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By Any Other Name–Why Paid Content Placements Are the New Ads

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Digital ads come with a negative connotation. Consumers often see them as intrusive, annoying, and irrelevant. While brands don’t want to add to the digital clutter of ads, they also struggle with brand visibility using organic strategies. Modern content placement options allow healthcare marketers to mix the authenticity and value of organic content with the increased visibility of traditional paid healthcare advertising.

Learn how customer behavior brought about content placement and how to use it in your healthcare content marketing.

Key Takeaways:

  • Content can be organic and appear in searches naturally or paid, which gives you more control over its placement.
  • Pop-up ads are falling out of favor due to digital oversaturation.
  • Ad blockers don’t affect paid content placement and appear more natural to readers.

The 3 Types of Media Today: Owned, Earned, and Paid

Content marketers use three types of media in their strategies:

  • Owned media is the content you create and publish on locations you own, like blog posts, website pages, and social media posts.
  • Earned media, also known as organic media, is content you create that appears in other locations you don’t control, like on people’s social media feeds or searches.
  • Paid media is content you sponsor and control where and how it appears on third-party channels.

Most of the content you create falls into multiple categories. For example, a blog post is owned media that can also be earned when it appears in searches. Over the past few years, there has been a shift in focus between ad formats as marketers adjust to the constantly changing behaviors of their customers.

Consumers Are Tired of the Digital Clutter

Consumers are constantly bombarded with digital clutter and have had enough. For example, 57% of consumers say they don’t like ads that play before videos, and 43% don’t even bother watching them. One estimate says the average person sees 10,000 ads a day.

Because of the oversaturation of promotional content, popups displaying giant product images and promoting deals are slowly becoming a strategy of the past. One of the main contributors to the death of the traditional advertisement is ad blockers.

About 43% of internet users have an ad blocker installed. These are tools that prevent popups or ad widgets from appearing on websites. The top reasons people used ad blockers included:

  • They saw too many online ads
  • They found the ads annoying or irrelevant
  • The ads were too intrusive or took up too much space on their screens

Image from Backlinko

How Organic Search Transformed Marketing

Because of the decline in banner ad clicks and the downward trend of traditional advertising, marketers shifted to organic strategies. As a result, organic content marketing increased in popularity and helped marketers get around ad blockers and build greater trust with the audience. Through content marketing, you focus on the quality of your content and use search engine optimization to appear in your target audience’s searches.

Because you aren’t paying to promote your content, your audience sees it as more authentic and responds more favorably.

However, there was a problem. Nearly 97% of marketers started using content marketing in their business strategies. However, because of the large amount of online content, businesses struggled to get their message heard above the noise. By 2021, only 19% of companies said their content marketing efforts were very successful.

That’s when content placements started getting more attention.

The New Name for Marketing Ads: Content Placements

Paid content placements are marketing content you sponsor to ensure it appears at a specified location. They blend the best of content marketing with the visibility of traditional ads.

For example, as users read through a blog post, they might see a list of related articles at the bottom of the page. However, those articles might be sponsored content from other sites.

Consumers respond well to paid content placement because it doesn’t have the strong sales push of traditional ads. Instead, it’s regular content you might see in a Google search. However, instead of waiting for customers to find that content, you pay for it to appear where you know your customers frequently go, and it blends in with the content around it.

You might also sponsor your content to appear on social media feeds, Google searches, or other locations where it feels like the content around it. Content placement that blends into the surrounding is called native advertising. Native ads will earn a $402B annual revenue by 2025.

Examples of native advertising

Image from Outbrain

How To Use Content Placements in Healthcare Marketing

Use these three steps to help you create a paid content placement campaign that replaces your traditional advertising.

Step 1: Establish an Advertising Goal

Whether using traditional advertising or paid content placement, your goals are the same. You want to educate, convince, and convert your customers. However, content placement is more subtle in how you accomplish that goal.

Establish what your objective is and how you will measure your success. For example, are you aiming to generate leads, make sales, or increase website traffic? Make a specific and measurable goal to guide your content placement campaign and tell you how well you performed.

Step 2: Create Marketing Content

Content marketing in 2022 focuses on building a relationship with your customer. You don’t just want a single sale, which is often the primary objective of traditional ads. Instead, you want to create a longer content piece that offers value to the customer, builds trust, and encourages customer loyalty.

Some examples of effective content for paid placement campaigns include:

  • Thought leadership articles
  • News releases about company updates or product launches
  • Case studies
  • Pieces about the latest trends in healthcare

Step 3: Target Your Content Placement

Because ad blockers still exist, you won’t see many results if you distribute your content through traditional digital advertising channels. It would also lose some credibility.

