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5 Ways Healthcare Marketers Can Understand Customer Needs Better

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Optimizing the customer experience is a vital way to earn new leads and foster loyalty with customers for long-term growth. After all, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience. 

Many companies develop a new shiny product or hottest industry trend to improve the buyer’s journey but forget the most important component — their customers. As a result, marketers still continue to disregard their healthcare customer’s needs before and after the sale. 

However, your customers are one of the most important components of your overall medical supply growth and longevity. While the concept of creating a customer-centric company isn’t new, it’s important to arm your marketing strategy with the right insights to drive results.

Let’s discover what healthcare customer needs are and how you can better understand them. 

What are Healthcare Customer Needs?

Customer needs are the motives that prompt someone to buy a service or product from your company. To successfully market to customers in healthcare, you need to be aware and act on their needs to drive purchase decisions. When you’re able to understand your customer’s needs, you’re more likely to have a 23% higher share in revenue, relationship growth, and profitability. 

Common healthcare customer needs include:

  • Finding a balance between usefulness and price
  • Providing convenient shopping experiences that conserves time and resources
  • Offering a dependable transaction where your brand delivers on its promises
  • Giving attentive customer service

Physical vs. Psychological Needs

Humans have both physical and psychological motivators. Physical motivators are easy to identify and have a measurable cause. If your customers run out of medical gloves, you need new ones. 

When there isn’t a physical need, psychological needs are the decision-making forces that are based on preferences, desires, opinions, and more. Often, psychological needs will guide a customer to your brand over a competitor. 

5 Ways You Can Understand Your Healthcare Customer Needs

The key to achieving your business goals is having a comprehensive understanding of your customer’s needs. Whether you’re trying to boost sales or engagement, knowing your customers will help you develop a better experience that drives results. Here are five techniques to help you get started:

1.Collect Feedback

Collecting feedback is one of the easiest ways to understand your customer’s needs and pain points. You can develop a few key questions that ask your customers about your product, brand identity, customer service, and more depending on your goals. Consider collecting feedback by the following methods:

  • Surveys
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Sales teams

By reaching out and asking your customers their opinions or preferences, not only will they feel like you genuinely care about their input, but you’ll also gather important insights.

2.Complete a Competitive Analysis

While you might keep an eye on your competitor’s most recent product launch, they can also impact your customer’s needs and expectations. When comparing your brand to a competitor, create a competitive analysis that includes the following elements: 

  • A high-level overview of the brand’s mission statement
  • The value they provide to your customer’s needs
  • A deeper look into the brand’s product or service features
  • Cost and pricing structure

If you notice gaps between your brand and competitors, you can better determine how you can provide additional value to meet your healthcare customer needs.

3.Create Comprehensive Buyer Personas

62% of customers expect companies to adapt based on their behaviors and actions. To dive deeper into customer preferences and engagement, it’s essential to develop in-depth buyer personas that not only detail demographics but also keyword data, social media preferences, and more. You can implement these insights throughout your website and other online interactions to ensure you’re using your customer’s language.

4.Utilize Data from Customer Analytics

From reading your content to clicking a link, every interaction on your website is valuable to understanding your healthcare customer needs. Use sources like Google Analytics to analyze behavioral data and dissect your audience to create a better website experience. For example, discover which pages are performing well or underperforming to determine enhancements that increase conversions.

5.Implement Social Listening

With over 3.6 million social media users worldwide, tracking social mentions and engagements is a great way to identify customer needs on their preferred platform. Your customers are likely to speak more candidly on their social platforms about your products and services, so monitoring their opinions may help you understand their pain points and help you find brand improvements.

Implement Healthcare Customer Needs into Your Marketing Strategy

Understanding your customer’s needs is the missing puzzle piece to developing an enhanced customer experience that boosts your bottom line. With advanced technology, feedback, and analytics, you can analyze data points that help you discover how you can improve your brand awareness and conversion rate.

Contact Share Moving Media to create engaging content that meets your customer’s needs.

How to Overcome the Creative Slump in Your Healthcare Marketing

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Unlike in many other industries, marketing in healthcare can be a bit complicated.

