Congratulations! You’ve decided to take a significant step in the direction of wild business success. You’re going to be creating a powerful and effective marketing plan. Now, this is no easy feat. There will certainly be obstacles along the way, maybe a tear or two shed, but if done right, the time invested in this critical key to success will be way beyond worth it in the long run. So let’s get down to what you’re here for.
The mistakes you need to avoid when you’re starting your planning. The success-killing mistakes that could throw you way off track and ultimately mean the demise of your marketing plan, or worse, your business. As startups or small businesses, every dollar and every day counts. So we need to be conscious of how we can most effectively spend our time to get us to the glorious finish line.
Unfortunately, there is no cookie-cutter road map to success. And because every business is different, every path to success will be different too. While we can’t tell you exactly what your business will need to do to see huge success no matter what, what we can tell you, is what NOT to do in order to avoid almost certain failure.
Avoid these 4 success-killing mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to creating an effective marketing plan.
Let’s set the record straight. We are ALL ABOUT big goals. And we are most definitely about promoting the dedication, commitment and hard work to reaching those goals. But we absolutely have to be realistic. There are four paramount pieces of this pre plan-building process that we need to make sure we’ve served ourselves a reality check on and those are:
MISTAKE #1 NOT BEING REALISTIC
According to The Content Marketing Institute, 25% is the average portion of a marketing budget dedicated to content marketing.
BUDGET
It is 100% vital that you are realistic when deciding on your marketing budget. Often times marketing budgets are limited, and in some cases, they’re non-existent. Many small businesses don’t include marketing in their business budget because they tell themselves one of two things:
I don’t have enough (or any) money to spend on marketing
I don’t know what to do, so I don’t know what to spend (as a result, I spend nothing) But, it takes money to make money! We can confidently tell you that spending money on marketing (the right way) is absolutely worth it – and essential to building your business. If your budget is small, that’s okay! Just make sure you’re spending it where it counts. Your marketing budget can take you far if you know where to put it. If you plan it out right, it will increase as your business grows as a direct result of your marketing efforts. But for right now, be realistic with how much money you can allocate to marketing. A small budget can accomplish big things in the world of digital marketing as the results of evergreen content can exponentially grow over time.
TIME
Just like any aspect of your business, marketing takes time and effort. As small business owners and entrepreneurs, you’re probably familiar with the feeling of being stretched for time and stretched too thin. So you’re probably thinking, “On top of the money I don’t have to spend on marketing, I definitely don’t have the time to dedicate to this project either!” But you need to escape that mindset right now. Yes, marketing your business will take time. But believe it or not, if building your business is a priority – you can find the time.
Wildly successful entrepreneurs don’t have more time in the day than we do, they just commit to spending their time on the most valuable, goal-oriented tasks.
Even if you only have 3-5 spare hours every week, you can still accomplish much more than you think. The number one thing to think about as you start your marketing planning is recognizing how much time you truly have to dedicate to your efforts. Don’t create a marketing plan that will require your full and undivided attention for hours a day if you only have one hour a day to actually implement it.
We want you to set yourself up for success, not failure. If you have a team, remember to consider how much available time they have too and how you can utilize their skillsets in your plan!
SUCCESS TIP GOALS
Step One of developing a marketing plan will always be goal setting. If you have nothing to work toward, it will be impossible to create a plan. Once you’ve finished designing your plan, you’ll need to analyze your efforts by determining your key performance indicators.
Your KPIs will tell you what is and is not working inside of your marketing plan. But it is absolutely vital that you select and evaluate the correct KPIs for your plan and business. Your business’s KPIs will be different from other businesses, and they will rely heavily on the goals you’ve laid out.
For example, if your main goal is brand awareness and you’re using Facebook as a tool to achieve that goal, there are certain numbers you’ll want to focus on, and others that are less important. In this case, Total Reach (number of Facebook users that viewed your content) may be a key metric. Focusing on the right numbers is crucial to your marketing success.
Your goals will be the core of your marketing plan. All of your marketing tactics should be working together to achieve not only your marketing goals, but your business goals too. All too often we see businesses on Facebook that have no true purpose. When we ask them why they created a Facebook account they say, “Well everyone’s on Facebook.” While that is true, if being on Facebook doesn’t help you achieve one, or all, of your goals, then you shouldn’t waste your time creating and managing a Facebook account. When creating your marketing plan, and as new opportunities (or distractions) come your way always always revisit your goals and ask yourself, “Will this help me get closer to achieving the goals I’ve laid out?” If the answer is no, go back and reconsider.
TIMELINE
Spoiler alert: success doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re reading that sentence and thinking “duh,” we want you to remember that fact when you’ve begun implementing your marketing plan. Marketing can be a bit of a waiting game. You will not see drastic change after one day of implementation. You might not even see progress after two or three weeks. But we can reassure you that your marketing efforts will be effective if you’ve planned them the right way, and stick to them. Do not get discouraged and begin changing your goals and tactics. If you continue to make changes every time you don’t see immediate progress, you’ll never achieve your goals. Just follow the plan you’ve laid out for yourself, and you’ll see a difference down the line.
MISTAKE #2 WATCHING THE WRONG NUMBERS
Every business has a target audience. Your business is no exception. For some companies, it can be easy to believe their product or service applies to everyone. And while it’s possible that everyone may be able to use your product or service, we’re willing to bet that there are certain segments of the market that could benefit much more than others, and need you much more than others.
Those are the ones you want to target. Why focus energy, time and money on ones that could use you or might use you – when you know there are individuals out there that desperately NEED you right now? We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, in marketing to everyone, you’re essentially marketing to no one.
That may sound backwards, but it’s the truth. The beauty of marketing in this day and age is that you can be very specific and targeted, and get your message in front of even the most segmented of audiences. And that’s exactly what you want to do. Do not fall prey to believing that marketing to the largest audience will result in acquiring the largest number of customers.
MISTAKE #3 BEING TOO MUCH FOR TOO MANY
You want people that fit into your target audience to believe that your product or service was designed specifically for them as an individual, because it was! Narrow it down and get specific with your audience. As you become more targeted, and better about defining that audience, and those individuals, your messaging will become much more powerful and much more likely to inspire, education and elicit action.
SUCCESS TIP
Pain points should differ between audiences! When identifying who your ideal markets are, the differentiating factor should lie within the specific challenges they are facing.
The reason for this is because that determines how you will position your messaging and your product in a way that connects with them at the deepest level. Inbound marketing expert, Laura Fitton, says, “Focus on the core problem your business solves and put out lots of content and enthusiasm, and ideas about how to solve that problem.”
Like we said before, marketing can be a waiting game. Once you begin implementing your marketing plan it could take a few weeks to a month before you begin to see change and progress. That is 100% normal. It may become difficult to maintain patience with your marketing plan once you’ve begun. You’ve invested time and money into this planning and you’re really banking on that ROI.
Trust us, you’ll get your ROI. But it won’t always be right away. Losing your patience, though, could be detrimental to your progress. It’s natural to want to change your tactics when you’re not seeing the results you want, but you have to give your marketing efforts time to take effect. Especially if you’re working on a limited budget, you need to consider the impact you can truly be having.
If you’ve driven 10 people to a landing page and none have converted – is that truly a sign of an ineffective landing page or offer? I’d say no, we need to see some real numbers before we make new decisions or change direction. We’ve seen our fair share of business owners who were impatient, and because of this, constantly changing their goals and tactics.
Unfortunately, they never fully achieved any of the goals they set out to accomplish…and ultimately lost sight of what their goals were to begin with.
MISTAKE #4 LOSING PATIENCE
On a more positive note, we’ve seen great success with clients who are willing to commit to a plan and trust the process. Beth Comstock said it best when she said, “Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.” We’re not asking you to sit idly by and twiddle your thumbs.
As long as you’re following the guidance of your marketing plan, and understanding the metrics that determine success and where your benchmarks lie, we are confident you’ll see the results you’re looking for. It may not feel like it, but you’re already ahead of the competition.
You may not have created your marketing plan yet, but you’re now armed with the knowledge of what NOT to do, and that is a huge asset. Learn from the mistakes of others, and start to build an effective marketing plan that will have a significant impact on your business and your bottom line.
Radiant Marketing was founded on the desire to assist small businesses in successfully developing and executing on powerful and strategic marketing plans and simplifying and streamlining efforts through marketing automation and inbound marketing.
Our vision is to change the world of small business by equipping entrepreneurs and small business owners with the platforms and tools they need to successfully implement effective marketing strategies built around their most powerful asset – their brand.
From Interest to Income: How to Convert Leads for Your Health Brand
Converting leads is like fishing. You can’t just throw your line out and hope for the best; you need a solid strategy, the right bait, a steady hand, and the patience to reel them in.
Your brand’s strength is measured by how well it can attract and keep fish….we mean, customers – despite the competition. To stand out and effectively convert leads and generate sales we must educate, engage, build trust, personalize the experience, and stay connected post-purchase.
Keep reading to learn how to do that!
Illuminate and Instruct
Unlike with fishing, the bait you use for marketing should not lead to something disastrous, but rather something spectacular. The ‘bait’ in this instance is engaging, valuable content that fosters trust with your audience. Here are 4 types of content to consider:
Benefits & Outcomes of Your Products/Services:
Illustrate how your products or services can enhance health outcomes, such as reducing pain, improving mobility, or enhancing overall well-being.
Example: A blog post detailing how regular use of your fitness app can lead to weight loss, increased energy levels, and improve cardiovascular health.
The Science Behind Your Solution:
Explain the scientific principles or mechanisms underlying your products or services, demonstrating credibility and effectiveness.
Example: A video presentation by a nutritionist explaining the physiological effects of certain nutrients found in your dietary supplements.
Holistic Ways to Elevate Your Audience’s Well-being:
Offer comprehensive advice on achieving wellness beyond your specific product or service, including mental health tips, stress management techniques, or mindfulness practices.
Example: An e-book providing a holistic guide to maintaining work-life balance, including meditation exercises, productivity tips, and healthy eating habits.
Research-Backed Examples, Strategies, etc., to Improve Their Lives:
Share scientifically validated strategies, case studies, or success stories demonstrating the efficacy of your offerings.
Example: An article featuring testimonials from customers who have experienced significant improvements in their health after using your OTC remedies, supported by clinical research data.
Entice a variety of prospects by providing this content in different formats. Publish it as:
Blog Posts & Articles: Regularly update your blog with informative articles addressing various health topics, product benefits, and lifestyle tips.
E-books: Compile in-depth guides or resources into downloadable e-books that provide valuable insights and actionable advice.
Videos: Produce engaging video content, such as tutorials, interviews with experts, or testimonials, to visually convey information and connect with your audience on a personal level.
Building trust is key to building your brand, as research shows the majority of people buy from brands they trust.. By becoming a credible source of information, you’ll build credibility and trust with prospects, making them more likely to convert.
Offer ‘Try Before You Buy’
Just like a fish testing out the bait before biting…people love trying before they buy, especially when it comes to health products. And, a whopping 6 out of 10 free trials convert to paid customers on average.
Offering free samples or trials allows potential customers to experience the benefits of your products firsthand, eliminating any doubts or uncertainties they may have. Whether it’s a sample-sized version of your supplement or a trial period for your health app, providing this opportunity can significantly increase the likelihood of conversion.
Additionally, collecting feedback from trial users can help you refine your product and marketing strategies to better meet the needs of your target audience.
Prove It! (With Social Proof)
In today’s digital age, social proof plays a significant role in influencing purchasing decisions. 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendation. Testimonials, reviews, and endorsements from satisfied customers can instill confidence in potential buyers and reassure them that your products deliver on their promises. Encourage your existing customers to share their experiences on social media platforms, review websites, or directly on your website.
You can also collaborate with influencers or experts in the health and wellness industry to endorse your products and reach a wider audience. By showcasing positive feedback and endorsements, you can leverage social proof to convert leads into sales.
“Social proof continues to reign supreme in shaping consumer choices. From heartfelt testimonials to glowing reviews, harnessing the power of satisfied customers can pave the way for trust and authenticity. Don’t just aim for sales, aim for connections.” -Lauren, Radiant Content Strategist
Create a “Just For You” Shopping Experience
Crafting a personalized shopping experience tailored to the unique preferences and needs of each customer is not just a trend—it’s a proven strategy for success in today’s competitive marketplace.
Take Amazon, for example, whose recommendation engine analyzes past purchases and browsing history to offer personalized product suggestions, enhancing the overall shopping experience.
Similarly, Spotify utilizes data on listening habits to curate custom playlists for individual users, ensuring that each music lover feels understood and valued. By harnessing the power of data analytics and leveraging deep customer insights, businesses can genuinely connect with their audience on a personal level.
Whether it’s suggesting products based on past purchases, extending exclusive discounts aligned with individual interests, or curating recommendations that align with specific health goals or concerns, the possibilities for personalization are endless.
But, this isn’t just about superficial customization; it’s about genuinely enhancing the shopping journey for each individual, fueling meaningful engagement and creating life-long customers.
Stay Connected: Master Your Follow Up Game
Many leads don’t convert into sales immediately and studies show that only 10-15% of leads actually make it to the bottom of the sales funnel to convert into sales. Therefore, it’s essential to have a follow-up strategy in place to nurture leads and guide them through the sales funnel.
This could involve sending personalized follow-up emails or messages to remind potential customers about your products, address any concerns or questions they may have, or offer exclusive incentives to encourage them to make a purchase.
Implementing marketing automation tools can streamline the follow-up process and ensure that leads are consistently nurtured until they convert into paying customers.
“Creating automated yet personalized nurturing sequences is an effective way to increase revenue from existing contacts. While they may (or may not) have purchased from you in the past, it is often much easier and less expensive to focus on converting these leads than putting all of your resources into driving new visitors and leads.” – Karen Cummings, Radiant Founder & CEO
Converting leads into sales for your health brand requires a strategic approach that focuses on educating, engaging, and building trust with potential customers. By implementing these five strategies, you can effectively convert leads and generate sales for your health brand, ultimately driving growth and success in the competitive health and wellness industry.
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Our Radiant Marketing Definition of ‘Scrappy’: Possessing a Determined Spirit (Fiesty)
The New Entrepreneur: There’s A New Entrepreneur in Town These Days and She’s Scrappy
And she’s scrappy. You have to be when you live in a world jaded by advertising and clever copy, new fads and quick fixes. But you’ve got an idea and you’ve got the gumption, so therefore you’re breaking your way into the market however you can. We get that.
