Healthcare B2B Marketing - The best approaches

As of 2020, healthcare marketing has become more important than ever before as the COVID-19 pandemic has left many people scared to visit hospitals and purchase healthcare related products. At this difficult time it is important that healthcare marketing strategies are developed to put the customers mind at ease, nurture relationships and provide helpful  information to ensure business growth and customer trust. 

A powerful inbound marketing and account-based-marketing strategy, combined with customer relationship management software can accomplish all of the above and help healthcare businesses grow and thrive in the new normal. 

Before we begin unpacking how to create a successful B2B marketing campaign for healthcare businesses, let’s take a look at the challenges facing B2B marketers in the industry. 

3 B2B Marketing Challenges in the Healthcare Industry

1. Reaching the right businesses

One of the biggest challenges that B2B healthcare marketers face is reaching the right businesses through their digital marketing efforts. With Google tools such as WebMD and online medical chat rooms, it has become difficult for healthcare businesses to rise up the Google and related search engine results ranks. Not only is search engine optimisation becoming difficult, but the users actively seeking your healthcare website are usually the general public and not decision makers or business owners. With this in mind, it is becoming difficult to connect with the right B2B customer base. 

2. Complicated and Time Consuming Sales Process

B2B sales are complex and the process of making a B2B sale lies in the hands of multiple players, from selection committee to finance departments, CEO’s and decision makers. Now, if you add hospitals or healthcare into the mix, the process is even longer and more complex. When it comes to healthcare business, the B2B sales process can take months, even years and because of this, healthcare marketers need to create lead nurturing strategies that engage and delight business decision makers during this time.

3. Important Regulations 

With so many regulations in place, healthcare marketers need to navigate their efforts according to a variety of rules and industry related factors. Marketers need to be well versed in compliance requirements and need to be careful about the information they distribute for their client - ensuring everything meets industry standards. With this in mind, content creation can quickly become a long, drawn out task and in turn, content marketing get’s put on the back burner. 

With so many obstacles in place, marketers can quickly become overwhelmed when it comes to B2B marketing for the healthcare industry. However, with a strong inbound marketing strategy in place, all of the above issues can be seamlessly managed and navigated. 

B2B Marketing Tips for the Healthcare Industry

Content Creation and Content Marketing

According to a study conducted by HubSpot, 70% of marketers are relying on content marketing to gain quality leads. Content marketing is vital for successful B2B marketing and this is why it’s important you work with an agency or team who has an understanding of digital content creation, distribution and marketing. 

By creating high quality, consistent, and relevant content, you have the power to establish your business as a healthcare industry leader. By distributing this content on your social media pages including LinkedIn (a vital tool for B2B marketing), on your blog and in email newsletters, you will reach decision makers and in turn, increase sales. 

Ongoing and Consistent Marketing Campaigns

When creating a marketing strategy for the healthcare industry, you have to have long term goals in mind. As stated previously, the B2B sales process takes time and you have to create campaigns that reach your prospects at every stage they are in within the buying cycle. By capturing leads through lead generation campaigns and lead forms, you are able to store your lead data and send out campaigns to leads based on where they are in the buying cycle. This is where Customer Relationship Management tools such as HubSpot become important. 

CRM platforms such as HubSpot give you the opportunity to manage your healthcare campaigns and leads in a centralised place. Not only does HubSpot offer a marketing platform, it also has a sales platform that allows you to track all your clients and leads as they move through the sales funnel. This makes it easier for your sales team to track, organise and manage your sales data by syncing your lead data in a single place and logging sales activities effortlessly. 

HubSpot also has a feature that allows your team to view the sales pipeline of every potential client and current customer and you can create your deal dashboard to suit your long term B2B healthcare sales strategy. 

Inbound Marketing Lead Generation with Account Based Marketing

As stated previously, the sales process for the healthcare industry is a long process, however Account-Based-Marketing does make this process of inbound marketing for B2B much more streamlined and efficient. Account Based Marketing, also referred to as ABM, is a B2B marketing strategy that focuses its resources on a set of key accounts within an industry. 

This strategy makes use of highly personalised campaigns that are intricately designed to engage with each account, basing the marketing message on the specific needs of the particular account. For businesses in the healthcare industry that target accounts with longer sales cycles and bigger deal sizes, ABM is ideal. 

Learn more about Account-based-marketing for B2B marketing, here. 

Sales and Marketing Alignment

In order to ensure your marketing efforts get results, your sales team should be a part of the process - especially when it comes to B2B marketing and B2B lead generation.

CRMs such as HubSpot have the ability to bring your marketing and sales team together in a single place. And through this software, both teams are able to understand where every lead is within the buying cycle, and the sales team will have a fully rounded understanding of which leads are MQLs and which are SQLs. This means that no potential sale gets lost, and every lead can be tracked and monitored effectively. 

Track, Measure and Report

If you want to secure buy-ins from decision makers and business owners, you need to make sure your inbound marketing campaign is of the highest quality. It is important that every campaign, from lead generation campaigns to social media campaigns, are tracked and measured.

Important metrics to analyse include:

• Website Traffic
• Time Spent on your Website
• Customer Acquisition Costs
• Customer Retention Numbers

If you want to ensure your campaigns are working to the best of their ability, you need to measure, test, edit and evolve your strategy based on what you learn about your audience through metrics.

By taking on this approach, and having clear numbers and statistics in place, your marketing team is able to focus on delivering the best results for your B2B marketing efforts. CRM platforms provide you with in-depth tracking and measuring tools to ensure your marketing team is able to report on their campaigns and monitor their success. 

Key Takeaways:

• Inbound marketing and content creation are vital to attract leads.
• Lead capturing through Account-Based-Marketing and Customer Relationship Management Software is key. 
• Sales and marketing cohesion is required to ensure the best results. 
• Track and measure all campaigns.

If you put time and effort into your B2B sales strategy by understanding your audience, creating relevant content, promoting that content on powerful platforms, and continuing the conversation, you will make more sales in 2021.

Does your Healthcare business want to put together a powerful B2B sales strategy?  

If so, we can help. Nexa has been generating highly qualified sales leads for businesses in the Healthcare industry for over a decade. We have both the experience and track record to help you  generate highly qualified sales leads.

Contact Nexa for all your healthcare marketing needs, here.