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A Quick Guide to Healthcare Content Marketing

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Healthcare content marketing faces unique challenges. Marketers must communicate about complicated topics while maintaining a level playing field with real-world medical experts. There’s no room for error, and the target audience has little tolerance for fluff and filler. Marketers also must keep in mind regulatory guidelines regarding healthcare advertising and marketing, such as HIPAA.

Creating impactful content marketing in this context can be tricky. However, expertly crafted, well-executed content can still create value for target audiences, engage existing clients, and capture new consumers’ interest. This, in turn, can generate leads, boost business, and drive the bottom line.

Healthcare Content Marketing Today

Understanding the current healthcare landscape is the first step for marketers who want to harness the power of content. According to the 2020 State of Healthcare Content Marketing report, which surveys healthcare leaders nationwide, 89% of healthcare organizations today engage in some form of content marketing. Popular media formats among healthcare content marketers included infographics, videos, newsletters, social media, blogs, and illustrations.

The increased acceptance of modern tactics like social media is great news. Healthcare can be a traditional industry, hesitant to pursue cutting-edge marketing strategies (due in part to the challenges mentioned in the introduction, e.g., regulatory hurdles). Thus, the sector tends to lag behind others in digital marketing adoption and has only started playing catch up in terms of digital transformation.

So, seeing healthcare organizations report using tools like social media is big news. However, the report also raised a major red flag that’s cause for concern. Although the vast majority of organizations are using content marketing, only 28% report having a document content strategy in place. Thus, it should come as little surprise that organizations are failing to see a solid return on investment (ROI) for content marketing. Some 23% of survey respondents report a lack of health content marketing success.

Real-World Examples of Successful Healthcare Content Marketing 

So, what makes for successful healthcare content marketing? One of the best ways to answer this question is to look at real-world examples of companies getting it right. We’ve highlighted some of our favorites below. These examples share a few key traits that make them stand out. They tend to be:

  • Creative and driven by original content.
  • Intentional and results-oriented, with a clear goal (e.g., getting the target audience to use a hashtag to spread a message).
  • Information-based, sharing value-added, exciting content.

See what we mean below.

Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Vertical

J&J features a dedicated medical devices vertical that provides detailed information about the company’s various supply specialties across orthopedics, surgery, interventional solutions, and vision care. The vertical takes a personalized approach, using direct address (“you”) to engage the reader.

Johnson & Johnson demonstrates how content marketing can make creative use of diverse formats – it’s not just about creating chunks of text. Take this device page devoted to the Trumatch® Graft Cage – Long Bone, for example. The page includes an illustrated timeline of device implementation, from the patient’s arrival in the emergency room to the TruMatch implantation and follow-up. 

The content messaging is clear and stresses innovation, as this device is 3-D printed to accommodate the patient’s body. This messaging is consistently upheld across the platform. For example, scrolling down on the main page, the reader comes across the brief tagline “Medical Devices: 130 Years of Innovation.”

Mayo Clinic “Sharing” Patient Stories Blog

The Mayo Clinic’s Sharing blog shows how adding personalization to healthcare content can enhance influence and impact. This insightful blog features stories from real-world patients and their loved ones – and the healthcare professionals who treat them. The narrative style allows for emotional impact and creates a connection with the audience. However, every story is backed by fact-based evidence.

For example, take the story of Gayle Wilkerson, who has lived for a decade thanks to a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). This is a milestone that very few people have achieved. Medical devices can seem impersonal, and language like “LVAD” can be alienating. However, the interview with Ms. Wilkerson, who lives with congestive heart failure, literally gives this cutting-edge medical device a face.

Cleveland Clinic “Health Essentials” Information Platform

The Cleveland Clinic is another respected source of public health information trusted by healthcare professionals, suppliers, payors, and non-specialists alike. The Health Essentials content platform covers everyday topics “normal” people wonder about, from how to relieve stress to the utility of dry brushing and the possible health benefits of apple cider vinegar.

A comprehensive health library supplements this more informal content. Here, users can search medical questions and answers by keyword. There is also a dedicated vertical for medical devices. For example, if you input “asthma” into the search on the “Drugs, Devices & Supplements” page, you get various suggestions – including results for different types of dry powder inhalers.

The dedicated page for each type of device provides intricate detail. Here’s the page for the Dry Powder Inhaler (DPI): Diskus® as an example. It includes simple explanations, images, step-by-step usage instructions, and maintenance details.

GE Healthcare

GE is a significant provider of medical devices, from radiology to ultrasound machines. Their healthcare platform provides valuable information about their products. However, it also uses effective content marketing by purposefully engaging the website visitor and requiring them to get actively involved. Scrolling down on the main page, you’ll see how people are encouraged to take action.