There are numerous regulations and privacy concerns that health marketers need to navigate through while also trying to deliver engaging content. There are also a few creative slumps that many healthcare marketers get stuck in.

We are going to explore some of the reasons why healthcare marketing can be more challenging than other types of marketing. You’ll also learn what you can do as a marketer to overcome these challenges and break out of a creativity rut.

Key Takeaways 

  • Healthcare marketers must respect industry laws and regulations while attempting to deliver creative, engaging content. 
  • Marketers need to connect emotionally with their audience to get more effective results.
  • Using consistent messaging across multiple channels can help marketers produce more appealing content that resonates with potential customers.

Common Challenges in Healthcare Marketing 

Here are some of the most common challenges healthcare marketers may face while producing marketing materials in the healthcare industry.

HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) rules don’t only apply to healthcare providers, many of them also extend into healthcare marketing.

Marketers must find creative ways to reach their desired audiences without violating HIPAA Privacy Rules. If you are a medical supplier, this may be a bit easier since your company may not deal directly with patients. However, you still have to ensure that you are following all applicable rules to protect patient information. 

Here are a few tips to consider that will help keep your healthcare marketing HIPAA-compliant:

  • Do not share protected health information (PHI) in any marketing materials.
  • Only share direct testimonials if you have explicit authorization.
  • Obtain written permission for all email collections.
  • Make sure your marketing tools are HIPAA-compliant.

Marketing is Seen as a Cost Center

If your medical supply company is eyeing the marketing budget as a potential place to cut costs, you may not see any growth. How much you spend on marketing will depend on how much growth you want to see and what your annual revenue is.

According to a 2021 CMO Survey, marketing budgets are continuing to grow as a larger percentage of businesses’ total revenue. This is something to keep in mind if you want your medical supply business to keep pace.

Marketing needs to be seen as a crucial area to invest in, as opposed to a bill you have to pay. The better your marketing is, the better results you will get.

While these challenges may make your job as a healthcare marketing seem more difficult, it is important to stay positive. With the right tools and marketing strategy, your company can reach the right customers and see a larger return on your marketing investment.

6 Ways to Overcome the Creative Slump in Your Healthcare Marketing

Now that you realize where potential pitfalls can happen, you are ready to overcome your healthcare marketing challenges. One of the key differences in healthcare marketing, compared to other types of marketing, is that the devices, products, and solutions you are selling are designed to change people’s lives.

Here are some positive thoughts to concentrate on to get you going in the right direction.

1. Put the Spotlight on Your Brand 

Think about what sets your company apart from the competition.

  • Do you have a unique brand story? 
  • How can you showcase your mission or value statements creatively to your customers? 
  • Is your customer journey simple and transparent?

You should also rely on all team members, even outside your marketing group, so you can gain unique insights from all parts of the company. With the various perspectives from different team leaders, you can brainstorm unique marketing ideas.

2. Focus on Real Emotions and Motivations 

By targeting the emotions of your potential consumers and the motivations behind their need for your product, you can start making true connections that feel believable. To do this, you can create content that tells a story and inspires your audience.

3. Learn About Consumer Interactions with Your Products 

Thanks to social media, you can find countless examples of people chronicling their journey through an illness. You can search for blog posts, YouTube videos, forums in Reddit and Quora, and reviews in Google and social media platforms where people share how they felt after using your product. You may be able to use that information to guide your future marketing.

4. Use Targeted Marketing Practices 

You can ask yourself the following questions to know who you need to focus on in your marketing campaign:

  • Is your product for hospitals or intended for home healthcare use? 
  • Is it something doctors might be interested in for their practice? 
  • Who are your current customers?
  • Are there other markets you could expand into?

Once you know who your audience is, you can figure out how to target your marketing efforts where your ideal audience will see it. However, you have to do this carefully, so you do not violate any HIPAA regulations or other privacy laws.

5. Focus on Multiple Marketing Channels 

Omnichannel marketing is an effective way to create a unified brand message. Like multichannel marketing, omnichannel marketing uses multiple channels, such as social media, print, and television to reach potential customers. What makes it different is its use of connected and optimized messaging across all channels.

