In a Fractured Landscape, Will Digital Marketing Save Health IT Brands?

If you’re selling B2B technology into health care, you already know that the buyer landscape has changed significantly. In the past, you might have targeted CIOs of hospitals, clinics and other service providers.

But today, roles such as marketing, patient experience and medical professionals also have a say in the technology and tools used by health care providers. Many larger providers even have hospital Value Analysis Committees (VACs) that are specifically tasked with evaluating new technology and equipment.

Combine this new landscape with the volume of technology and tools available and breaking through to the right buyers becomes an even bigger challenge.

So, how do you grab the attention of buyers in such a fractured world?

While traditional marketing can still work (tactics such as PR, demos, seminars and direct mail), many health technology brands are finding success with digital marketing. The reason is simple: digital marketing is not only highly targeted and measurable; it’s also more cost effective.

Take this example: company X makes a patient portal software platform that connects a patient’s medical records with appointment scheduling, reminders and educational health resources, and allows patients to request transportation assistance to and from provider locations.

Potential buyers and influencers include the CIO (who will need to understand the technical aspects of the platform and integration requirements), the CMO (who wants to offer a better patient experience) and the finance team (who needs to understand the ROI of switching how the hospital offers transportation services). 

Using digital marketing strategies can help you reach each of these audiences in new ways. For example, if the hospital marketing role is driving the need for a solution, consider targeting them through a geofencing campaign at a large hospital marketing event.

By serving up digital ads on websites and apps during the conference, you’re more likely to hit your prospects with the right message during a time when they are most receptive. Make sure to retarget them after the event and drive them to high quality content and resources on your website. Don’t forget to include a call-to-action for a live demo, too.

To get CIOs and IT directors on board, consider a custom landing page designed with simple videos and resources that show the ease of integration. Drive traffic to the website with a targeted email campaign to known IT influencer prospects. Including some quotes from CIOs with successful implementations doesn’t hurt either.

For finance teams, sharing financial impact and ROI statistics will be critical. They may be less willing to check out your website directly, but using LinkedIn’s paid ad targeting is another way to reach them. LinkedIn is the ideal channel for this type of social engagement and has shown to be 277 percent more effective than Facebook and Twitter when it comes to generating visitor-to-lead conversions.

LinkedIn’s paid ad targeting is incredibly robust, allowing B2B technology brands to serve ads to hospital decision-makers based on their hospital name, role and even specific job title. By setting up multiple ads targeting finance decision-makers and influencers, you can ensure they are getting a message designed to address their specific questions and concerns.

This type of thinking-outside-the-box also boosts the perception of your brand as an innovator and a leader. So if traditional marketing tools seem to be falling flat, mix some digital efforts into your program. The results (and reasonable cost) will be well worth it.

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