As a small business marketing agency ourselves, we are constantly inspired, impressed, and rejuvenated by small businesses everywhere who are breaking a sweat to disrupt a busy marketplace. We find these new entrepreneurs so refreshing, in fact, that in 2011 we committed to helping them succeed. And today, we introduce to you our Small Business Marketing Guide for Scrappy Entrepreneurs – created with YOU in mind and packed with the insights and tips we’ve learned over the last seven years.
That’s right – the information in this guide is tailor-made to benefit your small business and get your marketing moving in the right direction for you. Our recommendations are based on the proven methods, strategies and tactics we’ve implemented for the many scrappy entrepreneurs that came before you! Now, let’s get down to business.
What you will learn in this guide:
Crafting your Brand Why
Defining, attracting and engaging your ideal audience of Brand Soulmates™
Leveraging the power of Storytelling
Building out your brand with Powerful Positioning using the right Channels
The importance of Consistency & Focus Successfully Marketing on a Budget
Goal Setting & Tracking
Small Business & Organizational Tools (including our favorites!)
Your Brand Why
The foundation of your small business story is built on what you value most. And those values are intertwined throughout everything you do as a business – whether you’re aware of it or not – because it’s deeply ingrained in who you are. It’s built on your beliefs and the world you envision after your business has had the impact you’ve set out to have. Passion, and the “why” behind that passion, is key to small business success.
So as you’re sitting down to establish your “why” behind your business, consider these questions:
What did you hope to accomplish when you started your small business?
What value do you hope your customers will get from your small business offerings?
What is the overall mission of your small business?
How will you change the world?!
Establishing the true and specific answer to each of these can help you to rediscover the reason why you started your small business and help you to keep clarity around your big business goals and purpose – giving you the fuel you need to overcome the daily struggle of business survival.
Target Audience
Finding your target audience is a topic that has been presented in many different ways, a thousand different times. However, we feel it goes deeper than just finding the right platform where your demographic might be. We believe you have to start at the very core of your small business.
To find your target audience, or your Brand Soulmates™ as we call them, you must return to your “why”. The reason “why” you started your business, the passion that drove you to do so (and continues to drive you) is that same reason and same passion which customers must align with in order to fall in love with your brand and small business.
When your brand stands for something specific, you make your values and beliefs known, consumers can connect at a deeper level with who you are as a brand – because it’s a representation of who THEY are as a person.
So how do we connect the “why” and your Brand Soulmate™ together to increase impact and sales? Let’s break it down.
Brand Soulmates™
While commonly referred to as ‘target audience’, ‘ideal audience’, ‘buyer persona’ or even ‘avatar’, we like to refer to your small business ‘match made in heaven’ audience as your Brand Soulmates™.
And we feel this is the most apt way to describe that perfect brand-consumer fit as well. Think about it. These are people who feel so perfectly aligned with your brand, and share the same interests and values as your brand, that they’re inspired to take action and purchase from your business.
You are free to be who you intended yourself to be as a brand, and don’t need to apologize for it. You feel these connections in your gut – it just feels right! If you’re a service based business, you can probably think of which of these clients fall into this category, and which don’t. If you’re a product based company these are often the customers who repeatedly purchase from you, send other customers your way and spread the word about your brand online.
In understanding the concept of Brand Soulmates™, you also acknowledge that this connection won’t be there for EVERYONE. And that’s ok! Rather than broadly marketing to many without result, you’ll be powerfully connecting with a certain segment of the market.
A segment that is most inclined to purchase and repurchase from you time and time again.
To get started, ask yourself these questions when establishing potential Brand Soulmates™:
What is my brand “why” (established in step one)?
What values are at the core of your business?
Does this individual also hold this same value/belief?
WHY is this a value or belief of theirs? Dig deeper.
What does my ideal customer value in a (fill in the blank) product or service?
How does this individual evaluate solutions like the one I offer?
What resources do they go to? Is my ideal customer male or female? Or both?
What’s the age range of my ideal customer?
What sort of spending power would my ideal customer have? Approximate yearly income?
Would my ideal customer have any special interests (as pertains to your brand)?
Once you’ve completed the answers to each of these questions, you’ll find that you’re well on your way to creating your first Brand Soulmate™ profile.
To complete these profiles, you’ll want to:
1. Compile all of the information you have available to you through your experience in this industry and business
2. Interview your internal team – product, sales, marketing and leadership – to get their perspectives on challenges, complaints, common questions, product updates, etc.
3. Review your analytics for any trends in activity, search terms, referral sources, etc to identify opportunities
4. Interview your Brand Soulmates™ within prospect, customer and past customer categories to hear from them how they describe their challenges, pain points, values, benefit/outcome of solving their challenge
(Pro Tip: pay attention to commonly used phrases and keywords to explain this.)
Your small business marketing is dependent upon the creation of these Brand Soulmates™ because they allow you to identify your prospects and customers’ pain points and challenges (and address them), know where you can find your audience, and understand how they will move through the buyer’s journey.
Once you’ve put all of this information together, pick a name for your soulmate and create a profile to use internally and when working with any outside vendors, partners or agencies.
Storytelling
Did you know that you were going to become the Walt Disney of your own business when you started your small business marketing plan?
What we mean by this is that creating your brand, the messaging, the logo, the graphics, the imagery all serves to create your small business story. This story contributes to the experience customers will have when they interact with your brand. Ultimately this experience determines if the customer will become a fan of your brand, and in the end determine if they will buy from you.
Storytelling sets the foundation for every aspect of marketing your small business, so don’t neglect this essential task – believe us, establishing your “why” and tying that into your powerful story will make every future decision for your small business that much clearer and easier.
Brand Identity
Your ability to improve brand recognition and recall with your target audience is a huge determinant in the success of your small business. Famous brands got their start somewhere, and you can bet that their current success is still dependent upon customers being able to recognize their logo (and brand) from a mile away.
However, branding is more than just an amazing logo or graphic or font. It’s about:
Who you are as a small business
What makes you different
Your brand personality and language
Consistently sending this message across all mediums
And design that allows you to positively connect with your target audience
Branding is much more than just pretty graphics – it’s about how your customers feel when they see your small business’ brand. The best part about it? You can build your brand without breaking the bank. Let’s dive in.
CONTENT
One of the main ingredients to creating show-stopping, click-worthy content for your
brand is having a brand voice. According to Dima Midon in an article on Entrepreneur, “Brand voice is the intentional, consistent communication of your business identity.”
We’re pretty sure that’s the most succinct explanation of branded content.
Essentially, you need to establish a brand voice that’s so unique to your small business,
that when laid side by side with competitors, without any logo or design indicator,
your content would stand out as “something different” and something your audience
could easily recognize.
Your branded content also needs to be completely aligned with your brand vision,
voice, and value. When completing the groundwork for your first pieces of content, ask
yourself:
Who is my Brand Soulmate?
What types of content could I create that would be addressing their key
challenges, pain points, needs, etc that I uncovered when developing my Brand
Soulmate™ profiles?
How does this content relate to my small business and small business goals?
What should my brand voice sound like (based on my brand why and my
audience)? Funny and casual? Cool and professional? A mix of both?
Once you’ve done this preliminary work, start creating a brand guide that includes
vocabulary, tone, and phrases that pertain to your business specifically. This will help
you to maintain brand voice consistency as you start building your collection of
branded content.
Design
Last, but not least, ensure your brand design aligns with the why, the message and the
content you’re creating. Your brand design should bring all of those elements to life in
a clean, memorable visual display. Ask yourself if your visual elements:
1. Appropriately portray the brand values and personality? (i.e. creative,
risk-taking, etc)
2. Make my audience feel how I want them to feel? (i.e. confident, relaxed,
pumped, etc)
3. Will be easy to recognize and remember?
4. Are consistent across all channels – both online and offline? (i.e. website, social
media, logo, business cards, signage, menus, etc)
Brand Positioning
Once you’ve established your brand why, identified your Brand Soulmates and created your brand identity & messaging, you’ll have a MUCH clearer understanding of how you’ll position yourself in a crowded marketplace.
Positioning is all about identifying your ideal customer (you did that already), identifying their pain points (you did that already, too), developing powerful content (refer to Branding), and finally, it’s about getting clear about what makes you different from the competition.
In addition to focusing on your brand values, highlighting HOW you provide your solutions can be a powerful unique differentiator.
People believe in and trust systems and processes. If you’re delivering your solution in a specific way, that utilizes unique tools, resources, steps or technology – use this to establish your positioning statement.
You can also use these 5 ways to position your small business brand in the marketplace:
Specialize – put your focus on one product/service and focus on a specific problem. Your expertise could you set you apart from the competition.
Provide a full suite of services – if you don’t want to specialize and hone in on one specific thing, you could offer an entire bundle of services in an industry that’s rather fragmented with specialists. It really depends on your small business and the industry that you’re in (and your established buyer persona).
Be a rebel – not only is it more fun to be a rebel, but differentiating yourself using your unique brand story and background is a great way to make some noise if your product/service is similar to several others in the marketplace.
Focus on customer experience – if you can put your energy into proving that your product/service makes something easier and more efficient, you will win the love of customers everywhere.
Find a new tribe – more often than not, businesses strive to gain the attention of one particular demographic, which ultimately creates an intense amount of competition. We’ve talked about creating your Brand Soulmate™ but depending on your product/service, there may be additional opportunities to align with more soulmates. Maybe it’s time to seek out the pain points of a less noticed demographic and put yourself in front of them too. Identify any existing associations that may be limiting you and address them!
In the end, your positioning should do four things:
Define your audience
Clearly demonstrate the benefit
of your offering
Define the category
you’re in
Set you apart from the
competition
Online Marketing Channels
Once you’ve established what sort of demographic would most align with your small business mission and values, and once you’ve decided upon the best position to take, it’s time to distribute. But you can’t just distribute your brand and message willy-nilly. It’s important to take into account the type of channels and how accessibility and demographics can play a role here, too. If done correctly, you should have established to some degree what platforms and channels your Brand Soulmates™ are using both recreationally and to help them make decisions when it comes to your solutions. For example, are they active on Facebook? Do they regularly check their email? Are they using Google to get answers to their questions?
While there are many channels you can choose for distribution of your small business marketing messages, we’ve focused on two of the most widely used: email marketing channels and social media marketing channels.
Email
Some may claim that email is dead, but we beg to differ! When done correctly, email marketing is an invaluable resource for all marketers, but especially small businesses on a budget. Email marketing can be an inexpensive way for small businesses to reach a large number of contacts and customers for pennies per message. You can easily reach customers on mobile, since, according to a study from Forrester Research, more than 42% of email marketing messages are opened on a mobile device. Lastly, customization of your email marketing messages is easy. Using an email marketing service allows you to customize email templates to align with your branding and resonate with your audience. Some of our top email marketing choices include: MailChimp, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot.
Social Media
We will cover this in a bit more detail later in the guide (reference Marketing on a Budget) but it’s always good to reiterate a particularly useful or important point. Consistency and repetition are key, people!
There are several social media platforms that you can utilize as your small business marketing channel, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Depending upon your ideal audience, you can advertise and network on any of these sites and engage the attention of potential customers. Social media is also a great place to connect with social influencers who could help you to promote your brand and product/service. Depending upon how influential they are, and the terms of the contract you come up with, this is another inexpensive way to promote trust for your small business and get noticed.
Consistency and Focus
As mentioned previously, consistency in branding (brand voice, brand tone, etc) is super duper important. So important, in fact, that we just described it as “super duper”. It was necessary. Please don’t judge us.
Using your brand guide and your small business mission as your touchstone, you need to be able to create content that has a focus and is consistent enough to be recognizable as yours.
The focus in the back of your mind when creating brand content should always be “what is my business goal” and “what is the goal of this content”? You need to understand your small business marketing goals in order to create strategized content to help you reach them, but you also need to understand what you want your reader to take away from your content and what their next steps should be.
Don’t just create content for the sake of creating content. Create it with consistency and purpose. Two strategies to ensuring consistency and focus Establish content themes These could be pulled from the research you did in your Brand Soulmates™ development phase Create an editorial calendar to help you to stay organized, consistent, and focused on the overarching marketing goal of your content creation. Plus, once you’ve mapped out several months (or a year) in advance, the writing process will become much easier.
Marketing On a Budget
If you’ve started your own small business, it’s likely you don’t currently have a lot of excessive, available capital. It’s for this very reason that many small businesses focus on their top pain points (i.e. managing cash flow, hiring staff, dealing with customer service issues, etc) and let their marketing efforts fall by the wayside.
We get it – you have priorities and limited funds to make them happen. However, we’re here to tell you that you can still successfully implement a marketing plan for your small business – even on a budget.
Here’s how to make the most of the funds you have: Leverage these four tactics to help ensure prospects who align with your brand values, and are searching for the solution you offer, can find you and convert into happy, paying customers!
Publish Amazing, Engaging Content – Whether for business or pleasure, the world of the internet is powered by websites with incredible content that draws readers back to their sites again and again for more.
Creating valuable content – (think of your Brand Soulmate™ and what they want!) will not only make your small business seem valuable, but it will also increase your authority online.
Why is this important?
Increasing your authority on a subject also increases consumers’ trust in you. And, people do business with the people they trust. By putting yourself “out there”, giving your brand a personality, and taking the time to research and present important updates and opinions that are helpful to your customers, you’re earning their trust.
If you’re writing and creating the content yourself it’s only the cost of time – and what better way to spend your time than tackling these important marketing tactics for growth. No need to stretch that marketing budget.
Create a ‘Google My Business’ Account
If you have a physical location (and even if you’re virtual), and you want your small business to be found online by individuals searching the interwebs for your services, then having a Google My Business account is key. Once you have set up your free account (did I mention “free”?), claimed and verified your information, you will be visible on a local search, Google Maps, and Google+.
Collaborate and Co-Market
Building a business from scratch can take a ton of time, energy, and money. Online advertising alone can cost you a pretty penny when it’s all said and done. Rather than starting your business by throwing money into online advertising right out the gate or completely alone, reach this same audience (or better) by aligning with established businesses targeting your same demographic.
Guest Post on Relevant (and Popular) Sites
One way to leverage these relationships and get your business in front of these audiences is by guest posting on similar established and relevant sites. While this does take some time, posting to a website with an established audience can have a much more significant impact on brand reach than focusing all of your efforts on your own site.
Run Complementary Email Promotions
Are you connected to any other businesses targeting your same audience? Explore opportunities to run a promotion via email that benefits their audience and gets your brand in front of new people. Depending on the promotion, you could request email addresses or drive visitors to your website. For example, if you’re the new boutique on the block, partner up with a few stylists to send out an email broadcast letting their contacts know if they mention the stylist’s name or use a promo code online, they get 10% off their purchase.
