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7 Strategies for Picking the Right Healthcare Marketing Influencers

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When you think of influencers, medical supplies isn’t typically the first industry that comes to mind. But picking the right influencers to enhance your healthcare marketing strategy might just be the smartest thing you do this year. 

Just put yourself in the mind of your buyers and decision-makers. For starters, they’re busy.

A recent survey found that 76% of B2B medical supply buyers rate ease of finding information as their top priority. 

Meanwhile, 50% of all medical supply buyers are Millennials and 57% of all buying teams have already made a purchase decision before they ever reach out to your sales team.

The point is, you need a strategy to get your content and info in front of your buyers’ faces before they even think to ask for it. That’s why influencers in healthcare marketing are so critical today. 

Picking the right ones, however, is another battle. Here’s how to narrow your search.

How to Nail Down the Best Healthcare Marketing Influencers for Your Niche

Think long term as you pick influencers for healthcare marketing. Remember, they’ll be uniquely representing your company and products. 

You’ll have better ROI and avoid costly faux pas if you spend time researching and strategizing now.

1. Bigger Isn’t Always Better with Influencers in Healthcare Marketing

The follower count means nothing if the influencer isn’t relevant enough to your niche. 

For example, people like the Kardashians are considered mega-influencers but you’d never want them promoting your content to their millions of followers because it wouldn’t deliver results. 

It can backfire too – like when Kim Kardashian promoted a morning sickness medication on Instagram without following pharmaceutical disclosure regulations. 

Even within healthcare, massive influencers tend to have broader audiences and a huge chunk might be consumers. 

Pay little attention to the follower count. Instead, start with a healthcare influencer’s engagement like comments, shares, and clicks. 

2. Analyze the Audience of Potential Influencers in Healthcare Marketing

Engagement must come first. All your target accounts and audience segments might follow someone, but if they aren’t engaging with the influencer’s page then what’s the point?

That’s why your next step is to analyze their audience insights. 

Tools like BuzzSumo can help you work backward. By setting up social listening alerts for keywords and topics, you can see who shares what and whether their audience engages with them. 

Agencies can also help you hedge your bets across internal influencers at offices and hospitals with strategic magazines and journals.

3. Vet Each Healthcare Influencer’s Healthcare Experience

The point of partnering with influencers in healthcare marketing is to build trust in your medical supplies and products.  

Influencers don’t work for your company. They do, however, still represent your company and products. You can’t remove the risk completely, but you can mitigate it with background research.

Ask yourself, would your end-users and buyers trust this person? Experience in their field is key.

Vet their work history and education on LinkedIn just as you would when hiring someone for a job. You might be surprised how easy it is to falsify work history at massive companies. 

4. Consider the Influencer’s Experience Working with Brands Too

Kim K had plenty of experience working with brands but no experience working in pharmaceuticals. 

Don’t laugh. You could run into the opposite problem with healthcare influencers: plenty of medical experience but none in modern marketing.

For example, overly promotional content from influencers doesn’t build trust or deliver results.

Experienced influencers in healthcare marketing understand the subtleties of sparking interest in your product without looking tacky or desperate. 

5. Look at Audience Personas to Build a Comprehensive Influencer Strategy

Ideally, you should already have detailed audience personas mapped out:

  • Doctors
  • Nurses
  • Medical assistants
  • Other professional end-users
  • Medical students
  • Patients 

Remember to include each professional persona’s firmographics, like their hospital size, job role, market share, pain points, and specialties. For patients, include basic demographics along with other qualities as they relate to your product, like health conditions, insurance provider, health concerns, and pain points.

Use these detailed personas to target each one via the right influencers in healthcare marketing.

Building an influencer strategy through these personas ensures your content will reach all the most important touchpoints.

6. Study How Each Influencer Writes and Interacts with Their Followers

Successful influencers need charisma to keep their followers engaged. It gets complicated because different audiences want different personalities from influencers.

