The way businesses market their products to customers and the channels they use to do so have changed due to healthcare marketing. Even B2B businesses have been caught up in the wave of change despite this shift being most noticeable in the B2C sector. Buyers have grown to anticipate an omnichannel digital experience, whether B2B or B2C. Therefore, the blog post explains the five trends shaping B2B healthcare marketing in 2024. These trends improve the innovation of reaching out to targeted prospects in the field of medicine.
There are several new B2B healthcare purchasing trends due to this marketing shift. Because of this, marketers are abandoning traditional outbound sales techniques. They are instead using more inbound strategies that meet target audiences where they are. Marketers should stay current on these B2B marketing trends to improve their sales performance. To effectively customize your marketing campaign, get a healthcare mailing list and start reaching out to top leaders in the medical industry.
Why is there a need for marketing trends?
Before, outbound sales strategies dominated B2B marketing in the healthcare sector. In this model, the sales teams would start the initial stages of the sales cycle. The path a customer takes to make a purchase is now shifting inward. Decision-makers are now making more laser-focused searches when purchasing new products or services to enhance their practice size. Therefore, marketers need to closely examine the customer journey in healthcare when it comes to reaching out to the targeted buyers.
Similar to B2C marketing, most business-to-business buyers in the medical field start their journey into the sales funnel with a straightforward search engine query, just like they would when looking for a TV or a nearby restaurant. Due to this change, customers may be up to 90% of the way through the purchasing process before making their first contact with a vendor!
According to these trends in healthcare marketing, businesses must outperform their rivals in reaching out to customers online and giving them the information they need. As a result, both your content and your website need to be optimized. Additionally, your content must span the entire funnel, from top-of-the-funnel (ToFu) content like blog posts and videos to bottom-of-the-funnel (BoFu) content like white papers and eBooks, to truly reach customers where they are.
5 Shifts that Revolutionized B2B Healthcare Marketing
- 1. Multi-channel Marketing for a Cohesive Brand Experience
Customers expect a consistent purchasing experience across all their devices and channels as digital marketing becomes more prevalent. For instance, an individual customer might start the purchasing process with an internet search. Nevertheless, the cycle will expand to incorporate your website, social media accounts, PPC advertisements, product details pages, reviews, etc. One of the most critical B2B email marketing trends in the medical sector is this “multi-channel” experience.
The marketers must design a seamless experience across all the marketing channels, bearing this in mind. Every point of contact a customer has with a brand should have a unified look, feel, and message. It would help if you also incorporated other marketing initiatives, like email marketing, to guarantee the success of your strategies.
How do you use multi-channel marketing for B2B healthcare?
- Ensure that the branding and feel of all your marketing channels are consistent.
- Retargeting across platforms and customizing messages with customer data.
- Use marketing automation tools to streamline and simplify your omnichannel strategy.
- Get access to a verified healthcare email list from a reputed database provider.
- 2. Influencer Marketing: A Borrowed Audience
Influencers are people whom the general public looks to for advice on a particular subject. Influencer marketing is not a novel concept in the medical industry, and it can and ought to be applied to draw in decision-makers and clients. The numbers provide the evidence. According to statistics, influencer marketing campaigns produce an 11X higher return on investment than other types of promoted content!
The correct application of the strategy is what matters most. Finding influencers with sizable, attentive audiences is the first step. Influencers in medical advertising campaigns could be doctors, patient advocates, or other professionals. Ensure your influencers aren’t padding their profiles with bots and purchased likes. Be sure to read the comments and feedback from their followers to weed out potential bad actors. High engagement is a sign of a powerful influencer with a loyal following.
Think about the influencer’s channel preferences as well. Finding active influencers across various social media platforms besides Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is best. It’s even better if the influencer has a larger audience. Influencer marketing is not just for celebrities anymore. Marketers for healthcare can also look to micro-influencers in related industries, such as the fitness and wellness industry.
How Can B2B Healthcare Use Influencer Marketing?
- Find influencers in healthcare, wellness, or other related industries with much experience and authority.
- Identify influencers who have followings on various marketing platforms.
- Think carefully about the needs of the influencer’s core audience when deciding which products to pair with them.
- Look for the customers who have benefited from your products and services.
