WomenOlogy

The other day I talked about five of 10 trends and developments that will likely affect women’s health communications in 2011.  The insights were based on findings from a recently conducted TNS survey where we asked 512 women about a variety of health issues.  I presented these findings this week at the second annual M2W^®–HC™ — Marketing Pharma & Healthcare to Women Conference.  Following are the second set of five.

1.     Online Buying Groups Will Change Healthcare Shopping Habits – Social retail sites like Groupon, Livingsocial, and scountmom are quickly growing since they combine two activities firmly routed in women’s Web activity – retail and networking. Last month, Groupon reported that approximately 15% of site deals nationwide were for healthcare services such as eye exams, teeth cleaning services and other basic healthcare services. We expect that this percentage and the types of services available will increase in 2011.

2.     Social Media Will Become Too Much for Some Women — Our survey found that while most women do not expect a change in how much time they spend online in 2011, half agree that it is difficult to keep up with the daily flow of information and that with the increasing number of ways to get information (e.g., Facebook, IM, personal email, work email, etc.), it is sometimes stressful to keep up with it all.  As communicators we have to keep it short, be where these women are looking for information, and be targeted.

3.     Women’s Smart Phones Use Will Shift – Smart phones are a huge opportunity to reach women with health information in 2011. However, access to smart phones and mobile Internet usage is not yet equally available to all women. Currently, women generate a smaller share of online activity in the mobile space, but this is because they are less likely to own a smart phone or have an unlimited data plan, both key drivers of mobile Internet usage. We believe the increase in affordable smart phones and data plans will change that over the next year.

4.     2011 May be The Year You Get on Oprah — 2011 marks the launch of OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Network, which dramatically expands programming options and visibility. While there are still questions about the audience that this network will attract, we know that some well known Oprah personalities, including Gail King, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and Cat Cora, will be hosting shows. Be ready with your stories!

5.     Let’s Talk About Those Other Diseases — My final prediction for 2011 is that this will be the year we talk about “other diseases.”  In September, the Institute of Medicine came out with a Women’s Health Report, which stated that “major progress has been made in reducing mortality for women from breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and cervical cancer. More limited advances have been made in depression, HIV/AIDS, and osteoporosis. However, few advances have been made in reducing unintended pregnancy, autoimmune diseases, maternal morbidity and mortality, alcohol and drug addiction, lung cancer, gynecological cancers other than cervical cancer, non-malignant gynecological disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.” From a communications stand point, this means that if you are planning to launch a new treatment for a condition that has seen few advances, you can craft a very strong unmet need/solution story. Also if you are looking to take on a cause, these conditions may provide an interesting place to start.

What Do You Think the Next Big Communications Trend in 2011 Will Be? We would love to hear what you think will be the major trends or developments that will affect how we communicate with women in 2011.  Please join the conversation!