Instead, consider using a native advertising strategy to place your content where your ideal audience sees it. Some examples include:

  • Paid search
  • Social media-sponsored content
  • Paid content placement on third-party websites
  • Influencer marketer channels
  • Digital or print magazines

Strategically Place Your Marketing Content

Are you having difficulty getting readers in the healthcare industry to notice your content above the oversaturation of digital marketing?

Talk to us about content placement opportunities and get your content in front of your target audience in healthcare.

What Content Types Work Best in Healthcare?

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Despite how widespread content marketing is, 72% of marketers say their content was only slightly successful or not successful at all. Creating content isn’t enough to succeed in content marketing. You need to focus on the right content types.

Learn seven of the best types of content for healthcare marketing that will give your content marketing a boost in 2022.

Key Takeaways:

  • Content marketing requires different strategies for each stage in the sales funnel.
  • Video is the most effective form of content marketing in 2022.
  • You can build relationships with your audience through webinars or social media marketing.

How to Choose the Best Content-Type

Not all your content has the same goal. Content marketing is a broad strategy that covers every step of the sales funnel, from awareness to brand loyalty. The content you create should reflect the goal of each step.

Before choosing a content type, start by outlining the goal of your content. The top marketing goal is lead generation, followed closely by increasing website traffic. Surprisingly, most marketers say sales and product promotion aren’t the highest content marketing objectives, although there are some exceptions.

17 types of content for each stage of the funnel

Image from Orbit Media Studios

7 Content Types You Should Use in Healthcare Marketing

Explore seven of the top healthcare marketing content formats you should use in your strategies to reach your marketing objectives.

1. SEO Blog Content

Blog content is one of the most well-known content marketing formats. This long-form content type engages the audience, answers questions, and encourages action. Some examples of popular blog content include:

  • How-to articles
  • List articles
  • Educational content
  • Interviews
  • Company insights
  • Thought leadership

Blogging drives more traffic to your website by ranking in online searches. To rank in search engines, you target specific search phrases combined with linking to authority sites that boost your reputation. In this way, when your target audience is researching products or solutions, your content is more likely to appear in their searches. Today, nearly 70% of marketers invest in search engine optimization.

Blogging is also a key lead generation and nurturing strategy. Once you attract traffic to your website, you address their pain points and offer valuable information that will lead them through the sales cycle and encourage them to subscribe.

2. Social Media Posts

Over half of the world’s population is on social media. These platforms aren’t just spaces for posting pictures of your cat or lunch. They have transformed into legitimate business platforms where you network, engage and convert your audience through various content types for social media.

Social media has become a crucial part of content marketing for healthcare and requires a dedicated content marketing strategy. For example, suppose you repost your blog articles on social media. In that case, they won’t perform as well as creating dedicated content for your social audience optimized for the platform.

You can use a combination of videos, images, and text to build relationships with your audience through the platform since social media is social first and supports customer interactions. While Facebook and Instagram work well for B2C connections, for businesses that want to connect with other businesses, LinkedIn is the best platform. 

3. Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are content that you exchange for your reader’s contact information. The primary purpose of the content is to generate leads. Without this exchange of information, you will lose your readers when they leave your page because you have no way to follow up.

Instead, you know who is looking at your content through lead magnets. You can use their contact information to qualify them as a lead and focus on those with a high buyer’s intent when nurturing those prospects.

Roughly 72% of marketers saw increased leads from their content marketing.

Some content formats that work well as lead magnets include:

  • Ebooks
  • Case studies
  • Original research
  • Whitepapers
  • Webinars or live events

4. Webinars and Live Events

Over 90% of marketers say their webinars are the most valuable content channel for generating qualified leads. A webinar is an online event where a presenter provides information to a target audience.

Webinars effectively educate your audience, promote products, and convert customers. For example, in healthcare distribution, you can use webinars to explain how new products work or build trust by educating your audience on the latest healthcare trends.

5. Case Studies

Case studies prove your claims as a business. For example, you can show it through a case study instead of just saying your product results in better patient outcomes. A case study tells a story of how your products or business helped a client. It uses data and emotional storytelling to convince your audience that they can also see those transformative effects if they use your products.

6. Videos

Forty-one percent of marketers say that increasing the amount of video content they produce significantly influenced their success. Video is one of the most powerful mediums for conveying your message. It creates an immersive experience that holds your audience’s attention and sends a memorable message.

Healthcare marketers have been successfully using video content over the past few years. For example, you can share patient or customer stories, demonstrate a new product, or address issues in the industry to help your customers make better decisions.