When you’re just getting started, overcoming the initial hump of no exposure to consistent and growing exposure can be frustrating and fruitless. Partnering with other businesses accelerates this exposure, builds a stronger sense of trust right out the gate, and improves your online presence with inbound links and more.
Social Networks
Create business accounts and participate in all the major social networks your audience is on, which may include LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Not only will building a solid presence on these platforms help you to network with other businesses and consumers, increase your online presence and build trust, it will most likely provide you with direct access to your target audience.
Remember, try not to bite off more than you can chew. If your resources and time only allow for one platform then choose ONE platform and kick its ass! It’s better to maintain a strong, valuable presence on one platform than a mediocre, ‘meh’ presence on 3 or more. Plus, if your budget will allow for it, you have opportunities to advertise on these social networks to drive traffic to your site or increase engagement with followers at a fairly low cost. There are a variety of ways to market on little to no budget (these are just a few), so there’s no need to sacrifice great marketing due to limited funds. It’s essential that you implement some form of marketing for your small business in order to promote growth and success.
Goal Setting and Tracking
Now, before you dive right in and start deciding if things are working or not, you must set some goals. We can’t stress enough the importance of this step. We’re constantly talking to business owners who have invested time, money and resources into their marketing initiatives and growing their business but have little to no idea if things are working. Or, they say things aren’t working, but have NO gauge in place to base this assessment off of.
While it might not feel like you’re “doing anything”, one of the first rules for setting yourself up for small business marketing success is to set specific goals. And they must be specific. A well-defined marketing goal can make a huge difference in how you make future decisions as well as how you manage and track your key performance indicators (KPIs).
What Do We Mean By “Well-Defined”? Well-defined means setting a goal that has a trackable, quantifiable performance indicator. Some examples of well-defined marketing goals include: I want 1,000 new visitors to my site, 3 leads, and 2 new customers next month in order to achieve my revenue goal of $500/month. (See how specific it is?) I would like to generate 6 new customers over the next 3 months from our current client list using email marketing. I want to reach $200,000 in revenue by the end of the year.
These goals have quantifiable results in mind and will allow you to create a more targeted strategy in order to achieve them. After all, why set goals if you aren’t going to do everything you can to knock them out of the park?
Getting Started with Goals
If you have little to no historical data to go off of in setting your goals, still set them but plan for 90-day periods of time compared to a full year. This will give you shorter benchmarks to determine if your goals are realistic.
Make it Stick with the WHY
As a new entrepreneur just getting started in your business, it may be easy to set ambitious goals – and even easier to forget them or neglect them when times get tough. To increase your chances of breaking through barriers and staying motivated when times are tough, dig into the reasoning behind your goals. Are you setting this revenue goal so that your family can take a much-needed and well-deserved vacation next year? Is the customer goal so that you can hire another team member to free up some of your time to focus on business growth rather than customer service?
Understanding the ‘why’ behind the goal is sometimes more important than the goal itself. So to successfully set your goals, start thinking about what you truly want to accomplish and then work backwards from there to determine what you need to do in order to make that dream a reality.
Tracking, Tracking, Tracking… Did We Mention Tracking?
What are goals without tracking? Nothing! We cannot stress this enough – without tracking in place, your lovely goals and ambitions are essentially non-existent and not useful to the growth of your small business. While some goals may be easier to monitor in the end (i.e. did I hit $200K in revenue this year?), most of them need tracking in place to help you establish if you’re working towards them in a realistic way. How will you know if you are reaching your goals and KPIs if there’s no way for you to see what’s actually happening with your marketing efforts?
Owning a business is not for the faint of heart – and neither is successfully marketing
that business. It takes a feisty, spirited, and determined person to make it happen, but
we believe in you, and most importantly, we’re here to help.
We hope you found this small business marketing overview to be beneficial and
thought-provoking as you take steps to further your small business growth and
success. Now it’s time for you to get out there, make these moves, and start seeing
results. Go get ‘em, tiger!
Ready To Take It To The Next Level?
We strongly believe that the success of small businesses lies in effectively defining
and sharing their Brand Why, maintaining a deep and intimate understanding of
their Brand Soulmates and creating a consistent and focused marketing plan with
specific goals and tracking in place. For this reason, we created our four online courses
for entrepreneurs: Business Success Starter Course, Your Brand Story, Your Brand
Soulmates™ and Your Brand Identity
Section 1: Generate Sales – An Introduction to Healthcare Sales Enablement
In the intricate world of healthcare marketing, the concept of sales enablement takes center stage, representing a strategic alignment of sales and marketing efforts to generate sales. Coined as “smarketing” by industry expert Dan Tyre, sales enablement is the fusion of sales and marketing activities, creating a synergistic approach to engaging potential leads.
Generating sales involves the strategic implementation of tools, processes, and resources to empower sales teams, ensuring they have the necessary information and assets to effectively communicate with prospects and generate sales.
This guide, created by Radiant Marketing, delves into the core principles of sales enablement for healthcare brands, offering actionable insights and strategies to elevate lead progression and conversion initiatives and results, including the generation of sales and new business.
A. Importance of Healthcare Sales Enablement to Generate Sales
Within the healthcare sector’s dynamic landscape, where relationships hold paramount importance and decisions bear substantial weight, the significance of sales enablement cannot be overstated. A study found that organizations who focus on sales enablement achieve a 49% win rate on forecasted deals, compared to 42.5% for those without. Strategies to help generate sales become vital in the success of marketing endeavors by fostering collaboration between sales and marketing teams.
Healthcare sales enablement extends beyond traditional lead generation, focusing on equipping sales teams with the expertise to navigate the intricacies of compliance, effectively communicate with diverse stakeholders, and address the unique challenges presented by the healthcare landscape.
As healthcare consumers become more informed and discerning, the need for a cohesive ‘smarketing’ strategy is critical. Sales enablement not only enhances the efficiency of lead generation but also contributes to building trust, nurturing meaningful connections, and ultimately influencing positive patient outcomes and business growth by generating sales.
Understanding the pivotal role of sales enablement in the healthcare industry lays the groundwork for a comprehensive approach to lead progression. This approach goes beyond transactional interactions, emphasizing the building of enduring relationships in the ever-evolving and vital healthcare sector.
B. Understanding the Healthcare Sales Landscape
Current Trends and Challenges in Generating Sales in Healthcare
The process of generating sales in healthcare – both B2C and B2B – is undergoing significant changes, especially in the aftermath of COVID-19. In the pharmaceutical and field marketing sectors, there’s a notable shift towards virtual and technological advancements. For instance, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly leveraging virtual platforms for sales presentations and engagement with healthcare professionals. This change not only aligns with the evolving preferences post-pandemic but also enhances accessibility and efficiency.1
Companies like Pfizer have adopted virtual engagement strategies to connect with healthcare professionals. Webinars, online presentations, and virtual conferences have become integral parts of their sales approach, adapting to the changing landscape.
Regulatory Considerations for Generating Sales
Navigating the healthcare sales landscape requires an awareness of regulatory considerations. This includes adherence to industry standards, compliance with healthcare laws, and a commitment to ethical practices.1 Ensuring that sales strategies align with regulations is crucial to building trust and maintaining the integrity of the healthcare brand.
Key Stakeholders in the Healthcare Sales Process
When it comes to generating healthcare sales, various stakeholders play pivotal roles. These include healthcare professionals, patients, payers, and even regulatory bodies. Understanding the needs and expectations of each stakeholder is essential for crafting effective sales strategies.
For example, tailoring sales pitches to address the concerns of healthcare professionals and providing clear information for patients contribute to successful healthcare sales.
The Mayo Clinic prioritizes a patient-centric sales approach in their strategies. By considering the needs and preferences of patients in their communication and service delivery, they build trust and enhance the overall sales process.
C. Patient-Centric Sales Generation Approaches
Understanding the Patient Journey
In patient-centric sales approaches, understanding the patient journey is key. This involves recognizing the various stages a patient goes through, from awareness to decision-making and post-purchase engagement.2 Through a deep understanding of this journey, healthcare brands can tailor their sales strategies to meet patients’ specific needs at each step.
The Mayo Clinic excels in understanding the patient journey. They focus on providing clear and accessible information at every stage, ensuring patients feel supported and informed throughout their healthcare experience.
Personalized Sales Strategies for Individual Patients
89% of consumers buy based on the overall sales experience, regardless of price or functionality. This means that unlike traditional sales approaches, patient-centric strategies must prioritize personalization and the overall experience. Tailoring sales efforts to the unique needs and preferences of individual patients is paramount. This may involve customizing product or service recommendations, adapting communication styles, and considering the patient’s specific health concerns.2
Cleveland Clinic offers personalized health screenings tailored to different demographics. This personalized approach ensures that individuals receive recommendations and information relevant to their specific health needs.
Incorporating Patient Education in Sales Processes
Patient education is a core element of patient-centric sales generation. Healthcare brands focus on providing educational resources and information to empower patients to make informed decisions about their health. This may include detailed product information, online resources, or even interactive tools that aid patients in understanding their options.
Healthline implements patient education through email drip campaigns. By delivering relevant and educational content over a series of emails, they engage and nurture leads, promoting informed decision-making among their audience.
D. The Role of Data Privacy in Healthcare Sales
Ensuring Compliance with Data Protection Regulations
In the world of healthcare sales generation, adherence to data protection regulations is non-negotiable. Brands must ensure compliance with laws like HIPAA to safeguard patient information. This involves implementing secure data storage, transmission, and processing systems that align with stringent privacy standards.3
Epic Systems prioritizes HIPAA compliance in their healthcare information technologies. Their systems adhere to strict regulations, ensuring the secure handling of patient data.
Safeguarding Patient Information in Sales Processes
Safeguarding patient information is a critical aspect of ethical healthcare sales generation. Sales processes should incorporate robust security measures to protect sensitive data, including encryption, access controls, and secure communication channels.3
Ochsner Health System implemented stringent data privacy measures, resulting in increased patient trust and a positive impact on their lead generation and sales outcomes.
Building Trust through Transparent Data Practices
Transparency in data practices is crucial for building trust. Clearly communicating how patient data is collected, used, and protected fosters transparency. Healthcare brands that prioritize openness in their data practices contribute to a trustworthy and ethical sales environment.
GeneHealth Analytics excels in transparent communication about data practices. Their privacy policy clearly outlines the purpose of data collection and usage, fostering trust and compliance with ethical standards.
Section 2: Building a Foundation to Empower Your Sales Team
A. Defining Goals to Generate Sales in Healthcare
Defining clear sales goals is crucial for empowering your healthcare sales team. Whether it’s enhancing customer engagement, improving lead conversion, or streamlining sales processes, having specific and measurable goals provides direction and focus.
Pfizer sets sales enablement goals focused on virtual engagement and efficient communication with healthcare professionals. This aligns with their strategy post-COVID and reflects the industry’s shift towards virtual interactions.
Aligning Sales and Marketing Strategies (“Smarketing”)
In healthcare, the collaboration between sales and marketing, often termed “smarketing,” is essential. Aligning strategies ensures a cohesive approach, where marketing efforts complement the goals and activities of the sales team, ultimately driving more effective lead generation.
Establishing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
When generating healthcare sales, defining KPIs, such as lead conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and customer lifetime value, helps measure the effectiveness of sales strategies and track progress toward overarching goals.
B. Know Your Audience
Buyer Personas in Healthcare
Understanding your audience is foundational. Creating detailed buyer personas in healthcare sales involves defining the characteristics, preferences, and challenges of your ideal customers. This ensures that your sales strategies are tailored to meet their specific needs.4
Cleveland Clinic segments its audience for personalized health screenings. By understanding the demographics and health concerns of different groups, they tailor their sales approach effectively.
Tailoring Messaging for Healthcare Professionals
In healthcare sales, messaging must resonate with healthcare professionals. Tailoring communication to address their unique challenges, preferences, and priorities builds rapport and enhances the effectiveness of your sales outreach.
Doctor on Demand tailors its messaging for healthcare professionals by highlighting the efficiency and convenience of virtual consultations. This addresses the busy schedules of healthcare providers.
Addressing Pain Points and Challenges
Identifying and addressing pain points is crucial. In healthcare sales, understanding the challenges faced by your audience allows you to position your product or service as a solution, creating value and meeting the specific needs of healthcare stakeholders.
C. Market Research and Competitive Analysis
Conducting Market Research in the Healthcare Industry
In the ever-evolving healthcare industry, continuous market research is vital for generating sales. Understanding market trends, consumer behaviors, and emerging technologies equips your sales team with the insights needed to adapt and stay ahead.
Analyzing Competitors’ Sales Strategies
Analyzing competitors provides valuable insights. Studying competitors’ sales strategies allows your team to identify industry best practices, assess market positioning, and differentiate your approach to gain a competitive edge.4
Ochsner Health System collaborates with various healthcare entities, including life science companies and digital health startups. This strategic collaboration stems from a thorough analysis of the competitive landscape, identifying opportunities for partnership.
Identifying Market Gaps and Opportunities
Market gaps present opportunities for innovation. Through comprehensive market analysis, your sales team can identify gaps in services or unmet needs, allowing you to tailor your offerings to fill these voids and capitalize on emerging opportunities to generate more sales.
The surge in telehealth services during and after the pandemic presented opportunities. Companies like Doctor on Demand and Teladoc seized the moment by offering convenient and accessible virtual healthcare solutions.
D. Effective Networking in Healthcare Sales Generation
Attending Healthcare Conferences and Events
Networking can be a powerful tool in generating healthcare sales. Attending conferences and events provides opportunities to connect with key industry players, stay informed about industry trends, and build relationships that can lead to valuable partnerships. This approach can get costly, so it’s important to appropriately evaluate events and prioritize those that will effectively expose you to best-fit prospects or partners.
Building and Nurturing Professional Relationships
Building relationships goes beyond transactions. In healthcare sales, fostering genuine and long-term professional relationships, whether with healthcare providers or industry partners, is vital.
Radiant client Lifescape does a fantastic job at prioritizing relationship building. By nurturing connections with healthcare professionals and organizations, they create a partner network that extends beyond individual sales transactions and provides their patients with a comprehensive network of complementary resources.
E. Content Development for Generating Sales
Creating Educational and Informative Content
In healthcare sales, content is a powerful tool. Developing educational and informative content ensures that sales teams have valuable resources to engage and educate healthcare professionals, patients, and stakeholders.