Analyze the tone of an influencer’s posts – are their followers receptive? 

What do their followers say in the comments and how does the influencer respond? 

Carefully considering the influencer’s tone and comments first tells you if they’re committed to keeping their audience engaged. Second, it also helps you decide if they fit your brand’s values and culture.

7. Make Sure Your Goals Align with Your Potential Healthcare Influencers

Look at your healthcare influencer shortlist. 

Have any of them effectively retired from medicine to work as professional influencers? 

Do they seem committed to integrity and sharing their knowledge, or are they only interested in the cash-advertisement exchange?

You could certainly ask your influencers in healthcare marketing these questions during an interview call. However, you can also glean plenty of insight just by analyzing their online presence and background too.

Don’t Force Influencers into Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy

Landing relationships with healthcare influencers who have large followings might sound tempting but massive reach alone won’t build you a sustainable strategy. 

You’ll enjoy the best results for your medical supply manufacturing or distributing company if you take time researching the potential influencers in healthcare marketing and picking the right fit. 

Your prospective buyers and your company’s reputation should always come first. After you’ve built a shortlist with those factors considered, you can finetune potential influencers based on your goals and content. 

Just remember, the influencer’s audience analytics demand just as much vetting as the influencer’s background. 

Share Moving Media has helped countless manufacturers and distributors reach thousands of the right decision-makers through targeted publications like Repertoire, The Journal of Healthcare Manufacturing, and Efficiency in Group Practice. Contact us now to talk!

7 Strategies for Picking the Right Healthcare Marketing Influencers

By

When you think of influencers, medical supplies isn’t typically the first industry that comes to mind. But picking the right influencers to enhance your healthcare marketing strategy might just be the smartest thing you do this year. 

Just put yourself in the mind of your buyers and decision-makers. For starters, they’re busy.

A recent survey found that 76% of B2B medical supply buyers rate ease of finding information as their top priority. 

Meanwhile, 50% of all medical supply buyers are Millennials and 57% of all buying teams have already made a purchase decision before they ever reach out to your sales team.

The point is, you need a strategy to get your content and info in front of your buyers’ faces before they even think to ask for it. That’s why influencers in healthcare marketing are so critical today. 

Picking the right ones, however, is another battle. Here’s how to narrow your search.

How to Nail Down the Best Healthcare Marketing Influencers for Your Niche

Think long term as you pick influencers for healthcare marketing. Remember, they’ll be uniquely representing your company and products. 

You’ll have better ROI and avoid costly faux pas if you spend time researching and strategizing now.

1. Bigger Isn’t Always Better with Influencers in Healthcare Marketing

The follower count means nothing if the influencer isn’t relevant enough to your niche. 

For example, people like the Kardashians are considered mega-influencers but you’d never want them promoting your content to their millions of followers because it wouldn’t deliver results. 

It can backfire too – like when Kim Kardashian promoted a morning sickness medication on Instagram without following pharmaceutical disclosure regulations. 

Even within healthcare, massive influencers tend to have broader audiences and a huge chunk might be consumers. 

Pay little attention to the follower count. Instead, start with a healthcare influencer’s engagement like comments, shares, and clicks. 

2. Analyze the Audience of Potential Influencers in Healthcare Marketing

Engagement must come first. All your target accounts and audience segments might follow someone, but if they aren’t engaging with the influencer’s page then what’s the point?

That’s why your next step is to analyze their audience insights. 

Tools like BuzzSumo can help you work backward. By setting up social listening alerts for keywords and topics, you can see who shares what and whether their audience engages with them. 

Agencies can also help you hedge your bets across internal influencers at offices and hospitals with strategic magazines and journals.

3. Vet Each Healthcare Influencer’s Healthcare Experience

The point of partnering with influencers in healthcare marketing is to build trust in your medical supplies and products.  

Influencers don’t work for your company. They do, however, still represent your company and products. You can’t remove the risk completely, but you can mitigate it with background research.

