‘We’re like Amazon in healthcare and are very consumer focused’

Did you know that 40 per cent of men delay doctor visits until their conditions become critical? To address this issue digital healthcare platform, Medibuddy launched the #MensHealthMatters campaign to spark conversations about men’s physical and mental health and prioritise their wellbeing.

However, it’s not just men but also women who delay or do not prioritize their annual health check-ups. As a business that caters to promoting the health and wellness of Indians, Medibuddy has found this to be a challenging societal norm.

In fact, even when health check is provided as part of a company’s annual corporate package, there is resistance to get the annual health check done which can serve as a timely intervention on any health matter.

Navigating this has been a marketing challenge says Saibal Biswas, SVP and Head of Marketing, PR, and Partnership, MediBuddy. He says, “There are multiple ways in which we communicate the benefit of having a preventive annual checkup done. We highlight stories of people who have benefited from getting an early detection which prompted a doctor consultation, followed by a series of diagnostic tests to get an early detection of any ailment. We speak to the audience when they are most receptive to information with contextual messaging and amplify the message to reach as many people as possible.”

Medibuddy also leverages World Health Organization days such as World Diabetes Day, International Men’s Day, International Day of Action for Women's Health etc and builds marketing campaigns around this to create 360-degree awareness on how Medibuddy can help the consumer should the need arise. Biswas says, “As a brand, we ensure there is awareness about preventable complications, including lifestyle diseases. Even if there are any complication such as cancer, it can be detected early we ensure how to that condition can be managed and move the person towards cure. That's always been the focus.”

Founded in 2013, MediBuddy has a partner network of 1,25,000+ doctors across 22+ specialities, 7,100+ hospitals, and clinics, 6,000+ diagnostic centres, and 2,500+ pharmacies with its healthcare services available in 16 Indian languages to enable customer-friendly consultation. For Biswas building brand trust is paramount, particularly in a category where the room for error is zero.

He says, “To build trust, a consumer needs to have interacted with that brand and whether the brand helped solve a problem with a correct diagnosis, provided the right doctor and helped you toward recovery. The more we deliver the promise of quality at an affordable rate, the more consumers will navigate their healthcare journey with Medibuddy. A key marketing strategy is to use real life stories of people who have had a positive experience with Medibuddy, whether it is on doctor consultation, health check diagnostics, or on surgery and care because that is when people who have benefited talk about the brand and over a period of time build trust.”

Three years back, Medibuddy signed on actor Amitabh Bachchan as a brand ambassador. It must be noted that in the past, Bachchan has associated with UNICEF for their polio-eradication programme and was the campaign ambassador for the vaccination drive during India’s fight against Covid-19. With a pan-India recognition and appeal across age-groups, Medibuddy’s vision was similar to the work he had earlier in the healthcare space.

Biswas says, “Amitabh Bachchan and Medibuddy are a perfect match and we intend to continue this association. We are the leader in healthcare in India and are breaking new boundaries, similar to what Bachchan has done in his career. As a brand we are evolving, we started with one part of healthcare and then we spread across different parts. We need to ensure that we move India towards preventive first, ensure high quality and make healthcare affordable and accessible. Having him as the face gives us that recognition which otherwise would have taken slightly a longer time to build.”

Healthcare is a high involvement category but the frequency of use case - how many times in a year you use the category - is low compared to other categories. Biswas says, “We don't want the frequency of use to increase. We are clear that Medibuddy will never sell a solution or condition to create demand in healthcare. We are in the business of ensuring that if there is a need for healthcare, we are a brand you recognize and reach us to help you in your healthcare journey till you completely recover.”

Typically, Indians see a doctor anywhere between three or four times a year and surgical interventions happens once or twice in a lifetime. Biswas says, “As a marketer, the challenge of this category is that I don't want to increase my frequency also. We need to ensure that whatever interventions we do is contextual, so that the audience is receptive to information what the brand can do for him, and he's able to retain it over a period of time. That’s where content marketing - in the form of SEO pages, blogs, videos etc. lasts for a period of time. An impact story also talks about the brand or the impact the brand did. Even testimonials of how someone benefited from a preventive healthcare checkup or a surgery we facilitated and how the consumer had a seamless navigating the brand.”

Medibuddy also uses influencers but “in a context different” from others. Medibuddy identified an insight about travelers who might need a doctor consultation while travelling. The availability of on-line technology led Medibuddy to tie-up with travel influencers who articulated and amplified the problem statement to travelers in their TG who could use Medibuddy’s services if needed while travelling.

Biswas says, “The Channel is secondary for us as it's a long-term game because of the infrequency of the use case but I still want to be top-of-the-mind. Any intervention we do as a channel is based on the objective of what we want that channel to do and everything is insight driven. We are trying to shift some of the off-line demand where there is a difference of pricing online as our pricing is transparent. We are like Amazon in healthcare and are very consumer focused.”

Medibuddy’s strategy is ensuring a doctor is available online anytime, anywhere, 24x7, 365 days within 10 minutes and who could offer a diagnose on a video call. One pillar has been investing and scaling up online and offline doctor consultations as a category. Medibuddy is the largest provider of corporate health and wellness with employees either funded by the insurer or by corporates themselves.

Looking at customer acquisition, when it comes to corporates Medibuddy acquires customers through a B2B route but serve them through B2C and this segment will continue to grow due to demand. It is anticipated that once an employee uses the service, he will continue to use the brand.” Medibuddy also partners with BFSIs and NBFCs and sell Medibuddy package to people looking at secured and unsecured loans and are above the poverty line. However, one big healthcare expenditure could set them back. Another acquisition route is tying with insurance companies to facilitate health check-ups for people before they get a policy and make the product accessible and available at the cheapest cost.

Biswas says, “For the business to be sustainable and profitable for us, we look to cater to that serving a billion Indians, which is a journey the brand is on. As a brand we want to be perceived as an expert. If someone comes to us, even if he doesn't use our service, we should be able to guide him how best to take the next steps. As a brand, we deploy technology to ensure that we leverage whatever is available. I think just like it happened in the financial industry, healthcare industry will in the next three years move in a similar direction. If the consumer chooses to share their medical information with us then everything we offer will ideally be personalized.