The American consumer’s approach to personal health and wellness is constantly adapting and, along with many other aspects of life today, technology is becoming the main influencer.

The inaugural Well-th: Ketchum’s Health and Wellness Trends Reportrevealed a paradigm shift – it concludes that people are looking more to the tools and technologies they regularly use for information and personal guidance and then seeking healthcare providers and advisors for “second opinions” to validate their own conclusions.

Relying on technology

“People rely on technology today to manage their health and well-being, and this behavior has become pivotal to prevention maintenance and treatment decisions,” said Leslie Schrader, partner and director of Ketchum’s Washington, D.C., Brand and Marketing Practice.

“For companies, brands and communicators to be relevant and meaningful, it’s imperative they curate content and tools that reach people where they intersect with technology and health and wellness so they are well-informed when they meet with their healthcare providers.”

Ketchum’s Well-Connected specialty – a communications team with brand, food and health experience – developed Well-th to pinpoint health and wellness drivers and identify key trends.

The trends show how people make personal decisions and identify ways to help companies successfully engage them with health and wellness products and messages that fill their needs.

Among the report’s findings, health and well-being will continue to be a strong individual-driven pursuit for the foreseeable future.

This year’s Well-th report insights highlight:

• Public shifting from a “self-help” to “self-health” mindset. Today’s consumer is actively seeking information on the Internet to diagnose and even treat medical conditions.
• Physicians are becoming the second step in the health journey; rather than delivering the initial diagnosis, they are confirming or reviewing information patients bring to them. Brands with a health offering have an opportunity to be a trusted resource and engage consumers at the beginning of their wellness pursuits.
• Instead of an apple a day, it’s now an “app a day” – or 10 a day – as health apps may increase from 9,000 to 13,000 in this year alone, according to MobiHealthNews. From games to useful information tools, brands and wellness organizations can harness the power of mobile and create touch points to deliver valuable messages to consumers whenever and wherever they are in their search for health and wellness information.
• Social health will be the new frontier as consumers continue moving to social networks and online communities for diagnosis, support, information and treatment recommendations. In this age of “social wellness,” like-minded people are sharing their personal health experiences. Brands can become involved with communities or foster new ones by creating easy and useful spaces for consumers.

Related Stories:

• Consumers want wireless communication with physicians
• Brand marketing: Boomers want convenience, Millennials want to be cool
• Top 2012 marketing trends: guruism, collective curation, seamless tech
• Do you have a consumer guiding “Sherpa Brand?” (infographic)
• What do people want most from their digital devices?

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Tags: apps, Ketchum Health & Wellness Trends report, self-health