Have you noticed who your Chief Health Officer is today?

Meet the 21st Century woman. She's an ever-evolving superconsumer, a health advocate with an insatiable appetite for health information. She could be a doctor, a nurse practitioner or a caregiver. More generally though, she's one of the 40 million baby boomer women responsible for over 80% of all healthcare purchases. And, today she's looking for value in healthcare that comes neatly wrapped in a package called "wellness".

"Marketing to women about healthcare, health or wellness is not a niche but a business imperative", explains Kelley Connors, President of KC Healthcare Communications .

"Women have long been caregivers and the "go to" for family health matters, however, with a focus on living well – not just living longer – women are looking for "healthcare" options that provide more value than is currently offered".

In response to this, marketers who shift their marketing paradigm from a "sickness" model focused on the treatment, to a "wellness" model focused on the individual woman will succeed. While marketing healthcare or wellness to women is profitable, relevance is paramount.

Two key microtrends securing relevance are lifestage and multicultural marketing.

Lifestage marketing is THE segmentation strategy and requires a deeper understanding of women than merely segmenting by age. Gaining insights about women's lifestage, not age, are the best investment in marketing healthcare to women. Forget about marketing to two 40-something women the same way. Chances are one is a stepmom with kids in their 20's and the other is a first time mom at 40. One may have more in common with a 20-something mom, but that doesn't mean she's not a boomer. "Age is indeed irrelevant. Most boomer women think of themselves about ten years younger", says Connors.

Importantly, marketers who reach women through mass customization will win. "There's nothing more personal than healthcare and women detect inauthenticity quickly", says Connors. "Just take a look at Facebook and you can realize the potential in healthcare for mass customization".

Whether on-line media or traditional media, reaching women about wellness means connecting with them as individuals not as one large woman or one little man".