“As a content writer in the healthcare industry, I’ve witnessed the transformative impact of educational and informative content,” shares Lauren Karwoski, Radiant Content Strategist, “Crafting valuable resources not only equips sales teams with powerful tools but also establishes a brand as a trusted source of knowledge.”
Utilizing Case Studies and Success Stories
Case studies and success stories offer tangible proof of a brand’s impact. By showcasing real-world examples, healthcare sales teams can illustrate the value of their products or services in solving specific challenges.
Omada Health effectively uses success stories to demonstrate the positive impact of their digital health solutions. These stories serve as compelling sales tools, resonating with potential clients and patients.
Incorporating Compliance and Ethical Considerations
Ethical considerations are paramount in healthcare. Content development should align with compliance standards, ensuring that all materials adhere to regulatory requirements and ethical guidelines.3
F. Leveraging Technology to Generate Sales
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems and Healthcare Sales
CRM systems are indispensable in healthcare sales. They provide a centralized platform for managing patient relationships, optimizing communication, and personalizing interactions.
Cleveland Clinic utilizes Salesforce Health Cloud to streamline patient interactions. This CRM system empowers their sales team by providing a comprehensive view of patient data, enhancing personalized healthcare experiences.
Marketing Automation for Personalized Engagement
Marketing automation is a game-changer for personalized engagement. In healthcare sales, leveraging automation tools allows brands to deliver targeted content, nurture leads, and enhance the overall sales process.
HubSpot’s marketing automation platform is widely adopted in healthcare. It enables personalized communication, automated workflows, and data-driven insights, empowering sales teams to engage effectively with their audience.
Integrating Telehealth and Virtual Platforms
The integration of telehealth and virtual platforms is transforming the way companies generate healthcare sales. Sales teams can leverage these technologies to conduct virtual consultations, engage with patients remotely, and adapt to the evolving landscape.
G. Sales Training and Development
Continuous Training for Healthcare Sales Teams
In the healthcare industry, continuous training is essential. Sales teams need ongoing education to stay updated on industry trends, product advancements, and effective sales techniques to maintain their ability to generate sales.
“Establishing a process for sales team onboarding and training, as well as ongoing trainings, is critical to ensuring everyone is operating effectively and consistently,” shares Karen Cummings, Radiant Founder & CEO, “This continuity makes sales process analysis much more effective, empowering teams to optimize their sales communications and tools to generate more sales.”
Role-specific Training Modules
Tailoring training to specific roles within the sales team enhances expertise. Role-specific training modules equip team members with the knowledge and skills necessary for their unique responsibilities.
Epic Systems provides role-specific training for its sales team, focusing on the nuances of healthcare technology. This targeted approach ensures that each team member is proficient in addressing the specific needs of their clientele.
Incorporating Regulatory and Compliance Training
Regulatory and compliance training is non-negotiable in generating healthcare sales. Sales teams must be well-versed in industry regulations to ensure ethical practices and adherence to legal standards.
Johnson & Johnson incorporates regulatory and compliance training into its sales education programs. This ensures that sales representatives operate within the bounds of healthcare regulations, maintaining the integrity of their sales processes.
H. Collaboration Between Sales and Other Departments
Enhancing Communication with Customer Support
Effective collaboration with customer support is vital for seamless customer experiences. Sales teams should maintain open communication channels to address customer inquiries, feedback, and concerns promptly.
Building Bridges with Product Development and R&D
Collaboration with product development and research & development (R&D) teams is essential for aligning sales strategies with product advancements. Regular communication ensures that sales teams stay informed about new features and innovations, enhancing their ability to promote cutting-edge solutions.6
Section 3: Healthcare Strategies to Generate Sales & Measuring Success
A. Value-Based Selling in Healthcare
Studies found that 74% of buyers chose the company that first adds value. Effectively articulate the value proposition of healthcare products and services, emphasizing how they contribute to value-based care. Highlighting the positive impact on patient outcomes and cost-efficiency is key.
Emphasizing Patient Outcomes in Sales Pitches
Tailor sales pitches to underscore real-world patient outcomes. Demonstrating the tangible benefits of healthcare solutions enhances credibility and resonates with potential buyers.
Addressing Cost-Efficiency and Return on Investment
Incorporate discussions on cost-efficiency and return on investment in sales conversations. Showcase how the proposed solutions provide economic value while delivering quality care.
B. Data-Driven Decision Making in Healthcare Sales Generation
Analyzing Sales Data for Insights
Leverage sales data analysis to gain valuable insights into customer behavior and preferences. Informed decision-making based on data enhances the effectiveness of sales strategies.
Predictive Analytics for Generating Healthcare Sales
Utilize predictive analytics to forecast trends and customer behaviors. Anticipating market shifts empowers sales teams to proactively adjust their approaches for optimal outcomes.5
Iterative Improvement Based on Data Feedback
Implement continuous improvement cycles based on data feedback. Iterative adjustments to sales strategies, guided by performance data, contribute to ongoing success in the healthcare landscape.6
C. Adapting Sales Strategies to Healthcare Trends
Staying Informed about Industry Innovations
Stay abreast of industry innovations while exercising caution against fleeting trends. Focusing on sustainable and impactful healthcare advancements ensures sales strategies remain relevant and effective.
Philips Healthcare stands out as a prime example of an organization staying informed about industry innovations. Philips continuously invests in research and development, bringing cutting-edge technologies to the forefront. By embracing innovations like telehealth solutions and AI-driven diagnostics, Philips ensures that its sales strategies align with sustainable trends.
Aligning Sales Pitches with Current Healthcare Challenges
Tailor sales pitches to align with prevalent healthcare challenges. By addressing current industry concerns, sales teams position themselves as valuable partners in overcoming obstacles.
D. Utilizing Data Analytics for Informed Sales Decisions
Leveraging Data to Identify Sales Opportunities
Harness the power of data analytics to identify potential sales opportunities. Data-driven insights enable sales teams to target their efforts effectively and capitalize on emerging trends.5
Predictive Analytics for Anticipating Customer Needs
Employ predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs. Proactively meeting the evolving demands of healthcare consumers positions sales teams ahead of the curve.
Analyzing Sales Performance Metrics for Continuous Improvement
Regularly analyze sales performance metrics for continuous improvement. Iterative adjustments, guided by performance data, ensure sustained success and relevance in the healthcare market.
E. Measuring Success and ROI
Key Metrics for Healthcare Sales Enablement
Define key metrics for generating healthcare sales, including lead conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and customer lifetime value. These metrics provide a comprehensive view of sales success.
Assessing the Impact on Revenue and Conversion Rates
Evaluate the impact of sales strategies on revenue and conversion rates. A thorough assessment ensures alignment with overarching business goals and objectives.
Continuous Improvement Strategies
Implement continuous improvement strategies based on performance assessments. Adapting and refining sales approaches ensures ongoing success in the dynamic healthcare sales landscape.
Section 4: Generate More Sales with Radiant Marketing
Recap of Key Takeaways
In reflection, this guide has explored essential facets of generating healthcare sales, from understanding industry trends to leveraging data analytics for informed decisions. Key takeaways include the significance of aligning sales strategies with healthcare challenges, incorporating sustainability considerations, and embracing data-driven decision-making.
As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, embracing a mindset of continuous improvement is paramount. Stay vigilant to industry shifts, adapt sales strategies accordingly, and leverage data analytics for insights. By fostering a culture of ongoing improvement, your sales team is poised for enduring success in the ever-changing healthcare environment.
Transform Your Sales Enablement Strategy with Radiant Marketing
Elevate your health and wellness brand with Radiant Marketing’s unparalleled expertise and unwavering commitment to positive change. At Radiant Marketing, we specialize in empowering innovative health and wellness brands, turning possibilities into reality through dynamic digital marketing strategies. Our comprehensive Branding, Lead Generation, Lead Progression, and Sales Enablement Diagnostic Programs unveil untapped opportunities, establishing a robust foundation for brand positioning and business expansion.
Embark on a journey with our Signature Programs, where we bring these opportunities to life. Executing strategic plans, we create powerfully-positioned brands, generate new leads, and progress existing leads through the sales process, fostering new and sustainable revenue streams for your business.
Schedule a Discovery Call
Ready to explore the possibilities for your brand? Request a discovery call today. Our collaborative and personalized approach, coupled with proven processes, ensures that your brand receives custom-tailored solutions at affordable prices. Partner with Radiant Marketing and chart a course toward transformative growth for your healthcare brand through expertly generated sales.
Fellow visionary leaders – are you playing small? What stories are holding your brand back from breaking through to the next level? What questions have been left unanswered that could change the trajectory of your business?
Let’s get radically honest.
We created our Diagnostic Programs to dig deep into the human truths that drive action. To connect with people’s hearts, not just minds. Because real change happens through empathy and emotional connection.
Discover opportunities to:
Establish a powerfully positioned & beautifully designed brand (Branding Diagnostic)
Build your community with high quality prospects (Lead Generation & Progression)
Increase your revenue and impact with more sales (Sales Enablement)
These programs help us walk in your customer’s shoes, gaining a deep understanding of their values, behaviors, and motivations, so we can guide them to the outcomes that matter most. Not just to our bottom line, but to their health and wellbeing and the future of our communities. That’s the difference between manipulation and service.
Let’s make a true impact, illuminating the path forward.
So, ask yourself:
Are we authentically living our vision, and does that vision align with the values of the individuals we created our brand for?
What is driving our best customers to take action, and how are we helping them achieve their goals and aspirations?
Who do we need to become as a brand to have an even greater impact?
Trust the journey. Stay curious. Surround yourself with experts who elevate your brand’s essence.
Keep taking bold, imperfect action from the heart to drive your business forward. You will find the way. And along the way, you’ll lift others too.
The world needs your brand’s vision and voice now more than ever. Reach out for a Discovery Call if you want to talk trends, ideas, or diagnosing what will truly transform your business and community. The future is bright and it starts here.
Section One: Introduction to Healthcare Lead Generation
In an era where success in healthcare transcends mere transactions, effective lead generation emerges as a strategic cornerstone for marketing professionals and organizations alike. Navigating the nuanced landscape of healthcare marketing requires a comprehensive understanding of industry intricacies, compliance considerations, and the integration of cutting-edge technologies.
This guide, curated by the experts at Radiant Marketing, delves into the essence of lead generation for healthcare brands, offering tailored insights for wellness companies, pharmaceutical and supplement brands, and healthcare service providers.
From the strategic crafting of compelling offers to the seamless integration of technology solutions, the guide is designed to empower healthcare brands with the knowledge and strategies needed to thrive in lead generation.
Lead Generation in Healthcare
Lead generation, in the context of healthcare, goes beyond the conventional concept of acquiring customers. It encapsulates the nuanced process of identifying and cultivating relationships with individuals and organizations that can benefit from healthcare products or services.
In the digital age, where information is abundant and choices are vast, healthcare brands need to navigate through the noise to reach their ideal audience. From attracting prospective patients or clients to engaging with B2B partners, understanding the intricacies of healthcare lead generation is pivotal for sustained success.
Importance of Effective Lead Generation for Healthcare Businesses
A recent study revealed that 91% of marketers say that lead generation is their most important goal, and for a good reason.
Effective lead generation serves as the lifeblood for healthcare businesses, playing a pivotal role in sustaining growth, fostering innovation, and driving positive patient outcomes. Beyond the traditional focus on transactions, healthcare lead generation encompasses building meaningful connections, fostering trust, and delivering value to both B2B and B2C audiences.1
For healthcare service providers, successful lead generation can translate into a fuller appointment schedule, enhanced patient loyalty, and a positive impact on public health. In the case of pharmaceutical and supplement brands, it goes beyond selling products; it involves educating and empowering consumers and providers to make informed decisions about individual well-being.
In a landscape where reputation is paramount, and the healthcare consumer is more discerning than ever, the ability to generate leads effectively is a competitive advantage that distinguishes thriving healthcare brands from the rest.
Emerging Technologies and Resulting Consumer Behavior Shifts
The healthcare industry is on the cusp of numerous transformative technological advancements, and understanding these shifts is integral to staying ahead in your lead generation effectiveness.
Artificial intelligence, data analytics, and automation are becoming indispensable tools in identifying and targeting potential patients, clients or partners.
Moreover, anticipating changes in consumer behavior based on technological shifts is crucial for crafting strategies that resonate with the evolving expectations of healthcare audiences. From the rise of telehealth services to the increasing emphasis on preventive care, healthcare brands need to align their lead generation efforts with the changing dynamics of consumer preferences.
Section 2: Understanding the Healthcare Landscape
A. Current Trends in Lead Generation for Healthcare Marketing
In the rapidly evolving realm of healthcare lead generation, staying abreast of current trends is imperative. A proactive approach to understanding and leveraging these trends to enhance your lead generation strategies.
Current lead generation strategies and trends include:
Personalized Content and Engagement: Tailoring content and engagement strategies based on individual patient or client profiles is gaining prominence. Personalization fosters a sense of connection and relevance, contributing to higher engagement and conversion rates.2
For example, Sharecare creates customized health and wellness plans for individuals based on their health risk assessments. Their content and coaching adapt as the user’s needs and goals evolve.
“As a content strategist, I’ve witnessed the impact of personalized healthcare content on lead generation. Adapting our strategies to fit individual profiles not only strengthens connections but also boosts engagement and conversion rates. It’s not just a passing trend; it’s a crucial element for success in today’s ever-changing healthcare landscape, and the integration of AI capabilities will only accelerate its importance.”
Telehealth Integration:The surge in global telehealth services has reshaped the healthcare landscape, and lead generation strategies must adapt to this transformation. Embracing approaches that integrate telehealth, virtual consultations, and remote patient engagement is proving to be a highly effective strategy for generating leads in the healthcare sector.3
Doctor on Demand is a great example of this, partnering with major health plans and employers to offer video visits with psychiatrists, psychologists, and other licensed healthcare professionals. Appointments can be made quickly on a user-friendly platform.
Data-Driven Decision-Making: Harnessing the power of data analytics allows healthcare brands to make informed decisions. By understanding patient behaviors, preferences, and demographics, brands can optimize their lead generation efforts for maximum impact.2
Companies like Devoted Health draw on individual health data and AI to guide health plan design and personalized recommendations. Their emphasis on data helps improve care while reducing costs.
AI’s Role in Personalization at Scale: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing healthcare lead generation by enabling unparalleled personalization at scale. Through advanced algorithms, AI tailors content and messaging to individual preferences, ensuring a more targeted and effective approach to reaching potential leads. Additionally, AI facilitates extensive testing of content and lead generation strategies, allowing for the seamless experimentation of ad variations at scale, ultimately optimizing campaigns for maximum engagement and conversion.
