White paper written by Kulin Marketing on the telehealth and mhealth space that is filled with startups.
Contact us at info@kulinmareting.com to purchase a printed version of this white paper.
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monitoring tools, an industry that earned $126.8m in 2010 and is estimated to
reach $294.9m in 2015.
TeleHealth
Kulin Marketing Founder, Elizabeth Kulin, worked for Preferred Global Health
(PGH) in 2005, working closely with Boston based Harvard Medical, an affiliate
of Partners Healthcare and Partnerâs Telemedicine departments. PGH worked
with Partners TeleHealth program to connect patients living outside of the
United States with leading physicians located at Dana Farbar, Brigham and
Womenâs, and Massachusetts General Hospital. At that time, the devices used to
connect were email, fax, and phone. Since that time, the telehealth technology
has been developed to connect remote patients with more physicians, at lower
costs and quicker rates. For example, the TeleHealth startup Health Spot is
installing medical check up Kiosks (Care4 Stations) in drug stores that enable
physicians to conduct a physical with a patient remotely via video and other
devices such as a connected health blood pressure medical device.
mHealth
Unlike Telehealth, which has been structurally developing for an estimated 10
years, mHealth has recently displayed a surge of new technologies for startups.
From a broad view, mHealth technologies enable users to do 3 things: set goals,
track progress, and integrate a motivational program that will attempt to change
their behavior using social and/or monetary influences.
Some mHealth technologies include only setting goals and tracking progress, and
some encompass all 3 functions. For example, Goals.com enables users to set
goals, track, and schedule SMS reminders, but lacks social and/or monetary
motivators. On the other hand, HealthSeeker (the Facebook app) uses social
influence to motivate users in a fun way, and Lose it! (a mobile app and web
platform) helps people lose unwanted weight via peer support. These are great
examples of web and mobile apps that successfully incorporate all 3 functions in
their technology products. MHealth startups can be vastly different in business
model, connection strategies and market positioning strategies.
Types of mHealth Business Models
âą Web platforms
o For example: Virgin Healthmiles
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The wave of these types of technologies has been so massive, that there have
been tens of thousands of new businesses developed. A startup phenomenon is
truly occurring.
A Startup Phenomena
In 2011 the healthcare industry began using technology devices to capture
health information in a coded format. It has been determined by the InfoTech
healthcare industry that we are currently experiencing the âcapture of
informationâ stage. The next stage involves InfoTech products utilizing the
captured information to improve the quality of healthcare for the specific opt-ed
in patients. Subsequently, it is believed that we will see a development of
technology and innovations to improve overall global health. I would argue that
telehealth, and predominately mHealth, technologies are attempting to execute
stage 2 at the same time as they capture information. For example, thousands of
mHealth applications are used on mobile devices by millions of users who not
only allow the technology to collect their health information, but also allow the
technology to attempt to change their health related behaviors. The plethora of
new technology companies developing and operating mobile health applications
are truly meeting the demand for a new type of healthcare. In 2010 it was stated
that over 17,000 mHealth applications had been developed. That is over 17,000
startups! Startups that have created a solution to a problem, and have supplied
the demand. However, just like any other startup, their potential for success
largely relies on the action of their target market, the individual patient.
The Dependencies
Just as it always has, healthcare must be met halfway by patients. Not only do the
customers of connected health have to be able to access the technologies, but
they must also use them.
In order for connected health solutions to be successful, patients must have
access to the technology platforms they operate (on the internet and mobile
devices). This requirement depends on social economics, and is forecasted to
be a realistic accomplishment. It was stated by the Nielsen Company in
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September 2010 that, â28 percent of all cell phone users have a Smartphoneâ,
and in February 2012 Entrepreneur magazine stated that, âMore people in the
U.S. will access the web via mobile devices than via computers by 2015â. It has
also been measured that the most popular mHeath app (CardioTracker), has
been installed on smart phones between 1 million and 5 million times.
Therefore, in the United States this first hurdle of adoption for connected health
technologies looks to be achievable. At the same time, it is obvious that the
supply and demand of this space has not yet reached its equilibrium. This is
because patients have a history of neglecting to take the actions necessary to
improve their health, even when they have access to health improving tools. It is
a fact that even when threatened with life threatening conditions, many patients
do not take their medications. Only 45% of heart attack survivors take their
medication. Lack of self-care costs the healthcare industry over $100 billion in
unnecessary costs per year. How can connected health help?
The Solutions
Connected health startups must do the following:
1. Educate patients that tools are available that can increase their quality of
health, and of life, at lower costs than traditional healthcare management
regiments.
2. Motivate patients to take action and use the new technologies available.
3. Motivate patients to continue usage.
a. iHealth Connections published a study that showed that smokers
were three times as likely to quit when a monetary variable ($400)
was introduced as a prize.
Each of these three steps should be supported by product development and
marketing.
Execute a Plan: Product Development & Marketing
Product Development
In order to develop a product that patients can use to improve personal
healthcare, the productâs functionality must actually do so. In some way, the
technology must connect the user with the relevant support that their specific
7. Kulin Marketing â White Paper: Marketing for startups www.KulinMarketing.com
area of health requires. Many mHealth apps do this by focusing on a target
market vertical such as Ginger.io for Diabetes and Ubiqi for migraines.
Marketing
Like any other startup business, connected health startups should develop a
marketing plan. A marketing plan can be used to determine positioning, strategy,
and tactics to reach, activate, and retain users. The most critical part of a
marketing plan for mHealth startups is positioning. For instance, with over
17,000 platforms online and apps on mobile devices, it is critical for a startup in
this space to be unique in order to stand out among the crowd and win customer
acquisitions. Different business models and connection strategies have helped set
apart some early mHealth technologies, but new businesses in the space will have
to be very creative in the future as exponential growth is expected to occur over
the next 3 years. Finding ways to be unique through product development can
enable an mHealth brand to obtain a unique positioning and become an indirect
competitor to other mHealth technologies. The next steps are to choose which
tactics can effectively support your objectives and reach your target audience.
Reach, Active, and Retain Users
Tim Cascio wrote the blog post, âMobile Marketing: 50 Ways to Promote Your
iPhone Appâ in 2009. It is a helpful list of ideas on how a company can promote
their new mobile app. In an effort to reach users and obtain signups, a process
of trial and error tactics may occur. Always follow the mentality of Eric Ries
(author of âThe Lean Startupâ) when debating if a tactic is worth the investment,
and ask yourself not âcan we do this?â but âshould we do this?â Some connected
health startups with recent success in acquiring signups have used traditional
marketing to drive users to their connected health technology locations, web
platforms, and/or apps. Inbound marketing is also a successful tactic, and can
not only increase signups, but brand equity as well. Once reach has been
established, use a strong call to action to motivate acquisition. To establish user
loyalty, listen to your usersâ feedback and lean on your product development
team to add new ways users can easily use your technology to reach their
healthcare goals.
Never Stop Innovating
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There will be opportunities to extend your connected health technology.
Business development teaches us that products and services expansions have
these choices:
âą The same product in the same market
âą The same product in a new market
âą A different product in the same market
âą A different product in a new market
Future product proliferation could enable todayâs connected health startups to
sell their same products in new markets such as a different location, and/or a
variation of their product to the same market, for instance, a second target
vertical.
The end result will be a startup phenomenon that successfully establishes a new
industry of profitable businesses, hundreds of thousands of jobs, and possibly a
new type of healthcare that enables higher quality of life for the entire global
population.