As a healthcare software company, you know the value of inbound marketing and having a strong digital marketing strategy. But you also know the importance of meeting prospects face to face. That’s why you invest in attending trade shows, industry conferences, and other in-person events that provide opportunities for healthcare vendor marketing.
Once you determine which events your prospects are attending, take the time beforehand to design an event plan and assign roles to each member of your team. Getting intentional about key strategies for making industry events will help you to get the most out of your time. With a careful selection of events and thoughtful planning, you can realize a strong ROI on these in-person conferences and walk away with several new qualified leads.
However, be aware: What happens after you connect can make or break your hard work up to this point. Failing to follow up right away – or taking the wrong approach – can scare off valuable leads. In addition to losing potential business, you could inadvertently waste valuable marketing dollars. To get the most out of your healthcare marketing leads, nurture the leads you made to convert them into clients.
Post event photos, videos, and links on your social media pages. Let your connections know about what happened at the trade show or conference. Thank the people you met at the event on their social media pages.
Connect with or follow all leads (especially the sales-qualified leads) on their social media channels. Remember, you’re not dealing with businesses, but people who spend a lot of time on social media.
Most people have several social media accounts, so don’t restrict your connections to LinkedIn. Find out which social media platforms they spend their time on the most. Follow and engage with them on those platforms to build relationships. Engage in two-way conversation by answering questions, making comments, and providing your opinions on their posts. Use post-event healthcare exhibitor lists to connect with other vendors as well—one of your leads may be engaging with their content, and you’ll want to have a presence in these post-show conversations.
You probably spoke with a lot of people at the event. And each conversation was different, ranging from casual to business-focused. Ideally, you took notes on each of these conversations.
Use these notes to group your leads into three categories:
If you did not take notes, you can still qualify the leads. Send a brief survey to all healthcare marketing leads. Ask them to provide basic contact information and answer a question tied to a problem your product or service solves. Provide a free report, white paper, or another valuable incentive to encourage responses.
Then group survey recipients into three categories:
The quality and pacing of your communication matter. Don’t send a generic email to every SQL from the event. And don’t try to make the sale on the first interaction.
Use your notes/survey responses and do some research to identify common ground or a focal point for the initial email. Look for a connection between what you learned about them and your solution. Then personalize the email to initiate the conversation.
Follow the inbound sales approach. Focus on trying to answer their questions or addressing their pain points. Build the relationship by helping them to solve problems and weigh solutions before trying to convert a lead into a customer.
Also, don’t wait too long to follow up with SQLs – send the first email within one week of the event.
Some leads will need more qualifications and nurturing before you can establish their interest. Don’t rush into trying to make the sale or overwhelming them with emails.
To nurture the rest of the leads acquired from the event:
Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of follow-up efforts. This enables you to calculate return on investment in attending different types of events and using different marketing approaches.
Examples of KPIs for healthcare marketers include:
Spot On specializes in B2B digital marketing for healthcare software companies. We focus on understanding healthcare marketers’ needs and helping you to create content that pulls them to your website and keeps them engaged as they learn about your solution.
Interested in working with our SaaS content marketing agency to design a perfect post-event nurture plan? Schedule a time to chat with us for a free consultation on how to help your company get more healthcare marketing leads out of your events.
Spot On co-founder and partner Susie Kelley is dedicated to leveraging technology to advance innovative solutions in highly regulated industries. Driven by the opportunity to elevate brands, she co-founded Spot On in 2012 after having spent 15 years honing her marketing skills in an agency. Susie leads business development with a personal touch, focusing on building lasting relationships with clients to meet — and exceed — their goals for business growth.
Get the latest and greatest posts sent straight to your inbox.