Share Moving Media

Developing Brand Image through Social Media

By

Exposure to brands surrounds consumers everywhere — in commercials while watching TV, radio advertisements while driving to work, and suggested posts while scrolling through social media.

Companies interested in marketing their product or service can take advantage of the wide variety of technology-based platforms available. Social media has become a popular marketing platform because of its high usership and accessibility. For a company looking to start advertising on social platforms, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are a user-friendly and affordable place to start.

For businesses within the medical supply chain industry, the ideal social media platform to begin marketing efforts on is LinkedIn, a site designed specifically for the business community. LinkedIn is an employment-focused, professional platform on which businesses can publish and share content, promote products and services, recruit talent, and present new job opportunities.

To begin using LinkedIn as a marketing tool, a company must first create a company page on the platform that includes information including the company website, logo, relevant organization information, and contact info. Then, a company should focus on increasing its number of followers by promoting the page online and in other company advertisements. Increased followers encourage greater brand awareness and circulation. Once a page is established, a company can start posting relevant content including company information and brand advertisements.

So, how does a company leverage LinkedIn as a marketing tool?

  1. Promote the Company Page

To promote a company’s LinkedIn platform and leverage posted content as a marketing tool, a brand’s profile should be promoted in all company emails, newsletters, blog posts, etc. This will encourage customers to interact with a brand’s LinkedIn page and ultimately increase its circulation.

  1. Encourage Content Engagement

A brand should determine its target audience and create advertisements that its specific customer base will engage with. LinkedIn allows companies to learn more about their audience because it allows profile viewers to interact with, comment, like, and share posts with others.

  1. Publish Engaging Content

Companies should focus on posting unique, engaging, and creative content on LinkedIn that their audiences will want to read. Social content includes images, videos, presentations, company updates, etc., posted on social media to create an authentic and visual representation of the company.

By posting engaging and creative content on their LinkedIn accounts, brands can attract potential customers and increase company awareness. Share Moving Media is experienced with content creation for the medical supply chain industry and can help your brand produce individualized and effective marketing content that boosts your social media presence.

Best-in-class examples of Niche Marketing from retailers, manufacturers, and service providers in the medical distribution industry.

By

Today’s marketplace is saturated with numerous forms of advertising. For companies in the medical distribution industry, finding a niche within the busy marketing space has become challenging. How can your company stand out among other medical suppliers?

Niche marketing is the promotion of a product or service to a specialized segment of the market. With niche marketing, businesses target specific audiences to promote their brand. Niche marketing allows a business, such as a healthcare supply company, to understand the specific needs of the consumer and tailor their marketing strategy to meet those needs.

A brand can determine subsections of the market to target by considering demographic information, attitudes, values, geographic location, and more, of specific market groups. In the healthcare space, that could be hospitals, health systems, IDNs and GPOs.

Read on for examples of successful niche marketing campaigns from other sectors of the economy:

  1. Whole Foods

Whole Foods grocery stores target a niche market of affluent, conscious consumers who focus on health and well-being. Many Whole Foods products are organic and environmentally conscious, which targets a very specific audience that desires a high-quality and luxury grocery store experience.

  1. Casper

The online mattress brand Casper targets specific market segments through creative online media content that encourages customers to interact with the brand’s site. Content including blogs, social media posts, and an extensive website engage consumers with the goal of them making purchasing decisions.

  1. Square

Square is a payment system for small businesses, non-profit organizations, and independent companies that can be used by plugging the system into phones or tablets to process credit card transactions. The niche market of small business owners may not have the resources to pay high credit card fees and Square targets this small market segment with their unique technological solution. Share Moving Media can assist you with determining the marketing tactics that will set your brand apart. With over 30 years of experience in the healthcare and medical distribution industry, we can help you develop the content your brand needs to stand out.

Sponsored vs. Earned Media

By

In the healthcare industry, marketing strategies that stand apart from competitors are integral to navigating today’s saturated marketplace. Content creation can have numerous positive impacts in Med/Surg sales. There are many forms media can take when consumed by customers, and it is paramount to know the differences so they can be utilized to benefit your company.

