Why mHealth Brands Need an Agile Approach to Marketing

Gathering and transmitting vital information is a core function of the healthcare industry, and over the last decade the impact of new technology has completely transformed many procedures. What has emerged from this evolutionary process is the broad field of mHealth where everything from retrieval of patient records, to physician collaboration, to monitoring a patient’s medication compliance has changed.

And, because the next generation of mobile devices are able to tap into this technological infrastructure, mHealth has emerged as the operative element in linking the power of electronically generated information with advanced health care solutions.

Staying on the cutting edge of this information wave requires more agility and nimbleness than ever, challenging the many old-school marketing strategies that still dominate much of the industry.

The Need for Speed
Adapting to change is the name of the game in the world of meeting customer expectations and demands. As the tools used to access information have become more and more mobile, the applications they use must adapt and change with technology to stay ahead of the competition.

Converting traditional marketing strategies from a basic tiered structure to a more agile marketing configuration has emerged as perhaps the central challenge facing mHealth brands today. The key to agile marketing is being at the focal point of development now, versus six months from today. This in-the-moment process, different from years past, pushes brands to stay in motion and adapt to changes in real-time.

A New Destination
Perhaps the most important factor in this new mobile-based world is the importance of not seeking perfection. In terms of delivering current value to customers, nothing is harder to achieve, nor a bigger enemy of the need for instantaneous adaptability than perfection.

Rather than focus on your desire to deliver perfection, adopt the mantra of the agile marketer: build-measure-learn. This approach offers the following three crucial elements to be an effective marketer in the mobile world:

• Priority – Focus on the customers’ value as your first priority
• Relevancy – Stay in the here-and-now with relevant messaging
• Engagement – Constantly engage and evaluate customer relationships

The bottom line is that advances in technology have compelled traditional responses to become more immediate. Developing an agile marketing strategy is the core prerequisite to keeping pace with the mHealth marketplace. And in today’s world of mobile … it’s the very essence of that movement. Have you adopted an agile marketing approach? Now’s the time to give it some thought.

photo credit: Dan Kunitz via photopin cc