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5 Steps to Determine Blog Frequency to Grow Your B2B Healthcare Site’s Web Traffic

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The goal of every healthcare supplier’s website is the same: drive traffic, engage an audience, and convert customers. The way to do this is through search engine optimization (SEO), and the key to effective SEO is content. The more high-quality, relevant information you post on your site, the more material search engines have to scan and index. When a site is useful to its visitors, search engines will grant it higher placement in rankings. This means more visibility and more traffic.

Blogging is the most logical way to add valuable content to your website. Today, more than 31 million Americans host a blog and post at least once a month. That’s a ton of content. The question is, how many blog posts does it take to grow B2B web traffic in healthcare? 

Quality or Quantity: Which is Better?

When it comes to content, quality will always win over quantity. You must post meaningful information that brings readers value. A single, high-quality blog post will outperform a dozen mediocre fluff pieces every time. As long as you’re producing valuable content, you can then start strategizing blog frequency to help drive traffic to your site and increase your conversion rates.

The number of blog posts it will take to boost traffic depends on several factors. Every business is different, and the needs of every target audience are unique. What works for one company may not work for another. Details like how and when an audience prefers to receive information, company size, and blog length are all contributing factors to a blog’s success. Before you can begin to develop an effective blogging strategy, you’ll need to do some research.

Understanding Google’s Approach to New Pages

To schedule a blogging plan that works, it’s helpful to first understand how Google ranks pages based on content alone. Google uses a ranking factor called QDF (query deserves freshness) that prioritizes news stories based on these types of searches:

  • Current events: timely articles that talk about things happening right now.
  • Regularly recurring events: the latest information about anticipated events.
  • Frequent updates: the most current details surrounding information that changes often.

QDF means that websites that post fresh, updated content can outperform their competitors. Whether it’s an older site that’s maintaining the relevancy of its past posts, or a new page releasing brand new authoritative content, Google rewards sites that remain consistently current.

Updated posts are especially important for healthcare blogs. Research findings, regulations, and new products are constantly changing, and people in this industry want the most up-to-date information. By consistently posting fresh content, you can increase brand awareness, position yourself as an authority in the healthcare supply chain, gain higher Google rankings, and drive more traffic to your site.

How Many Blog Posts Does It Take to Grow Your B2B Healthcare Site’s Web Traffic?

Research shows that organizations that consistently post 16 blog entries each month drive more traffic than those who don’t. While that may be a good starting point, determining the right frequency for your organization depends on several factors. Even if you were to blog every day, it can take time to develop an article that resonates with readers and drives tons of traffic to your site. 

How Often Should You Post on Your Blog? 5 Steps to Know

Here are five steps to determine how many blog posts you should publish to grow B2B traffic in healthcare.

1. Determine Your Marketing Goals 

Know what it is you’re trying to achieve with your blog posts. Identify how you can attract an audience and provide them with a positive experience. Maybe the way to do this is through guest blogs, or video content, or infographics. Find out what’s best for your audience. A plan without clearly defined goals is far less likely to succeed.

2. Assess Your Previously Published Content 

A website that already has some great cornerstone content doesn’t need to post new content as frequently. Take a look at the number of posts you already have on your blog. Of those posts, identify which ones helped you reach major traffic milestones. This will help you find the relationship between the number of blogs and how many visitors they gained. Use this pattern to plan future posts for continued success.

3. Tune In to Your Traffic Channels 

The two most prominent sources for blog content are social media networks and search engine visibility through Google rankings. Social media posts generally last for about a day. For that reason, you can’t rely on a single post to drive ongoing traffic to your site. However, search engine rankings are much more reliable. If you can create evergreen content that gets you on the front page of their listings, you’re more likely to reach more people and drive more traffic to your site.

4. Know Your Audience 

Write with your audience in mind. That means you must know their needs and preferences, like how often they want to hear from you. Some companies who increase their blog post frequency actually see a decline in traffic. Their audience doesn’t want to see so much new content so frequently.

You also need to know what kind of material is the most useful to them. Promotional posts that contain pieces of content like ebooks, webinars, or downloadable resources tend to generate the highest number of leads.

