Why healthcare needs lifecycle marketing more than it needs another campaign.

The tech world is obsessed with prediction right now. Everyone’s scrambling to bolt AI onto their business to “unlock insights” and “transform the future.”

But healthcare is already predictable.

You don’t need a neural network to tell you that a 32-year-old IVF patient might need menopause support in a decade. Or that someone booking a knee consultation at 42 will likely need the other one done by 50.

What healthcare doesn’t have is a strategy to act on that predictability.

Enter the world of lifecycle marketing

Healthcare is full of repeat customers. We just pretend they aren’t.

Someone comes in for a hip replacement? Great. We’ll see them again… never.

A woman finishes her maternity care? Discharged. File closed.

A man completes cardiac rehab? Maybe a leaflet and a generic email, if he’s lucky.

What about the follow-up physio? The paediatric care for new mums? The ongoing cardiac rehab that doesn’t end with a discharge letter? These aren’t radical ideas - they’re just the next steps that rarely get planned for.

Patients age. Their needs change. Their expectations shift. And yet most healthcare providers act like every interaction is the last one.

We don’t build journeys. We run transactions.

Compare that with how lifecycle marketing works in almost every other industry. Brands that think long-term don’t just sell to you once. They learn your preferences, anticipate your next need, and show up before you even start searching.

The patterns are clear, but no one’s acting on them

Here’s how it usually goes:

  • 20s: contraception, mental health, sexual health

  • 30s: fertility, maternity, paediatrics

  • 40s: menopause, joint pain, screenings

  • 50s+: cardiac, oncology, chronic disease management

It’s not a mystery. But healthcare brands rarely connect the dots. Instead, each service line fights for budget and visibility as if it’s in a vacuum. As if patients live their lives one condition at a time.

We don’t need predictive AI. We need memory.

We need systems that actually remember who the patient is, what they’ve done, and what they might need next.

That’s not a futuristic vision. That’s basic CRM.

Who’s doing it right?

Lifecycle marketing isn’t just theory. Think about how high-street opticians or dental chains operate:

Routine recalls, timed check-ups, structured follow-ups, and well-oiled reminder systems.

Not just for clinical reasons, but commercial ones. It’s not groundbreaking tech. It’s basic infrastructure applied consistently over time.

They didn’t predict the future. They paid attention.

Healthcare has an even clearer path. The problem isn’t complexity. It’s infrastructure.

Why most healthcare organisations don’t do this

Most people will say it’s because of patient confidentiality. GDPR. Regulation. But that’s mostly a myth.

You absolutely can use patient data for lifecycle marketing - if it’s consented, secure, and adds value.

The real blockers are more mundane:

  • Teams that don’t speak to each other

  • CRMs that don’t do anything

  • A total lack of commercial alignment

  • Marketing teams stuck chasing one-off enquiries

Short-termism rules.

Everyone’s focused on what can be measured this quarter - clicks, calls, conversions - rather than building a system that earns loyalty and long-term value.

Ask someone what their average patient is worth over 10 years. Most don’t know.

Ask how they nurture that value, and the conversation usually stops there.

But it doesn’t have to stay that way.

So what’s the fix?

Start by connecting the basics: appointment history, communications, and service usage - all joined up across departments. Build simple nurture journeys that reflect a patient’s stage of life, not just their last clinic visit. Invest in CRM systems that do more than store email addresses.

You don’t need to overhaul everything. You just need to start acting like the patient will come back.

Because they will.

If you only take one thing from this

Lifecycle marketing is healthcare’s missing engine. Not the next big thing. Just the thing we forgot to build.

Patients are tired of starting from scratch every time they interact with a new part of the system.

You already know what patients will need next. The only question is whether they’ll get it from you - or someone who showed up first.