhan and PreScouter include a disposable pill that can actually replace the universally dreaded colonoscopy procedure. The Israeli company Given Imaging has produced a pill that contains a small battery-powered camera that takes high-speed photos of the intestinal tract as it passes through it. This colonoscopy pill instantaneously sends the images that it records to a second device that a patient wears around his or her waist, which in turn sends these images to the computer or tablet of the patient’s doctor. Named the PillCam COLON, the pill has been fully approved through the United States Food and Drug Administration. Although it is currently recommended only for patients who experience pronounced difficulties while undergoing standard colonoscopies because of various anatomical problems, the potential for technologies such as the PillCam COLON are both varied and virtually unlimited.

The Ascendency of the Ingestible Tech Market

Ingestible tech is regarded by a preponderance of healthcare professionals and market analysts as the next step in the evolution of healthcare technology after wearable sensors that can monitor everything from heart rate to blood sugar. However, ingestible tech has more than a few hurdles to overcome in terms of general public perception.  In short, many people are simply unsettled by the very notion of putting tiny computer components, cameras, and other equipment into their bodies.

As ingestible tech continues to evolve, there is little doubt that it will raise a wide range of legal, scientific, and ethical questions. In addition to general and specific health concerns, this form of tech opens the door to issues of patient privacy and effective data sharing as it communicates information drawn from within the human body to medical providers and organizations on that span the globe.

However, the far-reaching benefits of ingestible tech cannot be denied. In one of the first comprehensive market analyses of ingestible tech, Grand View Research valued the total value of the global ingestible sensor market at $491 million in 2016.

As the market continues to evolve, companies are devising a variety of ways to introduce healthcare technology to a wary public and take the necessary “baby steps” toward a widespread acceptance of ingestible tech. As an example, the medical startup facilitator MaRS has discussed a smart pill bottle from Adhere Tech that lights up and buzzes much like a cell phone in order to remind people to take their medication at the proper time. This smart bottle can even send text and/or voice messages that communicate prescribed dosages and keep track of metrics such as the number of remaining pills in the bottle and the number of times that its lid has been opened and closed.  

Products like the Adhere Tech smart bottle may bridge the gap to a future in which ingestible tech is commonplace. In short, as patients get more and more comfortable with incorporating technology into their daily health and wellness routines, their willingness to literally swallow this technology will increase by leaps and bounds.

The vast majority of healthcare professionals and market analysts agree that the market for ingestible sensors is going to experience explosive growth over the next few years. Mordor Intelligence expects the ingestible sensor market to register a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7 percent by 2024, while Research and Markets expects a CAGR of 20.06 percent by 2023.

Predicting a CAGR of 22.22 percent as the ingestible sensor market matures, Market Research Future presents an even sunnier picture of this emerging medical technology. According to this research, the total value of the global ingestible sensor market will ultimately exceed $87.10 billion.

Tips for Marketing Ingestible Tech

In light of these remarkable statistical projections, pharmaceutical and healthcare organizations should certainly pay close attention to the massive potential of ingestible tech and smart pills marketing. However, far too many healthcare advertising agencies are arriving far too late to the ingestible tech party.

If you want to capitalize on the rapidly expanding ingestible tech market, now is the time to develop your strategy and launch your campaign. Here are just a few key guidelines to help you create and propagate marketing messages that will be sure to resonate with the general public.