The promotion for the Vscan Air™ handheld ultrasound device encourages you to “Visit the Experience.” When you click, you’re taken to a dedicated page that incorporates real-world interviews with healthcare professionals, a docuseries, and hashtags you can use to push out the page (#VscanAirFirstLook, #GEfortheFrontlines, #POCUS).

This is a fantastic example of how creative you can get with healthcare content marketing. Creating a streaming docuseries is a genuinely innovative way to capture people’s attention and raise awareness about new medical device products.

Share Moving Media Boosts Your Healthcare Content Marketing

Share Moving Media is a full-service media company that works with medical and healthcare suppliers. We can help enhance your content marketing, creating value-added, actionable content that resonates with your target audience and inspires them to take action. We don’t just help you create content. We support an overall strategy. Subscribe to our newsletter for more healthcare content marketing news.

Ready to ramp up your healthcare marketing? Contact us.

How to Map Your Content to the Customer Journey in Healthcare

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The customer journey might seem straightforward enough. A person thinks, “Hey, I need that product,” and then buys it. In fact, the customer journey is a complex five-part process. Mapping out the steps and tailoring content to target the customer at each step is a great way to bring them on board with your brand at any stage of the sales funnel. 

Below, we provide a step-by-step guide to customer journey mapping in healthcare to help you boost sales.

An Intro to Customer Journey Mapping in Healthcare

Understanding the customer journey’s steps is the first step in content mapping. Here they are:

  • Awareness: This stage makes the consumer aware of their want or need for a product or service. The consumer identifies a problem to solve. Example: A private physician’s practice recognizes the airborne infectiousness of the COVID-19 virus. The physician realizes they need FFP2 masks to protect staff and patients.
  • Evaluate: The consumer starts researching their options, comparing differing providers. They are looking for a solution to their problem. Example: The physician investigates FFP2 vendors, looking for a reliable product, affordable bulk orders, and fast delivery.
  • Decision-making: Having weighed the options, the consumer selects a provider. Example: The physician finds a vendor that meets their criteria and places an order.
  • Advocate: The consumer uses the product or service and is so happy with the experience that they refer other consumers to the product or service provider. Example: The physician is satisfied with the FFP2 product and customer experience. They recommend the vendor to a fellow healthcare practitioner who is also in need of FFP2 masks.
  • Retention: The consumer continues to use the product or service without switching to a different vendor. Example: The physician becomes a recurring customer, placing a new bulk order every month.

As you can see, customer journey mapping in healthcare allows you to step into the consumer’s shoes. With the example above, we peek into the physician’s mind and identify three selling points (reliable product, affordable bulk order, fast delivery) that would be relevant to them.

So, what is the role of content?

Content marketing can come into play at any stage of the journey. The right content format with the right message allows you to target your potential consumer effectively.

4-Step Checklist: Mapping Content to the Customer Journey

Follow these steps to create content according to customer journey mapping in healthcare.

1. Create Your Buyer Persona

Create a theoretical sketch of your target audience. This is your buyer persona. Research and write down a list of traits, like profession, demographic details (age, location, gender), professional goals and challenges, and influences (like medical journals they read).

Forbes recommends consulting frontline workers who work directly with consumers (like salespeople) to create buyer personas.

2. Draw the Map

Next, take your buyer persona and walk them through the customer journey described above. Again, this is about adopting their mindset. Ask yourself these questions at each stage:

  • Awareness: How will the person seek a solution to the problem they’ve identified, e.g., via Google, healthcare publications, industry thought-leader websites, etc.?
  • Evaluate: What points are important to the person, e.g., the price versus convenience?
  • Decision-making: What touchpoints will the person come into contact with to conclude their decision, e.g., visiting a company website versus calling a healthcare sales rep?
  • Advocate: What will convince the person to advocate the brand they end up choosing? What channels will they use to spread the word, e.g., word of mouth versus social media?
  • Retention: What will keep the person coming back, e.g., reliable delivery, special deals, etc.?

3. Perform a Content Analysis

With the answers to these questions, it will become clear what content formats you should use to guide your target consumer through the sales funnel.

Here are some ideas:

  • Awareness can be driven via info-packed content in the form of blog posts or infographics.
  • Evaluation can be informed through website landing and sales pages or live demos.
  • Decision-making might be driven via free trial sign-up pages.
  • Advocacy can be encouraged via shareable social media posts and forward-friendly emails.
  • Retention can be encouraged via engagement-boosters, like user guides, webinars, and podcasts.

