Healthcare Software Marketing: What You Need to Know to Meet the Challenges of Today’s Market

Importance of Healthcare Software Digital Marketing

Digital marketing can help healthcare software providers reach more prospects in the right place and at the right time with the right messaging to drive sales. Here’s why you can’t afford to overlook the importance of healthcare software digital marketing.

Why Should You Focus on Digital Marketing?

Binary Foundation Findings:

Healthcare providers and hospital systems are seeking support to digitize their practices and implement online tools. This trend offers tremendous growth opportunities for healthcare software providers. The question is, what’s the best way to find high-quality prospects and progress them down the sales funnel now that virtual interactions and remote services have become the norm?

Enters digital marketing, which allows you to meet prospects where they are. Healthcare software marketing has undergone a sea change, moving from traditional channels to digital platforms. This trajectory will continue as vendors strive to meet the latest customer expectations in the crowded market.

When you work with an experienced digital marketing agency, you can leverage various digital channels and technologies to reach the right prospects in the right place at the right time and with the right content to generate more leads and drive conversions.

Essential Digital Marketing Components

To reap the benefits of digital marketing for your healthcare software company, you need a solid foundation that includes these essential components:

Marketing Personalization

Marketing personalization plays a critical role in everything from email marketing and website experience to digital advertising and content marketing. Prospects and customers are more likely to engage with content and promotions tailored to their preferences and past interactions with your brand.

In fact, 88% of U.S. marketers indicated that personalization helps them achieve measurable improvements, and 94% of marketing professionals considered personalization a crucial component in their marketing strategies.

Omnichannel Customer Engagement

Your customers want the ability to interact with healthcare software vendors whenever and wherever that’s most convenient for them. Whether it’s via email, phone, web form, live chat, social media, or messaging apps, you need to make it easy for prospects and customers to contact you or get the assistance they need.

Omnichannel engagement isn’t just for customer acquisition. Organizations that implement omnichannel strategies achieve  91% greater year-over-year customer retention rates  when compared to those that don’t. As such, healthcare software companies can’t afford to ignore the importance of an omnichannel marketing strategy to boost their recurring revenues.

Reap the Benefits of an Inbound Digital Marketing Strategy

To get the most of your digital marketing budget, work with a digital marketing agency with extensive experience in healthcare software marketing. Your agency should have a thorough understanding of the industry, an end-to-end digital marketing process, and the ability to leverage data to inform accurate decision-making.

Speaking of data, your team should help you identify the right key performance indicators (KPIs) based on your marketing objectives. It should share detailed weekly and monthly reports to make sure you’re on the right track.

However, remember that the numbers aren’t the be-all-end-all. A result-driven agency should also help you understand the short-term and long-term implications of those metrics, then apply insights to help you achieve meaningful results based on your target market and product offerings.

Healthcare Software Marketing Strategies

Digital marketing can help healthcare software providers reach more prospects in the right place and at the right time with the right messaging to drive sales. Here’s why you can’t afford to overlook the importance of healthcare software digital marketing.

Essential Components of an Effective Healthcare Software Marketing Strategy

Your marketing strategy should consist of these essential elements to help you get found by high-quality prospects, nurture relationships, and drive sales.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Did you know that:

Your website must rank at the top of relevant search engine result pages (SERPs) to capture prospects with high purchase intent. But with the intense competition, how can you do that?

A comprehensive SEO approach covers content marketing, on-page optimization, backlinking, third-party reviews, and more. But an SEO strategy isn’t just about getting onto the top of SERPs. It should also include monitoring your competitors, improving your website’s codes, and implementing a long-tail keyword strategy to drive new traffic.

Additionally, you should leverage SEO and keyword insights to inform PPC campaigns, social media posts, content strategy, and other marketing activities. In fact, ongoing keyword research can help you maintain an up-to-date understanding of your audience’s needs and priorities.

Inbound and Content Marketing

Inbound marketing is one of the most effective ways for B2B companies to attract high-quality prospects early on in the customer journey. It covers the entire customer lifecycle and helps you cultivate relationships to increase conversions and retain customers.

