Will big data set healthcare marketing free?

Or, send you to ligation hell because some data was misused, HIPAA was violated or patients just don't like the idea of marketers have access to data no matter how confidential and the security steps taken to keep it that way?

Me, I believe big data will set healthcare organizations free and in the process their marketers as well.

You see, healthcare marketing should be driven by data. Data used to identify unmeet healthcare consumer medical needs, where those unmet needs are located and in the design of the healthcare consumer friendly offering, priced at a point that they will be willing to pay. This is the way it always should have been, but hasn't. Goes for some healthcare IT and medical device manufacturers too.

Now that Walgreens and other non-traditional providers of healthcare services are expanding and taking a retail approach which is driven by big data, hospitals and health systems as well as others need to start paying attention and looking at their healthcare services from a big data standpoint. That means analysis by taking big data chunks, down to smaller chunks of data looking for trends and insights into healthcare consumer behavior. And if you are going to manage population health and develop effective messaging on an individualized basis, then you better be looking at big data. Going away are the days of generic messaging seeing that we entering an age where individualization of messaging is the key.

The healthcare consumer will use you in pretty novel ways going forward.

And that will become apparent in the data. It's not all about you and controlling the flow. If you want the healthcare consumer to make "healthy choices". If you want the health care consumer to stay in network. If you want the healthcare consumer to pay attention. Then you are going to have to be analyzing the data, developing individualized health care consumer messaging and sharing the same. Big data will lay your organizational soul bare for you and others to see. Hope you're ready for that.

So while you are taking a clinical or administrative view of the data, take a step back and think that that means to the healthcare consumer. They are people too. Not just clinical values, Not just whether or not they are going in or out of network. Not whether 600 or 1 person missed a health screening. Your answers as to why are in the data. Think how marketing can assist in all of the above. And it's not making things sound good, read well or look pretty.

Big data will improve your brand.

Big data will improve your patient experience.

Big data will improve your marketing.

Big data will provide you with differentiation.

Big data will free your outcomes, because whether you like it or not, the healthcare consumer already has access to a lot of it.

Big data is marketing measurable.

Don't use big data in your marketing and you will be scratching your head wondering what happened when that healthcare consumer train runs over you.

Michael Krivich is an internationally followed healthcare marketing blogger with over 5,000 monthly pages views in over 52 countries worldwide on Healthcare Marketing Matters. He is founder of the michael J group, a healthcare marketing consultancy dedicated to creating value through strategic marketing for hospitals and health system regardless of payment mechanism, either fee-for-service or value-based to increase market-share, revenue , brand and demonstrate actual return on marketing investment. Michael is a Fellow, American College of Healthcare Executives and a Professional Certified Marketer, American Marketing Association. Like us on facebook at the michael J group.