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Why Medical Suppliers Need More Consistency in Content Marketing

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Over 97% of marketers agree that content marketing is essential to their marketing strategy in 2022. However, not everyone creates content equally. What you post, where you publish it, and how often you make content varies considerably between industries. Despite the differences, consistency in content marketing is crucial to every strategy.

Learn how often you should be creating content as a medical supplier and how to create a consistent content strategy for healthcare marketing.

Key Takeaways:

  • Medical suppliers should be creating content anywhere from daily to several times a week, depending on the platform.
  • Consistent content encourages greater loyalty, increases your exposure, and establishes you as an authority.
  • Create consistent content using a content calendar and outsourcing.

How Often Do Medical Suppliers Need Content? (It’s More Than You Think)

Healthcare Content marketing is a broad category of strategies that involve creating digital content to build awareness, educate your audience, and convert leads into customers. For the best results, consider using several channels in your content marketing.

Here is a general overview of how often successful businesses post content on each of their marketing channels:

Since these are average statistics, your actual numbers will vary. The best way to decide how often you should post content is to perform A/B testing. Change how often you post content on each channel during your tests and see what number of fresh posts gets the best response.

Benefits of Consistency in Content Marketing

If you stick to the above schedule for sharing consistent content, you will create hundreds of new pieces each year. That can quickly feel overwhelming without the proper healthcare content marketing strategy. However, adjusting your processes to handle that number is worth the effort, as these three benefits show.

Encourage Customer Loyalty

About 65% of your revenue comes from loyal customers. Your content isn’t just for bringing in new customers but also for keeping existing customers loyal to your brand. These loyal customers already follow you on social media or subscribe to your blog.

Consistent quality content ensures they continue to get value from your content channels so they can purchase more from your company.

Broader Brand Exposure

Search engine optimization is a strategy to rank your content in consumer searches. For example, when a hospital decision-maker searches for products for their facilities, your content can appear at the top of their search results, pointing to what products you offer.

The more content you have online, the more searches you can appear, which increases your online visibility. Over half of your website’s traffic comes from online searches.

Percentage of people performing online searches each day.

Image from FinancesOnline

Greater Authority in Your Industry

Brand authority comes from other people’s opinions of your company. If consumers in the healthcare industry consider you an expert and trustworthy source of information, you are considered a healthcare authority.

You must publish consistent, quality content to encourage positive opinions of your business. Each piece is another chance to establish yourself as an authority in healthcare, leading to more conversions.

How to Create Consistent Content for Your Marketing Campaigns

Use these five tips to be consistent in content marketing across all your marketing channels.

Video Embed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Cb6xKZo18

How to be Consistent with Content Marketing

1. Brainstorm Topics in Advance

An expert content creator can write a 1,500-blog post in two to three hours. However, most people take significantly longer to research, create, and publish online content. Brainstorming for topics is one of the forgotten steps of content creation that many people don’t calculate into their schedule.

If you resort to coming up with topics as you create content, you risk settling on mediocre content themes to meet your deadlines. Instead, plan content ideas weeks or even months before you create and publish the content.

You can hold brainstorming sessions where you and your marketing team research common search phrases, questions your customers are asking, and the types of content your competitors post. Then, use that list to narrow done the best topics.

2. Create a Content Calendar

Content calendars keep you organized. For example, you will be working on dozens of content projects simultaneously if you run several campaigns, including a blog, various social media platforms, and email. A content calendar keeps all the projects and their due dates in one convenient location, so you never miss a deadline and create consistent content.

Content calendar example

Image from HubSpot

3. Plan Content Series

Some marketers use content series to help fill their calendars with predictable and regular content. A content series is a group of posts all on the same topic.

For example, as a healthcare supplier, you might create a blog post series on nursing homes where you cover their pain points, needs, and products that could ease the flow of nursing home activities. The next series could follow the same format but focus on a different healthcare facility.

4. Streamline the Content Creation Process

The amount of content you can create is limited by the people and time you have available. While you can’t add more hours to the day, you can reduce the time it takes to create content.

Investing in scheduling tools, content management systems, and content creation tools will streamline the process and help you create the amount of content you need with the available time and personnel.

5. Outsource Your Content Marketing

Content and marketing agencies will help you meet your content marketing goals. They can create content consistently through scalable marketing strategies that grow as you grow.