How does it differ from what most marketers have been doing traditionally? Inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing because inbound “pulls” your target market to your business instead of “pushing” your message onto them.

An inbound strategy helps you attract prospects by offering them valuable and engaging content for free, often in the form of blog posts, webinars, social media posts, and video content. On the other hand, outbound marketing tells people about your products through promotional channels such as banner ads, print ads, direct mail, cold calling, cold emailing, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads.

To make the most of your inbound content, you must reach your target audience via multiple channels while maintaining a cohesive brand experience. This strategy starts with your content plan, which should include a valuable and shareable blog that’s regularly updated, as well as guest posts on niche industry sites.

But simply creating content isn’t enough. You need to support content creation with content promotion. Design a plan to share your articles and engage your audience through social media channels, such as LinkedIn. Focus on sharing engaging posts frequently, sparking conversations among your followers, and driving traffic to your website.

Also, incorporate SEO tactics into your content strategy. Identify strategic keywords your target audience use in their searches, then target these keywords with a rich mix of content to increase your site’s SERP rankings.

PPC Advertising

Pay-per-click (PPC) ads are one of the best ways to deliver targeted marketing messages to specific audiences and drive high-quality traffic to your website. Most PPC platforms (e.g., social media sites such as LinkedIn) allow you to leverage their user data and segmentation capabilities to reach the right audience at the right time with the right message.

Website Marketing

After your audience finds you on search engine results or sees your posts on social media, they’ll most likely visit your website. Will they develop a favorable first impression of your brand and your products?

Make sure your visitors can easily navigate your site and find the information they need. Issues such as slow load time, poor usability, or not being mobile-responsive can cause your visitors to leave your site for your competitors’.

Email Marketing

Email marketing can be very effective, but the flip side is that everyone else is doing it. Your prospects’ inbox is bombarded by marketing messages, and you have just a second or two to capture their attention.

Work with an agency partner that can help you refine every component of your email marketing strategy, such as generating leads and determining what types of emails to send at each stage of the customer journey.

Also, use analytics to measure the effectiveness of your email marketing effort. Track your delivery, open, and click rates to understand what works with your audience, so you can focus your resources on what matters.

Social Media Marketing

Posting on social media isn’t enough. Your content must reach and engage the right audience. You should find out where your ideal customers spend their time and implement a strategy to engage them by sharing your best content, such as videos, testimonials, and posts that perform well with both leads and customers.

Additionally, you can use social media to gather customer feedback and answer questions about your products. This will encourage followers to interact with you while showing that you’re responsive to customers’ requests and value their relationships.

Steps To Healthcare Software Marketing Success

The increase in demand for healthcare software is great news. But to stand out and capture more market shares, you need to invest in healthcare software marketing services to capture high-quality leads and build relationships with prospects with an effective inbound approach.

A well-designed digital marketing strategy positions your products and services effectively, attracts your ideal customers with the right messaging, and retains your current customers to drive recurring revenue.

Your strategy should turn insights and contextual information into actionable tactics. For example, value proposition mapping illustrates the various strategic components, while a flow chart helps visualize processes. Additionally, it should identify the best advertising channels so you can optimize your marketing budget to generate the highest ROI.

Create a feedback loop that uses data analytics to help you refine your approach. For example, you should set data-driven marketing goals and identify key performance metrics (KPIs) to measure website traffic, conversions, and customer retention.

Last but not least, keep in mind that a healthcare software marketing strategy must constantly evolve to help you act on the latest marketing trends, meet customer expectations, and stay ahead of your competitors.

Working with a Healthcare Software Marketing Agency

Now the rubber meets the road: How should you execute a digital healthcare software marketing strategy? Working with a digital marketing agency specializing in healthcare software marketing is the best way to maximize the ROI on your marketing dollars. Here’s what you need to know.

Do I Need to Work with a Healthcare Software Marketing Agency?

To answer this question, let’s look at the pros and cons of hiring freelancers, assembling an in-house team, and working with an agency.

