Discover how to reach the right audience in a crowded market.
Healthcare digital advertising is integral to supporting your overarching healthcare SaaS marketing strategy. But digital advertising in healthcare is unique and challenging — you can't just "copy and paste" what works for selling software and hope for the best.
The good news is that there is a method to the madness. We spoke to Brian Cauble, co-owner and the head of SEM/SEO strategy at Spot On Agency, to share his insights into digital advertising in healthcare for software companies. He shared key questions to consider at every stage of an advertising campaign.
You must track your return on ad spend (ROAS) to determine the effectiveness of your strategy. But what does this metric mean for your business? "Some questions I use to help articulate ad goals include: how much does the software cost? How long do people use it? What's the customer lifetime value (CLV)?" says Cauble.
Understanding the value each customer brings to your business will help clarify your advertising goals — and make smart decisions about ad spend. With this information in hand, you can accurately calculate what a lead is worth to determine how much you can afford to pay for digital advertising.
You must build a solid foundation before you launch a campaign —think long and hard about what kinds of problems you're solving for your customer. And, remember, because marketing healthcare software is so niche, you often don’t have huge amounts of search volume for key terms, which means you’ll have to be extra creative with how you create campaigns.
"We start by learning everything about our clients — what they do, how they position their brands, who their target audiences are, what keywords they aim to rank for, and what their conversion goals are. Everything, including KPIs and tactics, will stem from these insights," says Cauble.
The work isn't over after you launch a campaign. You must ensure it achieves your ad goals. After all, if it doesn't attract leads that convert, you're paying for clicks that don't bring you revenue!
Track the leads you get from a campaign throughout the customer journey and analyze their interactions with your brand across channels. Most importantly, talk to your sales team. "Ask your salespeople if those prospects are converting. They talk to potential customers all day and can give you insights into the quality of these leads," says Cauble.
Spotting red flags and course-correcting as soon as possible helps you avoid spending money on tactics that don't work. "We look at the metrics and ask these questions: Is the ad campaign generating enough traffic to move the needle? If not, should we broaden our targeting?" says Cauble.
"On the flip side, we must consider if our wording is too broad and not speaking to the target market,” Cauble says. For example, if your software provides EHR, you could set up your ad around the broad search term “EHR” or “EMR” and inadvertently target individuals searching for their medical records instead of the clinicians who use EHRs. In this case, you’d want to ask if the keywords and ad copy are attracting the right prospects who will convert. “By asking these important questions early on, we help our clients pivot quickly and save a lot of money," says Cauble.
It’s important to give your campaign time to produce results. If you start with a small budget, give a campaign about six months to produce results; If you have a medium or high budget, you should give it approximately three months. Then, analyze the leads and conversions the campaign generates.
"What is the number of demo requests, resulting opportunities, and, of course, sales against your ad spend? Healthcare software often has long sales cycles, and single-digital conversions per month aren't uncommon. That's why you should give the campaign time to see if it's generating high-quality leads," says Cauble.
Remember, while you shouldn't rush to a conclusion, you must know when to end a campaign that isn't generating converting leads cost-effectively.
"Evaluate the opportunities and demo requests generated by the campaign and the resulting conversion rates," says Cauble. "Return on ad spend is the most important metric — the amount you spend on acquiring each customer should be lower than its lifetime value for your campaign to be profitable."
However, return on ad spend isn't the be-all-end-all. Digital advertising in healthcare can also help you strengthen your software brand’s image and build an online presence. It takes an average of 10 to 20 touches before a customer converts. "A good campaign must align with your website, content, nurturing campaign, and sales tactics to work its magic," says Cauble.
Should you work with an agency to design a healthcare advertising strategy? The answer is a definitive "yes." An agency that has been doing healthcare digital advertising for years has gone through its evolution and is current with the latest best practices. That experience means they’ll know the industry trends, which keywords will yield high-quality leads, and the exact return on ad spend you should aim for.
"We have seen it all. I can often glance at a campaign's cost-per-click and tell you if you're paying too much for your leads," says Cauble.
Moreover, an agency specializing in healthcare digital advertising for software companies understands the fast-shifting privacy concerns in the industry. "Advertising networks have become more careful about data privacy. They've pulled back on the information they share with advertisers, making it more challenging for brands to hone their targeting," says Cauble.
A well-orchestrated healthcare digital advertising campaign helps you attract the right prospects into your funnel and creates a seamless digital experience through various touchpoints (e.g., website, email) along the customer journey to drive conversions.
Schedule a time to chat with us to see how we can help your software company break through the healthcare advertising complexity to capture and convert high-quality leads.