Real-time Engagement with AI-Powered Bots: Leveraging AI, live chat bots are transforming healthcare lead generation by providing real-time engagement. These bots can instantly respond to inquiries, answer questions, and guide potential leads through the initial stages of the healthcare journey. This not only enhances user experience but also significantly reduces the need for human resources to monitor and respond to every query. The cost-effective nature of AI-powered live chat bots makes them a valuable asset in efficiently managing and nurturing leads.
B. Unique Challenges and Opportunities in Healthcare Lead Generation
Navigating the healthcare landscape presents both challenges and unique opportunities for lead generation. Recognizing and addressing these factors is crucial for developing effective strategies.
Trust Building: Establishing trust is a prolonged process in healthcare. Brands must prioritize transparency, authenticity, and consistent communication to build and maintain trust with their audience.
Long Sales Cycles: Healthcare decisions, whether B2B or B2C, often involve complex considerations and extended sales cycles. Lead generation strategies need to be patient- or user-centric and adaptable to longer decision-making processes.4
This process can be seen at Philips Healthcare, where extensive time is dedicated to understanding needs of health systems and hospitals before pitching solutions. They maintain engagement over long sales cycles spanning proposal, procurement, and post-purchase.
Cross-Sector Collaboration: B2B lead generation in healthcare often involves collaboration across sectors. Effective networking and relationship-building with other healthcare entities can open doors to valuable partnerships.5
Ochsner Health System does this by frequently partnering with government entities, community organizations, payers, life science companies, and digital health startups to co-develop programs benefiting public health.
C. Compliance and Regulatory Considerations
The healthcare industry is governed by regulations and compliance standards, making it imperative for lead generation strategies to align with these requirements including:
HIPAA Compliance: Any strategy involving the collection, storage, or transmission of patient data must adhere to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations to ensure the privacy and security of sensitive health information.6
Advertising Standards: Healthcare marketing is subject to strict advertising regulations. Ensuring that promotional materials meet the standards set by regulatory bodies is essential to avoid legal repercussions.7
Informed Consent: Clearly communicating the purpose of data collection and obtaining informed consent is crucial.7 Transparency builds trust and demonstrates a commitment to ethical practices in lead generation.
D. Ensuring Ethical Practices in Healthcare Lead Generation
Ethical considerations are paramount in healthcare lead generation to maintain the integrity of the industry and brand, and build lasting relationships.
It’s important that your brand is advocating for the following ethical practices:
Transparent Communication: Clearly communicate the purpose of data collection, how it will be used, and obtain consent from individuals. Transparency fosters trust and ensures compliance with ethical standards.8
GeneHealth Analytics excels in transparent communication by clearly articulating the purpose of data collection and outlining its usage in their privacy policy. They prioritize obtaining consent from individuals, fostering trust and ensuring compliance with ethical standards.
Respecting Privacy: Prioritize the privacy and confidentiality of patient or client information through email, text and other communications. Implement robust security measures to safeguard sensitive data and adhere to relevant privacy regulations.8
Epic Systems is vigilant about safeguarding patient health information, securing records with role-based access and encryption to ensure privacy.
Educational Marketing: Focus on educating your audience rather than employing aggressive sales tactics. Providing valuable information in a desire to educate your audience (rather than solely sell your product) establishes your brand as a trusted source of knowledge in the healthcare space.
Johnson & Johnson takes an education-first, product-second approach in promoting new health solutions, focusing on raising awareness rather than aggressive sales.
By understanding the intricacies of the healthcare landscape, including current trends, challenges, and ethical considerations, healthcare brands can lay a solid foundation for successful lead generation.
Section 3: Defining Your Target Audience
To maximize the effectiveness of healthcare lead generation, it is imperative to have a deep understanding of your target audience. This involves a process of defining your audience and tailoring strategies to resonate with their needs and preferences.
A. Defining Ideal Buyer Personas
Whether you’re generating consumer or business leads, defining your ideal audience and creating an ideal client profile is a critical first step in understanding how to effectively target and convert the most fruitful prospects.
Comprehensive Demographic and Firmographic Analysis: Kickstart your strategy with a thorough examination of both demographic and firmographic data. Identify key characteristics of your ideal buyers or patients by considering factors such as age, gender, location, income, and occupation for detailed buyer personas.
In addition, leverage firmographic data, encompassing information like geographic area, number of clients, type of organization, industry, and technologies used. This dual approach ensures a comprehensive segmentation of both individual buyers and organizational entities, providing a more nuanced understanding of your target audience.9
Healthcare Pain Points: Understand the specific healthcare pain points your audience experiences and you seek to solve. Whether it’s managing chronic conditions, seeking preventive care, or accessing specialized treatments, align your lead generation strategies with addressing these concerns.
Behavioral Insights: Delve into the behavioral aspects of your audience. Analyze online behaviors, preferences, and decision-making patterns to tailor your approach and engage with them at the right touch points, ideally in the micro moments of decision-making.
B. Tailoring Strategies to Audience Segments
Segmentation for Personalization: Once buyer personas are established, segment your audience into groups based on shared characteristics. This segmentation allows for personalized strategies that resonate more deeply with each segment.
Customized Messaging: Craft messaging that speaks directly to the unique needs, goals and preferences of each audience segment. Tailor content to address specific healthcare concerns and position your brand as a value and solution provider.
Platform-Specific Approaches: Different audience segments may prefer distinct communication channels. Tailor your lead generation strategies to be platform-specific, whether it’s through social media, email campaigns, or targeted advertising.
Target Account List (ABM): Implement Account-Based Marketing (ABM) principles by creating a target account list with Tier 1-3 categorization based on fit and priority. Tailor messaging accordingly to ensure a personalized and effective approach for each tier.
C. Mapping the Buyer’s Journey
Understanding and mapping the buyer’s journey is essential for crafting targeted and effective marketing strategies that guide individuals seamlessly from initial awareness to final conversion. The buyer’s journey is a strategic framework that outlines the stages and touchpoints a prospective customer goes through before making a purchasing decision.
Awareness Stage: At the awareness stage, potential clients or patients are identifying a need or problem. Craft content that educates and raises awareness about healthcare issues, positioning your brand as a valuable resource.
Consideration Stage: During the consideration stage, individuals are researching solutions. Provide in-depth content, such as whitepapers, case studies, product/service or expert articles, to showcase your expertise and build credibility. While some brands may be hesitant to make direct competitor comparisons, when you know that your prospects are doing this either way, offering a ‘product comparison guide’ or similar tool during this stage can be incredibly helpful in better controlling that narrative.
Decision Stage: In the decision stage, prospects are evaluating specific healthcare solutions. Implement strategies such as personalized consultations, free trials, recorded demos, or exclusive offers to guide them toward choosing your brand. Implementing tools like exit intent forms with special savings is a great way to capture an individual about to leave this decision stage without action.
Post-Decision Engagement: Post-decision engagement is vital for fostering loyalty and encouraging word-of-mouth referrals. Implement post-purchase communication, follow-up surveys, and ongoing educational content to maintain engagement and satisfaction and make recurring purchases and referrals easy.
By defining your target audience, creating detailed profiles, tailoring strategies to different audience segments, and mapping the buyer’s journey, healthcare brands can significantly enhance the precision and impact of their lead generation efforts.
Section 4: Crafting Compelling Offers
In the dynamic landscape of healthcare lead generation, the ability to craft compelling offers is a key driver of engagement and conversion.
To succeed, lead generation relies on:
Advocating a strategic approach to developing value propositions
Creating tailored offers
Incorporating educational content to resonate with your target audience.
A. Developing Value Propositions
Addressing Specific Pain Points: Craft a value proposition that directly addresses the unique pain points of your audience. For example, Omada Health, a digital health company, emphasizes personalized care plans for individuals managing chronic conditions, simplifying their daily healthcare routines as seen in their slogan: “Simplify Your Diabetes Management with Omada Health’s Intuitive Health Tracking App.”
Highlighting Differentiators:Clearly communicate what sets your healthcare brand apart and elucidate how these unique attributes directly address the distinct needs and concerns of your target audience, fostering a compelling narrative that resonates throughout the buyer’s journey.
Babylon Health, a telehealth service, emphasizes its differentiator, an AI-driven approach of providing users with personalized healthcare recommendations and consultations in their propositions.
Emphasizing Patient Outcomes: Showcase real-world examples of positive patient outcomes resulting from your products or services. Mayo Clinic, a renowned healthcare institution, does an excellent job of this, often sharing patient success stories to illustrate the tangible benefits of its medical expertise.
“The offer determines, to a large extent, whether you can maintain a dialogue with a prospect rather than a series of episodes. The offer communicates your intention.”
Segment-Specific Promotions: Tailor your offers to the specific needs of different audience segments. Cleveland Clinic, for instance, offers personalized health screenings for various demographics, addressing the unique concerns of each group.
Limited-Time Promotions: Create a sense of urgency by introducing limited-time promotions. For example, Zocdoc, an online healthcare appointment booking platform, often offers limited-time discounts on virtual consultations to encourage users to schedule appointments promptly.
Bundle Deals: Package complementary services or products together for enhanced value. CVS Health, often provides bundled deals on health and wellness products, encouraging customers to explore a range of offerings.
C. Incorporating Educational Content
Webinars and Workshops: By providing expert advice on relevant issues, a company can position themselves as an educational resource. Cleveland Clinic regularly hosts webinars and workshops addressing prevalent healthcare topics such as heart health and stress management.
Informative Blog Posts and Guides: By publishing and ungateing informative articles a company can educate their audience while also establishing the brand as a trusted source of healthcare knowledge.
Radiant Client, Copperstate Ob/Gyn, maintains a robust blog that covers a variety of health-related topics.
Email Drip Campaigns: These campaigns can guide a company’s audience through topics like mental health or nutrition, nurturing leads toward healthier living.
Healthline, a health information website, often implements email drip campaigns delivering educational content over a series of emails.
Live Online Social Events: Hosting live online events, such as cooking shows or interactive Q&A sessions, can create a dynamic platform for educating an audience.
Lifescape, a Radiant Marketing client, conducts a monthly live online cooking show, fostering an interactive and educational experience for their community.
By drawing inspiration from real-life healthcare brands and implementing these strategies, your healthcare brand can create a powerful magnetism that attracts and retains engaged audiences.
Section 5: Implementing Lead Generation Technologies
In the rapidly advancing landscape of healthcare lead generation, leveraging technology is pivotal for efficiency and effectiveness. Integration of cutting-edge solutions to streamline processes and enhance engagement is crucial for continued success.
“It is important to develop your full tech stack after assessing the needs of your marketing strategy as a whole,” Karen Cummings, Radiant CEO, advises, “You want to ensure that all of your tools work together, eliminate overlap and are able to provide you with the capabilities and analytics you need to make informed decisions.”
A. CRM Systems
CRM tools are designed to help businesses manage these relationships more effectively. Centralized access to customer data in one place contributes to improved day-to-day efficiency and deeper customer relationships by empowering personalized follow ups and segmented communications.13
Implementing Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, such asHubSpot, allows healthcare brands to manage patient or client interactions seamlessly.
Cleveland Clinic, among other healthcare brands, utilizes Salesforce Health Cloud to streamline patient interactions, ensuring personalized and efficient healthcare experiences.
These platforms provide a centralized hub for organizing and analyzing valuable data, facilitating personalized communication, and enhancing overall relationship management.
B. Marketing Automation
Automated lead generation is a combination of outbound and inbound marketing solutions that are powered by various softwares, AI tools and machine learning.
Marketing automation platforms, like HubSpot, empower healthcare brands to automate repetitive marketing tasks, nurture leads, and deliver personalized content at scale.
Mayo Clinic is just one of many healthcare brands that utilizes HubSpot to automate email campaigns, delivering relevant content to patients at various stages of their healthcare journey. By automating workflows, healthcare marketers can focus on strategic initiatives, ultimately improving lead generation efficiency.
C. AI for Lead Generation
Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role in identifying and engaging potential leads. For instance, Babylon Health employs AI-driven chatbots like Conversica, to engage with potential patients, answering queries and guiding them through the initial stages of the healthcare journey. Conversica, an AI-powered assistant, engages with leads through natural language conversations, qualifying and nurturing them before handing them over to human agents.
By incorporating CRM systems, marketing automation, and AI for lead generation, healthcare brands can enhance their technological prowess, streamline operations, and elevate the overall efficacy of their lead generation strategies.3
Section 6: Executing Lead Generation Strategies
When it comes to executing strategies for lead generation, consider a strategic blend of digital channels, patient referral programs, and thought leadership initiatives to amplify your reach and impact.1
“As consumers ourselves, we’re intimately familiar with the intricate and complex journey we take leading up to a purchase,” Karen shares, “this understanding reinforces the importance of an omnichannel approach that encompasses the specific platforms and messages that address individuals in each step of the journey.”
A. Patient Referral Programs
Many B2B marketers acknowledge that referrals are their best channel for lead generation. Implementing patient referral programs can be a powerful way to leverage satisfied patients as brand advocates. These programs can incentivize patients to refer others, fostering a sense of community and trust.
Additionally, getting your best clients to refer likely means more of your ideal-fit clients.
B. Thought Leadership
Establishing thought leadership in the healthcare space positions your brand as a trusted authority. Radiant Client, Lifescape, exemplifies this by regularly publishing insightful content, contributing to their reputation as a reliable source of healthcare information. Lifescape providers are also active as board members and keynote presenters with local organizations such as Healthy LifeStars and MASK Matters, to remain prominent in areas and topics that are relevant to the work they do.
By strategically implementing patient referral programs and establishing thought leadership, healthcare brands can forge strong connections with their audience, drive engagement, and foster lasting relationships.1
Section 7: Nurturing & Securing Leads
As you navigate the critical phase of converting and nurturing leads in healthcare lead generation, it’s important to have a focus on building trust, implementing lead scoring, and ensuring continuity of care.15
A. Building Trust
Prioritize building trust throughout the healthcare journey. Healthgrades, a healthcare provider rating and comparison website, exemplifies this by offering transparent patient reviews and ratings, contributing to a culture of trust between patients and providers.
B. Lead Scoring and Qualification
Implementing lead scoring and qualification systems, allows healthcare brands to prioritize and focus efforts on leads that are most likely to convert. By assessing engagement and behavior, brands can tailor their approach for maximum impact.15
Many CRM and marketing automation softwares provide lead scoring that enable healthcare brands to identify and prioritize leads based on engagement and behavior, optimizing the conversion process.