Consumers often respond well to omni channel marketing strategies.

Omni channel marketing is a brand’s presence across multiple channels. Online channels include websites, apps, social media, and email. Medical suppliers increase their exposure through creation of a consistent brand experience. Omni channel marketing a is customer-centric form of brand promotion, meaning customers can interact with a business on their own terms, resulting in a better overall experience.

Having multiple forms of content increases the likeliness that a customer will be exposed to your brand and make purchasing decisions.

Sponsored media

Sponsored media is exposure that a company pays for. This content can take any form and is considered paid media as long as there is a financial component to publishing it. It can include blogs, articles, infographics, videos, websites, webinars, social media posts, etc.

Sponsored media can be created by the brand themselves, but typically companies pay for content creation to be outsourced. Share Moving Media has extensive experience creating content for clients in the medical distribution industry. Our knowledge of medical distribution, medical manufacturing, ambulatory surgery centers, GPOs, RPCs, supply chain executives, IDNs and health systems in the United States allows for an understanding of the content that will gain your brand recognition such as through blogs, podcasts, and articles that stands out among competitors.

For instance, Repertoire Publisher Scott Adams interviewed NASCAR driver Will Rodgers on his Liver Health Foundation, whose collaboration with OraSure Technologies provided individuals with free HCV testing from CLIA-waived healthcare professionals using the rapid point-of-care OraQuick HCV Rapid Antibody Test. The interview was presented in a podcast, as well as a story in a print and online issue of Repertoire Magazine. The multiple formats gave the sponsor increased visibility among the med/surg audience.

This format was also used on the IDN supply chain side in an interview with Quidel’s Doug Bryant on respiratory season, both in a podcast and article in The Journal of Healthcare Contracting

Earned media

Earned Media is brand exposure from methods other than paid advertising. Earned media is usually seen in the form of mentions, shares, reposts, reviews, recommendations and content picked up by third party sites.

Great content in the form of press releases, articles, podcasts, blogs, and more is crucial to share online and in print so your brand can receive the value of earned media. Each weekday, Repertoire’s and JHC’s Daile News often include earned media via press releases and reposts of information critical to medical distribution stakeholders

Share Moving Media has been creating marketing content for the healthcare industry for over 30 years. With trusted publications such as The Journal of Healthcare Consulting and Repertoire, we can assist you with any marketing content creation needs you may have and ensure great content to boost your marketing strategy. For more information, visit www.sharemovingmedia.com.

The Benefits of Print and Digital Marketing

By

Marketing content is everywhere around us: on billboards, social media, the internet, in the mail. With the advent of technology, marketing material in the healthcare supply chain industry has been increasing online.

Yet we continue to see print-based forms of media thrive such as magazines, brochures, catalogues, etc.

For marketers, it doesn’t have to be either/or. Successfully reaching potential customers takes a both/and approach. The following are benefits of each platform:

Digital Media

  1. Far reach

Consumers are constantly online. Through digital media marketing, a brand has the power to reach a customer throughout the day (or night) and across many platforms.

  1. Multiple strategies

Digital marketing allows a business to promote through multiple marketing strategies. Digital marketing outlets are numerous and include social media, blogs, podcasts, contacting a customer directly by phone, email, website engagement, and more.

  1. Monitor marketing progress

With the increase in digital marketing comes further statistical and results-based technology to track a brand’s marketing reach. Through search engine optimization (SEO) and digital analytics trackers, a business can track exactly what customer base they are reaching. A brand can then formulate a plan to improve their strategy based on online results.

Print Media:

  1. Tangible and personal

Customers enjoy feeling connected to a brand. Printed material captures attention and conveys a memorable image of the brand. According to a survey conducted by Two Sides, a non-profit organization, 72% of respondents preferred to read the print version of magazines and books.

  1. Targeted readers

Print media reaches targeted audiences who are more likely to spend time with the publication. This allows a business to reach market segments and gain exposure to new and diverse audiences.