This is a smart method for the healthcare industry as it generally increases conversion rates and gives you more leads. It also makes it easier to expand your internet-based marketing. In fact, the amount of money spent on internet advertising in the healthcare industry is set to surpass television spending for the first time in 2021.

Chart Description automatically generated with low confidence

6. Be Consistent 

Customers appreciate consistency when working with any type of business. They want to know what to expect from you. You should deliver consistent branding and messaging through the marketing materials published or displayed across all your media outlets and channels. Make sure that you have set your brand’s mission statement, tone of voice guidelines, and colors so every marketer in the company knows how to create the marketing materials that truly reflect your company.

Understanding the common mistakes in healthcare marketing combined with more effective marketing strategies can help your healthcare company increase its market share.

Inject Creativity into Your Healthcare Marketing with a New Strategy

If your medical supply company is ready to make a change and reach new customers, Share Moving Media is here to help. We can connect you with the right audience, amplify your company message, and provide creative, engaging marketing materials for your business.

 Contact us today to learn how to get started!

How To Combine the Power of Online and Print to Reach Hospital IDNs and GPOs

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Digital and print media aren’t mutually exclusive. If done right, these two strategies build on each other to improve the effectiveness of your marketing strategy when reaching hospital IDNs and GPOs. You can combine online and print strategies to target your audience, increase visibility, and improve engagement.

Learn five tips for creating a combined digital and print strategy for healthcare.

Key Takeaways:

  • Combining print and digital marketing builds on each other’s strengths to create an effective B2B marketing strategy
  • Print ads can help your digital content stand out in the oversaturation of online content 
  • Create consistent branding and messaging by combining your digital and print marketing teams for a seamless client experience

How Digital and Print Media Complement Each Other

The total digital advertising spend was $436 billion in 2021. Offline advertising that year was $196 billion. In total, 55% of marketing is digital. However, print marketing is still highly effective, with the largest segment being magazine advertising, reaching a marketing volume of $6.34 billion in 2022.

Here are four benefits of combining your digital and print strategies.

55% of advertising is digital

Image from Wordstream

Reach a Targeted Audience

Targeting your advertising ensures you only invest in quality B2B leads with a high intent to buy, which increases your chance of a return on your investment.

Healthcare marketing to IDNs and GPOs is a niche market with a specific audience. You can use digital advertising to reach some of your audience, but you will have difficulty guaranteeing prospective buyers see your marketing content.

Print marketing, on the other hand, is more targeted. For example, you can publish ads in medical journals and healthcare magazines where you know a large portion of your audience will be. You then use your print ads to direct your audience to your online content, where your digital strategies will complete the sales cycle.

Cut Through the Online Noise

Bloggers publish over six million posts a day. The oversaturation of online content drowns each brand’s content out, with only a few breaking through the noise. As a result, many marketers struggle today to appear in front of their target audience online.

Print ads help you stand out to increase your visibility.

Print ads require 21% less effort for your readers to process your message. In addition, 75% of consumers say they remember a brand from a print ad compared to 44% who remember brands from digital ads.

In a world filled with digital ads and marketing content, you can stand out by using print to reach your audience and make an impression. That impression will make your online content more likely to stand out because your audience would already recognize you from your print strategy.

Stay Relevant Longer

When you publish a post online, it will remain relevant as long as you keep updating it. However, newer content will eventually take its place in search results or in your sponsored ad spot after a short time as digital content moves quickly.

Print ads remain for the lifetime of that magazine edition. You can invest in an ad spot once, and you will continue generating a response as long as people look through the magazine and display it in hospital waiting rooms or their offices. Since print has a longer lifespan than digital media, with new editions usually coming out monthly or quarterly, your magazine ad will be relevant for longer than your digital ad.

Increase Your Engagement

Direct mail is more personal than digital ads and has a more significant impact on the reader. Because of this impact, those that read print ads are more likely to purchase from your brand than those that just read digital ads.