C. Continuity of Care
Ensuring continuity of care is crucial for maintaining patient engagement.15Epic Systems, a provider of health information technologies, facilitates this by offering integrated electronic health records (EHR) that streamline communication among healthcare providers for a seamless patient experience.
By focusing on building trust, implementing lead scoring, and ensuring continuity of care, healthcare brands can enhance the conversion and nurturing process, fostering long-term relationships with patients or clients.15
Section 8: Measuring Lead Generation Success
In the dynamic landscape of healthcare lead generation, measuring success is an essential, ongoing process. A comprehensive approach involving key performance indicators (KPIs), analytics tools, and data-driven strategy adjustments will help ensure sustained success.
A. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Identifying and tracking key performance indicators is crucial for gauging the effectiveness of your healthcare lead generation efforts. Examples of relevant KPIs include visitor-to-lead conversion rates, lead and customer acquisition costs, and the lifetime value of a client or patient.
B. Analytics Tools
Utilizing robust analytics tools is instrumental in gaining insights into user behavior and campaign performance. Google Analytics is a free and widely-used tool in healthcare, offering in-depth data on website traffic, user interactions, and conversion metrics. Leverage Google Analytics to analyze website traffic and user behavior, optimizing your online presence based on data-driven insights.
Other tools to consider include SEO tools such as Search Console, Screaming Frog or Moz to better understand how you’re ranking for target terms and how you’re then driving visitors and new leads from that visibility.
C. Adjusting Strategies Based on Data
The power of data lies in its ability to guide strategic decisions. Implement a continuous feedback loop by analyzing data and adjusting strategies accordingly. If certain channels or campaigns are underperforming, consider reallocating resources to high-performing areas. For example, adjust content strategies based on audience engagement data, ensuring that your health information remains relevant and impactful.
By consistently monitoring KPIs, employing analytics tools, and adjusting strategies based on data insights, healthcare brands can optimize their lead generation efforts for continual improvement.
Section 9: Conclusion
In summary, this guide has underscored the multifaceted nature of healthcare lead generation, emphasizing the importance of a holistic approach tailored to the industry’s unique challenges. Crafting compelling offers, integrating technology, and executing strategies strategically have been explored through real-life examples.
As you navigate the intricacies of healthcare lead generation, remember the pivotal role of building trust, leveraging data for decision-making, and maintaining continuity of care. These factors, exemplified by leading healthcare brands, contribute to successful conversion and nurturing of leads.
The journey doesn’t end here. Radiant Marketing encourages a commitment to continuous improvement. Stay agile, adapt to evolving trends, and embrace emerging technologies to ensure your healthcare brand remains at the forefront of lead generation in this dynamic industry.
Partner With Radiant Marketing for Lead Generation
At Radiant Marketing, we stand as dedicated partners for innovative and purpose-driven health and wellness brands seeking to carve their niche in the digital landscape. With over a decade of experience specifically in the health and wellness industry, we bring a wealth of expertise, time-tested strategies, and a commitment to efficient implementation.
By choosing to collaborate with us, you’re not just embarking on a marketing endeavor—you’re ensuring that your brand story is heard and resonates powerfully with your audience. Our track record speaks for itself, with clients witnessing tangible improvements in website visitor quality, inbound leads, lead acquisition costs, and enhanced lead-to-customer conversion rates.
Our approach is proven, focusing on creating awareness, cultivating engagement, and driving conversions to foster sustainable growth for your brand. When you partner with Radiant Marketing, you’re not just getting marketing; you’re getting a tailored strategy crafted for your unique story and goals.
Let’s start the journey toward transformative growth with a personalized Discovery Call—because your success is our mission.
Section 1: Introduction to Healthcare Branding: The Fundamentals
In this guide, we will cover exactly what branding in healthcare is, the elements of a successful brand, the benefits of effective branding, our top tips and practices for creating a lasting brand, ways to audit & optimize your brand, and more.
You’ll walk away with a better understanding of why strategic and intentional branding is crucial for your business, how it can increase your revenue and impact, and ways to make immediate and long-term upgrades to your branding.
Strong branding is the cohesive thread that weaves through every interaction, forging a meaningful relationship with your ideal audience. As we guide you through the intricacies of branding in the healthcare space, our commitment is to not only enhance the visibility of your brand but to elevate its essence, ensuring it leaves an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of those you serve.
This comprehensive guide will walk you through the fundamentals of healthcare branding, providing you with the knowledge and tools necessary to elevate your brand’s impact and revenue.
Section 2: Healthcare Branding Uniquenesses
When it comes to healthcare branding, it’s not just about logos and slogans—it’s about people’s health and trust. Unlike branding in various industries, healthcare branding involves higher stakes and ethical responsibilities.
In healthcare branding, it’s crucial to understand the sensitivity of health-related decisions. The brand story should convey reliability, but also a deep commitment to patient care and ethical standards. Healthcare brands must also navigate additional complexities like patient privacy regulations.
Effective healthcare branding requires a specialized and careful approach, considering the unique aspects of health, ethics, and regulations. It’s about ethically building trust and demonstrating a commitment to your community’s well-being.
A few of the unique aspects present in healthcare branding:
Regulatory Compliance: The healthcare industry is highly regulated, with strict rules and guidelines governing advertising and marketing practices, companies must navigate these regulations while conveying a compelling and trustworth image. Regulations include patient privacy (HIPAA) and health claims, and can influence everything from the copy on your website and images on social media to the ads you’re running on Google. For example, in order to prevent misleading or false medical information, Google Ads1 will prevent users from including specific result-focused claims that aren’t backed with factual support.
The Mayo Clinic’s digital platform is a perfect example of this. The platform provides ADA-compliant online health resources, approved patient imagery and avoids any blanket health or treatment claims.
Complex Services: Healthcare services are often intricate, requiring a high level of expertise to understand and communicate effectively. Brand communications must simplify these services for the audience while preserving their importance and credibility.
Khan Academy Medicine utilizes its YouTube channel to simplify complex medical concepts through educational videos. The brand communicates intricate healthcare services by breaking down information into digestible and engaging content.
Patient-Centric: Healthcare branding should be inherently patient-centric. Rather than promoting services first; it’s important to highlight the patient as the hero, demonstrating a clear understanding of the sensitive nature of the ideal audience’s health needs, and in turn creating an empathetic and supportive environment for those seeking care and solutions.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital places the young patients and their families at the center of its branding. The hospital’s brand messaging is emotionally resonant, showcasing stories of courage and hope while creating a supportive community for families facing challenging health situations.
Explore the following key components to elevate your patient-centric branding:
Focusing on the Patient Experience –Transform your healthcare brand by prioritizing the patient experience. M.D. Thomas First stated that if you “Take care of the patient first and everything else will follow22”. This is why it’s crucial that from the first point of contact to ongoing care, your organization creates a seamless journey that places the patient’s well-being at the forefront.
Empathy and Compassion in Branding – Infuse your brand with a genuine sense of empathy and compassion. Explore ways to authentically convey these qualities in your branding, fostering a deeper connection with patients21. By showcasing the human side of healthcare, you create an environment where patients feel understood and supported.
Strategies for Building Trust with Patients – Trust is the bedrock of successful healthcare relationships. Delve into effective strategies for building and maintaining trust with patients from transparent communication to consistently delivering high-quality care.
Personal/Private Aspect of Healthcare: Health care covers a wide array of conditions and treatments, some that may be particularly private or challenging to discuss openly. For these conditions especially, incorporating light and tasteful humor and frankness into the messaging can play a crucial role in overcoming negative emotions. By approaching ‘hard to have’ conversations with a touch of humor and openness, the brand not only destigmatizes these topics but also makes individuals feel more comfortable addressing and seeking solutions for conditions that might otherwise be difficult to discuss openly.2
Hims / Hers recognizes that individuals seeking healthcare solutions are navigating personal and often sensitive health concerns. By framing the patient as the hero, and incorporating a touch of humor and candidness, Hims / Hers communicates empathy, understanding, and a commitment to supporting individuals on their health journey.
HIPAA and Healthcare Branding: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) sets stringent standards for safeguarding patient information, underscoring the critical importance of privacy and confidentiality in the healthcare sector. In the realm of healthcare branding, where communication is paramount, a comprehensive understanding and strict adherence to HIPAA regulations become imperative. This is particularly crucial when incorporating client or patient results into branding strategies.
Healthcare brands showcasing client or patient results or wishing to provide personalized communication based on diagnosis, intent, etc must adopt a tailored tech stack designed to safeguard sensitive data. This involves implementing secure HIPAA-compliant systems, such as encrypted email marketing platforms3.
As a telemedicine platform, Doxy.me’s emphasis on privacy and security as a core brand value increases prospect’s trust in the brand and helps to drive new patient acquisition.
A. Significance of Strong Branding
In the words of Steve Jobs, the essence of a brand lies in the foundation of trust. As he aptly put it, “A brand is simply trust.” This profound statement encapsulates the fundamental truth that without the bedrock of trust and loyalty from consumers, a brand remains nothing more than an expression. Establishing and nurturing trust is a pivotal aspect of developing a strong brand, as it forms the basis of a lasting and meaningful connection with an audience.
Key reasons a strong brand is important:
Differentiation: A well-defined brand helps you stand out in a crowded market. It distinguishes you from competitors and clarifies what makes your healthcare business special.
Oscar Health differentiates itself through a tech-driven, member-focused health insurance model. The emphasis on user-friendly digital tools and personalized member experiences sets it apart in the over-saturated insurance sector.
Trust and Credibility: Trust is at the core of both healthcare branding and healthcare itself. A strong brand fosters trust among patients and clients, assuring them of the quality and reliability of your services. Research shows that companies earn customers’ respect and loyalty when their brands enable, entice, and enrich them.5
Northwell Health’s emphasis on community health initiatives, medical education, and factual research enhances trust by demonstrating a commitment to enriching overall well-being. This multifaceted approach earns respect and loyalty from patients.
Recognition: A consistent brand experience across all touchpoints instills confidence and recognition in your audience. It ensures that your message is clear, unwavering, and easily recognized.
Improved Patient Experience: A robust healthcare brand extends beyond marketing to influence patient experiences. It sets the tone for interactions, making them more personal and compassionate.
MD Anderson Cancer Center has focused extensively on improving the patient experience. They have redesigned clinic spaces to be more calming and welcoming, with natural light, green spaces outside windows, soft music, and warm decor. Doctors, nurses, and all staff have undergone customer service and empathy training to make interactions with patients more compassionate.
B. Overcoming (Embracing) the Private Aspect of Health
It’s no secret that health is deeply personal. Patients and clients entrust their well-being to healthcare providers and organizations.
Shame associated with health conditions can deter individuals from seeking solutions, due to intense negative emotions surrounding health shortcomings.
Effective healthcare branding should acknowledge these emotions and stigmas associated with health by:
Respecting Privacy: Effective healthcare branding respects the privacy and sensitivity of health-related information. It ensures that patients feel secure and protected throughout their journey. Some aspects of healthcare fall under Protected Health Information (PHI) (also referred to as personal health information). PHI can include certain demographic information, medical histories, test and laboratory results, mental health conditions, insurance information, and other data that a healthcare professional collects to identify an individual and determine appropriate care.2
The Mayo Clinic, for example, has very strict policies and processes in place to protect patient privacy and the sensitivity of health information. Patient charts are kept secure, online portals require complex passwords, conference rooms have noise machines when sensitive discussions occur, and anonymity is used for case reviews. Essentially, data access is limited to only what is necessary to treat each individual patient, exemplifying the brand’s commitment to respecting privacy.
Empathy and Compassion: A strong healthcare brand conveys empathy and compassion in every interaction, understanding that healthcare decisions are emotional and often life-changing.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has reenvisioned the patient experience to provide empathy-focused care. Their brand conveys a deep understanding that a cancer diagnosis causes fear, anxiety and emotional turmoil. They’ve updated their facilities to feel warm, tranquil and inspiring rather than clinical. Practical amenities like healthy meals, relaxation classes, hotel accommodations and transportation ease day-to-day burdens during treatment.
C. Social and Economic Influences
The healthcare industry is intricately connected to social and economic factors.
Effective branding in healthcare acknowledges these influences through:
Community Engagement: Healthcare businesses play a vital role in communities. A strong brand can be a catalyst for positive community engagement, addressing local healthcare needs and concerns.
Economic Impact: Effective healthcare branding must acknowledge the major economic burdens associated with healthcare costs, lack of access, and confusing insurance plans. Patients face anxiety around deciphering hospital bills, managing prescription drug costs, and finding care they can afford. A compassionate healthcare brand should convey effort and innovation around improving accessibility and affordability.7
Houston Methodist makes economic considerations core to their brand strategy. Their marketing conveys price transparency for common procedures and preventative care services, while helplines and online resources provide cost estimation tools. This allows potential patients to budget and consider affordable options.
Section 3: Elements of a Successful Brand
A. Healthcare Branding: Trust, Values & Audience
We’ve already established that trust is undoubtedly the foundation of healthcare branding. However, trust is a collection of numerous factors and a collection of core values that allow patients and clients to have faith in your brand for their well-being.
Trust factors include:
Professionalism: Demonstrating expertise, competence, and ethical conduct in all aspects of your healthcare services.
Transparency: Open and honest communication about your services, pricing, and treatment options.
Reliability: Consistently delivering high-quality care and services, meeting or exceeding patient expectations.
Patient Testimonials and Reviews: Real-life experiences from satisfied patients can reinforce trust in your brand. NRC Health reports that 74.7% of patients want to see at least seven ratings before they’ll trust a provider.8
C. Defining, Sharing & Living Your Brand Values
Every successful health brand, regardless of its size or history, originates from a fundamental desire to create positive change within the healthcare landscape, this is encompassed in their brand values. Elements of a Successful Brand
To authentically identify your brand values, delve beyond commonplace phrases like ‘quality service’ or ‘we care’ or ‘reliable’. Dive deeper to get to the root of what makes your brand unique – something that competitors cannot also claim.
Articulate your values more precisely, but also establish a foundation for a brand that stands out by being true to its principles. It can be obvious when a brand’s values don’t align with the actual corporate and company culture.
Erin Myers, professor at INSEAD, warns of this lack of authenticity, stating “Corporate culture can be a mushy marshland of vague language and incomplete, ambiguous definitions. What’s worse, company values — as articulated — rarely match the way people behave in reality11.”