Ask yourself, would your end-users and buyers trust this person? Experience in their field is key.

Vet their work history and education on LinkedIn just as you would when hiring someone for a job. You might be surprised how easy it is to falsify work history at massive companies. 

4. Consider the Influencer’s Experience Working with Brands Too

Kim K had plenty of experience working with brands but no experience working in pharmaceuticals. 

Don’t laugh. You could run into the opposite problem with healthcare influencers: plenty of medical experience but none in modern marketing.

For example, overly promotional content from influencers doesn’t build trust or deliver results.

Experienced influencers in healthcare marketing understand the subtleties of sparking interest in your product without looking tacky or desperate. 

5. Look at Audience Personas to Build a Comprehensive Influencer Strategy

Ideally, you should already have detailed audience personas mapped out:

  • Doctors
  • Nurses
  • Medical assistants
  • Other professional end-users
  • Medical students
  • Patients 

Remember to include each professional persona’s firmographics, like their hospital size, job role, market share, pain points, and specialties. For patients, include basic demographics along with other qualities as they relate to your product, like health conditions, insurance provider, health concerns, and pain points.

Use these detailed personas to target each one via the right influencers in healthcare marketing.

Building an influencer strategy through these personas ensures your content will reach all the most important touchpoints.

6. Study How Each Influencer Writes and Interacts with Their Followers

Successful influencers need charisma to keep their followers engaged. It gets complicated because different audiences want different personalities from influencers.

Analyze the tone of an influencer’s posts – are their followers receptive? 

What do their followers say in the comments and how does the influencer respond? 

Carefully considering the influencer’s tone and comments first tells you if they’re committed to keeping their audience engaged. Second, it also helps you decide if they fit your brand’s values and culture.

7. Make Sure Your Goals Align with Your Potential Healthcare Influencers

Look at your healthcare influencer shortlist. 

Have any of them effectively retired from medicine to work as professional influencers? 

Do they seem committed to integrity and sharing their knowledge, or are they only interested in the cash-advertisement exchange?

You could certainly ask your influencers in healthcare marketing these questions during an interview call. However, you can also glean plenty of insight just by analyzing their online presence and background too.

Don’t Force Influencers into Your Healthcare Marketing Strategy

Landing relationships with healthcare influencers who have large followings might sound tempting but massive reach alone won’t build you a sustainable strategy. 

You’ll enjoy the best results for your medical supply manufacturing or distributing company if you take time researching the potential influencers in healthcare marketing and picking the right fit. 

Your prospective buyers and your company’s reputation should always come first. After you’ve built a shortlist with those factors considered, you can finetune potential influencers based on your goals and content. 

Just remember, the influencer’s audience analytics demand just as much vetting as the influencer’s background. 

Share Moving Media has helped countless manufacturers and distributors reach thousands of the right decision-makers through targeted publications like Repertoire, The Journal of Healthcare Manufacturing, and Efficiency in Group Practice. Contact us now to talk!

Brands as Publishers: Blogging for Healthcare Brands Could Increase Your ROI 13x

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Specializing in everything from cardiology to pulmonary, healthcare facilities include multiple departments and dozens of service lines. When it comes to developing a marketing strategy for these organizations, manufacturers often choose more traditional tactics like direct mail and overlook blogging.

While blogging was once a tactic used for personal stories and pop culture, healthcare manufacturers are now also finding success with a content marketing strategy. With the right storyline and optimizations, blogging helps you reach diverse healthcare organizations and target their procedural specialties. In fact, companies that prioritize blogging are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI.

So, how exactly does blogging for healthcare brands impact ROI? Let’s take a look at how you can get started and succeed in a growing digital healthcare landscape.

Why You Should Start Blogging for Healthcare Brands

Did you know that 80% of internet users searched for a health-related topic online? With so many search queries ranging from health conditions to medical treatments, there is a large demand for trusted and reliable medical information online. As a healthcare manufacturer, you have the unique ability to provide ongoing educational materials that drive engagement from your IDN supply chain leaders and distributor reps. 