4. Craft the Right Content

Finally, you’ve got the information you need to start crafting content according to your customer journey mapping in healthcare.

Let’s get back to that private physician in need of FFP2 masks, for example. He’s a GP running a family medicine practice in his early 50s, has been in private practice for 20+ years, is a family man, and prioritizes giving his patients affordable care.

When he’s looking for FFP2 masks, he’s prioritizing efficacy and convenience. He needs masks that work that will be delivered to his clinic doorstep fast. Cost-effectiveness is another concern, though: He’s willing to pay for quality but would prefer bulk pricing to keep costs down.

How are you going to get this guy’s attention at every stage of the customer journey? Maybe a blog post summarizing clinical study results on the efficacy of different types of masks will catch his eye at the awareness stage.

A clear sales page that offers bulk pricing options might be what wins him over when evaluating.

You might then follow up the sale with an email, asking if he’s satisfied – and whether he wants to place repeat orders, so he doesn’t have to think about re-ordering. There’s your retention phase.

In that email, you might include social media links to your company profiles, like Twitter. He then follows your company on Twitter.

Then, on your company’s Twitter page, you might share some infographics about the efficacy of FFP2 masks in minimizing COVID-19 transmission. The physician retweets the infographic to his followers – becoming an advocate of your brand.

We Help You Create Content Your Customers Love

Share Moving Media helps healthcare manufacturers craft authority content that captivates consumers and spurs them to take action. By boosting conversions, we help you increase your market share. We are a full-service media company, covering diverse formats from e-books to webinars and more.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for more healthcare marketing tips.Contact us to take your content marketing in healthcare to the next level.

8 Essentials of Contract Law in Healthcare Equipment You Need to Know

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Healthcare is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country. 

Every action related to healthcare involves some type of written contract—whether between doctors and patients, suppliers and hospitals, nurses and doctors, and so on.

As a supplier or manufacturer, you deal with contracts between all parties in one form or another.

Understanding the intricacies of contract law in healthcare is key to avoiding massive problems and keeping healthy relationships.

What Types of Laws Impact Healthcare Equipment and Technology Contracts?

Regulations impact everything from pricing and expirations down to locations and usage. 

Stark Law

On the surface, Stark Law seems easy to avoid. Stark Law prevents conflicts of interests, prohibiting physician self-referral anywhere the physician might have a financial interest. 

Different clauses fall under Stark Law as well, such as the Anti-Kickback Statute. 

Dig deeper and you’ll find Stark Law covers a wide range of scenarios—including some relating to equipment and leasing. 

HIPAA

HIPAA contracts and regulations protect patient information. Years ago, HIPAA was the last of worries for most equipment suppliers and manufacturers. The explosion in digital records and smart equipment, however, has changed the game. 

Certificate of Need

Certificate of Need laws require a hospital or physician office to prove there’s a legitimate market need before expanding, building, or even acquiring new equipment like beds in some cases. 

CoN laws vary widely by state. Meanwhile, some states don’t even have CoN laws on the books. Although tempting to assume the burden falls on your buyer to establish need, it’s smart to familiarize yourself with the laws in states you operate. 

What You Need to Know About Contract Law in Healthcare for Equipment and Facilities 

41% of people already don’t trust brands to remain truthful. The stakes are especially high in industries like healthcare supplies and equipment where trust is literally a matter of life or death.

Physician and hospital reputations also depend on your knowledge of regulations and contract law in healthcare. Look at the auto industry: The Takata airbag recall sent shockwaves through every major manufacturer’s reputation. 

Similar mishaps with healthcare equipment or supplies happen all the time. 

Keep the following essentials in mind to protect yourself and build trustworthy relationships with your partners.

1. Outsourcing Your Contracts Could Earn You a Violation

When you outsource your contracts, you’re also outsourcing compliance. Keeping your contract work in-house ensures transparency. You’ll always have control over the details.

2. Automatic Renewals Can Work Against You

Some types of contracts require renegotiations or inspections. In these cases, auto-renewing your contracts could put you in violation of Stark Laws or other compliance regulations. 

3. Unsecure Technology Puts You at Risk

Equipment with smart software that integrates patient records poses a huge risk with data breaches. Make sure to review how HIPAA applies to your technology and which contracts in healthcare to work out with physicians and hospitals in terms of responsibility and data sharing.

4. Certain Technology Requires Licensing Fees

Commercial licensing violations are extremely costly. Depending on the copyright law, both suppliers and physicians could be responsible for paying licensing fees or royalties. 

5. Innovative Equipment Might Require a Certificate of Need

Hospitals have huge legal teams to manage CoN laws. Doctors at small practices, however, rely on your knowledge to make smart decisions. Set yourself apart from competitors by doing the research yourself and helping buyers navigate the local regulations.