D. Design Branding to Appeal to Your Ideal Audience
Building a successful brand in the healthcare space starts with a deep understanding of your target audience. By identifying and connecting with the right audience, you can create a brand that resonates and drives meaningful engagement.12
Consider these steps to effectively define your ideal healthcare audience:
Analyze Your Customer Base
Begin by examining your existing customer base. Analyze demographics, preferences, and behaviors. Look at your most loyal customers and understand what drives their loyalty.
Typically organizations that conduct customer analysis use a variety of methods to do so. These methods include analyzing first-party data (such as CRM or marketing data), focus groups, interviews, existing customer feedback, and more.13
E. Be Mindful of Specific Branding for Niche Wellness Practices
In the diverse landscape of healthcare, success lies in understanding and catering to specific niches.
Embracing the unique challenges and opportunities presented by specific wellness niches is vital for brand success. Whether it’s holistic medicine, mental health, or fitness, you should be mindful of the intricacies that come with tailoring your brand to resonate with the specific needs and values of distinct audience segments.
Radiant client, Hot Elevation Studios tailors their branding to resonate with their audience of fitness lovers by sharing motivational quotes and health and fitness quotes that encourage engagement and a sense of community.
Conduct Market Research and Identify Industry Trends
Stay ahead of the curve by consistently evaluating the market. Explore industry trends, consumer preferences, and emerging technologies and competitors. Market research blends consumer behavior and economic trends to confirm and improve your business idea. Staying informed with these trends empowers you with information on the opportunities that will most impact your profits14.
Analyze Competitors
Study your competitors to understand their target audience and market positioning. Identify gaps or areas where your brand can offer a unique value proposition. Keeping your finger on the competitive pulse and practicing competitive intelligence can strategically improve your market positioning15.
Create Personas
Develop detailed buyer personas representing your ideal customers. These personas should encapsulate the demographics, behaviors, and motivations of your target audience. Personas provide a human touch to your marketing efforts, making it easier to tailor messages that resonate with specific segments of your audience16.
Define Who Your Target Audience Isn’t
Equally important is understanding who your brand is not targeting. By clearly defining exclusions, you prevent resources from being wasted on irrelevant segments. This focused approach ensures your marketing efforts are directed toward those most likely to benefit from and engage with your brand.
Build the Best Tech Stack
Leverage powerful tools like Google Analytics to gather data on website traffic, user behavior, and demographics. These tools provide valuable insights and data into the effectiveness of your current strategies and help in refining your approach. Most marketers agree that having high-quality data on their target audience is important to succeeding in their role.12
Section 4: Creating a Lasting Brand
A. Clarify Your Brand Essence
Brand essence, as defined by Radiant, is the intrinsic nature of your brand—the core essence that encapsulates its purpose, values, and unique character. It delves into the emotional and experiential aspects that make your brand memorable and resonate with your audience.
Your brand essence serves as the compass guiding your content strategy. It shapes the tone, messaging, and overall communication approach. When you clarify and define your brand essence, you’re identifying the fundamental elements that make your brand authentic, unique and appealing.
This brand essence clarity empowers your content strategy by:
Creating consistency: Ensure a consistent message across all platforms and content types, reinforcing the core values that define your brand.
Cleveland Clinic is diligent about maintaining brand consistency across their massive health system which includes multiple hospitals, facilities, research centers and online portals. Their main slogan “Every Life Deserves World Class Care” appears prominently on websites, brochures, signage, uniforms and clinic spaces.
Establishing relevance: Tailor content to align with the emotional and aspirational aspects of your brand essence, making it more relatable and engaging for your target audience.
Shriners Hospitals for Children generates branded content centered on emotional storytelling to establish relevance for its target audience of families needing specialized pediatric care. Their website and social campaigns primarily feature real patient stories from children who have received life-changing orthopedic or burn care from Shriners.
Solidifying differentiation:Set your brand apart from competitors by emphasizing the unique qualities that define your essence, creating a distinct and memorable brand identity.
MD Anderson Cancer Center has established a distinct brand identity that sets them apart in the competitive cancer care space through emphasizing their differentiating focus on research-driven personalized treatment plans. Their marketing creatively conveys the theme “Make Cancer History” – positioning MD Anderson uniquely as the institution at the forefront of scientific discovery.
Connection:Foster a deeper connection with your audience by aligning your content with the emotional resonance of your brand essence, creating a lasting impact.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital aligns content to resonate emotionally with its audience of families dealing with a child’s catastrophic diagnosis. The content strategy powerfully conveys the essence of hope and determination to fuel human spirit even in the darkest times.
By weaving your brand essence into your content strategy, you transform your messaging from mere information to a compelling narrative that not only communicates what your brand does but why it matters. This approach not only strengthens your brand identity but also enhances the overall effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts within the healthcare space.
B. Crafting a Brand Story
Your brand essence should also be accompanied by a brand story. Your brand story is essentially the story of your business as perceived by your customers and potential customers. It’s the emotional-based narrative of how your product or service improves the lives of your customer.13
Crafting a brand story is about more than words; it’s about creating an emotional connection that lingers. By understanding your audience, staying authentic, showcasing personality, and addressing problems and solutions, your brand story becomes a powerful tool for engagement and loyalty13.
Consider these steps to create a narrative that resonates:
Connect with Needs – Understand the needs of your target audience intimately. Your story should address their challenges, desires, and aspirations. By aligning with their needs, you create a narrative that feels personal and relatable.
Peloton Interactive has done an effective job of this thanks to their in-depth consumer research that revealed a large demographic of people that lacked the time and motivation to fit gym workouts into crowded schedules, thus leading to frustration. They also learned these users crave both community support and accountability tools to meet individual workout goals. Peloton addressed these unmet consumer needs with their signature home stationary bike paired with live and on-demand fitness classes.
Focus On Authenticity – Authenticity is the key to a compelling brand story. Be genuine in your communication, showcasing the real values and principles that drive your brand. Authenticity builds trust and fosters a stronger connection with your audience.
The feminine hygiene underwear company Thinx has built an authentic brand focused on empowering women and breaking stigmas through authenticity. A big part of their authentic storytelling stems from their #UnderwearForPeriodPeople campaign. It features raw, uncensored images and videos of real women proudly bleeding into their underwear. This makes audiences feel Thinx intimately understands the real experiences and pain points of menstruation.
Showcase Your Personality and Voice – Infuse your brand story with personality. Whether it’s a touch of humor, empathy, or innovation, let your unique voice shine through. A distinctive personality makes your brand memorable and distinguishes it in the healthcare and wellness space.
Headspace’s brand voice is infused with mindfulness, humor, and humanity. As an app delivering mediation and mental health content, they could take an overly serious tone. Instead they position themselves as a friendly guide to life’s stresses, rather than a stern authority. Small touches across their platforms showcase these personality traits, such as the narratives around content sections that highlight funny and relatable frustration we all feel, like struggling through a long workday or calming our inner critic.
Identify/Express Problems and Solutions – Clearly identify the problem your audience faces and express how your brand provides a solution. Your story should highlight the transformative impact your products or services have, creating a narrative that inspires confidence and loyalty.
The meditation and mental wellness app Calm has grown by clearly articulating common problems and framing their app as the solution. They identify universal issues like difficulty sleeping, stress, and anxiety as negatively impacting quality of life for both individuals and society overall. Calm’s brand story then expresses how just a few minutes of guided meditation sessions through their app can transform mental health.
The meditation and mental wellness app Calm has grown by clearly articulating common problems and framing their app as the solution. They identify universal issues like difficulty sleeping, stress, and anxiety as negatively impacting quality of life for both individuals and society overall. Calm’s brand story then expresses how just a few minutes of guided meditation sessions through their app can transform mental health.
C. Establish Thought Leadership for Powerful Healthcare Branding
In the ever-evolving landscape of healthcare, establishing thought leadership is not just about being recognized; it’s about becoming synonymous with expertise and innovation.
According to Orbit Media’s study, the best thought leaders are defined as experts in their field17.
Consider these key steps to position your brand as a trusted authority in your field:
Craft Your Brand’s Identity as a Thought Leader
If your brand were known for one thing, what would it be? Identify this core aspect and amplify it across all channels. Then, consider two additional facets that complement and expand your brand’s identity. Drive home these key elements consistently, shaping your thought leadership narrative and reinforcing your brand as a respected authority in healthcare18.
Clarify Your Area of Expertise (and Stick to It!)
Define the singular aspect that your brand will be known for. Whether it’s groundbreaking research, pioneering technologies, or transformative patient care, clarity on your core expertise is key and ensure it is something you are both knowledgeable and passionate about.
Step Back from Your Business Agenda
Thought leadership isn’t about pushing your products or services; it’s about providing valuable insights and solutions. Step back from a purely business-driven agenda and focus on contributing meaningful content. Share industry insights, trends, and solutions that showcase your expertise without the overt promotion of your brand.
Listening/Learning from Others
True thought leaders are not just speakers; they are avid listeners and learners. Engage with your audience, industry peers, and even critics. Actively seek feedback and stay attuned to emerging trends20. By embracing a culture of continuous learning and open dialogue, you not only enhance your own knowledge but also demonstrate a commitment to staying at the forefront of industry advancements.
D. Pay Attention to Employee Branding
Your healthcare brand is not just about what you offer—it’s also about the people who deliver it. A positive, renowned brand can not only help you retain an exceptional staff, but also recruit them. According to Glassdoor, 92% of employees would consider changing jobs with no salary increase if the opportunity was with a company that had an excellent brand and reputation23.
The Role of Staff in Healthcare Branding
Recognize the significant impact your staff has on the perception of your healthcare brand. 96% of companies believe employer brand and reputation can positively or negatively impact revenue24 and we’re one of them! Your staff are truly the ‘face’ of your brand. Understanding how their attitudes, behaviors, and interactions contribute to the overall brand experience, can help transform them into integral brand ambassadors.
Training and Motivating Employees
It’s important to equip your staff with the skills and motivation to embody your brand values. Consider implementing effective training strategies that align employees with your brand identity, ensuring they are not only competent in their roles but also passionate about delivering an exceptional brand experience.
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center instills its brand essence of uplifting hope and clinical excellence among staff through an engaging onboarding experience and ongoing development. Orientation incorporates icebreakers, patient videos and meetings with leaders summarizing every worker’s role in delivering compassionate, quality care.
Encouraging Brand Advocacy Among Staff
Instill your mission, values, and vision into the heart of your organization. Ensure there are always open lines of communication to discover what motivates your staff, and how to foster brand advocacy. By cultivating a team that passionately supports your brand, you turn employees into authentic ambassadors who contribute to the success and positive perception of your healthcare brand.
Houston Methodist institutes communication pipelines and engagement initiatives to rally employees in support of their brand. Leadership reinforces this initiative through transparent hospital forums, surveys and recognition. This culture putting all voices at the table yields a workforce steadfastly advocating the Houston Methodist brand promise within their networks. Authentic recommendations drive referrals and bolster reputation.
E. Establish a Brand Identity
Designing an aesthetically-pleasing, trustworthy brand identity is pivotal to bringing to life your brand strategy. Here are the essential elements that will help define and strengthen your brand identity:
Create consistency – Ensure your healthcare brand speaks with one consistent voice across all platforms. Jonah Sachs, entrepreneur and author of Winning the Story Wars, reminds us that “Your brand is a story unfolding across all customer touchpoints26.” From your website to physical spaces, maintain a uniform look and feel. Consistency builds trust, making your brand instantly recognizable.
Keep it Simple (the Logo) – When you think of Apple or Nike, their simple yet memorable logos almost instantly come to mind. Your logo is your brand’s visual anchor. Design it with simplicity and memorability in mind. Ensure it encapsulates your brand essence and resonates with your audience.
Embrace The Psychology of Color – Studies have found that certain wavelengths of colors are able to “produce systemic physiological reactions that manifest in emotional experience27.” Taking the time to understand the psychology behind each color choice can help to create a visually compelling and emotionally resonant brand identity.
Radiant client, Lifescape, a functional and holistic medicine brand, uses the colors dark green and purple in their messaging which symbolize nature and healing, two values that align deeply with the brand and their goals.
Succinct Imagery & Typography – Visual elements leave a lasting impression. Choose imagery and typography that reinforce your brand personality. For example, a font like Sans Serif or Raleway, are associated with modern-looking brands. Remember that most individuals prefer typography clean, simple, and easy to read28. There are many connotations that can be associated with the typeface used by your brand so it’s important to take notice.
For example, Serif are popular because they appear on screen with greater clarity than other types of fonts, making them preferable for many companies that use digital marketing strategies.
Evolution of Brand Identity
Brands evolve, and so should their identities. It’s crucial to adapt your brand identity to reflect growth, evolving solutions, and market dynamics while still maintaining a consistent visual identity.
McDonald’s is a perfect example of embracing change while staying true to your core values29.
F. Online Presence and Digital Branding
In the era of digital prominence, your online presence is the face of your healthcare brand. Implement these strategies to capture attention and establish a strong and reputable digital presence within the competitive landscape of healthcare and wellness:
A Professional-Looking/Acting Website – Elevate your brand with a professional website that not only increases awareness but also establishes trust. The average adult internet user’s attention span is 8.25 seconds so it’s vital that your site is visually appealing, simple, and easy to navigate is key to encouraging continued interaction30. A professional online presence enhances visibility and credibility, fostering a positive first impression.
Seamless User Experience / Mobile Responsiveness – Prioritize user experience for your audience. A seamless and responsive design on both desktop and mobile devices ensures a positive interaction, contributing to user satisfaction and prolonged engagement.
G. Focusing on Brand Longevity
From cultivating a strong online presence to fostering trust through effective digital branding, it’s important to know the components that contribute to the longevity and impact of your healthcare brand.
H. Setting Brand Goals and Objectives
By meticulously setting goals, aligning them with strategic positioning, and implementing a measurable and adaptive approach, your healthcare brand can navigate the competitive landscape with purpose and achieve enduring success.
Market Research and Competitive Analysis
Start by conducting thorough market research and a competitive analysis. Understand the landscape of healthcare and wellness, identify key players, and assess market trends. Insights gained from this analysis will inform your brand goals and position you strategically14.
Brand Positioning
Define your unique value proposition, articulate your brand’s core message, and identify the distinct qualities that set your healthcare brand apart in the competitive market.
At Radiant, our Brand Pillar process and documentation identifies and defines these aspects of the brand, capitalizing on untapped opportunities.
Relating Objectives to Your Marketing Strategy
Align your healthcare brand objectives with a robust marketing strategy. Ensure that every goal corresponds with a specific marketing initiative. This cohesive approach ensures that your marketing efforts are purposeful and directly contribute to the achievement of overarching brand objectives.
