Marketing will sometimes be essential in the healthcare sector, even when we’re talking about an industry that may have restrictions placed on non-urgent expenditures like advertising. Just take Public Health England Change4Life campaign as an example. The initiative included TV ads and leaflets and was launched in an effort to counter the problem with childhood obesity across the nation.

In this guide, we look into how both public and private organisations in the UK can use a print direct mail campaign to communicate information effectively and concisely for medical purposes…

What is your marketing goal?

Frequently used marketing goals in the healthcare sector include methods for keeping patients updated about private plans, survey updates, new inoculations and potential risks to health. Preferably, choose only one aim to help you drive a strong and clear message that promises the greatest engagement.

Your direct mail campaign’s design and tone will likely be influenced by having a clear marketing goal in mind. For example, if you’re contacting at-risk patients in your database to inform them of a vaccine they need, you might choose a small, simple leaflet that details what they must do and why clearly. However, if you’re a private healthcare organisation wishing to promote services to a new catchment area, you might prefer to invest in a multi-page pamphlet featuring images, advertorial copy and quotes regarding services.

Who is your target demographic?

A specific subset of the population should be targeted during a direct mail campaign — the very design of this marketing technique is based around this thinking. If you’re planning on contacting current patients, get the addresses from your online database. However, the job gets trickier if you’re aiming your campaign at new patients.

The following four sections should be considered when identifying your potential target audience:

• Demographic: can include age, gender, occupation, and family situation (e.g. a key target audience for material regarding vaccinations for children or the elderly).
• Behaviour: their attitudes, wants and needs (e.g. people who may have expressed an interest in certain medical services or information online).
• Geographic: where they live (e.g. patient catchment areas or previously uncontacted residents near your surgery’s location).
• Psychographic: pertaining to their lifestyle (e.g. useful if you wish to contact smokers and heavy drinkers for group quitting sessions).

Which format will be best for your direct mail campaign?

Ahead of designing any materials, you’ll want to decide on the most effective format for your requirements. Here are the most popular:

• Postcards: clear and concise.
• Letters: confidential and personalised.
• Catalogues: spacious and aesthetically pleasing.
• Self-mailers: cheap and attractive.
• Dimensional mailers (info packaged in tubes or boxes): interesting and engaging.

For self-mailers or letters, consider keeping these closed when contacting any current patients — private details and sensitive information could be included in the content. Your recipient might appreciate this consideration and nobody wants to get off on the wrong foot in marketing. Private medical establishments might take the opportunity to use glossy, promotional catalogues to improve the rate of engagement with potential patients. Alternatively, pricier dimensional mailers can boost ROI far beyond that of flat mail, according to research by Baylor University.

How to approach the design, layout and copy of any material

At your firm, you’re likely to have an abundance of information related to aspects of healthcare — avoid cluttering pages of your direct mail material with so much of these facts and figures. Instead, select the main points and place these in prominent positions. According to studies, we have about seven seconds to grab human attention. So, your direct mail material should do at least one of the following:

• Address a pressing medical issue.
• Ask a sensitive question — perhaps one they might be afraid to talk about, such as mental health?
• Pique curiosity — are you offering a new cosmetic surgery procedure?
• State an interesting fact — has there been a sudden rise in a preventable disease?

Take note too that medical jargon can alienate people and so should be left out of copy. Instead, evoke emotion (i.e shock, fear or curiosity) and employ imagery to ensure that your marketing material is picked up off the doormat. An excellent example of this is the ‘Protect Everyone from Flu’ campaign, which included an ad featuring a photo of baby in an incubator next to a quote (written as if said by the unwell child) which read: “I am fighting to get well. Please don’t make me fight the flu, too”. With the advances in digital printing, healthcare marketing material can display hard-hitting images with even greater effect than previously.

A call to action needs to be on your material too. Tell your audience what you wish them to do, whether that’s make an appointment, start eating healthily, book a consultation, or anything else.

How can the success of print direct mail campaigns be measured?

Evaluating the success of your direct mail campaign can be done straight after the material has been posted, you it will depend on your marketing goal how to approach this step. If you’re inviting patients to a meeting about mental health, you can work out the ROI by comparing the number of attendees with the number of direct mail marketing materials you posted. Similarly, compare how many of a particular vaccine was administered from the day after you launched your campaign.