Some of the places you can share your video include:

  • YouTube
  • Social media
  • Company website
Video has the best results

Image from SEMrush

7. Landing Pages

If all your online traffic is coming through your homepage, you’re missing out on a valuable conversion opportunity. Homepages are just the doorway to your other content. A landing page is different because it’s the destination.

A landing page has one goal and removes all unnecessary or distracting elements that might keep your audience from that objective. For instance, if you want your audience to sign up for a webinar, you will create a landing page that doesn’t have a navigation bar or other content. The only content they would see is information about the webinar and a form for signing up.

Landing pages are a key element of your end-funnel content marketing strategy. They help lead your customers to make that final action.

Create More Content Your Audience Will Read

We can help you upgrade your content marketing strategies with our unique insights and industry data. Our communication and educational services will transform the way you perform healthcare content marketing.

Contact us to learn more about our content marketing solutions.

Outstanding E-Book Examples: The Powerful Content Marketing Tool You Might Be Missing

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What do a killer content marketing strategy and your next vacation have in common? E-books. Too many companies underestimate the impact that e-books can have in attracting high-quality leads, building their brand, and developing trust with potential customers. But data shows that e-books as content marketing tools are on the rise. In a recent NetLine study, e-books were the number one most requested marketing content. Take a look at these outstanding e-book examples to discover how to make e-books work for you.

Key Takeaways

  • E-books help position your brand and attract high-quality leads.
  • Your e-book should meet an unmet need for your potential customers.
  • The best e-books are formatted professionally to reflect the writer’s brand and values.
  • An effective landing page is a vital component of your e-book strategy.

The Benefits of E-Books as a Content Marketing Tool

Why are e-books such a powerful content marketing tool? Creating an e-book has many benefits, from positioning you as an industry expert to generating more high-quality leads. With an e-book, you will:

Offer Value

E-books are one of the best ways to build value with your audience. Many people worry about giving so much information away for free, thinking their e-book will replace the need for their services. In fact, the opposite is true.

Your e-book is an example of the expertise you can offer clients. By giving it away for free or at a low price, you are giving potential customers a substantive sample of what your services can do for them. When you demonstrate the value you can provide, you build confidence and value in your paid services too. 

Example: software company Devsu offers its e-book on “Tech as a Revenue Driver” to address one of its customers’ key goals. It offers quality insights that can directly assist its clients and demonstrates the value it brings to the table with its services.

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Generate Leads

E-books are an effective lead magnet: a free item you give away in exchange for the potential customer’s contact details. It’s not easy to convince people to part with their valuable contact information. However, if you give away professionally presented, in-depth information in exchange, people will likely perceive it as a worthwhile trade.

That’s why e-books are an effective way to generate leads that convert. They offer a win-win situation: your audience receives valuable and substantial insights, and you receive the contact information of people who self-identify as needing your service.

Example: fitness company Transform offers a free e-book of hunger control shake recipes. Its lean contact form makes it easy for anyone interested in weight loss to sign up for its book. The company can follow up knowing that these potential customers already need its products and services.

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Build Your Brand

Forty-six percent of consumers prefer a brand they know and trust. That’s why e-books are a fantastic opportunity to position yourself in the marketplace and build audience understanding of what your business offers.

Your brand can really shine in an e-book. Every page of your e-book, from the layout and color scheme to the content itself, will convey important messages about your brand, including:

  • Who you are
  • Your points of differentiation
  • Your level of expertise
  • Your brand’s purpose and values

E-books help build familiarity with potential customers, translating into higher brand recognition and more leads.

Example: utility company Surple uses consistent imaging throughout its e-book to convey its brand identity and values.

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Position Yourself as an Authority

When we refer to experts, we often use the phrase “they wrote the book on the subject.” Books, including e-books, carry weight and convey a sense of authority. Providing your valuable insights and expertise in e-book form helps position you as a thought leader and authority in your industry. This translates into greater recognition, trust, and ultimately sales.

Example: social media expert Gary Vaynerchuk‘s e-book “How to Make 64 Pieces of Content in a Day” is an impressive resource that clearly positions him as a leader in his field.

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Writing an Effective E-Book: Examples of How to Use E-Books in Your Content Marketing Strategy

Not all e-books are created equal. To implement an e-book as an effective component of your content marketing strategy, several important aspects must be kept in mind.

Choose an E-Book Subject That Meets Your Potential Clients’ Needs

Like any marketing content, it’s important to consider your audience carefully. You should identify your target audience and choose a topic that fulfills a need. Potential customers are significantly more likely to download an e-book that addresses their unmet needs.

