Artificial Intelligence (AI), once considered the domain of data scientists and technologists, has become a proven and essential tool for modern marketers. Today’s marketers face an overwhelming influx of data from various technology platforms. AI helps cut through this clutter, discerning meaningful signals from the noise.
By: Ann McGlinchey, VP, Customer Experience Management, CMI Media Group.
Effective marketing practices require a delicate balance between art (messaging and creative) and science (data analytics and insights). This balance allows marketers to deliver the most impactful creative based on data-driven observations.
Because most humans favor either a left- or right-brain orientation, striking this balance creates an interesting challenge. The highly regulated nature of the healthcare industry further complicates this challenge, impacting both audience selection and the development of compliant media assets.
This article explores how AI offers a powerful solution to these challenges, unlocking new potential for engaging healthcare providers (HCPs), patients, and caregivers.
Enhanced HCP, patient, and caregiver engagement
Healthcare marketers face significant hurdles in identifying HCPs, patients, and caregivers due to stringent privacy regulations. AI’s machine learning capabilities address this challenge by developing look-alike models that identify target audiences while remaining compliant. AI-powered segmentation ensures that cohort demographics align with targeting parameters for tailored content delivery.
Once audiences and segments are defined, predictive analytics (AI’s ability to forecast customer behaviour by analysing past interactions) enable companies to deliver the right message at the right time. AI creates unique opportunities to personalise content, messaging, and media channels, ensuring marketing resonates with the target audience.
As the AI engine processes engagement data, messaging can be further refined. For example, Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) can create highly personalised ad experiences in real-time, rapidly building variations based on audience, context, and past performance.
AI tools are available that can curate blogs, social media posts, ad copy, newsletters, and website content tailored to audience interests. AI can even optimise voice search for Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant queries by identifying effective conversational keyword strategies.
When educating HCPs and patients/caregivers is the objective, AI-powered search engines and knowledge bases make information readily accessible. Data collected from professional (HCP), and consumer (patient/caregiver) websites can be used to create personalised learning platforms and educational resources. Immersive learning experiences can even be developed through virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).
Furthermore, healthcare companies can leverage AI to improve patient adherence through AI-driven reminders and notifications. Predictive analytics can identify at-risk patients and proactively intervene with personalised support programmes.
Streamlined marketing operations
AI streamlines marketing operations through advanced data analytics and insights, automating tasks, and providing real-time performance monitoring and reporting. For example, analytics and insights can be used by media and marketing planners to ensure optimal budget investment.
Mundane tasks, like asset tagging and trafficking, can be automated, freeing resources to focus on more strategic activities; automation powers marketing tasks such as programmatic advertising for efficient media buying.
These AI-powered tools use machine learning to optimise campaigns in real-time, automatically adjusting targeting, bidding, and creative elements for better ROI. AI can be used to automate content creation/distribution, lead generation, scoring, and qualification. It can even be trained to guide prospects through sales funnels.
Today’s performance monitoring capabilities extend beyond traditional reporting. AI-driven analysis of real-time HCP behaviours and patient data improves targeting and campaign optimisation, through the ability to track and predict optimal customer journeys. Now marketers understand which messages, channels and tactics are best suited for their targets.
This enables them to design seamless omnichannel experiences tailored to individual HCPs and patients/caregivers. Hyper-personalising audience experiences lead to optimal outcomes and improved ROI.
CMI Media Group uses a combination of AI capabilities within our Empower Operating System (OS).
This system provides end-to-end intelligent tools for planning, creating, launching, and optimising marketing campaigns – from audience identification, messaging, campaign design, and media buying to campaign implementation, management and continual optimisation based on audience engagement data. The integration of these intelligent tools in a common OS streamlines our processes, enhances productivity, and minimizes human error.
Our Empower Automated Marketing Orchestrator (AMO) platform is the OS application where all these activities converge.
Shown here is an example of a campaign targeted at HCPs involving two segments, six data triggers and highly personalised messaging. When HCPs appeared in a trigger file, they were dynamically moved from their segmentation journey and placed in a new messaging sequence based on the new data. Upon completion of the trigger journey, HCPs automatically returned to their original segmentation messaging.
There are other AI applications that can be applied to marketing. AI’s ability to identify patterns in large datasets can be leveraged via predictive modelling to forecast market trends and identify growth opportunities.
It can monitor brand awareness by tracking brand mentions and analysing audience sentiment across platforms; AI also enables companies to respond quickly to feedback or potential PR issues and even helps identify adverse events mentioned on social media. Furthermore, AI can also assist marketers in navigating the evolving landscape of privacy and healthcare marketing regulations.
AI: A present-day necessity for healthcare marketers
AI offers critical business applications to healthcare marketers. By leveraging AI’s power to personalise engagement, streamline operations, and gain data-driven insights, marketers can overcome the unique challenges of this highly regulated industry.
From optimising content and automating tasks to improving ROI and navigating privacy regulations, AI offers a clear path to enhanced HCP, patient, and caregiver engagement.
The future of healthcare marketing is intelligent, personalised, and powered by AI.
By: Ann McGlinchey, VP, Customer Experience Management, CMI Media Group.