Developing your content marketing strategy takes time — you need to write quality content and optimize it for search engine results. However, when done correctly, you can expect the following benefits:

  • Helps potential healthcare facility customers find you
  • Tells your brand’s specific story and point of view
  • Showcases your authority and thought leadership
  • Nurtures existing client relationships
  • Supplements your digital marketing channels
  • Builds long-term positive ROI

A comprehensive blogging healthcare strategy not only improves your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, but also heightens your product line to catch potential customers’ eyes. 

3 Ways Blogging for Healthcare Brands Earns ROI

Now that you understand the value of blogging for healthcare brands, it’s important to zoom in on the ROI benefit. After all, no marketing effort is a success unless it affects your bottom line. While it does take dedicated resources to develop a successful blogging strategy, it actually costs 62% less than traditional marketing. Here are a few ways healthcare blogs impact ROI.

1. Earn Valuable Subscribers

True, subscribers aren’t traditional leads. However, subscribers are the next best thing because they demonstrate interest and loyalty in your brand. In fact, a subscriber is worth more than 3.6 times the value of a normal website visitor.

A majority of website visitors will end up leaving your website without converting. However, a blog subscriber is the first step in your lead funnel and allows you to nurture their experience. Once you earn blog subscriber’s loyalty, you can optimize your content to meet their needs and focus your time on visitors who are closer to converting. 

To boost your ROI, consider adding bold call to actions in your content to encourage your subscribers to take the next step. 

2. Establish Trust-Building Content

In the healthcare industry, trust is a huge driver for business decisions. After all, your products and technology are providing life-saving and improving services for patients across the globe. Your blog’s content is an effective way to build authority and validation within your healthcare niche. 

To build trustworthy content on your blog, consider the following elements:

  • Be honest by showcasing testimonials and statistics backed by sources
  • Use your own domain and platform with original content
  • Focus on education and avoid overly promoting your products
  • Create buyer personas to connect with your target audience

By building authority, potential customers will turn to you as a credible thought leader. It will demonstrate that you not only understand your industry, but will also persuade healthcare facilities that you’re the manufacturer to partner with. 

3. Improve Your Social Media Efforts

84% of C-level B2B buyers are influenced by social media when making a purchase. While healthcare social media is competitive, it’s an essential space for healthcare manufacturers to engage in. Social media demonstrates that you’re agile in a modern landscape and provides additional proof signals. 

Blogging also allows you to enter the conversation and publish your new content to a larger audience. Once your social media followers begin seeing and enjoying your content, they will most likely become subscribers and customers. For healthcare industries, consider sharing your blog content on LinkedIn or Facebook to drive the most ROI. 

Overall, blog content enhances your online presence to drive further signups and referrals from customers who otherwise might not have heard of your brand. 

Discover Blogging for Healthcare Brands

Blogging can be impactful for your healthcare business. It not only brings you additional authority and validation, but it also has the potential to drive new customer engagement and ROI. However, you need to develop the right strategy to reap content marketing benefits. Focus on creating educational blogs that heighten your brand and display your industry knowledge.

With a blogging strategy in place, your blog can boost your bottom line in the following ways: 

  • Earning valuable subscribers who showcase their interest and intent with your brand 
  • Establishing trust signals and credibility through quality content that convinces potential customers that you’re a preferred manufacturer
  • Growing your social media presence and displaying social proof to C-suite executives 

Are you ready to begin creating blogs for your healthcare brand? Contact Share Moving Media for more information today.

3 Things Your Medical Manufacturing Ad Should Have

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Digital advertising is a booming industry as more people head online to find solutions to their various problems. So, it comes to no surprise that digital advertising in healthcare is continuing to grow at a steady rate. In fact, research has shown that healthcare companies’ global advertising expenditure has grown by 3.6% and reached approximately $36 billion.