5. Sometimes It Simply Comes Down to Trial and Error 

Once you determine a blog post schedule that you think will work, give it a try. Implement different times of day and days of the week. Try various approaches to the type of content. Remember your plan isn’t set in stone. If you’re not getting the results you’d hoped for, rethink your strategy and try something new. While you want to post frequently to stay front of mind and continue to be viewed as an authority in your field, quantity should never jeopardize quality. 

Drive Traffic with Share Moving Media’s Expert Blog Strategists

A healthcare company that knows its audience and adheres to its marketing goals can create a content strategy that earns high search engine placement and drives traffic to its site. Share Moving Media is a full-service media and content company that provides healthcare suppliers with the tools needed to increase their market share. 

From hospital purchasing to hospital distribution, healthcare companies can benefit from Share Moving Media’s services in developing an effective blog post schedule that meets audience needs. 

If you’re ready to increase visibility and drive traffic to your site, contact us today.

The Marketing Minute Podcast – How to Map Your Content to the Customer Journey in Healthcare

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Episode 2 of “The Marketing Minute Podcast” with The Journal of Healthcare Contracting’s John Pritchard and Repertoire’s Scott Adams!

Marketers to the U.S. Healthcare Supply Chain will love this podcast. Audience acquisition and engagement is at the heart of marketing in healthcare today! If you are tasked with gaining market share in this competitive healthcare market tune in to these 20-30 minute podcasts. John and Scott will explore how best in class marketing organizations are gaining market share through content marketing delivered in a variety of vehicles.  “Our goal is to connect healthcare suppliers with market share gaining strategies” John Pritchard.   

Healthcare Manufacturers Can’t Afford to Skip Digital PR because buyers don’t trust brands!

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When you think of public relations, what tactics come to mind?

Most healthcare manufacturing marketers or execs might mention TV ads, billboards, press releases, and even dinners or charity events.

While these traditional methods are all valuable, digital PR is the only way healthcare manufacturers can set themselves up for long-term success.

You need a multi-prong, diversified PR strategy. 

It’s really simple: Your audience spends time browsing virtual channels and consuming content, so you need to show up there too. 

Why is Digital PR Mandatory for Healthcare Manufacturers?

On LinkedIn alone, you’ll find over:

  • 7.2 million healthcare professionals
  • 850 thousand doctors
  • 188 thousand healthcare companies
  • 2.3 million nursing professionals

The point is, your audience hangs out online. They read blogs and news articles, they talk about their day, they search for solutions to problems, they research new products and brands.

Digital PR gives healthcare manufacturers leverage. 

Digital PR Adds Much-Needed Emotion to Healthcare Manufacturing 

Syringe barrels, speculums, table covers, and other healthcare supplies aren’t exactly the warmest or most wholesome products as-is. Who says they can’t be though?

Healthcare products save lives, keep people safe, promote sanitation, and function as some of humankind’s greatest achievements. That’s pretty emotional if you ask me. 

That’s why digital PR is essential for healthcare manufacturers. 

Instead of simply running ads for your products or dropping off samples, digital PR lets you create an entire aesthetic around your brand. Eventually, people will associate the emotions expressed via your PR material anytime they hear your brand’s name or see a product.

Without Digital PR, You’re Letting Competitors Take the Digital Market Share

You might not have a digital PR presence in the healthcare manufacturing realm, but you should assume your competitors do. That means you’re letting your competition soak up the entire digital audience share. 

Do some research into your competition’s online presence. What values and emotions do they want people to associate with their brand? What type of content do they produce? Where do they publish? And most importantly, how engaged is their audience?

Use the answers to set your digital PR strategy apart.

Buyers and Consumers Don’t Trust Brands

Everyone knows paid advertisements are just that: Brands paying for reach to sell products. No one likes ads and they don’t trust brands – not consumers or business buyers. 

Maintaining an active digital PR strategy lets you engage your audience in a non-promotional way, encouraging trust and loyalty.

Nine out of ten consumers buy from brands they follow on social media. Furthermore, 61% say a brand’s engagement with its audience is the most important aspect – even before transparency. 

Press Releases and Print Media Aren’t Enough to Build Connections

Niche journals, magazines, and publications are certainly an important part of any successful digital PR strategy – but they’re not enough. 

People only spend so much time reading print material. However, most of us spend several hours online each day, especially with 71% of Americans still working from home as of December 2020.

Your task is to figure out which platforms and channels your audience segments use and insert your digital PR content there.

