Does this sound familiar? You’re leading the marketing for a healthcare software product launch and your CEO mandates you get campaigns out ASAP to “fill the pipeline”. It doesn’t matter if your company doesn’t know whether ASCs or imaging centers are your targets, how you are different from the competition, or why a health system would prioritize precious budget on this product.
It sounds silly reading it, but we see it happen every day.
Marketing healthcare software is just…different.
Sales cycles are LONG. And it’s getting longer post-pandemic. LinkedIn’s latest edition research shows the consideration cycle of most tech buyers is long – up to 2 years in many cases.
With sales cycles ranging from 3-4 months for private medical practices to two years for health systems, healthcare software marketing requires nurturing prospective customers that are not quite ready to buy or talk to a sales rep.
You need to think carefully about nurturing workflows, creating content for each step, and correctly setting up the workflows in a marketing automation system. This isn’t a “flip of the switch” project.
Gigantic buying committees. We had a health-tech client with an average of 18 people in their sales meetings, from the C-level to an end-user nurse, weighing in on the purchase decision! Marketing must develop personalized content, flexible presentation decks, and battle cards for every stakeholder.
Diverse audience personas. Content that resonates with a practice office manager is very distinct from the information that appeals to an orthopedic surgeon. Marketing to individual physician specialties is often nuanced. An ophthalmologist expects different messaging than a dermatologist.
Messaging that appeals to an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) executive probably won’t connect with the surgeons practicing in that ASC.
The more targets you have, the more content your marketing department must produce.
The magic elixir is FOCUS
Sounds daunting, right? Fear not, your friend is focus.
I love the saying, “If you try to be everything to everyone, you’ll be nothing to no one.”
I recommend selecting three targets that have:
- Commonalties for SCALE
- Marketing SIZE to support your revenue goals
- Enough differences for RISK MITIGATION
Examples of market focus triads
Health systems with (1) EPIC EHR, (2) over 150 beds, and (3) located in the Midwest
High-revenue specialty practices: (1) orthopedics, (2) retina, and (3) cardiology
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