Content marketing for healthcare distributors is one of the best ways for you to connect to medical facilities and hospitals while building trust. However, developing a marketing strategy specifically for the healthcare industry doesn’t happen overnight.
That’s why we have this introductory guide for you. First, we will look at what content marketing for healthcare entails then how you can start using it in your business.
Key Takeaways:
- Content marketing is a top priority for most B2B marketers today.
- Create an actionable strategy with set goals before creating marketing content.
- Healthcare marketing requires an extra level of empathy than other B2B strategies.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is using online mediums to connect to your audience. It differs from traditional sales approaches because you often aren’t selling a specific service or product. Instead, you build brand awareness and develop relationships with your clients and potential leads through quality content.
Consumers respond favorably to content marketing because it is a breath of fresh air compared to the bombardment of over 5,000 ads a day. Instead, content marketing gives something back to consumers through information, free products, and community.
Common types of content marketing include:
- Websites and blogs
- Emails
- Ebooks
- Videos
- Social media posts
Why is Content Marketing Important for Healthcare Distributors?
Healthcare distributors can use content marketing to build trust with hospitals, pharmacies, medical professionals, nursing homes, and more. You can have a virtually limitless reach and connect to leads you may not have connected with through other sales and marketing tactics.
Content marketing uses around 26% of B2B marketing budgets and is the top priority of 80% of marketers. If you effectively execute a quality marketing strategy, you will see:
- Broader brand awareness
- Higher quality leads
- More loyal customers
- Better search engine ranking
- Higher industry authority
How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy
You would be unwise to drive around a new city without a map. Yet, that is what you are doing if you begin using content marketing without first establishing a strategy. It will save you time and resources by showing where you are, where you want to go, and the most effective route to achieving that goal.
Often, businesses will hire a content marketing manager to help in strategy development to ensure they consider all angles of their approach.
Here are the six essential steps to creating an efficient content marketing strategy for the healthcare distribution industry.
Step 1: Decide on your mission and goals. Begin by asking yourself what you want to accomplish in the long run.
Step 2: Choose a metric for measuring your success to know how well your strategies are working. Tracking your progress with measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) also alerts you to potential issues so you can resolve them before they hurt your growth.
Step 3: Decide on an audience based on the type of healthcare facilities most likely to purchase from you, who the decision-maker is within the department, where the facilities are located, and the size or budget of the facility that is most likely able to afford your products.
Step 4: Take inventory of what content marketing practices you already have in a place like your website or social accounts. You may even have some posts or blog articles written that you can spruce up.
Step 5: Decide what channels or content you still need to add to reach your goals.
Step 6: Create an actionable plan including a content calendar, specific deadlines, and managers for each marketing task.
Now you are ready to start creating consistent, quality content.
5 Tips for Content Marketing for Healthcare Distributors
Here are five tips to apply to every piece of content you create so that you are reaching your intended audience, creating relatable content, and increasing your conversions.
1. Target Your Audience
Your ideal customer profile will help you create content targeted to your intended audience. You can educate, promote, and build trust with your market through engaging blog posts, social media content, and videos. Then, by implementing keywords specific to the healthcare industry, you are more likely to attract quality web traffic.
Your customer profile will also tell you where to locate possible new customers. For instance, LinkedIn has over 722 million professional users and 61 million senior-level decision-makers – making it the leading B2B marketing platform today.
2. Capture Their Attention
Creating content doesn’t guarantee your audience will read what you’ve written. That’s why understanding current content trends is essential, as that will guide you in choosing how you will capture your audience’s attention through optimized content, so they read past the headline.
Startling statistics, images, short paragraphs, and creative headlines are just a few ways you can reel your audience into your content.
One study showed that video content will be the top area of content marketing investment for most B2B in 2022 due to its high rate of engagement.
3. Back Your Claims with Statistics
Doctors and medical professionals aren’t wowed by fluff. They can see right through empty sales talk. Instead, they want proof of claims you make. Statistics and facts build trust with your audience and raise the quality of your article.
When you write an article on how your new device will transform a patient’s life – back that claim up with case studies, measurable metrics, and real stories of changed lives.
4. Have Empathy for Your Audience
Healthcare professionals have emotionally draining jobs, compounded by the effects of COVID-19. Therefore, this is one area where healthcare marketing differs from other B2B marketing tactics since your audience needs more empathy and emotional awareness.
You can show you truly understand and empathize with your audience by being sensitive in your wording, focusing on your product’s positive impact on their patients, and showing you understand and empathize with their work.
5. Create a Call-to-Action
The best marketing content always offers the next step. For example, you don’t want your audience to get to the end of an engaging blog post, then close the tab and never interact with your business again. Instead, give a call-to-action that tells your audience what steps they can do next, such as signing up for a newsletter, purchasing a product, or calling your business to find out more.
Start Creating Your Marketing Content
Share Moving Media has been working with healthcare distributors for over 27 years. Our communication and educational services help you grow your marketing strategy and achieve greater success.
Contact us to learn how we can help you create content that moves market share.