  • Stay up to date with new technological advances as they emerge –Advances in the ingestible tech sector are both ongoing and diverse. Most experts agree that the existing smart pills discussed above, despite their remarkable nature, are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the massive potential of this sector. A 2018 article by Wired singles out the absence of adequate micro-tech power supplies as one of the greatest hurdles standing in the way of further ingestible tech development. However, MIT has developed incredible technology that harnesses the properties of stomach acid to power small sensors within the human stomach. By paying close attention to ongoing developments such as this, healthcare marketers will be in a far better position to promote and sell ingestible technology to existing and potential customers.
  • Recognizing and communicating key ingestible tech features, advantages, and benefits – The patients of today are better informed about their various medical issues and more involved in their overall own health and wellness than ever before. Therefore, they are more likely to seek out and consume healthcare information than any generation that came before them. Specifically, they want to know how evolving healthcare technology and medical modalities can help provide them with care that is more advanced, targeted, and comprehensive, leading to quicker overall recovery times and better overall outcomes. By identifying the key benefits of specific ingestible tech products and highlighting them in your advertising campaigns for those products, you can overcome the stigmas that ingestible tech may carry in the minds of your targeted audience demographic.
  • Countering existing fears and negative perceptions – As we have previously discussed, your chosen target audience is bound to have a variety of health and personal privacy concerns when it comes to ingestible tech. To combat these fears and negative perceptions, it is absolutely vital to address them in your marketing materials. Counter health concerns by stressing the biocompatible nature of your products and their proven safety. Tout the fact that your products have passed rigorous official health and safety standards such as those of the FDA. Both pharma and general healthcare organizations should also stress the fact that their ingestible tech mirrors the familiar form of a common pill capsule in terms of size, shape, substance, and general appearance. Personal privacy and information security concerns can be addressed by ensuring consumers that any pictures taken or data collected by ingestible sensors will be sent directly to the intended recipient or recipients (qualified healthcare professionals, close loved ones, and/or the patient him or herself). Absolutely no one else should be able to access the results that are produced by the ingestible tech process. 
  • Appreciating both positive and negative issues that relate to change and adoption – Make no mistake: the advent of ingestible tech constitutes a major sea change in the health and wellness sector. Even consumers without specific safety and security concerns will have a range of questions about this cutting-edge technology (how does it work?, how was it developed?, how long has it been in use?,  etc.). Your ingestible tech marketing campaign must learn to anticipate these questions and address them proactively. Of course, all adverting materials should be benefit based, so all information provided should lead directly to the key advantages that smart pills present as compared with the technology that came before them. After all, most patients will welcome a small, swallowable device such as the PillCam COLON when the alternative is a traditional colonoscopy procedure with all of the discomfort and/or embarrassment that it typically entails.
  • Presenting complicated technology in non-technical terms that anyone can easily understand – In addition to heavily stressing the benefits of your smart pill products, your explanations of specific ingestible tech modalities must be clearly presented in layman’s terms. However, as you “dumb down” the highly technical language that often goes hand in hand with ingestible tech, make sure that your explanation remains entirely accurate and true to the spirit of the product/procedure at hand. In addition to using simple language and maintaining a warm and familiar tone in the written or spoken elements of your marketing materials, you should also include clear diagrams and other visual elements. The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings particularly true when it comes to illustrating the complex and highly clinical intricacies of ingestible tech.

Getting Professional Help

When it comes to ingestible tech, securing effective management and advisement in the worlds of medical device marketing and/or general health and wellness marketing can be daunting to say the least. Because ingestible tech is still positioned on the cutting edge of state-of-the-art medicine, the average healthcare marketing agency or pharma marketing agency simply doesn’t know what to do with it.

If you’re looking for an ingestible tech branding agency or if you simply have questions about this amazing new market, contact a skilled and knowledgeable marketing professional at Bigeye today.

As a highly innovative healthcare marketing firm, we take a forward-thinking approach that embraces the as-yet untapped potential of new medical technologies. Get ahead of the ingestible tech curve with us!

Categories
Healthcare Marketing/Business Pharmaceutical
nootropics marketing scaled
nootropics marketing scaled

Nootropics promise to play a big part in the future of the pharmaceutical and nutritional supplement market. It’s time to get your nootropics marketing strategy in order!

Some people know them as “cognitive enhancers,” while others might refer to them as “smart drugs.” No matter what you choose to call them, nootropics are big business and only getting bigger.

What Are Nootropics?

Broadly defined, the term “nootropic” can refer to any pharmaceutical drug or nutritional supplement that is taken by generally healthy individuals in an effort to improve or enhance mental function. Nootropics can be either natural or synthetic. You can readily purchase some over the counter, while others require a doctor’s prescription.

Different nootropics target different elements of cognitive processing including those that govern executive function/conative control, memory, attention, concentration, creativity, and motivation.

Two of the most widely consumed nootropics are caffeine (which boosts alertness) and nicotine (which affects both attention levels and motor functions). For marketing purposes, however, we will focus on other substances that are purchased specifically for their mental enhancement properties.

A recent article by Healthline ranked the nootropics L-Theanine (a naturally occurring amino acid that engenders feelings of calmness) and creatine (a common bodybuilding supplement that has also proven effective at sharpening short-term memory and reasoning skills) among the top nootropics in the modern marketplace. Other nootropics singled out by Healthline include Ginkgo biloba, Bacopa monnieri, Rhodiola rosea, Panax ginseng, Noopept, Piracetam, and Phenotropil.