However, you can use the increased engagement from print with the ease of purchase from digital marketing to create a seamless experience. This experience moves your engaged print readers to your website, where you can close the sale through digital marketing strategies.

5 Tips to Combine Online and Print Marketing

Use these five tips to master your next print and digital campaign.

1. Use Consistent Messaging and Branding

Brand consistency is what ties all your marketing strategies together. A united message and appearance help your audience recognize you at each touchpoint. Without brand consistency, you can’t build on your efforts, as each strategy will feel like a separate interaction.

In some cases, conflicting branding can even hurt your objective because you might send contradictory messages.

Because of how different print and digital marketing are, keeping a consistent brand is even more important to help connect your online presence with your offline ads.

Some ways to create a consistent brand message include:

  • Using consistent voice in your messaging
  • Incorporating slogans and logos
  • Keeping consistent colors and fonts
  • Using similar call-to-actions

2. Connect Your Print to Your Digital Content

Your digital and print campaigns aren’t islands working towards individual goals. They are roads leading to the same destination. Sometimes the most effective route to that destination is by overlapping paths.

For example, you might use QR codes or URLs in your print ad to lead your readers to online marketing content for the next stage of the buyer’s journey.

Leading your readers from print to digital content also helps you track your audience, which allows you to customize your interactions with your healthcare leads.

3. Unify Your Print and Digital Teams

To encourage a connected experience and unified branding, start by collaborating between your print and digital departments.

Working together also allows you to combine your data and eliminate siloes. For example, since your digital team has more data, they can share that information about your target audience to help you create personalized print ads that reach the same audience.

4. Understand Your Customer’s Journey

Combining your data can create a more accurate customer journey map that includes online and offline activities. Your customer journey map represents where your customers interacted with your brand, what actions they took, and when they purchased or lost interest. It helps you identify your strongest marketing strategies and fix weaknesses in your process.

For example, you can identify where most prospective buyers are in their journey when they see your ads in healthcare journals. Then, you use that information to customize your print ads for that point in the buyer’s journey.

5. Use Print to Build Trust

Most buyers trust print ads more than digital ads. Your print efforts hold greater authority because of their permanence and straightforward format.

When you invest in print advertising, your authority overflows to your digital marketing efforts, increasing your reader’s trust in all your content. Brands that use both print and digital ads have a 400% increased effectiveness.

82% of consumers trust print ads the most when making a purchase decision

Image from FinancesOnline

Time to Add Print Marketing to Your Strategy

Share Moving Media can help you reach your marketing goals with unique insights into the healthcare marketing industry and opportunities to use targeted magazine advertising to reach Hospital IDNs and GPOs.

Contact us to learn more about our print marketing services.

Why Medical Suppliers Need to Create Content Distributors Can Use

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The world of medical sales is competitive, with over 10,000 establishments in the U.S. alone. As a medical supplier, you know that you need to sell your products and services to get the revenue you need. But you also know you must build a relationship with your customers. They need to know who you are, what you are offering, and why you are the best choice for them. This means more than just selling to them; it means adding value to their lives. To do this, medical suppliers must create content that distributors can use to market their products and services.

Your job as a medical supplier is to help your customers see you as an authority on the subject matter they are discussing. While many customers searching for medical products and services will sometimes look up medical suppliers directly, they will likely run into distributors first. 

Distributors are the ones who are most likely going to be selling your products and services to their customers. They will tell your customers who you are and what you are offering, and they cannot do that without the right content. 

Key Takeaways

  • Distributors use your content to educate themselves and buyers, so having high-quality physical (or digital) content at the ready is crucial.
  • Without the right content from medical suppliers, distributors cannot communicate the benefits of your products to buyers.
  • Supplying your distributors with high-quality content can help build brand recognition and trust. 

Benefits of Creating Useful Medical Supplier Content for Distributors
Medical suppliers have a lot on their plate these days when it comes to running their businesses. Not only do they have to think about their own daily operations, such as their supply chain needs and customer service, but they also need to think about their distributors and how they can help them sell their products. 

