Gearing Up for Population Health, Part 5: Fear Factor
// By Susan Dubuque //
Last year Strategic Health Care Marketing published a series of three articles on Racing to Wellness. This year we will delve further into the evolution of our profession in a rapidly changing environment. As we move away from conventional promotions intended to drive volumes, we will explore the reinvention of marketing and communications with a different objective—to improve health and support wellness as we prepare for the advent of population health management.
As health care marketing professionals, we can borrow many best practices from our colleagues in the field of social and behavioral health. Among the most fundamental lessons is how to motivate people to change their behavior—that is, to adopt a new, healthier behavior—like exercising or eating more fruits and veggies—or discontinue a negative behavior such as smoking.
There are a variety of approaches we can use to reach potential consumers in an effort to pique their interest, address their needs and wants, or touch their hearts. Five of the most common advertising appeals are humor, rationality, bandwagon, sex, and fear.