The Strength of the Nootropic Product Market

Regardless of what types of nootropics they are taking and why they are taking them, general consumers are turning to smart drugs and conative enhancers in increasing numbers.

According to a recent report by Zion Market Research, the nootropics product market is expected to reach approximately $5,959 million by 2024. Taking a broad look at the nootropics sector as a whole, this report – titled “Nootropics Market By Application (Memory Enhancement, Mood and Depression, Attention and Focus, Longevity and Anti-Aging, Sleep, Recovery, and Dream Enhancement, and Anxiety): Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, and Forecast – also predicts a nootropics compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 15.7% between 2018 and 2024.

How to Market Your Nootropic Products

In light of the growing popularly of nootropics among the global public, you’ll want to make the most of this rapidly expanding health and wellness sector. Here are just a few tips that can help your particular nootropic product(s) stand out in the marketplace.

1. Lead with the Problem

As previously discussed, nootropics can address a range of specific mental functions and cognitive deficiencies. By specifically targeting common problems at the head of your marketing materials, you can instantly capture the rapt attention of your chosen audience.

Many marketers operating in the pharmaceutical/nutritional supplement sector have made the mistake of jumping directly to the benefits of a particular product before first firmly setting up the problem that it solves. When it comes to nootropics, a clearly established problem/solution approach will drive conversions more readily than an approach that is centered around the presentation of specific product features.

2. Offer Free Samples

Pharmaceutical/nutritional supplement sector have long known the tremendous value of a free sample. And free samples are particularly effective when it comes to marketing substances, like nootropics, that are designed to enhance health and wellness rather than treat a dangerous medical condition.

Free samples of prescription nootropics can be distributed through physicians who ensure that these medications are only available to those who can truly benefit from them. Studies have shown that doctors who receive free pharmaceutical product samples are significantly more likely to prescribe that product.

3. Connect with Customers Emotionally

Memory, attentiveness, and general cognitive function are areas of health and wellness that connect with people on a strong emotional level. By tapping into this emotion, you can not only capture audience attention but drive consumer conversions. Just be sure that you choose emotional appeals have a basis in fact and are relevant to the specific nootropics that you are marketing.

Social media offers ample opportunities to emotionally connect with audiences in a genuine way. Consider launching an interactive campaign that encourages people to comment on your product and share their feelings about it.

For More Information on Nootropics Product Marketing

A forward-thinking marketing agency with a specific focus in the healthcare industry, Bigeye is always one step ahead of the competition. Like all emerging and rapidly growing markets, the nootropic market is an area of specific interest to us. To learn more about nootropics marketing and other areas that relate to advertising and promotion, contact us today.

Categories
Consumer & Healthcare Health & Wellness Healthcare
health and wellness marketing e1572565771241
health and wellness marketing e1572565771241

If you’re engaged in health and wellness marketing, you need to stay apprised of the latest trends. Here’s what’s happening in the health space.

Appetite-suppressing lollipops, goat yoga and the desire to replace every food with cauliflower — there’s no question that health and wellness trends are sometimes a bit over the top. Yet this industry also represents serious business, given that it is worth $4.2 trillion and growing at more than 12% annually. Companies in this space need to stay on top of evolving trends to ensure that they derive maximum value from their health and wellness marketing.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at what’s happening within the health and wellness space.

Why are people spending more money on their health, diet and general well-being? Technology plays a sizable role. Social media — and the trend toward optimizing each aspect of our lives — has created intense interest in self-improvement, as shown by the following trends:

  1. Growth in the wellness travel space. You’ve probably heard about culinary travel — now meet health and wellness-themed vacations. Instead of lying on a beach and sipping cocktails, more consumers are seeking health-focused holidays. The wellness travel space , which is worth $563 billion annually, encompasses everything from yoga retreats, to spas, healthy cooking holidays and spiritual retreats. Why are such excursions becoming so popular? Instead of gorging themselves on food and drink and returning to work heavy, groggy and out of sorts, consumers instead are using vacation time to pursue physically and mentally refreshing activities — and returning to work glowing, fit and ready to move full steam ahead.