5 Tips to Win at Digital PR for Healthcare Manufacturers

Digital PR includes both macro and micro strategies to pull off a comprehensive “image.”

At the macro level, you have:

  • Short- and long-term objectives
  • Ideal platforms to reach your audience
  • Your brand’s style guidelines to maintain a consistent voice and aesthetic
  • Editorial guidelines to keep a stable opinion/stance in thought leadership

At the micro level, use the tips below to create your healthcare manufacturing digital PR strategy.

1. Sign Up for HARO to Boost Digital PR

Why wait (and hope) for relevant journalists in your niche to find your press releases? Why not just assign a member of your team to go to the journalists when they need quotes for topics in your niche?

That’s exactly how HARO works. Help a Reporter Out sends out automated emails three times each day for the lists you subscribe to – in your case, healthcare and business. 

Someone on your team can browse the in-progress pieces and reach out to the individual journalists to provide quotes. Plus, it helps you build long-term rapport with journalists and writers in your niche – and access to their audience.

2. Partner with the Right Healthcare Influencers

Did you know half of your B2B buyers are millennials (or possibly even younger)? 

No one takes an influencer’s word as ultimate truth, but millennials are more likely to trust an influencer’s opinion (compared to your marketing content) since they aren’t working directly for your company. 

Research and choose influencers who have an engaged audience that mirrors your target market.

3. Rally Around a Relevant Cause

As a healthcare manufacturer, your brand’s image can either appear cold and aloof or warm and human. Any winning digital PR for healthcare manufacturers must highlight a relevant cause. 

Look for a relevant cause (or causes) based on the products you sell so your target audience segments will connect with the goal. Go niche when you can: Awareness, prevention, and prompt treatment of heart attacks in women works much better than the general “women’s health.”

4. Host Q&As or AMAs for Digital PR 

Video content gives you a chance to literally connect with your audience segments human-to-human. Choose someone friendly who embodies your brand’s aesthetic and values to host live Q&A videos, webinars, AMAs, tutorials, and anything else helpful.

5. Publish Thought Leadership Content

While content marketing helps you establish awareness, thought leadership helps build authority in your expertise. 

Thought leadership puts names and faces to your brand’s knowledge, opinions, values, and visions for the future – all vital for effective digital PR. Pick the right digital outlets where your target audience segments will see it.

Healthcare Manufacturers Can’t Have Digital PR Without Content

Whatever strategy you build, you’ll need content at every touchpoint. 

Social media videos, emotion-driven copy, nuanced thought leadership blogs, influencer content for sharing – content is the backbone of digital PR for healthcare manufacturers. 

At Share Moving Media, we manage a wide range of highly targeted publications online and off where we help brands like yours reach thousands of professional readers in your niche. Find the right publication for your brand now!

The Marketing Minute Podcast – The 5 Essential Healthcare Marketing Trends for 2021

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Introducing “The Marketing Minute Podcast” with The Journal of Healthcare Contracting’s John Pritchard and Repertoire’s Scott Adams!

Marketers to the U.S. Healthcare Supply Chain will love this podcast. Audience acquisition and engagement is at the heart of marketing in healthcare today! If you are tasked with gaining market share in this competitive healthcare market tune in to these 20-30 minute podcasts. John and Scott will explore how best in class marketing organizations are gaining market share through content marketing delivered in a variety of vehicles.  “Our goal is to connect healthcare suppliers with market share gaining strategies” John Pritchard.   

To receive the Marketing Minute weekly blog fill out the form in the sidebar.

Make Your Organization Leaner with Agile Marketing in Healthcare

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Lean organizations are focused on one thing: creating greater customer value while minimizing waste. This type of business model is a natural fit for the healthcare industry, which prioritizes getting patients the best care possible, as quickly as possible, at the lowest cost possible. As a healthcare distributor, it’s worth doing your homework into the lean approach to see how it can enhance your business operations. Agile marketing in healthcare is one way to make your organization leaner.

What Is a Lean Organization?

“Lean” refers to a type of organizational structure. It’s all about using as few resources as possible to achieve the best outcomes for customers.

In a lean model, every member of the organization will find ways to improve daily processes. When small tasks performed by individuals become more efficient, the organization as a whole becomes more streamlined. The end result is the ultimate lean goal stated in the introduction: more value for customers, less waste for companies. Everybody benefits.