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Example: cyber security company Celerity offers its e-book on “Cyber Security Priorities” to educate potential customers looking for ways to improve their cyber security. The landing page and e-book target the reader’s unmet needs.

Format Your E-Book Professionally to Reflect Your Brand

The best and most effective e-books are:

  • Visual
  • Interactive
  • Easy to digest

Think beyond the words to how you present them. Your e-book is a reflection of your brand, so it’s important for the formatting and presentation to look professional, clean, and consistent with your brand. 

Example: Dropbox‘s e-book “Don’t Let Large Files Slow You Down” effectively uses white space and graphics to present the information in easily digestible chunks.

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Entice Potential Customers with an Effective Landing Page

Your landing page is another vital aspect of implementing your e-book successfully. It should:

  • Tell readers exactly what to expect
  • Give them a preview of the e-book
  • Display social proof in the form of testimonials and reviews

These elements help convince potential customers that your e-book offers them value, making them more likely to provide their contact information in exchange.

Example: this e-book from hosting platform Flywheel offers a stand-out landing page example. The page is attractive and easily digestible. When visitors scroll down, there’s a visual preview of the chapters, giving them a clear idea of what they can expect to learn.

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This Flux Academy episode goes into depth on five crucial elements for an effective landing page:

Outsource Your E-Book to the Pros

When creating an e-book for your content marketing strategy, there’s a lot to consider. Fortunately, Share Moving Media is here to help. Our content marketing specialists know how to craft unique and compelling e-books to help you build your brand and attract the leads you want. 

Contact us today to find out how we can boost your business with an e-book.

A Guide to Digital PR in Healthcare and Medical Supplies

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“Advertising is what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for.”

This phrase has long been used to differentiate public relations from advertising. Even though both fields have transitioned from traditional media (TV, radio, print) to digital formats, it remains true today. Essentially, it means that advertising relies on paid media placement, while PR consists of earned media.

Say you want to promote a product. You can buy ad space in an e-publication. Alternatively, you might write a thought leader article for that e-publication. You share your valuable expertise while also seizing the opportunity to include a subtle callout for your product. Your readership benefits – and so do you.

This mutually beneficial characteristic defines PR. The Public Relations Society of America defines PR as a “strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

Digital PR maintains this principle while using modern tools, like content marketing and social media. For those in the healthcare and medical supplies space, digital PR offers a valuable means of showcasing expertise, engaging with target audiences, and building authority in a competitive field.

This guide gives you a toolbox of techniques you can use in your digital PR strategy.

A Toolbox for Digital PR in Healthcare

Effective PR is essentially about building a reputation. This requires multiple touchpoints. You have to target different media to reach a broad audience, establish yourself as a recognized authority in your field, and build trust.

Expert Commentaries

An expert commentary is a quote within a larger story, such as a case study, community panel, or news story written by a journalist. When you are quoted in this kind of objective content, you are acting as an expert. Look to tools like HARO, which connects experts and the journalists who need their insights.

With digital PR, you additionally gain the advantage of being able to gain backlinks. You can ask the author if they are willing to add a link to your website, driving traffic to your portal and increasing SEO rank.

Bylines

With a byline, you get to be the author. Examples include guest blog posts on other websites or op-ed pieces in digital newspapers and magazines. Again, this paints you as an expert, sharing your insights.

To leverage the power of bylines, try to write unique opinion pieces. Ideally, you will also address a trending topic. People will already be searching for information about this topic and be more likely to click on your article.

Blogs

You don’t always have to look externally for ways to get your opinion out there and establish your authority status. Your company’s blog can serve as a valuable tool for sharing practical, fact-based knowledge about your health or marketing niche. Blogs can increase your ROI 13x.

Blogs are easy to share on social media, where they can be disseminated widely by other users. You can also exchange blogs with others in your field, allowing them to post on your platform in exchange for you posting on theirs. With this publishing strategy for blogs, you both gain traction and new audiences.

Webinars and Podcasts

Webinars and podcasts are like the digital PR 2.0 of expert commentaries, bylines, and blogs. Webinars allow you to offer your expert opinion in a visual format, while podcasts offer an aural format. If the concept is so similar, what’s the point?

Different people respond to different formats. You might have people in your target audience who don’t enjoy reading long-form articles or blogs – but love listening to podcasts when they’re on the go. Disseminate your voice across more channels for maximum impact.

