As technology continues to advance, marketing strategies are also adjusting to make the most of these technological advancements. Marketers have continued to explore new ways to run successful ad campaigns and improve sales. One of these new and effective ways of improved marketing is Location-Based Marketing (LBM). Location-based marketing involves the use of the location software or data on mobile devices to determine the previous, current, or frequently visited locations of consumers to market a product to them. Location-based marketing can also be referred to as proximity-based marketing. There are several ways to carry out LBM and one of these includes Geo-fencing.
Geo-fencing involves building a targeting system or fence around an area which helps to target customers that visit that area. This is an important feature in healthcare marketing as a lot of patients are now moving from government hospitals to visiting outpatients’ clinics more often due to the increasing costs of healthcare. Geo-fencing allows healthcare marketers to target patients who visit a particular area and offer them products tailored to meet their specific needs.
For example geo-fencing will let you know if a patient visits a gynecological research clinic allowing you to market gynecological products and/or recommend your healthcare service to this patient. There is a very high probability that the patient will respond to the ad and patronize your service or product.
Benefits of Geo-fencing
There are a lot of advantages to Geo-fencing, especially in areas like the health industry which targets people in its locality.
- It can help hospitals and clinics target those who are around them and bring them in by offering them services. People love to patronize clinics near them because no one enjoys the stress of going a long distance to get what they want.
- It can also help to target those who have come to town visiting and need an emergency healthcare center. LBM doesn’t just work with the location, but also the data provided by internet providers. If a user has been searching for information about a condition on their phone, the network providers can help you with this information and you can there create better campaigns to target such users. That’s why 83% of marketers who use LBM run more successful campaigns.
- Using LBM or Geofencing also helps to improve your relationship with your customers as you now have a better understanding of their needs hence you can solve their problems more effectively.
- It is very beneficial to not just healthcare givers but also to patients. Geo-fencing can help improve the services offered in several ways.
- Hospitals can help to direct patients easily to their location using the GPS on the mobile device of the user.
- It can also help in scheduling and postponing health appointments from wherever they may be.
- It allows HCPs to give health tips to people in a particular location by recommending gyms, fitness centers, and other healthcare locations to consumers.
- In the case of an emergency, Geo-fencing can help to direct patients to the nearest emergency centers where their specific health needs can be met.
Location-Based Marketing is the new frontier in technological marketing. If healthcare marketers can maximize their full potential it will lead to massive results.