Because of the training and experience of content agencies, you are guaranteed quality content.

When you outsource your content creation, you free up your own time so that you can focus on other parts of your marketing strategy.

Are You Creating Enough Content?

Boost your sales by creating consistent content and start seeing more revenue from your increased exposure.

Do you need help understanding your market?

Our publications and training are rich with the latest industry data to help you make smarter content and more consistency in digital marketing.

Contact us to learn more about our healthcare marketing products and solutions.

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.

Content Marketing for Purchasing: 94% of Buyers Do This Before Purchasing

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Healthcare buyers are turning to the internet to research and buy products more than relying on a sales agent. To keep up with this change in customer behavior, healthcare manufacturers must use content marketing for purchasing.

Let’s look at healthcare content marketing for purchasing and how to create copy that converts in 2022.

Key Takeaways:

  • E-commerce shopping and online product research are on the rise in the healthcare industry
  • Content marketing for purchasing is content created for every stage of the buyer’s journey
  • Optimize your content to ensure it appears during buyer searches to increase your conversions

Healthcare Marketing Isn’t the Same as it Was Several Years Ago

Healthcare marketing has looked the same for several years. Sales agents would bring products from the manufacturer to hospitals and healthcare facilities. In return, the healthcare workers would contact their sales agents when they ran low on supplies.

That pattern has shifted.

Today, 94% of buyers turn to the internet for information on new products or ordering fresh supplies. In addition, 90% of healthcare equipment buyers find their suppliers online.

Your buyers aren’t relying solely on your sales representatives anymore for information. Instead, they are increasingly going online to research options for themselves.

What Caused This Shift?

The internet is home to an ocean of information. Because of the accessibility of research, reviews, and industry data, buyers no longer rely on a middleman for information. Now they can find facts and data for themselves.

Consumers like having the ability to research their options and understand the market. It helps them make the best decisions based on their needs and budget. They can also buy with more confidence because they have reviews and data to back their decisions.

Is the Change in Buyer Behavior Permanent?

Ecommerce is booming, partially due to changes that COVID brought about in consumer behavior. People are looking increasingly to online options for their needs, even medical facilities.

With the increase in online shopping options comes an increase in online data. Consumers can view more information about different products, features, prices, and reviews.

The upward trend of e-commerce shows no sign of slowing. Most customers prefer online shopping because of its convenience, including more options, easy delivery, and quick checkout options. While traditional sales methods still have their place, e-commerce research and shopping are now a permanent fixture in healthcare buying.

The growth of e-commerce between 2013 and 2022
Image from Census.gov

How You Can Use This New Buyer Behavior to Your Advantage

More healthcare buyers going online for their research and product needs means you have a wider audience and can reach more potential buyers with your marketing content. You aren’t limited to those that your sales representatives can reach.

About 94% of B2B marketers plan to develop a content marketing strategy. Content marketing brings in three times more leads than outbound marketing strategies.

You can offer relevant information for every buyer’s journey stage through content marketing. For example, as consumers in your industry research their options, you can position your content at the top of their search results or in their social media news feed.

Strategically placing your content across the internet at critical points in the buyer journey ensures customers find your brand sooner and increases the likelihood of them choosing your products over a competitor’s.

How to Perform Content Marketing for Purchasing

These five content marketing strategies will optimize your content for purchasing.

1. Understand Buyer Intent

Buyer intent is how close a buyer is to purchasing your products. You can find buyer intent by tracking customer behavior on your website. This alerts you to patterns in customer behavior that often precede a purchase.

You can also buy intent data from third-party companies. This purchased data gives you a broader picture of buyer behavior.

Intent data helps you reach customers earlier in the buyer journey and identify the highest quality leads. It’s an essential component of a content marketing strategy that converts customers as these insights alert you to those buyers in the research and buying stages.

2. Consider All Stages of the Buyer’s Journey

Content marketing for buyers isn’t just about conversion copy. It requires the full content marketing funnel. About 83% of the customer journey occurs before they are ready to buy. This period is that essential research stage that modern healthcare buyers now perform online.