Hiring freelancers is more affordable. It also gives you more flexibility and helps you meet the needs of short-term projects. However, most freelancers have limited time to dedicate to your projects, and many don’t specialize in healthcare software marketing. They focus on only one piece of the digital marketing puzzle, so you’ll need to spend time and effort coordinating many resources to execute a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

An in-house team gives you access to dedicated resources immersed in your business and the industry. They can also develop specific skill sets based on your company’s needs. However, you’d likely have to sacrifice flexibility for stability. For instance, many healthcare software vendors find it increasingly challenging to have a team that has all the expertise they need to execute a digital marketing strategy that covers all the bases.

Benefits of Working with Healthcare Software Marketing Agencies

When you work with a reputable healthcare software marketing agency, you can expect a great client experience while accessing in-depth knowledge of the healthcare sector. You can take advantage of a data-driven approach and gain valuable insights through actionable marketing reports. Your agency will also help you produce relevant and authoritative content to increase brand awareness and credibility to drive conversions.

When you work with a specialist healthcare software marketing company, you can tap into their highly relevant experience in the industry. They require minimum ramp-up time, and they can leverage their deep understanding of the competitive landscape to create the most impactful content and help you reach your ideal audience through the most effective marketing channels.

How to Select the Right Digital Marketing Agency for Your Healthcare Software Brand

An experienced healthcare software marketing agency should have a deep understanding of your target market, unique sales proposition (USP), and overall business objectives. It should also help you respond to the rapid developments in the healthcare sector and ensure that your digital marketing campaigns stay relevant to your target audience.

Your agency must also understand the end-to-end marketing cycle, not just specific platforms or tactics. They should build your strategy and handle the tactical implementation with the same level of expertise. They should also be responsive to your feedback and invested in helping you build a cohesive and appealing brand that stands out in the marketplace.

Here are eight essential qualities to look for when selecting a digital marketing agency:

1. Have Expert Knowledge of the Healthcare Industry

   Your agency must be up-to-date with the rapid industry-wide digital transformation happening today. They must be aware of technology developments that will impact your business or customers, such as advancements in AI-driven healthcare tools and wearable health devices.

2. Work With You as a Business Partner, Not Just a Service Provider

   Choose an agency that partners with you closely at both a strategic and a tactical level. Team up with an agency that has the capacity to deliver deep industry knowledge, yet not so large that you won’t get personalized attention.

3. Expand Your Digital Reach

   Your agency shouldn’t be a one-trick pony. Instead of specializing in a particular marketing area or technique (e.g., SEO, social media), it should have the capabilities to help you consolidate all your various marketing activities into a cohesive plan that’ll maximize your digital presence.

4. Create and Implement a Strategy Across the Full Marketing Mix

   Find a digital marketing agency that can implement digital strategy across a wide range of inbound and outbound channels. They should offer high-level expertise and hands-on delivery in all areas of digital marketing, including SEO and keyword research, website and user experience design, PPC ads, inbound content strategy, social media, and video marketing.

5. Build Trust and Authority with Your Audience

   In the healthcare industry, one misstep can land a provider in hot waters. As such, building trust with your audience is key to driving conversions. The process involves delivering a reliable and consistent experience both pre- and post-sale, plus establishing an online reputation through content marketing, case studies, and client testimonials.

6. Stay Ahead of Healthcare Software Marketing Trends

   Successful healthcare marketing uses content to strengthen brand reputation and establish thought leadership positioning. Your healthcare marketing agency must know the lay of the land so it can help you create content based on the latest news, trends, or technologies to build authority.

7. Value Long-Term Relationships

   Your agency partner should be in it for the long haul. It should help you set up a strategy that addresses current challenges and delivers the training, skillset, and marketing technologies you need to achieve exceptional results for years to come.

8. Deliver Return on Your Investment

   Even though some marketing tactics may take time to translate into sales, your agency should hit the ground running by boosting your online presence from day one. You should experience measurable results on key marketing metrics, such as web visitors, marketing-qualified leads, lead quality, sales calls, or lead conversions within a few months of a partnership.

Why You Should Work with a HubSpot Solutions Partner

When you find the right agency that meets your needs, you have already won half the battle. You need a partner you can trust. It must understand digital marketing for healthcare software companies and the importance of using data to back every marketing strategy.