Medical distributors are the big movers when it comes to getting your products into the hands of doctors and patients. While you have a lot of control over the products you sell and the services you provide, your distributors are the ones who will likely make the final sale. However, to do this, you must provide them with the right tools and resources, and this comes in the form of content. 

From product descriptions to how-to videos, the content that you provide your distributors can make or break their ability to sell your products. In today’s digital world, distributors will often provide information to their customers through text and video. This means that you need to have on-the-go content that distributors can use as a quick and effective way to answer questions or concerns that buyers may have about your products. 

You can also use content to establish yourself as an expert in your field. Either way, the content that you provide your distributors is vital to not only their success, but yours as well.

5 Types of Content That Medical Suppliers Should Be Creating for Distributors

Many medical supplies and equipment distributors offer their clients professional advice on what medical supplies to use in what situations. However, as a distributor, they must first educate themselves on the products they are selling and the medical supplies they are recommending. From there, they can provide the correct information to their customers.

Therefore, as a medical supplier, you must create content for distributors to use for themselves and their customers. Here are five types of content that you can create to help your distributors:

1. How-To Articles/Guides

Arguably one of the most beneficial types of content you can create for your distributors is how-to articles and guides. These pieces of content are useful for several reasons, including: 

  • They are easy to read and understand
  • They are written to inform, educate, and answer questions
  • They guide the reader on how to use a specific product or inform them on how a service can address their particular pain point, concern, etc.

How-to articles/guides are designed to be a go-to resource for distributors and customers alike. They are a great way to provide your distributors with the information they need to be successful. So taking the time to put care and detail into these pieces of content is essential. 

Source: Biologics By McKesson

2. Case Studies

Case studies can help your distributors and customers better understand how to use the products you offer and best use them to address their needs. They also show your distributors how your products have helped other people. This can help build trust and help your distributors feel more comfortable selling your products.

3. Research Studies

Research studies are designed to provide facts and figures that prove why your products are superior to the competition. This is especially important when trying to convince distributors to carry your products. Taking the time to put together a well-researched study can significantly impact those on the fence about whether or not they should carry your products.

4. Video Content

Videos provide information to your distributors and customers that they can refer to anytime, making them one of the most successful types of content. Video content is often much easier to break down and understand than text, which can be especially helpful when explaining the benefits of your products to someone unfamiliar. 

Here’s an example:

5. Informative Blog Posts

Blog posts can inform your distributors and customers about new products, services, and programs that you offer. They can also keep your distributors and customers up to date on the latest news and developments in your industry.

Example of an informative blog post targeting medical distributors and how they can prevent healthcare product shortages. 

Image Source: Repertoire Dail-eNews

Create Content Your Distributors Can Use with Share Moving Media

Content is the backbone of any marketing strategy. It can help build a strong connection between your brand and your customers. However, when it comes to medical suppliers, content is also a great way to help your distributors. 

By creating content that your distributors can use to answer questions, provide guidance, and help build your brand awareness, you can help them better serve your customers, leading to more sales for your business.

Here at Share Moving Media, we can help you build and execute a content marketing strategy that will help you not only connect with your customers, but help your distributors do the same.

Are you a medical supplier needing guidance on creating content your distributors can use? Contact us at Share Moving Media today, and we’ll help you get started.

Create B2B Medical Content Your Audience Actually Wants to Read

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A well-researched, 1,400-word blog post can take four hours to write, in addition to the hours you invest in content planning and analysis. Most marketers are willing to make this investment in their B2B medical content because it offers a valuable opportunity for generating and converting leads. These benefits start with quality content your audience wants to read.

Learn steps you can take to ensure the content you create is what your audience is interested in.

Key Takeaways:

  • Content creation starts with a strong topic that doesn’t have too much competition
  • Use an attractive and easy-to-navigate format
  • Keep your topic focused on your audience and the specific challenges they face

What Makes B2B Medical Content Creation Challenging?

Every day, content creators publish over six million new blog posts. If your audience isn’t interested in your content, they have dozens of other options. Marketers struggle to make their content stand out from competing articles and media.