6. Marketing Matters

Influencer marketing might be tempting, but tread carefully. Healthcare influencers like physicians could create a huge conflict of interest and violation of Stark Law, although currently a legal gray area.

Likewise, how you market your products, the language you use, and the conditions you treat all require careful configuration. The FTC cracks down on false claims and subtle marketing language in healthcare all the time. You don’t want to put your contracts in healthcare at risk from a simple marketing mishap.

7. What About Repairs?

As a healthcare supplier or manufacturer, you deal with high-value contracts. Losing a contract for a hospital system, for example, could be a disaster. 

Imagine a hospital assumes repairs are covered for a year and a $20,000 piece of equipment breaks down. Not negotiating contract terms for things like repairs and maintenance could ruin that relationship forever.

8. Comprehensive Writing is Key

When legal issues arise—no matter the entities involved—you don’t want anything left to interpretation. 

If there’s any uncertainty in terms of pricing, relationships, shipping, or maintenance, always assume it could be used against you. For example, who holds the burden of risk if a physician harms someone while using your equipment? 

You need a team of writers and law professionals on your side to draft proper contract law in healthcare.

Enhance Your Sales and Marketing with Comprehensive Content

Useful and relevant content shows your audience that you’ve done your research and you understand their biggest concerns. In an industry like healthcare supplies, building authority is key to earning trust. 

Doctors and hospitals are busy. Don’t wait for them to research your organization’s history and expertise. Show them right away with high-quality thought leadership content in your industry.

At Share Moving Media, we provide regular healthcare content tips, research, and advice backed by decades of experience. Sign up for our Marketing Minute to stay updated.

The Changing Face of Content Marketing

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Content marketing in healthcare has changed quite a bit as the world rapidly adjusts to upcoming technologies and all that it has to offer. While digital journals in healthcare aren’t exactly a new concept, they are quickly becoming the expectation when it comes to publishing relevant information in the world of healthcare.  

Digital health is quickly becoming the new norm, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This term refers to the practice of using various technologies to provide data access to everyone in the healthcare industry – patients included. The end goal of digital health is to foster an equal patient-doctor relationship. 

With digital health on the uprise, does that mean that print media in the industry is on the way out?

Is Print Media Dead in the Water?

Is print media dead in the world of healthcare? Absolutely not – but it has its time and place. In the healthcare field, medical professionals must be able to find information in a moment’s notice, and nothing makes that easier than digital journals. They are also an excellent resource for medical teams to share with their patients when they need answers to their questions.

Here’s the thing – print media is still a relevant option when it comes to healthcare marketing tools. In fact, a study by MarketingProfs showed that print ads were not only easier to digest by the public, but that consumers trusted print ads 34% more than search engine ads – something worth noting when considering digital advertising in healthcare.  

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However, when it comes to creating and sharing relevant information amongst professionals and patients alike, digital media is the way to go. It is the most natural solution as far as digital health is concerned. Digital journals in healthcare give instant access to doctors, marketers, patients, and the general public when it comes to sharing relevant updates in the world of healthcare. 

Not only that, but it’s the perfect solution for medical facilities that are turning their focus to sanitary marketing. Again, sanitary marketing isn’t a new concept; however, in light of the current pandemic, it’s never made more sense. The concept, in a nutshell, is the safe delivery of marketing communications and the sharing of information in a way that informs without manipulating. 

Since more people are now restricted from in-house visits with their physicians and rely heavily on telehealth, it makes sense to have digital journals available. This allows healthcare professionals to share the materials with those who ask for more information or better references. It also helps medical facilities move away from unsanitary marketing practices that leave consumers with more questions than answers. 

Why Digital Journals in Healthcare Make Sense

Now, when we talk about digital journals in healthcare, we are talking about the genre as a whole. When most people think medical journals, they often think of the big wigs, including:

  • The Lancet
  • New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM)
  • Journal of American Medical Association

These journals have a heavy focus on studies of various practices and theories. What they can lack, however, is the simplicity in language that is required for the general public. The good news is that there are dozens of other reputable digital journals available for the public, including:

The goals of these digital journals are to keep the public informed of the goings-on in the healthcare industry – an industry that can get extremely complicated, very quickly. They break down the complicated jargon and turn the content into something that is not only easily sharable but much easier for the average reader to understand. 

Using Digital Journals to Foster Relationships Between Professionals and the Public

Now, the general public is very unlikely to head to Google and start searching for digital journals to help them with a medical problem. Instead, they’ll likely talk with their doctor and ask them for more information. The medical team will then provide them with relevant sources to help guide them on their search.