- 3. Thought Leadership in B2B Healthcare
Marketers must position their brands as thought leaders to be as influential as possible in medicine. A recent LinkedIn study uncovered several justifications for the significance of thought leadership.
A company’s reputation is improved, and it receives more invitations to submit proposals with thought leadership content. Conversely, businesses that need to establish themselves as thought leaders or do so poorly miss out on lucrative opportunities.
One way to position your brand as a B2B healthcare thought leader is through content marketing. Marketers can position their companies at the forefront of the healthcare sector by producing engaging, timely, and thought-provoking content.
How to Leverage Thought Leadership for B2B Healthcare?
- Create new content that addresses current issues or takes a novel approach to a problem.
- Spend time producing valuable evergreen content, such as white papers.
- Work with subject-matter experts to strengthen and expand your ideas and earn their respect.
- 4. Rely on Account-based Marketing (ABM)
Through personalized content, account-based marketing targets particular decision-makers and stakeholders with high-value accounts. It helps marketers reach the key stakeholders with a message expressing their needs and interests.
With such personalized messages, you can promote your products and services to these buyers with the help of multiple marketing channels. This is to nurture qualified leads that generate huge sales, reduce complex sales cycles, and improve business opportunities.
For instance, a healthcare device firm specializing in advanced diagnostic equipment wants to expand its market share by targeting large hospital networks for its latest imaging technology.
How can ABM be applied?
The company conducts thorough research to find networks of hospitals, clinics, and medical centers that are potential buyers of their imaging technology. These may include renowned medical systems with multiple hospitals and imaging centers. The entity invests time in understanding each identified account’s unique needs and pain points. It involves researching the challenges these hospitals face in diagnostic imaging, such as outdated equipment, long wait times, or insufficient diagnostic capabilities.
Based on the insights gathered, the company creates highly personalized content to address the specific needs of each target account. It may include whitepapers, case studies, and solution briefs highlighting how their imaging technology can solve the challenges each hospital network faces. Instead of generic marketing campaigns, the company crafts personalized outreach strategies for each target account. It may involve direct communication with key decision-makers within the hospital network, such as radiology department heads, procurement officers, and C-suite executives.
The entity launches account-specific marketing campaigns, leveraging multiple channels such as email, social media, and targeted advertising to reach and engage with stakeholders within each hospital network. ABM emphasizes building long-term relationships with key accounts. The company regularly engages with stakeholders through personalized interactions, providing value-added content and offering tailored solutions to address their evolving needs.
The following strategy helped the company in
- Maximizing the ROI and minimizing the efforts that are unlikely to convert.
- Alignment between marketing and sales teams.
- Fostering trust and loyalty among key stakeholders.
- Increasing the likelihood of converting target accounts into customers.
- 5. Security Compliance and Data Regulation
As the marketing world moves towards more digitalization, the chance of data breaches is widespread. There is increasing concern regarding data privacy and compliance. When you use a database without opt-in consent, your promotional content will likely end up in spam or junk files.
It might hurt your business’s reputation. Therefore, marketers in the field of medicine need to use databases that are sourced from security and opt-in consents. The organization should ensure its marketing practices adhere to data compliance standards such as HIPAA and GDPR for effective targeted outreach.
What are the best practices for security adherence?
- Ensure your data is free from any data breach, loss, unauthorized access, information leakage, and corruption.
- Find data partners who offer email lists with security data compliance.
- Only spend a little on advertising content every 3 to 4 minutes.
Conclusion:
In 2024, following these 5 B2B marketing trends of the healthcare industry will help you reach your targeted audience interested in what you offer and improve your sales opportunities. Multi-channel marketing proves that with relevant demographic intent data, marketers and service providers can use various advertising channels to engage with the right buyers. With influencer marketing, you can contact influencers with a sizable command and popularity to advocate for your products and services. Essential thought leadership content can help you position your brand with a significant audience.
While ABM—account-based marketing—helps you create a personalized approach to lead nurturing and enhances your sales opportunities, adhering to data compliance and security regulations can improve your brand reputation while avoiding any malpractices that tarnish it. Moreover, to effectively conduct your marketing campaign, you need a solid and genuine database that builds a connection with your targeted audiences. That’s where a verified and highly responsive healthcare mailing list from MailingInfoUSA comes into the picture to help for your sales and marketing efforts.