Healthcare marketing is a wide-ranging industry, encompassing the activities of brands that want to reach consumers and attract them to a hospital system, as well as organizations that are looking to sell their wares to that same hospital system. In that sense, healthcare marketing audiences can be as different as B2B and B2C audiences.
But even within these categories, identifying and segmenting the audience is key to healthcare marketing success. As you begin devising a new healthcare marketing campaign, it’s essential to create buyer personas that address questions important to them, so that you’re better equipped to give them the information they need when they need it. Here are some questions you should ask yourself when devising buyer personas in order to identify and segment healthcare marketing targets for your next campaign.
Healthcare organizations share many priorities with others, such as staying profitable and efficiently using resources. But unlike many B2B organizations, in healthcare, your stakeholders may be truly dealing with life and death. That added dimension creates another serious consideration that goes into purchasing decisions.
As you devise your audience targets and personas, consider how you can appeal to your audience on not just cost and efficiency, but the health benefits your product or service offers. When you’re marketing something in such a high-stakes environment, that message needs to be strong and clear: you need to ensure your marketing shows what the product is, how it works and why your product can potentially save lives.
For those marketing healthcare-related products or services to organizations, the first thing to determine is who to talk to. The people you wish to reach should of course include those at the organization with decision-making power, but also those who are most likely to use your product and those who understand how it would transform their day-to-day responsibilities. These individuals may be able to advocate for your offerings to their superiors.
As you segment your audience in this way, consider the priorities and roles of each of these categories of people and where they fall in your marketing funnel. What messaging and content can you create that will best reach a doctor? Where do they get their information from, and who do they most trust when considering making a purchase? How is that different from what intended for a hospital director who may sign off on a contract with your client? How are each of those different from content created for the patient, who may be your first point of contact? Ensure that any personas you create answer these questions, so that your personas reflect the reality of who you may come in contact with at different stages of the marketing funnel.
Often, your healthcare marketing audience will be highly educated in the medical field and will expect your messaging to show your organization’s expertise in their area. Are your marketing materials addressing the high-level concerns and questions that your targets will have, in language that demonstrates your understanding of their industry?
As you segment your audience, you may also find that you wish to reach people in a number of roles and specialties. How will your messaging differ between pharmacists and directors of pharmacy? What about between nurses, who work intensively with patients, and specialists, who may see each person only once or a few times?
As you can see, determining your audience targets and creating personas to shape your marketing is an important part of the strategic planning process. For more on strategic planning and working with a marketing partner, read our other posts on marketing partnerships.
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