Your content marketing strategy should address buyers at every stage of the awareness, consideration, and conversion funnel. Some examples of a content you can create for your buyers to aid in their research and decision process include:

  • Awareness: Demand generation content, educational content, lead generation content
  • Consideration: Nurturing campaigns, more insightful educational content
  • Decision: Customer testimonials, frequently asked questions pages, conversion copy
The buyer's journey: Awareness, consideration, decision
Image from HubSpot

3. Strategically Distribute Your Content

When you relied on sales agents to distribute your products, you sent those representatives to healthcare facilities to educate buyers and sell products. Content marketing works similarly. Except, instead of physical sales representatives going to healthcare facilities, your content acts as your agents, and it goes to where your buyers frequent.

Some typical content buyers interact with during the research process include:

  • Google search engine results
  • Industry forums
  • Customer reviews
  • Social media posts
  • Paid ads in reliable digital or print publications
  • Third-party product promotions

4. Encourage Online Feedback

Online reviews are one of the most influential content forms that buyers consider when performing their research during the purchasing process. Online reviews impact the purchasing decisions of over 93% of customers. Additionally, 91% of customers rely on online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

5. Always Include a Call-to-Action

Your call-to-action (CTA) tells buyers what step they should take next. It helps you capture prospects and keep them interested in your brand rather than moving on to the next piece of content in their research.

CTAs work with all types of content, including social media posts, emails, and website copy. For example, email CTAs can increase your clicks by 371% and your sales by 1617%.

Take Your Marketing into the Next Era

Boost your sales by reaching your buyers in the research phase of purchase. Since most of your customers no longer rely entirely on a sales agent for their purchasing information, you must adjust your strategies to continue reaching them with effective and timely content.

Contact us to learn more about our content marketing insights to help you create content for purchasing.

Why You Need a Content Marketing Plan If You Want to Compete with Amazon

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Amazon has been a competitor for e-commerce brands around the world, offering similar products at much lower costs. As a result, healthcare manufacturers also see some of their customers go to this retail giant instead of purchasing from their e-commerce stores. However, a content marketing plan can be the boost your brand needs to gain the upper hand.

Learn why content marketing for healthcare is essential and some e-commerce brands that are thriving despite competition from Amazon and other large e-commerce retailers.

Key Takeaways:

  • Content marketing is the top marketing strategy of 2022
  • Use content marketing to build a community of niche and loyal customers
  • Build a brand beyond just your products that shows your values, causes, and stories

Your Secret Weapon for Building an E-commerce Brand

Content marketing offers you a unique advantage over large e-commerce brands like Amazon. According to marketers who use content marketing:

  • 70% Educate their audience
  • 60% Generate demand and new leads
  • 60% Encourage customer loyalty

Because it yields excellent results, 81% of marketers consider it a vital part of their marketing strategy and plan to increase their content marketing budget over the next few years.

How many marketers use and are growing their content marketing strategies.

Image from SEMrush

Through content marketing, e-commerce companies can create a unique brand that adds value to their products. When you add value to your products, customers are willing to spend more with your healthcare brand over your competition.

5 Lessons Healthcare Brands Can Learn from Successful E-commerce Businesses

Here are five specific content marketing strategies you can adopt from successful e-commerce brands that understand how to stand out from big retailers like Amazon.

1. Prioritize Your Customer

Your brand should be customer-centric first and an e-commerce store second. When you are customer-centric, your primary focus won’t be making a sale but building a positive relationship with consumers and other businesses that interact with your brand.

About 86% of customers will pay more for a positive experience with a business. You can prioritize your customer through content by engaging with each customer and business, posting relevant and timely information, and creating an experience specific to your niche.

BarkBox is an excellent content marketing strategy example of an e-commerce brand that puts its customers front and center. It understands that its audience consists of dog lovers and shares its happy puppy customers even before promoting products. One example is how it introduced a team of canine executives on its website instead of the real faces behind the brand.

Its “BARK Post” blog shares fun facts about dogs, pet health information, and product updates that always keeps its unique audience in mind. As a healthcare manufacturer, you can use this same strategy where customers appear front and center on your website rather than products.

BarkBox customer reviews

Image from BarkBox

2. Build a Community of Loyal Customers

About 65% of your business comes from loyal customers. You can retain more customers by investing in them through content marketing. This builds a community of loyal buyers versus constantly competing against large retailers for each new sale.