Social Media

Don’t write off social media as “fluff.” This is a valuable broadcasting tool. Take any of the formats described above and distribute it across social channels to expand your reach. You never know who will repost or retweet a provocative piece of content, rapidly boosting your clout.

Another reason health and medical supplies professionals can’t ignore social media is the price point. Social tools are incredibly cost-efficient. Most of them are free.

We Help You Create Your PR Toolbox

Digital PR in healthcare doesn’t have to be complicated. Share Moving Media can help you create your toolkit. We are a full-service media agency, making everything from white papers to webinars. Thanks to our focus on the healthcare and medical supplies space, we are uniquely positioned to know what kind of content you need to get the PR you want.

Subscribe to our newsletter for more tips on content strategy for healthcare. For help stocking your digital PR toolkit, contact us directly.

How Can Medical Manufacturers Use Inbound Marketing?

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Marketing is all about engaging your target audience. To do that, you have to establish contact and start a conversation. You might think that the best way to achieve that goal is to target them with marketing materials proactively.

However, flooding people with unwanted information will likely annoy them – and may even leave them distrustful of your brand. The majority of consumers already report that they don’t trust brands or their advertising.

As a marketer, distrust is the last thing you want to inspire in your target audience. This is especially true in the medical manufacturing field. You are responsible for healthcare products that literally change – or even save – lives. So, how do you reach consumers without inundating them with unwanted messaging?

Inbound marketing is the answer. This methodology brings customers to you by offering them valuable content tailor-made to their interests.

Find out how to implement inbound marketing for healthcare manufacturers below.

Inbound Marketing 101

Outbound marketing techniques like phone calls, email spam, and media buys are more likely to annoy than convince consumers. In contrast, inbound marketing attracts consumers organically. How? Content.

Blogs, websites, e-books, podcasts, long-form articles, and white papers can provide valuable information. By creating educational, informative content that meets your target audience’s needs, you can spark their interest — and then drive them to your website, your primary sales platform.

Effective content also helps to demonstrate authority on a subject and to establish trust. Authority marketing is a must in the medical manufacturing field. Healthcare provider networks, physicians, and patients need to trust your company and its products.

Implementing Inbound Marketing for Healthcare Manufacturers

Inbound marketing shares the same end goal of any marketing tactic: to generate leads and convert them to customers – and, ideally, loyal followers. The difference lies in the first step, as inbound marketing subtly attracts consumers instead of aggressively pursuing them.

Here is a step-by-step guide to inbound marketing for healthcare manufacturers.

Know Your Customer

If you’re going to create content your consumers find valuable, you have to know what they want. Understand their pain points, challenges, and motivations. Developing a customer journey map can help you make your content sell even if you’ve never met the end customer.

For example, in the current climate, understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts healthcare providers and networks can help you generate relevant and timely content.

Create Niche-Specific Content

Odds are you work in a highly specific field, whether it’s cardiovascular stents, stethoscopes, or ultrasound machines. Many medical manufacturing professionals will stay in the same sector for years or even decades.

Leverage your knowledge. Content marketing in healthcare should be focused on your area of expertise, allowing you to create genuinely informative blogs, white papers, e-books, and more.

Perfect Your Website

The content you put into the world to attract your target audience should always link back to your leading sales portal – your website. Include a call-to-action with links to your platform, ideally after the content. Promoting upfront can deter consumers.

When consumers get to your website, they should be greeted with a streamlined, user-friendly platform. Create a robust portal that will drive healthcare sales. It should feature straightforward navigation and content that is crisp, clear, and informative.

Finally, make sure to develop a mobile-friendly version of your website. Many people now prioritize smartphones over desktop computers for internet access, and Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher in search engine results.

Automate Your Marketing Processes

Inbound marketing is all about delivering an improved consumer experience. This comes in part from great content and in part from efficient processes. Use marketing automation tools to streamline operations.

Say a consumer visits your website, for example. They download a free white paper on a topic of interest to them – say, cardiovascular stents – in exchange for providing their email address. A marketing automation system will capture, sort, and store that email. It can further be programmed to tailor future mailings according to the individual’s expressed interest (in this case, cardiology).

What does this accomplish? The consumer gets more meaningful content more quickly. Meanwhile, your marketing team saves time and effort, which they can then dedicate to other measures – like creating more great content.

Tap into the Power of Inbound Marketing Today

Share Moving Media is a full-service media company specializing in medical marketing and distribution. From podcasts to e-books, blogs, and more, we can help you create and place valuable authority content to drive your inbound marketing efforts.

Subscribe to our newsletter for more healthcare marketing tools, tips, and tricks. Ready to revamp your inbound marketing? Contact us.