  1. Builds brand credibility

The digital marketing space is often crowded. The print media isn’t as saturated, resulting in an increased level of trust for consumers receiving print marketing.

Share Moving Media has over 30 years of experience in marketing within the medical distribution industry. With proven success in print media such as with our trusted healthcare industry magazines Repertoire and The Journal of Healthcare consulting, and expertise in multi-channel digital marketing, we can assist with determining your brand’s marketing and content creation needs. Please contact us by emailing us or visiting our website for more information.

How Healthcare Sales Teams Can Use Content For Supply Chain Success

By

You need to stand out to your customers. Advertising campaigns and person-to-person sales strategies are excellent tools for bringing awareness to your company and your offering, but to really carve out mind share among your customers requires more – especially for sales in the healthcare supply chain.

Today’s health care buyers have a lot on their plates and, since they won’t be the end-users of what they’re buying, they work closely with their clinical value analysis team to make contracting decisions about new products and services.

Your messaging needs to go deeper than an advertising campaign, since marketing materials are often outright ignored by purchasing and value analysis leaders (Frustrating, but true!). They know that the goal of advertising is to showcase the best parts of your offering, they liked what they saw, and now they need to know more.

“Hard data” about your offering is a crucial asset, but to really get through and set yourself apart you need to tell your product’s story.

That’s where content saves the day. 

Savvy, successful suppliers know that creating captivating, targeted content is the best way to close the deal. Never underestimate the power of success stories that clearly demonstrate how the value of your offering is multiplied by the added value of having you and your company as a supplier partner.

Know your customer better than they know themselves

Getting on contract is just the beginning of the journey.

To get on contract, your customers have to know who you are. Forging a lasting, mutually beneficial relationship means you need to know your customer better than they know themselves.  

We’ve asked supply chain leaders across the country what their top supplier partners have in common, and they all say the same thing: Good suppliers respond to problems, best-in-class suppliers are so well-informed – so dialed in – that they can anticipate their supply chain partners’ needs and proactively collaborate on solutions.

When it comes to contracting in the health care supply chain, there’s nothing more critical to your success than knowing everything there is to know about your customers and prospects. But how do you get those high-level insights? What’s the secret?

Keep reading to learn why content is critical for health care sales teams and how you can leverage content to take your sales success to new heights.

Content takes out the guesswork.

A good database is a valuable tool because you can use data to uncover the story of what’s happened. But sorting through data to find what you need to know can be tedious and time-consuming. Putting that data in context and translating it into meaningful insights – a specialized skillset in itself – even more so.

Moreover, it doesn’t tell you what problems your supply chain leaders are dealing with right now or what their plans for the future are.

The best way to get relevant, actionable information for sales success is going to come from consuming content. Supply chain leaders want all the help they can get; they aren’t hiding what their needs and goals are. Whether its press releases, blogs, podcasts, or news articles, the content and media surrounding an IDN can tell you exactly what they’re dealing with, what they’re planning to do, what their priorities are, and so much more.

Industry magazines and publications, like The Journal of Healthcare Contracting, are treasure troves of details and nuance. Not to mention that there are countless podcasts and videos out there as well – a perfect way to stay in-the-know when you’re traveling or on-the-go.

Personal interviews and webinars with supply chain leaders are doubly helpful because you can get to know the supply chain leaders’ personalities and interests as well as clear information about exactly who you need to approach and what you need to do to get your foot in the door and get on contract.

Industry networking organizations like ANAE (the Association of National Accounts Executives) and platforms like the IDN Directory are outstanding resources for fresh health care supply chain content.

At Share Moving Media, we have a dedicated, captive audience of supply chain leaders across the biggest IDNs in the U.S. For over 30 years, we’ve been partnering with suppliers and distributors to create compelling content and messaging. Share Moving Media has developed the tools, resources and expertise to help you tell your story. If you’d to brainstorm about content ideas to help build an audience and get through to Supply Chain Leaders, please email me at jpritchard@sharemovingmedia.com.