Some ways to build a community through content marketing include:

  • Sharing customer stories or case studies
  • Allowing loyal clients to share their content on your blog or social media
  • Rewarding loyal followers with discounts and promotions

MUD Jeans is a sustainable retail company that created a unique business model. It gives its customers an option of renting jeans rather than buying jeans. This reduces waste by allowing its customers to send jeans back for recycling rather than tossing jeans they don’t wear anymore. 

Its content marketing strategy focuses on building a community of loyal customers who continually lease a pair of jeans and then trade them for a new pair. One of the main ways it creates a community is through social media marketing. It encourages customers to become brand ambassadors, shares customers’ stories on its blog and social channels and offers special promotions through its content to encourage loyalty.

3. Share the Brand Behind Your Products

If your content marketing only focuses on your products, you will struggle to compete with larger e-commerce retailers because they will have lower prices and more options. However, you can gain an advantage over large retailers by selling your brand more than the products.

Instead of selling products, you can build a brand by selling your story, mission, values, or a specific experience. One of the best ways to sell your brand rather than products is to use storytelling. The stories of customers or your history add value to what you create and emotionally persuade your audience to act.

Bosch home appliances uses a noteworthy content marketing plan example that employs this technique. Its blog is called “Heart of the Home” and sells the memories that its appliances help create rather than the appliances themselves. For example, one section of their blog shares recipes from customers who use their ovens and the memories associated with those recipes.

A healthcare manufacturer might share stories about lives changed by their products, the detailed manufacturing process, or the values you uphold that make you different from large name e-commerce brands.

4. Align with a Cause or Value

Around 71% of customers prefer to purchase from a brand with the same values. For example, a customer might buy from a small business owner rather than a major retailer or spend more for a recyclable product than a cheaper plastic product.

Use your content platform to speak up about your values and mission. You can also share stories about causes you support. These stories encourage customers to choose your brand over a cheaper or more well-known brand because they want to be part of a greater cause.

Rothy’s is a sustainable shoe company that creates footwear from recycled plastic. Its blog is a platform to share stories of sustainability and how it is changing the world one shoe at a time. This strategy has earned the brand a following of loyal customers who hold the same values and mission for sustainable living.

5. Market to Your Niche Business

One major disadvantage large e-commerce retailers have is trying to reach a broad audience. Meanwhile, your business is a niche healthcare manufacturing company with a specific audience.

You can use your niche to your advantage by creating content relevant to your target audience and their specific needs. Use healthcare content marketing insights to craft relatable and timely content. These articles give you a chance to rank well in SEO as you can target keywords within your industry that your audience is searching.

Artifact Uprising uses its blog to share educational material and helpful ideas. Each post focuses on a specific area of home décor, crafting, and making memories, reflecting their niche in the photo gift and book industry.

Target Your Healthcare Content Marketing Strategy

Are you making the most out of your content marketing?

Consider using some of the strategies you learned for successful e-commerce brands to create content that resonates with your distributors and buyers. Then, explore some of our publications to find unique market insights that will help you build a targeted content marketing plan.

Contact us to learn more about our content marketing resources and tools for healthcare manufacturers.

Demand Marketing in Healthcare: What It Really Means

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Demand marketing in healthcare is an essential aspect of a successful business strategy to stand out from your competition and generate more traffic to your site.

Whether you’re in hospital purchasing or medical sales, today’s marketplace is more competitive than ever. Because consumers can now conduct their own research and find solutions to their problems online, people are more discerning and selective in their purchases. Demand marketing in healthcare helps engage your audience and channel more people through your sales funnel. This attracts prospects, drives traffic, and increases the likelihood of conversions.

Keep reading to learn what demand marketing in healthcare really means and how to use it to your advantage. 

Key Takeaways

  • Demand marketing in healthcare is the process of raising awareness and generating excitement about a brand and products that provide relevant solutions to healthcare suppliers.
  • Incentivize your audience to create interest and stand apart from the competition. 
  • Follow the five pillars of demand marketing to increase the likelihood of a successful marketing strategy.

What Exactly Is Demand Marketing?

Demand marketing uses your marketing efforts to create interest in and generate demand for your products. First, you must make buyers aware of your brand and the particular solutions you provide. Then, you must pique consumer interest and provide valid reasons why they should purchase your product. Finally, through positioning relevance, you persuade consumers to buy your goods and continue to build customer loyalty for future purchases.