Can this business model really make that much of a difference? You’d be surprised. Some big names in the business world subscribe to the lean methodology, including Toyota and Intel. 

A lean organization benefits your employees, customers, and company alike. Here’s how:

  • Employees: Lean can boost employee accountability and engagement within your organization, as the onus is put on individuals to find ways to improve processes.
  • Customers: Since Lean is ultimately all about improving customer value, it forces the company to get into the customer’s shoes. This means placing value on customer opinions, soliciting feedback, and acting on it. By catering to customers, the company can better meet their needs.
  • Company: Lean promotes growth by paring the business down to the essentials, using readily available resources without over-extending beyond existing means. Plus, more engaged employees mean improved performance, while happier customers whose needs are being met drive sales – ultimately boosting profitability.

Agile Marketing 101

How can agile marketing in healthcare contribute to a lean organization? First, let’s define agile marketing.

A Quick History of the Agile Mindset

The agile approach was initially developed as an approach for software delivery in 2001. It’s characterized by its iterative process, which is what gives agile its defining trait – flexibility.

In the past, developer teams conceptualized a product and then concentrate their efforts to deliver that final product as they had envisioned it. In contrast, the agile approach requires development teams to assess value at every development stage – not just once they’ve crossed the finish line.

What sets the agile approach apart (and made it so groundbreaking when it appeared) is the flexibility it insists upon. Agile development requires a continual feedback loop. The software development team doesn’t just define a product and deliver that end product to the market. They continually seek feedback throughout the development process, tweaking things as they go along.

This results in more innovative development and, ultimately, a more user-friendly product. Agile development has proven extremely successful in the software industry and is still used to this day.

Agile Marketing Defined

So, what’s all that got to do with marketing?

Let’s get back to that defining trait mentioned above – flexibility. This is likewise a defining characteristic of agile marketing campaigns.

Marketers have recognized that they can’t just create campaigns and shove them down consumers’ throats. By consistently soliciting feedback from their target audience, marketers – including in the healthcare industry – can craft campaigns that truly resonate with that audience.

Agile marketing is about more than just collecting feedback, however. As a tactical marketing technique, agile requires teams to:

  1. Collectively identify high-value projects and then focus collectively on those projects.
  2. Measure the impact of those projects.
  3. Tweak their efforts to incrementally yet continuously improve the results of the project.

This marketing model supports a lean organizational structure because it improves value for the customer (creating marketing campaigns that engage clients) while reducing wasted time and resources for the company through constant feedback, measurement, and tweaking.

Tips for More Agile Marketing in Healthcare

Implementing agile marketing in healthcare is easier than you might think. These tips can get you started.

Implement Sprints

Agile marketing teams rely on sprints to drive cooperative and efficient collaboration. A sprint is a short, predefined period in which teams jointly focus on a single task. For example, you might ask your team to implement a new pay-per-click ad campaign within X days or weeks.

Hold Daily Stand-Up Meetings

Agile’s flexibility means projects are always evolving. It’s thus smart to check in with your team’s progress regularly. A short, 15-minute (maximum) stand-up meeting every day is a great way to do this. Team members should bring up issues and bottlenecks (e.g., that PPC campaign isn’t performing as hoped) so they can be addressed quickly. The entire team can then collaborate on the solution.

Use a Board to Track Progress

Another key trait of agile is that it relies on visual progress tracking. You can go old school and use a whiteboard and sticky note to track progress. Alternatively, you can use a digital Kanban board. This is also a great way to enforce accountability. You can update the board together as a team during stand-ups to see who is doing what.

Measure, Measure, Measure

As mentioned, feedback is critical to agile success. Now, that doesn’t mean that marketers have to continually ask their target audience, “Hey, what did you think of that campaign?” or something similar. Modern marketing tech and tools make it easy to get feedback.

For example, the success of social media influencer marketing can be measured by metrics like shares, comments, and likes. The success of an email marketing campaign can be measured by opens and clicks.

Ramp Up Your Healthcare Marketing

Share Moving Media can help you tap into the power of agile marketing in healthcare. A full-service media company, we help our clients create content and campaigns that deliver real value to their target audiences. Our goal is to help you increase healthcare sales.

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