The medical supply market is competitive. As a healthcare supplier, you can boost success by proactively targeting consumers at every stage in the marketing and sales funnel. Webinars are one effective way to do this. This e-guide explains how to harness the power of webinars for healthcare sales.
An Introduction to Full-Funnel Marketing
Experts agree that a full-funnel approach is essential for future digital marketing success. While the terminology for the stages of the marketing and sales funnel varies, a general breakdown might look like this:
- Awareness: A prospective customer is made aware of a business’ product or service.
- Discovery: The prospective customer – the lead – learns more about the product or service.
- Evaluation: The lead takes time to consider whether they need the service or product.
- Engagement: The lead decides whether or not to make a purchase.
- Commitment and purpose: The lead commits to making a purchase and becomes a customer.
- Loyalty and advocacy: The customer returns to make a repeat purchase. They may also recommend the product or service to others.
Webinars for Healthcare Sales at Every Stage of the Funnel
Although the concept of full-funnel marketing has been prevalent for years, technological and organizational hurdles made practical implementation difficult. Until now, of course. Today, modern digital technologies –like webinars – make a full-funnel approach more accessible than ever.
Here is how to harness the power of webinars to create content for every stage of the medical equipment sales funnel.
Awareness
At the awareness stage, the goal is to target your potential customer with compelling content. Through that content, you want to make the lead aware of your product or service offering.
It is generally more impactful to steer clear of product-, service-, brand-, or business-specific content. The lead isn’t yet looking to make a purchase. Overtly and aggressively pushing them to buy something will likely turn them off and send them away.
Instead, you want to inform and entertain them. At this point, webinars should focus on providing value-added content, not on proactive selling. For example, a webinar raising awareness about a specific ailment (e.g., Type 2 Diabetes) can segue to discussing treatment options (like glucose tracking) and ultimately serve as a platform for a product (such as blood sugar monitors).
Discovery
The goal of the discovery phase is to provide the potential customer with more information about a company’s product or service. With your content, you want to pressure the pain. What does that mean?
You want to clarify how the product or service can improve the lead’s life. What pain point will it fix? At this point, it’s critical to maintain the lead’s attention. It is like reeling in a fish — you need to keep them on the line until they are ready to conclude a purchase (the final stage in the funnel).
You want to make sure you are providing the lead with all the information they need about a service or product. Unanswered questions at this point can cause them to exit the sales funnel. For example, they may want to know essential details, like cost and delivery time. A how-to webinar guide can be helpful towards this end.
Evaluation
This stage aims to provide the consumer with additional winning arguments that will sway them towards making a favorable purchasing decision.
A positive way to do this is to incorporate new information from verifiable external sources of information. Instead of simply telling the lead about the product or service first-hand, you give them personal agency and the chance to verify the facts themselves using objective third parties.
This is where you can dive into greater detail. A webinar featuring a round table discussion gathering objective insights from third-party medical experts can be helpful. In-depth case studies, customer stories, and free product demos are also viable options.
Engagement
The goal here is to get the lead to confirm their decision to make a purchase. This tends to be one of the most challenging points of the sales funnel, as consumers may waver and go back a step to the engagement phase or take two steps back to the discovery stage when they find a competitor.
You want to make sure your brand or business (and its product or service) stays at the forefront of the potential customer’s mind as they weigh the decisions. This requires eliminating any doubts associated with concluding a purchase and the process towards the next stage.
Interactive webinars are helpful to spur engagement. You can invite participants to submit questions via social media in a live stream, for example.
Commitment and Purchase
In this stage, the aim is to get the client to actively conclude the purchase – for example, by inputting their credit card details or completing an order form. They are then fully committed.
Although the lead is ready to purchase at this point, you still have to provide some reassurance that they are making the right choice. A webinar of customer testimonials is a great fit here. You might also include videos covering practical points like pricing guides or product comparison sheets.
Loyalty and Advocacy
In the past, some pros ended the sales funnel after the commitment and purchase stage. However, savvy marketers know that there is one more invaluable phase to consider: a loyal customer can become an informal brand ambassador as they promote and advocate for your products or services. There is even a new type of marketing built around this concept called advocacy marketing.
Webinars allow you to show your customers that you care about them even after they have made a purchase. Build user communities with ongoing educational webinars featuring product tutorials, the latest research, and upcoming innovations. A “frequently asked questions” webinar is another option.
We Help You Implement Digital Marketing in Healthcare
Trust Share Moving Media to help you create webinars for healthcare sales. We are a full-service media company dedicated to helping our clients expand their reach and improve engagement with their target audiences. Using quality crafted content informed by in-depth marketing expertise, we help you improve sales and boost the bottom line.
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