A Sneak Peek at the State of Health Care Content Marketing

In preparation for the 

Content Marketing World Health Summit (November 7-8, 2012 in Cleveland), we are putting together some exclusive research on content marketing usage and budget for the health care and life sciences industries. So before content experts from the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and Mayo Clinic take the stage, I’ll be opening up CMW Health Summit with all the research findings.

As anyone in the health care marketing industry will tell you, content marketing in that space is a bit behind the times. The lag is due to a combination of factors, including legal and ethics issues, culture, history, and plain old fear.

Now I would never proclaim to be an expert in health care content marketing, but I’ve been around enough to know that everyone is talking about innovation in the health space, including the function of marketing. I believe if we are going to see true innovation in health care marketing, storytelling and authentic sharing are key.

So, just to get the ball rolling, here is a sneak peek at some of our research findings that we’ll formally release to the public at the event.

1. Health care companies outsource content marketing at a higher rate than other industries: Compared to all other industries in the study, health care brands outsource some portion of content marketing at approximately a 40 percent higher clip (63 percent, compared with an average of 45 percent).

2. Health care companies struggle with content marketing effectiveness: Just 28 percent of respondents feel that their content marketing is successful in solving their overall marketing objectives.

3. Health care companies use social media less often: Of the top 10 social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), health care companies show substantially decreased usage — except for one: YouTube (video). Also, the total number of platforms used is lower than that of other industries — 4.5 channels leveraged versus 3.6 for health care companies).

For the full health care content marketing results, I hope to see you at CMW Health Summit in a few months.