The health market is more competitive than ever — in 2024, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that ACA enrollees had more than 28 plans to choose from. Today, Medicare beneficiaries can choose from approximately 42 Medicare Advantage plans, according to KFF. Meanwhile, store shelves are packed with an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 over-the-counter health products, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
To break through the noise, marketing strategies must revolve around people — not just devices — creating a seamless, relevant experience across every touchpoint in a consumer’s non-linear (or what I like to refer to as “honeycomb”) journey.
It’s no secret that personalization, transparency and convenience aren’t just nice-to-haves; they’re expected. Yet many health brands aren’t comfortable using today’s marketing tools to elevate the consumer experience.
With countless factors influencing every purchase decision, reaching the right audience — and making an impact — means using every audience tool available to drive more effective results.
Here are three ways I see health marketers overlooking real people with their targeting:
1. It overemphasizes devices instead of individuals.
Many marketing strategies still prioritize devices and platforms over the people using them. A device-centric approach risks missing the entire consumer journey, leading to fragmented targeting that doesn’t reflect real consumer behaviors.
2. It ignores the power of household data and instead relies solely on digital signals.
Household data offers a more reliable and comprehensive view of consumers — including their interests and behaviors. It provides rich insights into demographics, lifestyle choices, purchasing habits, media consumption and more — making it an essential foundation for precise profiling and targeting. Even for seasoned audience strategy professionals, advancements in data tools continue to enhance optimization opportunities, reinforcing the importance of household-level insights.
3. It misses the connection between physical and digital behavior.
Omnichannel optimization remains a challenge. Connecting data points such as physical mail, magazine subscriptions and in-store behaviors to digital insights creates a more holistic, people-focused marketing strategy.
To explore sophisticated targeting techniques and better ways to reach real people with more significant impact, check out Quad‘s latest guide, ”The 2025 Audience Strategy Guide: 7 Things Brands Must Do to Maximize Impact.”