Demand marketing uses a multi-channel approach that combines marketing education with the persuasion of sales. Demand marketing in healthcare can include:

  • Free trials: You build trust and potential lasting relationships by giving people a low-risk opportunity to try your products.
  • Incentives: Free apps or tools with an in-purchase option might convince someone to buy from your company and become a loyal customer.
  • Expert content: E-books and podcasts can be valuable tools that increase engagement and position you as a leader in your industry.
  • Email campaigns: Customers receive special offers or discounts via email that entice them to buy, and you obtain useful contact information for future campaigns.

Demand marketing focuses on building customer engagement while channeling people through your sales funnel. The following video explains how to create demand for your products and succeed in the marketplace:

5 Pillars of Demand Marketing

The healthcare supply chain is a $2.14 billion industry and growing. It’s essential to generate demand for your products to set yourself apart from the competition and gain the business of the medical distribution sector. You can achieve this by following the five pillars of demand marketing in healthcare.

1. Know Your Audience

For marketing to be successful, you have to deliver the right message to the right person at the right time. The only way to do this is to truly understand who your audience is, their needs, and their preferences. A basic understanding of their demographics like gender, age, and job can be a terrific starting point in realizing what information would resonate with them. Dive deeper by learning pain points, frustrations, and motivators to deliver messaging compelling them to buy.

Imagine your ideal customer and create a buyer persona to identify their needs and wants. Look at existing customers as well as hypothetical prospects. All of this information can help you build an effective strategy that enables you to deliver relevant content through the most impactful channels at the right time. This helps to boost conversion rates and increase sales for continued success.

Build a buyer persona to identify the needs and wants of your ideal customer.

Source: marketinginsidergroup.com

2. Engage Your Audience

Although delivering relevant content is a big part of a successful marketing strategy, you must engage with your audience to develop deeper relationships that last. This is important because existing customers are responsible for 65% of a business’s purchases. Audience engagement contributes to customer loyalty and helps spread the word about your brand. Engaged people are more likely to share your information with their contacts and become ambassadors for your brand. This helps broaden your reach and gains you more recognition.

Audience engagement also helps give you more insight into your customers’ needs and wants. People who interact with your brand are more likely to give candid feedback you can use to improve your products and processes. All of this works in your favor as you continue to delight customers and create demand for your products.

3. Give Added Value

One way to educate people about your brand and create interest in your products is to establish yourself as a thought leader and expert in your industry. Become the company people look to for reliable information and helpful tools and resources. Provide useful content that helps people make informed decisions about their purchases. Stand out from competitors by offering an added value. 

From e-books and webinars to whitepapers and research findings, the more value you can offer your customers, the more likely they’ll engage, convert, and return. Demand marketing in healthcare aims to generate interest in your company and your products, so anything you can do to create excitement will benefit you in the long run.

4. Integrate Marketing for a Consistent Message

Demand marketing typically uses several channels for the most impact. Whether you use social media, email campaigns, digital ads, or blog articles, everything you publish should deliver a consistent message. Make sure web content is SEO friendly to earn you higher SERPs for greater visibility. Share valuable information on your social network platforms to increase engagement and reach. Whatever you do, be sure to integrate your marketing efforts into a powerful campaign that excites your audience and spreads the word about your brand and your products.

An integrated marketing strategy ensures that you align all of your efforts for maximum impact.

Source: boscoanthony.com

Consider implementing marketing automation tools to help streamline your efforts, increase efficiency, and boost productivity. This can save you time while allowing you to reach your audience with impactful messaging that resonates and converts.

5. Track Data

It’s important to track data and measure your performance to determine your demand marketing campaign’s overall effectiveness and success. Data can reveal:

  • Whether people are sharing your content and commenting on your posts.
  • If people can find you on search engines.
  • Your site’s searchability on social media platforms.

Metrics can show engagement and click-through rates to help you realize whether your messages are striking a chord with your audience. Website traffic will show if your content generates interest and demand. Tracking data provides invaluable clues into what’s working well in your marketing efforts and what needs to be changed. All of this helps to ensure your demand marketing strategy is creating buzz, helping you reach your goals, and making the most of your advertising budget.

Develop an Effective Demand Marketing Strategy 

Share Moving Media is a full-service media and content company that provides resources to companies in the healthcare industry. Reach your group purchasing network with valuable content that resonates, generates demand and sets you apart from the competition. Contact us today to learn how we can help you create an effective demand marketing strategy.