Use these video tactics to market your health insurance offerings

By 2019, 80 percent of all Internet traffic will be devoted to video. Adweek has proclaimed online video the “future of content marketing.” Although many health care marketers are already onboard with this powerful marketing trend, others are still hesitating—and missing out on opportunities to reach prospects and engage members.

We’ve identified seven areas where health insurers can benefit from use of video content in their marketing strategies:

1. Highlight products and benefits

Health care marketers should use video to educate members and prospects about detailed products, unique benefits and essential services. To show how insurers’ plans are a good fit for members and prospects, video can offer website tours, promote mobile apps and highlight member discounts and perks. In addition, video can help explain—and simplify—more complex features like medical savings accounts.

For example, when Uber and UPMC teamed up during open enrollment for a promotion to raise awareness about distracted driving, they offered free rides for members. The health insurer used video to announce the promotion and explain how to take advantage of the perk:

2. Improve consumers’ health literacy

Many common insurance terms are difficult to understand. For those not familiar with industry jargon, these phrases can sound like a foreign language. Since video makes educational material easier to digest, it’s a great way to explain subsidies and EOB statements, demonstrate how an HSA works or walk a member through Medicare 101.

In this video series, for example, Highmark teaches consumers about the basics—or ABCs—of Medicare:

3. Address health care challenges

There is no shortage of health care challenges facing consumers today. From costs and access to care to health crises and epidemics, members are turning to insurers for answers and support. Because some content may be sensitive in nature, video offers an approachable way to respond, while communicating key brand positioning and messaging on topics that really matter to members and communities.

Here, Aetna President Karen S. Lynch uses video to discuss the country’s opioid epidemic. In doing so, she is able to highlight Aetna’s behavioral health business and talk about substance abuse care as a top priority for Aetna:

4. Promote wellness

Health and wellness programs play an integral role in members’ physical, mental and emotional well-being, but getting them engaged and keeping them motivated in such programs can be difficult. Video makes it easy to share healthy eating and fitness tips, cooking instructions and training schedules. It’s a compelling tool for communicating key messages, advocating for adoption of healthy habits, teaching best practices and inviting members to participate in wellness programs.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota’s wellness program is marketed as a more holistic approach to pursuing all dimensions of health and well-being. This video shows the inspiration behind the insurer’s BlueElements wellness program:

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5. Provide assistance

There can be a learning curve as members become familiar with new health plans. When assisting them, it’s important to offer explanations that are easy to access and to understand. Video is an effective way to answer the questions your members might have about how to enroll for services or how to use an insurer’s app. As a “show and tell” technique, video saves time and resources for insurers and can be an easier way for members to get up to speed.

In this short video, Cigna offer “tips and tricks” on how to get the most out of its myCigna mobile app. Simple animation and voiceover break down the basics (like how to download the app and use the fingerprint login) and describe the app’s key benefits of helping members compare costs, track claims and find doctors right from their fingertip:

6. Offer health education

Consumers who are informed about their health have better health outcomes, so it makes sense for a health insurer to provide members with valuable health-related advice. Studies show that health education videos keep members more engaged and active in their care. Videos featuring providers and other health experts are valuable resources for members looking for condition-specific tips, explanations about procedures and reasons to complete health screenings.

“My left arm went numb, and soon after that my right arm went numb,” begins Chris Torizzo, a Kaiser Permanente member and employee, in this video designed to help women recognize heart attack symptoms. It combines Chris’ story with expert commentary from a cardiologist:

7. Amplify your brand

In addition to its consumer benefits, video content also has value from a brand perspective. It can be used to promote events, showcase brand ambassadors, highlight a facility or location and spotlight employees and goals.

It can also be used as a recruitment tool, as with Oscar’s “Ready to join the revolution?” video. In it, Oscar promotes the perks of working for the health insurer and directs candidates to its recruitment website:

David Schultz is president and founder of Media Logic. The original version of this post can be found here.

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