Marketing Expert Says Med Travel Falls into Two Distinct Market Segments

Marketing strategies to reach and attract medical travelers who require complex medical care are completely different from marketing campaigns designed for most casual international health and wellness traveler, according to medical tourism marketing expert Irving Stackpole. Understanding the difference between these two market segments is vital to achieving success in the medical tourism industry.

The psychological profiles of international patients seeking medical procedures that are complex require marketing plans that include competent, confidence-building messages rather than the “fun in the sun” campaigns designed for medical travelers seeking low acuity treatments, Stackpole said in his seminar entitled “Motivating the High End Market: Attracting the Most Profitable International Patients,” at the recent European Medical Travel Conference in Venice.

“There is a vast difference in motivational factors between someone having an orthopedic or cardiac procedure as opposed to someone having a minor cosmetic or dental procedure,” said Stackpole, president of Stackpole & Associates, a medical and health insurance consultant and market research firm based in Cambridge, MA. “Understanding the unique psychological characteristics between these two types of international health travelers is vital to creating marketing campaigns that will reach and attract these types of clients.”

Stackpole said that as more and more countries identify medical tourism as a national priority, the competition is increasing for international patients who require complex care. Why? Because they purchase high cost, high margin medical care as well as stay in the country for an extended period of time.