Our society is obsessed with millennials. We want to eat like them (“I’ll have the quinoa kale risotto, please.”), dress like them (hoodies) and talk like them (“on fleek” = “perfect,” just in case you were wondering). 

But healthcare marketers spend little time trying to talk to them. That’s a missed marketing opportunity. With 76 million millennials out there, Pew Research Center says this generation “may soon surpass Boomers in size and in importance for many products and services.”

Sure, these healthy, young adults might not be patients today (like your Boomers), but they will be someday. That’s why you’ve got to start the conversation now.

Here’s how: 

Talk to dudes

At the risk of stereotyping, a dude isn’t going to your hospital, unless he’s on the verge of death (and even then, that might be a struggle). If you know that dudes aren’t going to come to you, go to them. Healthy, active twenty-somethings don’t care about preventing type 2 diabetes, but they might be interested in seeing how to prevent shin splints when they’re training for their triathlon. Seek out your orthopedic surgeons or physical therapists to sponsor clinics at sports stores or gyms to talk about injury prevention and proper training techniques. 

Work with start-ups

For the most part, the millennial demographic is healthy and vibrant. They aren’t going to come to you. You need to go to them. Start by getting connected with your city’s start-up scene to see if you can offer nutrition, wellness or yoga classes to any new business. Even if there’s not a big start-up scene in your city, lots of communities are opening up shared office spaces where you could reserve time for a wellness coach or an exercise specialist to drop-by. Bonus: Once you start making more connections in the tech scene, you could meet somebody who could help you develop your hospital’s mobile strategy. Speaking of mobile…

Re-write content for smartphones

According to Pew Research Center, 86 percent of millennials own a smartphone. But it’s not enough for you to say, “Oh, yeah, we’ve done responsive design.” All that means is that you’ve shrunk everything down on your website to look nice and pretty on a phone. What matters most is changing the content to make it smartphone readable. Who is going to scroll through your 3,500-word landing page on heart health? Answer: Nobody.

Start a worthwhile mommy blog

Get ready: Mommy millennials are coming to a hospital near you. How does your hospital give these new moms the need-to-know info about their newborn? Now is the time to round up your favorite pediatricians and start a mommy blog. Your blog can be their voice of reason when it’s 3 a.m. and their little bundle of joy won’t stop crying. Or when it’s 5 p.m. and their little bundle of joy won’t eat. Or when it’s 1 p.m. and their little bundle of joy won’t take a nap. Basically, anytime their little bundle of joy isn’t acting like one—you’re just a click away.