The B2B healthcare software sector is a highly complex industry with significant opportunities for successful product promotion — if you understand how to market your product or services properly. 
The right healthcare marketing agency can help you navigate the challenges of the competitive landscape and promote your product more effectively in several key ways. To learn more about the business benefits of finding the right healthcare digital marketing agency, we spoke with Susie Kelley, Co-founder and Business Development Director at Spot On. She shares her experience working with healthcare software companies to get lasting results.
In healthcare software sales, many prospects are too busy to spend significant time comparing different options to solve their issues. Decision makers desire solutions that appeal to the specific problems they’re dealing with at their hospital or practice—what will save them time or money. Kelley says she often works with clients who are so immersed in building the best products they can for their own customers that they have only limited time to gain perspective on prospect needs.
“Typically, what you see is a healthcare software company is more focused on discussing the features of their software,” explains Kelley. “What they don't consider is which customer pain points they solve.”
Complicating the matter is the fact that many healthcare organizations make purchasing decisions in small teams or committees with multiple people, all with different concerns and priorities. “The CFO possibly has a different pain point than, for example, the healthcare provider who’s going to be using the software,” adds Kelley.
A skilled healthcare marketing agency will align your product marketing messaging to the specific issues your prospects are facing, whether that’s issues with recordkeeping or a disorganized patient flow. “We understand how to uncover those pain points and how to promote how your product addresses them rather than only touting the features of the software,” says Kelley.
The ultimate goal for any B2B strategy is a healthy flow of inbound leads – prospects that come to you via your website, social media profile, or some other method of communication. However, creating this type of marketing presence in a dynamic field like B2B healthcare software or SaaS isn’t an overnight process. Establishing a flow of inbound leads takes time and consistent effort at content creation over a long period of time.
Working with the right healthcare marketing agency can take the burden off your internal team to develop strong content, freeing up significant time and resources in the long run. It’s a long game. “Anytime that we are working to build organic leads, it’s going to take anywhere from four to six months, sometimes even up to a year to see results,” advises Kelley. “Sometimes businesses don’t understand what it takes to produce content, such as using SEO keyword research to create highly targeted topic clusters. It’s important to understand all the pieces that go into an organic content strategy.”
Considering the time it takes to build an organic search presence, many B2B healthcare product marketers may want to supplement these efforts with campaigns that can get results in the short term. A healthcare marketing agency can help with the important elements of paid ads on search and social media, from budgeting to audience selection to optimizing ad strategy.
“We look for a few quick wins for our clients while building their long-term strategy,” says Kelley when asked about timelines for paid advertising success. “For example, we can get them leads from paid ads.” However, to get optimal results with paid ads, you’ll need to align your ads with your overall digital strategy.
“If you only run ads and you’re not sending them to the correct place, it’s a mistake,” says Kelley. “When companies run an ad and send prospects to their home page, they make it harder for the visitor to convert. Instead, Kelley recommends creating targeted landing pages with specific calls to action to avoid this common ad strategy mistake.
Outside of early-stage startups, almost every B2B healthcare software company has a set of marketing activities in motion before working with an agency. One of the healthcare marketing benefits of partnering with an agency that has deep expertise in healthcare software is that they can improve the things you’re already doing to win business.
“Healthcare software marketing is tough – especially trying to break into the industry while targeting the many different buyers,” says Kelley. “Clients often have a hard time speaking their customers’ language.” Working with a specialized agency means you get a partner that is as comfortable helping you sell to a hospital CFO as a family practice office manager. The right partner will help you optimize your efforts, from lead form fields to header text to the design of your site. Also, a healthcare software digital agency has the depth of experience to swiftly implement many different services. For example, they can create highly targeted content for each stage of the marketing funnel, from email nurtures to eBooks to checklists.
“It all boils down to the experience in the healthcare software field,” says Kelley, “and the experience we've gained over the last 10+ years has shown us the best way to reach buyers.”
We’ve addressed many essential healthcare marketing benefits you can enjoy when working with an agency partner, but it takes some work to find the right agency and establish a connection with them.
When asked for suggestions on how B2B healthcare software companies can best equip their digital healthcare marketing agency for success, Kelley says software businesses need an understanding of the audience and a willingness to devote internal time to an agency partnership. Companies should prepare to invest time and decision-making energy toward helping their agency do an excellent job. “We ask for one contact who we can meet with weekly or biweekly, for anywhere between 30 minutes, sometimes an hour once a week so that we ensure we’re staying on track.”
From there, an agency can help you lay the foundation to get the results you desire. “First, we help you define who you're trying to reach and ensure your branding and messaging are on target. Next, we’ll perform a content audit to see what can be used and what needs to be revised or created,” says Kelley. “By creating a complete digital marketing strategy, we get you ROI as quickly as possible.”
Is your B2B healthcare software company ready to unlock the many advantages of teaming up with the right agency? Are you looking for an expert advisory team that can help you unlock the next level of growth? Click here to schedule a time to chat with us and discuss how we can help your company meet your sales and marketing goals.