Marketers often treat search engine optimization (SEO) as the golden ticket to success. However, over 90% of online pages don’t see any traffic. SEO is still a profitable healthcare marketing technique, but you need more research and effort to use it successfully by creating relevant content your audience responds to.

Healthcare professionals lead hectic lives, especially due to staffing shortages and supply chain delays. As a result, they don’t have the time they used to for reading online content unless that content offers advice and information that can improve their job.

Despite these challenges, healthcare content marketing is rising because you can cut through the noise and encourage your target audience to read your media if you use the right strategies.

5 Tips for Creating Engaging B2B Medical Content

Use these five tips to create quality and relevant B2B content your audience wants to read.

1. Pick a Relevant Topic

Your content starts with a strong topic choice that’s relevant yet not overused.

Relevant topics aren’t just content that addresses your niche. They are topics your audience is actively researching. You can find several content ideas by performing a search on your industry and looking at related searches.

You can also find popular searches in your niche using keyword research tools like SEMrush or Moz. These tools list over 1,000 topics and details on each topic’s competition. You can see who else is using that keyword, what sites are ranking high, and what similar opportunities are available.

Example of keyword research results

Image from SEMrush

When choosing topics, look at the top-ranking content to see what is currently ranking well for keywords in that topic. Then, find a way to create an improved version of that content that offers more information, updated statistics, or higher quality content. This way, you can improve your chances of ranking well while providing content you know readers want to read since similar content is already receiving traffic.

2. Create a Supporting Layout

The longest proper sentence in the world is 1,287 words from William Faulkner’s novel Absalom, Absalom. While most marketers won’t be writing sentences as long as this blog post, they commit several other avoidable formatting mistakes that can make content just as challenging to read as one long sentence.

Your readers will be on phones, laptops, and tablets. To support all scrolling formats and make your content easy to skim and break it up with plenty of headlines, lists, and subheaders. These allow your readers to jump to the most relevant information or quickly read the content if they’re in a hurry.

You can also make your content more visually appealing by inserting images, charts, and videos. Consider using alternative formats for your content, like medical ebooks or whitepapers. These can convey longer pieces of content like case studies in an easier-to-read format than blog posts.

3. Keep Your Content Consistent

A consistent voice in B2B content marketing ensures brand consistency. It ties your content together and offers your audience a more positive reading experience. Companies with a consistent voice also saw a 33% increase in revenue.

For example, if you are an informal brand, you should continue using contractions, casual language, and a personable approach in all your articles. If you suddenly sound like an entirely different person, readers might question your reliability or lose interest in your content.

Your branding should also remain the same. This includes the format of your blog articles, colors, and fonts. In addition, the phrases you use to talk about your brand should be consistent. For example, if your primary value proposition is your reliability, continue repeating similar words that emphasize that feature. This provides a unified brand message to your audience and builds trust with them. 

Trust is one of the main reasons your audience will continue reading your content and purchasing from your brand.

4. Focus on the Reader Rather Than the Topic

Keep your content reader-focused rather than topic-focused. In other words, talk more about why the topic applies to your audience rather than just providing information.

For example, you might address a pain point by covering medical supply chain issues. However, you can increase your reader’s interest in your content by connecting it directly to their challenges with the supply chain. For instance, you might list ways they can improve their supply chain issues.

5. Always Keep Your Content Updated

Fresh content ranks higher than outdated topics. With the influx of online content, your readers can always access the latest information. While an article you published a few years ago saw thousands of readers, you won’t generate the same readership today.

Review some of your most popular articles and update them with new statistics and information. This won’t take as long as rewriting the article because you already have a solid framework. It only requires a slight facelift to stay relevant and rank well in searches.

You can also write the same topic each year. For example, several leading businesses publish annual reports and research. These reports don’t replace the previous year’s publications. Instead, they add another piece of content that can rank online with the latest information.

For example, if you published an article on “The Best Medical Supplies for 2021,” consider writing another piece this year titled “The Best Medical Supplies for 2022.”

Access Resources to Create More Relevant Medical Content

Share Moving Media provides the information and training you need to boost your medical content marketing. Use our solutions to write content your audience wants to read.

Contact us to learn more about our information and communication services.