Since inbound marketing is an essential component in any healthcare software marketing strategy, hiring a HubSpot Solutions Partner with in-depth knowledge of inbound can give you a competitive edge.

Whether or not you already use HubSpot as your content management platform, a HubSpot Solutions Partner with expertise in the healthcare sector can help you design and implement an effective content and inbound marketing strategy to grow your business.

How to Optimize Your Healthcare Software Marketing for the Future

The healthcare industry is evolving fast. Healthcare software providers must stay on top of marketing trends to attract high-quality prospects and turn them into customers. If you don’t future-proof your marketing strategy, you could risk getting left in the dust.

Preparing To Work with a Healthcare Software Marketing Agency

Partnering with a marketing agency that stays on top of healthcare marketing trends is the best way to ensure that you don’t miss a beat. Be prepared to answer these 10 questions when you work with an agency so you can set the stage for success.

1. How would you describe your business?

   Your answer will give the agency high-level insights into what your business does, who your target audience is, and why you do what you do to set the foundation for creating the right marketing message.

2. Who are your competitors?

   The insight can help your agency conduct a competitive analysis to understand how your prospects perceive your brand vs. your competition so you can position your products effectively in the marketplace.

3. Who is your ideal customer?

   Knowing the answer to this question is key to determining if your brand image, messaging, and product mix align with your prospects’ needs and expectations.

4. What’s unique about your software?

   The answer can help your agency craft marketing messages and promotional content that highlight your unique selling proposition and distinguish your brand from your competition.

5. How do customers purchase your software?

   Knowing this will help your agency understand the buyer’s journey to craft a seamless customer experience that supports your customer acquisition and retention efforts.

6. How much is your software?

   Your agency must understand your pricing strategy and how it aligns with your ideal customer profile to help you strengthen your market position.

7. How do you leverage your website in your sales strategy?

   The insights from this answer can help your agency partner improve your website based on visitors’ behaviors and preferences to increase conversions.

8. Which marketing automation tools do you use?

   Your agency should help you evaluate your marketing automation tools, which are essential for scaling up your digital campaigns cost-effectively.

9. What do you want to achieve in the next 6 to 12 months?

   Your answer will help your agency craft a customized plan to help you meet your objectives. It can also monitor progress and adjust as needed.

10. How much are you ready to invest?

    Understanding your budget will help your agency develop a plan that fits your spending expectation so you can maximize ROI with your available resources.

Where the Healthcare Software Marking Industry is Heading

Wonder if the agencies on your shortlist are on top of the latest healthcare software marketing trends? Any agency that understands the lay of the land should be acting on these trends:

Building Connections

According to Deloitte’s report on 2021’s global marketing trends, the future of B2B marketing will be all about authentic human connection. Decision-makers want to buy from people, not a faceless company. Authenticity and trust will be more critical than ever, while personalization will be the main driver behind any effective marketing strategy.

Promoting a Purpose

An Accenture study found that over 60% of buyers want to purchase from companies with strong values that align with their beliefs. Consider how your software can help customers achieve their organization’s mission — e.g., delivering a better experience for medical professionals or improving patient care. Showing how your company’s purpose overlaps with your customers’ vision helps you build powerful connections with your audience.

Staying Agile

The ability to respond to shifting buyer behaviors is the key to surviving and thriving in today’s fast-paced environment. Having a thorough understanding of your market and your customers’ current and upcoming priorities will help you create relevant and targeted content that attracts high-quality prospects through the right channels.

Leveraging Influencer Marketing

This strategy can be highly effective in risk-averse markets like healthcare since decision-makers trust their peers more than ever. Besides fostering relationships with micro-influencers, you should build authority by writing guest posts and submitting case studies to respected trade publications.

Creating Authoritative Content

Healthcare software buyers will become even more cautious in the future. You must position your brand as the source of relevant, up-to-date, and authoritative information to build trust and engage leads across every stage of a long sales cycle. Not to mention, the right content will help you strengthen your online brand presence by ranking in organic search results.