When was the last time you saw a healthcare supplier go viral on social media for a video, hashtag, or user-generated campaign?
Can you even think of a single instance?
You might even be laughing right now, shaking your head at the idea of Big Brand marketing tactics used in healthcare going viral.
It’s really not such a ridiculous idea.
Just look at Apple – extremely utilitarian products by any standard. Still, Apple has ongoing user-generated content via its viral hashtag on Instagram:
Specialized healthcare manufacturers and distributors might not have the mass appeal of a household name like Apple – but suppliers reaching both B2B and B2C markets certainly do.
Why is it so easy for Apple to make a utility exciting online and in real life while their counterparts in healthcare don’t even consider the possibility?
That’s the mystique of Big Brand marketing tactics: People strategize behind the scenes to make certain product features exciting to specific groups of people.
Yet from the outside, their remarkable success appears completely effortless on the brand’s part.
It’s not. Not by a long shot.
You healthcare manufacturers and distributors can capitalize on those same tactics and trends as the Big Guys with incredible success too.
Just open your mind to the possibilities, tap into valuable data you already have, and figure out how to make those tactics work in your market.
7 Big Brand Marketing Tactics for Healthcare Suppliers to Get Trending in 2021
Big Brands know their audience.
Massive consumer corporations like Apple and Starbucks might seem to target “everyone” but that’s far from the case in their actual marketing content.
Look closer at any brand’s individual Facebook posts, Twitter hashtags, and Instagram captions:
That Apple Instagram video for Women’s Day of a woman in hijab drawing henna isn’t random. It appeals to specific market segments.
You’ll notice each piece was clearly developed for a specific audience persona based on age group, interests, behavior, hobbies, culture, style, pain point, profession, and much more.
That’s also where manufacturers and distributors must start before using Big Brand marketing tactics in healthcare online spaces.
You can’t excite, interest, engage, and emotionally connect with everyone – even if you technically sell to “everyone.” You must first decide which specific audience segments, firmographics, or key accounts you want to reach in your online campaigns.
Younger segments, like the millennials constituting 50% of your B2B buyers – are an excellent place to strategize and test Big Brand tactics in healthcare because they’re particularly receptive to digital media.
Once you have one or two detailed personas handy, dive into strategy with these tactics.
1. Thrive on Quality Content
Strategize useful content for sustainable results, not one-off SEO rankings and social boosts.
Comprehensive evergreen content – with authentic quality – multiplies its value over time. By prioritizing consistency, usefulness, and relevancy, a single blog post published today could earn you 250k organic monthly visits one year out.
Content results don’t happen in a vacuum – they encourage brand-wide results everywhere online.
2. Launch Genius User-Generated Content Campaigns
Apple’s #ShotOniPhone is a true gift that keeps on giving on every social media platform:
What’s yours?
Don’t overthink it. Consider how different customer segments interact with your products then choose relevant, actionable, branded hashtags and start the fun.
3. Appear in the Right Digital Spaces
Big Brands create the right kind of content for each platform – not force themselves in.
You might not expect Barilla Italia to have over 121k Spotify followers, but they do. Why and how? Pasta-themed playlists with song times calculated for perfect cooking:
4. Leverage Humanity and Holidays
You won’t find any content dry, overly technical, or riddled with jargon in effective Big Brand campaigns.
Even brands in highly specialized industries understand nobody wants to consume boring online content. Content should:
- Tell a story
- Trigger a specific emotion
- Offer entertainment
- Include scannable subheadings and bullets
- Rely on conversational human language
Likewise, Big Brands understand how to tap audience emotions by caring about the same things they do.
What holidays and societal causes matter to your specific audience segments? Which of those fit your brand values and products?
5. Prioritize Multimedia
No one wants to read all the time. Humans need multi-sensory stimulation from content like:
- Podcasts
- Videos
- Infographics
- GIFs
Find ways to work each format into your healthcare marketing ideas. Johnson & Johnson fully embraced the idea with their YouTube channel:
6. Partner with Influencers for Community Building
While useful, smart brands don’t partner with influencers just for access to their targeted audience. Big Brands know that an influencer’s true value stems from the sense of community they foster.
Every niche in every market has relevant influencers – even healthcare supplies. LinkedIn has millions of potential healthcare influencers, in fact.
Influencers usually see their audience as individual humans because they share important qualities with their followers. These influencers run groups, forums, chats, Discord servers, and more – as a common community.
You just can’t achieve that type of connection behind a logo – not even the Big Brands can.
7. Follow Consistent Branding Across All Channels
A Big Brand’s worldwide recognition stems from consistent branding at every touchpoint, like McDonald’s.
Today, those same principles apply to the world wide web for establishing trust and recognition.
Perfect your digital brand guidelines for a consistent look, sound, and vibe everywhere:
- Language and tone
- Graphic design colors
- Logo watermarks
- Tinted image filters
- Typography
All Big Brand Marketing Tactics in Healthcare Need a Content Foundation
All successful Big Brand online campaigns have three high-level components:
- Audience personas serve as the blueprint.
- Strategy and KPIs provide the structure and frame.
- Content supplies the foundation.
Your audience research and strategy are useless without consistent content to grab attention, engage, and encourage audience action.
High-quality, interesting, and valuable yet simple content. That’s exactly what your Big Brand tactics in healthcare need to drive those emotional connections that the consumer giants make look unintentional. Tap into Share Moving Media’s marketing training programs specifically crafted to help healthcare manufacturers, distributors, and suppliers foster deeper connections with their audience.