  2. The line between wellness devices and medical devices has become increasingly blurred in recent years. Wearable technology now allows us to use connected consumer devices to collect actionable health data — heart rate, sleep quality and other key biometric feedback data. This data, which was once siloed inside consumer health apps, is now being ported directly to health care providers, allowing them to make more informed treatment decisions even at a distance. This trend has the potential to unlock vast efficiency and cost improvements in the medical sector. If patients begin to feel poorly at home, their physician can review their health data remotely and possibly make an assessment and diagnosis — something that might prevent an unnecessary trip to the ER or doctor’s office. Modern medical device marketing plays a critical role in helping educate the public about this trend and the brands that are driving it.

  3. The democratization of health and wellness. Like many new trends, health and wellness began gaining traction among wealthier demographics. Today, however, Goop subscribers and new age enthusiasts are no longer driving the health and wellness train. The cost of gym memberships has decreased, the App Economy has helped make physical training of all sorts more accessible and put digital health and wellness tools into the hands of almost anyone who needs them. This is a critically important development, as healthcare costs are outpacing economic growth in many countries. The WHO predicts that there will be a shortage of tens of millions of healthcare workers, so ancillary health and wellness services can help mitigate these gaps. Smart health and wellness marketing can also help reach and activate these audiences.

Finding the Right Healthcare Marketing Agency

If you’re seeking help with health and wellness marketing, it’s imperative to connect with the right agency. At BIGEYE, we have the domain expertise to create deeply authoritative campaigns and content — and the technological skill to execute them effectively.

Categories
Consumer & Healthcare Health & Wellness Healthcare Healthcare Devices Technology, SAAS, & Other High Tech
health and wellness for seniors e1572565876404
health and wellness for seniors e1572565876404

As wearable digital health and wellness devices continue to improve, wearables will be the new frontier when it comes to health and wellness for seniors.

Wearable fitness trackers are all the rage, but they aren’t finding their way onto the wrists of elderly people. But, considering their ability to measure and record a whole host of health and wellness criteria, can’t your Fitbit be used as a medical monitor to care for your grandfather?

According to the international industry association Wearable Technologies, even the new Fitbit Care simply doesn’t have the precision or reliability to track the health of a senior living or home care patient. However, that’s all about to change with the introduction of a whole new generation of health wearables for seniors that are approved by the FDA for tasks that range from monitoring daily activities, sending real-time alerts, and even preventing dangerous falls.

The Vast Potential of the Senior Health Wearables Market

Economic predictions for wearable health devices that further health and wellness for seniors are incredibly bright. In fact, a national news outlet that serves an audience of senior citizens, McKnight’s Senior Living recently declared, “FDA-cleared wearables are the future of senior care.”

Considering that the number of Americans over 64 years of age will more than double by 2060 and that 80% of these senior citizens will live with one or more chronic illnesses, McKnight’s predicts that wearables will prove indispensable as the next step in the technological evolution of remote patient monitoring.

Key Wearables Marketing Messages That Speak Directly to Seniors

Considering that the fitness wearable sector of today is clearly dominated by younger consumers, how does a wise wearables marketer begin to reach out to the geriatric demographic? Here are just three key marketing messages that are bound to resonate with seniors when it comes to wearable devices for health.

1. Feel better and live longer with wearables

As the daily business and tech newsletter Trends points out, health wearables for seniors will go far beyond the capabilities of the fitness wearables of today. In addition to “measuring heart rates, blood sugar or other important markers” these new wearables “will signal to users how to improve health and longevity on a daily basis,” going the extra distance to manage and treat chronic illnesses as diabetes and heart disease.

2. Increase and maintain mobility

By encouraging stretching / exercise and helping ward off physical ailments, wearables can do wonders to keep seniors mobile. An independent authority on digital apps and gadgets, Tech Crunch stresses the many ways that wearables can boost mobility by helping seniors cope with vision loss, explaining how these devices can send signals via headphones and bodily vibrations to warn sight-impaired individuals of obstacles that appear in their paths.

3. Live independently

For many seniors, living independently is the ultimate goal. Wearable technology can do wonders to make independent living a safe and sensible reality by allowing seniors to monitor their own health and wellness. And, perhaps more importantly, wearables can transmit this same health and wellness information in real time to family members and / or healthcare professionals.

For More Information

A digital marketing agency working in a number of market sectors, BIGEYE specializes in capitalizing on evolving trends with a forward-thinking approach. Contact us today and let us help you hone a marketing campaign with a specific focus on health wearables for seniors.