For medical product manufacturers, transitioning to digital advertising is critical in 2020, especially with the current pandemic slowing down more traditional advertising methods, which include attending large in-person conventions and sending sales individuals directly to IDNs or physicians to speak about new or upgraded products. 

Sure, while current restrictions have made healthcare advertising difficult, for those who work in the healthcare advertising field, it is just another challenge in an ever-changing arena. 

Digital Advertising in Healthcare: What Sets It Apart from “Traditional” Advertising

While digital advertising in healthcare looks a lot like digital advertising in any other industry, it’s actually considered one of the most challenging areas of marketing. This is especially true for those in charge of medical manufacturing ads, as they are under strict supervision and must abide by various rules and regulations set by the state, various licensing boards, and even the FDA. 

So, while most ads are allowed a wide birth of creative freedoms, digital advertising in healthcare requires a little extra creativity. 

3 Things Every Medical Manufacturing Ad Should Have

While medical manufacturing ads need to adhere to various rules and regulations, that doesn’t mean they can’t make use of the most successful aspects of any digital advertisement, including the three aspects outlined below:

1. A Storytelling Aspect

The goal of any good advertisement is to get the consumer interested in your product or service. To do this, you can’t merely throw facts and data at them, even if your primary audience is a team of medical professionals. 

Storytelling is an essential element to any good medical manufacturing ad because it helps your audience put a face to the product you’re trying to sell them. For example, take the current COVID-19 pandemic. The topic of wearing a mask has been a hot one, and many brands are capitalizing on the “Wear a Mask” campaign. 

This campaign has allowed millions of individuals to express WHY they choose to wear a mask during this pandemic, and it quite literally puts faces to the campaign. These stories put all the facts and figures to shame because they are more relatable to consumers than anything else. It’s these stories that will help influence the public on the mask-wearing debate because mask-wearing is transformed into an act of humanity.

2. An Educational Aspect

Now, that’s not to say the facts and figures don’t matter, but they need to be sprinkled in appropriately. That same campaign also works to educate the masses about different topics, including:

  • COVID-19
  • Why masks can be beneficial in fighting the pandemic
  • Who the masks are really protecting and more

Many companies have taken their own twist on the “Wear a Mask” campaign and turned it into “ask why I wear a mask.” It not only helps to educate the public but helps include personal testimonials into the mix, which can play to a consumer’s emotional side as well.

This is the part of the ad that should include the facts and figures, and they should be coming from the mouths of those telling the story because it will have a more profound impact on the audience than say having Dr. Fauci talk about the data. 

3. An Emotional Aspect

Studies have shown that 95% of purchasing decisions are not only subconscious but an emotional process. That’s why so many individuals turn to testimonials before they make their purchasing decisions. They want to be able to convince themselves that the purchase is:

  • Worth spending the money on
  • Will benefit them in some way/solve some sort of problem

Medical manufacturers would be wise to make a note of this because those testimonials are where the real magic happens. With 70% of consumers stating that they trust reviews and recommendations from strangers and another 88% stating that reviews influence their online purchasing decisions, adding this emotional aspect to your medical manufacturing ad can prove extremely beneficial. 

Some key things to remember when including an emotional aspect to any ad include:

  • Make it authentic to your audience. Play to their needs.
  • Give value. Don’t simply list your features and “why they work.”
  • Show, don’t tell. The human brain processes images 60,000x faster than text.

Digital Advertising in Healthcare Doesn’t Stop Here

The goal of any good digital advertisement is to capture the audience’s attention and influence them into taking action. This is no different for the healthcare industry, which is why so many of the digital advertising best practices can work for medical manufacturers. 

Just remember, digital advertising in healthcare is only one step in the broader healthcare marketing strategy. So, when creating your medical manufacturing ads, keep the rest of your digital marketing strategy in mind.

Want to stay up to date on the latest healthcare marketing trends? Then make sure to subscribe to SMM’s Marketing Minute today!