While digital journals can be very technical in nature, they are still an excellent source of content when optimized correctly. Remember, the goal of these journals is to foster positive relationships between medical teams and their audience. So, that means these journals need to be answering essential questions that patients are likely to ask and use both a language and tone that are easily understandable to those who will be reading them. 

Translating the complicated jargon used throughout the healthcare industry can be challenging for some, which is why it’s crucial to have the right team on your side to help you break it all down into something that can be shared with your audience. 

Share Moving Media Can Help

Here at Share Moving Media, we understand that creating the right content for your audience can be somewhat challenging. Our team of trained professionals has the knowledge to help you create amazing content to help your business reach its goals. 

Curious how we can help you create outstanding content? Then contact us today to learn more!

Increasing Your Market Share with Share Moving Media

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Are you ready to learn how to increase your market share and crush your competition? It all starts with marketing. We’ll take it a step further and say that marketing with the right content is crucial for building a solid foundation – a launchpad for building relationships and winning clients.

At Share Moving Media, our people are passionate about creating and distributing the right content to the right audience at the right time. Our full-service media and content team will create articles, webinars, videos, blog posts, graphics, and other forms of media to help you drum up new business. We also offer live events and educational services to help your team learn and grow in the right direction.

How We Can Help You Increase Your Market Share

Our goal is to help best-in-class medical suppliers – including distributors and manufacturers – gain more share of their market. Explicitly, we help our customers attract new clients by creating intriguing, relevant, engaging, and timely content their audiences are craving.

You can no longer get away with only highlighting the features and benefits of your products and services, then call it a day. Modern consumers need to understand the “why” and “how” behind the “what.”

For example, instead of running through a list of features your product offers, share how it can change your client’s life. Tell them why they can’t live without it. This may sound like a tall order. That’s why we’re here – to create strategic content your clients want to consume.

Why Does Your Business Need Content to Gain Market Share?

It takes time to build trust and turn leads into loyal customers. Content marketing is the perfect solution. It can help you move prospective clients successfully down the sales funnel – through the awareness, consideration, and decision stages. 

Here are three reasons content marketing is a game-changer for manufacturing businesses in the healthcare industry.

1. Gain a deeper understanding of your niche, audience, and competition.

To build an effective content marketing strategy, we’ll research your specific market, target audience, and direct competitors to develop a holistic picture of your organization. We’ll learn what sets you apart and makes you unique. Then we’ll help you market why you’re the best choice, emphasizing your quality services and trustworthy products. We’ll find a way to distinguish your offerings from your competitors’ and help you build your reputation as an industry leader.

2. Engage new and existing prospects, leads, and customers.

Your clients know what they want. Sometimes the best way to find answers to questions your team is asking is to ask the source: your target audience. Sending out surveys, engaging with customers on social media and online forums, communicating via email, and sharing relevant information online and in-person are valuable tactics for driving higher engagement.

Once we’ve identified the best channels for reaching and engaging your ideal consumers, we’ll target them using content they won’t be able to resist.

3. Build trust and earn long-term loyalty.

Providing content for consumers at every level of the sales funnel can help you attract your ideal audience at any point in their buying journey. Connect with prospects just starting their search and nurture them until they’re ready to buy. 

  • Awareness stage: Content at the top of the funnel may include educational videos, magazine articles, and blog posts that attract strangers to your company. 
  • Consideration stage: Content in the middle of the funnel may include ebooks, case studies, and podcasts that further engage users and continue building trust with them.
  • Decision stage: For leads at the bottom of the funnel, you can offer training, webinars, and other resources to prove you’re the best solution to their problem.

You can accomplish all this and more through strategic content production and distribution.

Who Can Benefit from Joining Forces with Us?

We work specifically with manufacturers and distributors in the healthcare world. If you’re a medical supplier selling products to distributors or end-users, we would love to partner with you.

How We Help You Gain Market Share

We’re dedicated to providing our customers with the tools and resources required to increase market share. We can develop unique content to help your business reach prospects at every stage of the buyer’s journey. We’ll help you attract, engage, and delight customers, converting them into long-term brand ambassadors. Here are some options to consider: 

  • Blog posts
  • Magazine articles
  • Online publications 
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Online training
  • Podcasts
  • Ebooks
  • Case studies
  • And more

Gain Market Share with Strategic Content

Are you ready to take the next step toward building a highly engaged audience for your business? Share Moving Media would love to partner with you to help you beat your competition and increase your market share. Not only can content help boost your sales and ROI. It can help you gain a loyal client base, become a leader in your field, and maintain success for years into the future.

Contact us to learn more.