Create Measurable Goals & Establish a Timeline
Craft goals that are measurable and time-bound. Whether it’s increasing website traffic, enhancing patient engagement, or expanding your reach, having quantifiable objectives with a defined timeline provides clarity and accountability in tracking your brand’s progress.
“While you don’t want to constantly make changes, you also don’t want to go too long with a brand and identity that isn’t resonating like you’d anticipated,” suggests Karen Cummings, Radiant CEO, “Establish a timeline and specific factors for evaluating the success of your brand strategy and where changes may be necessary.”
Balancing Aspirations with Realistic Expectations
Set ambitious goals, but balance them with realistic expectations. Acknowledge the challenges and constraints within the healthcare industry. Striking this balance ensures that your brand goals are ambitious yet achievable, fostering a sense of motivation and accomplishment.
“There is no one size fits all for determining the success of how your brand is received in the marketplace,” shares Karen, “rather you’ll want to determine these timelines and results on a case-by-case basis to identify where and when pivots should be made.”
Measuring and Evaluating Results
Implement robust measurement tools to assess the effectiveness of your brand strategy. Regularly evaluate key performance indicators (KPIs), analyze data, and adjust your approach accordingly. Measuring results allows you to refine your strategy for ongoing success.
I. Content Strategy for Healthcare Branding
In the digital age, a robust content strategy is the cornerstone of successful healthcare branding. Consider the following when strategically developing and distributing content that resonates with your audience:
Content Development and Planning
Initiate your content strategy with meticulous planning. Define the objectives, create a content development plan, establish publication schedules, and implement effective content management and governance. A well-structured content plan ensures consistency and purpose in your messaging.
Developing a Brand Voice
When it comes to brand voice, Hootsuite says it best: “Developing a unique, powerful brand voice is the best way to create consistent and compelling content across all channels31.” Whether it’s informative, empathetic, or innovative, a consistent brand voice enhances recognition and fosters a deeper connection with your audience.
Content Distribution Channels
Identify the most impactful distribution channels for your healthcare content. From social media platforms to email newsletters, select channels that align with your target audience’s preferences. Optimize your content distribution strategy to maximize reach and engagement.
Crafting Valuable Content for the Audience
Prioritize the creation of valuable and relevant content for your audience. Address their needs, concerns, and interests. Whether it’s informative articles, engaging visuals, or interactive resources, content that adds value strengthens your brand’s authority and builds trust.
Content Calendar and Scheduling
Streamline your content creation process with a well-organized content calendar. Utilize marketing calendars to efficiently plan and schedule your content releases. A structured calendar ensures a consistent flow of content, helping you stay organized and responsive to your audience’s needs.
Social Media Branding
In today’s interconnected world, social media is a powerful tool for healthcare branding. By having an active presence on social media, you can increase patient engagement, maximize brand awareness, and foster positive relationships with your local community.32
Leverage Social Media Platforms
Identify and leverage the social media platforms most relevant to your healthcare brand. Whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, or others, each platform offers unique opportunities to connect with your audience. Tailor your approach to the strengths of each platform for maximum impact.
“Each social media platform is like a unique tribe, speaking its own dialect,” shares Lauren Karowski, Radiant Content Strategist, “Learn to speak the language, write engaging posts, fill the timeline with valuable content, and watch your brand’s vitality thrive in the online health ecosystem.”
Build a Social Media Strategy
Craft a comprehensive social media strategy that aligns with your overall brand goals. Digital Market Institute recommends starting by defining your target audience, content themes, posting schedules, and engagement tactics33. A well-structured strategy ensures consistency and purpose in your social media presence.
Engage with the Healthcare Audience
Engagement is key on social media. Foster meaningful interactions with your healthcare audience by responding to comments, addressing concerns, and actively participating in relevant discussions. Cultivate a community around your brand that values and engages with your content.
Copperstate Ob/Gyn, a Radiant client, fosters incredibly high levels of engagement with social media posts encouraging patients to share stories about their experiences and growing families.
Monitor and Analyze
Utilize monitoring tools and analytics to track the performance of your social media efforts. Analyze metrics such as engagement rates, reach, and follower growth to assess the effectiveness of your strategy. Use insights to refine your approach, ensuring continuous improvement and relevance.
By effectively leveraging social media platforms, your healthcare brand can harness the full potential of social media for lasting impact and connection within the dynamic digital landscape.
Email Marketing Branding
With a consistent brand voice, standardized elements, and integrated branding in every email, your healthcare brand can use email marketing to boost customer loyalty, increase ROI within marketing campaigns, decrease the rate at which customers unsubscribe, and further establish your brand in the eyes of your customers34.
Standardize your email elements like sender info, copy, graphics, layout, and logo. Create a simple template that follows your brand rules using sites like MailChimp. This not only looks professional but reinforces your brand with every message.
User-Generated Content in Branding
Make your patients part of your healthcare brand story. By involving patients, using their content strategically, and maintaining brand consistency, your healthcare brand can turn user-generated content into a powerful tool for building community and a positive brand image.
Encourage Sharing
Ask your patients to share their experiences. Create a friendly space for them to give feedback or share stories. Their voices make your brand more human.
Use Their Content… But Keep It Consistent
If it fits, use what your patients share—testimonials, success stories, or other content. It adds authenticity and shows the real impact of your healthcare services.While encouraging sharing, make sure it aligns with your brand. Keep an eye on the content shared to ensure it fits with your brand message, visuals, and identity. Offering guidelines helps keep things consistent.
Hot Elevation Studios, a Radiant client, frequently reshares user generated content of their workout classes on social media. It not only adds authenticity to their social channels, but also helps further convey their brand messaging of community.
J. Combining Traditional and Digital Branding Efforts
Bridge the gap between old and new. Blend traditional methods like print or TV with digital platforms. A unified approach ensures your brand is visible to a diverse audience across various channels.
Be where your customers are. Whether it’s online or offline, engage with your audience consistently. Create a unified brand presence that adapts to different channels, ensuring your customers feel connected, no matter how or when they interact with your healthcare brand.
Section 5: Benefits of Effective Branding
From building trust and fostering loyalty to amplifying brand recognition and creating advocates, effective branding can have a profound impact on your healthcare venture including:
A. Increased Trust & Loyalty
Establishing a strong brand fosters trust among your audience. Trust, in turn, cultivates customer loyalty. Patients and clients are more likely to choose and stick with a healthcare brand they trust. The epitome of brand loyalty can be seen first-hand with the long lines outside of the Apple store when a new IPhone or product drops35.
B. Enhanced Brand Advocacy and Impact
Effective branding makes an impact on customers, turning them into advocates. A well-defined brand encourages patients to share positive experiences and become ambassadors, amplifying your brand’s reach through word-of-mouth and online channels.
Radiant client, Lifescape does a fantastic job of this, by providing such a great experience for their customers, that they in turn become brand advocates, bringing numerous word-of-mouth referrals to the business.
C. Elevated Brand Recognition
On a road trip, it’s easy to spot a Starbucks from far away thanks to the iconic, easily recognizable logo that’s positioned the brand as a leader in the coffee industry. This is all thanks to effective branding and the same goes for the healthcare industry. Increased visibility contributes to a stronger presence in the market, attracting new patients and reinforcing your position in the industry.
Section 6: Auditing & Optimizing Your Brand
A brand audit can help your organization evaluate its internal and external branding through customer surveys, data analytics, and competitive review37. From ensuring consistency across channels to adapting your brand for the ever-evolving digital landscape, conducting an audit can lead to clear opportunities to implement strategic optimizations.
Evaluating the success of your healthcare branding efforts is essential for ongoing growth.
Use the following as a means to measuring and optimizing your brand performance:
A. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Identify and track Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) specific to your healthcare brand. Whether it’s website traffic, social media engagement, or patient satisfaction, defining measurable KPIs provides a clear picture of your branding success and areas for improvement.
B. Tools for Branding Analytics
Leverage advanced tools for branding analytics to gain insights into your healthcare brand’s performance. Utilize platforms like Google Analytics, social media analytics, and customer feedback tools to gather data that informs strategic decisions and optimizations.
C. Competitor Analysis
Evaluate some of your competitors’ brands to see what similar companies do. Repurpose some questions you asked your target market and customers to understand more about how they respond to your competition37.
D. How To Optimize Your Brand
Explore effective strategies for optimizing your healthcare brand. From refining messaging to updating visuals, there are a number of practical steps to ensure your brand remains relevant and resonant in the ever-evolving healthcare landscape.
Supercharge audience engagement by employing A/B testing and monitoring tools such as HubSpot’s Kissmetrics A/B Testing Kits. A/B testing tools can test and optimize your website or app design, copy, product, and, most importantly, create an experience tailored to customer needs38. with different approaches and use tools like heat mapping to track user activity. Analyzing this data allows you to understand audience preferences and tailor your brand for maximum response.
Power of Data in Brand Optimization
Harness the power of data to drive brand optimization. Utilize analytics from testing to gain insights into user behavior, measure campaign effectiveness, and make informed decisions. Data-driven optimization ensures your healthcare brand remains agile and responsive to evolving market dynamics38.
Incorporate Regular User/Customer Feedback
Listen to your audience. Regularly gather feedback from users and customers to understand their perceptions and expectations. Incorporate this feedback into your optimization strategy, ensuring your healthcare brand aligns with the needs and preferences of your audience.
Radiant client, Copperstate Ob/Gyn, truly listens to their patients – appreciating the positive feedback and addressing the negative. For example, when they received feedback about the answering systems, they went to work improving their phone systems to more quickly address multiple incoming lines and triage patients to the appropriate individuals.
E. Public Relations in Healthcare Branding
Elevate your healthcare brand through effective public relations.
Keep it simple with these key components:
Leverage Online Reviews and Testimonials
49% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends and family39. Leverage positive online reviews and testimonials to build credibility. Encourage satisfied patients to share their experiences, contributing to a positive online reputation for your healthcare brand.
Manage and Respond to Patient Feedback
53% of consumers expect businesses to respond to negative feedback within one week40. This means that proactively managing and responding to patient feedback is key. Also, address concerns promptly and professionally, demonstrating a commitment to patient satisfaction and fostering a positive brand image.
Showcase Success Stories
Studies show that 84% of younger consumers such as millennials, don’t trust traditional advertising41, so it’s important to show and not simply tell your organization’s successes. Therefore, highlight success stories to showcase the positive impact of your healthcare services. Whether it’s patient recoveries or impactful community initiatives, sharing success stories reinforces the positive narrative of your brand.
F. Preparing for the Future of Healthcare Branding
Stay ahead by preparing your healthcare brand for the future including potential industry changes and emerging trends and innovations.
Emerging Trends and Innovations
Keep an eye on emerging trends and innovations in healthcare branding. Stay adaptable to new technologies and strategies that can enhance your brand’s relevance and impact such as advancements in telemedicine, evolving blockchain technology for secure and interoperable health records, and of course, advancements in AI for all aspects of healthcare branding.
Preparing for Industry Changes
Anticipate and prepare for changes in the healthcare industry. Whether it’s regulatory shifts or evolving patient expectations, staying proactive ensures your brand remains resilient and well-positioned for the future.
Section 7: Healthcare Branding Agencies
Whether you’re a health tech startup seeking a distinctive identity, or an established healthcare provider aiming to revitalize your brand, there are numerous advantages to collaborating with agencies that specialize in healthcare branding.
Navigating the world of branding in the healthcare industry can be complex, and partnering with the right agency can make all the difference.
A. What to Expect When Working With a Healthcare Branding Agency
When collaborating with a healthcare branding agency, anticipate a tailored approach to your brand development. Expect comprehensive strategies, creative solutions, and a deep understanding of the unique challenges within the healthcare industry.
B. What To Look For When Choosing A Healthcare Branding Agency
Choose a healthcare branding agency that aligns with your values, understands the nuances of the healthcare sector, and has a proven track record. Also, look for expertise in strategic branding, a creative edge, and a commitment to delivering results.
C. What Should You Outsource and What To Keep In House
Outsource specialized tasks like brand strategy, design, and marketing campaigns to agencies with expertise. Keep core elements such as mission, vision, and overall brand direction in-house to maintain a cohesive and authentic brand identity. Above all, strike a balance that maximizes external expertise while preserving internal brand ownership.
Partner with Radiant Marketing
Elevate your health and wellness brand with Radiant Marketing’s proven expertise and commitment to positive change.
Radiant Marketing exists to empower innovative health and wellness brands, bringing possibilities to life through powerful digital marketing strategies. Our comprehensive Branding, Lead Generation, Lead Progression and Sales Enablement Diagnostic Programs uncover untapped opportunities, setting a solid foundation for brand positioning and business growth.
Our Signature Programs bring to life those opportunities – executing on a strategic plan to create powerfully-positioned brands, generate new leads, or progress existing leads through the sales process, generating new and sustainable revenue for your business.
Schedule a Discovery Call
Ready to explore the possibilities for your brand? Request a discovery call today.
Our collaborative and personalized approach and proven processes ensures that your brand receives custom-tailored solutions at affordable prices.
C.W. Park, D.J. MacInnis, J. Priester, et al., “Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equity Drivers,” Journal of Marketing 74, no. 6 (November 2010): 1-17; and C.W. Park, A.B. Eisingerich, and J.W. Park, “Attachment-Aversion (AA) Model of Customer-Brand Relationships,” Journal of Consumer Psychology 23, no. 2 (April 2013): 229-248.
Dolezal L, Lyons B. Health-related shame: an affective determinant of health? Med Humanit. 2017 Dec;43(4):257-263. doi: 10.1136/medhum-2017-011186. Epub 2017 Jun 8. PMID: 28596218; PMCID: PMC5739839.
Gilad, B. (2011), “Strategy without intelligence, intelligence without strategy”, Business Strategy Series, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 4-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/17515631111106821
Elliot AJ. Color and psychological functioning: a review of theoretical and empirical work. Front Psychol. 2015 Apr 2;6:368. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00368. PMID: 25883578; PMCID: PMC4383146.
Keeping your website constantly updated with new blogs in an attempt to drive more leads can be EXHAUSTING! Layer in the frustration you feel when you aren’t getting the results you’re hoping for and you may just want to call it quits!
5 Essential Questions to Create Your Brand Persona
In a market saturated with options, defining your brand persona sets the stage for meaningful connections with your best-fit consumers, making it a crucial component to navigating the digital landscape effectively.
We’ve identified five essential questions every health & wellness brand should answer in order to effectively build out their brand persona.
Brand Persona Overview
Your brand persona is the person that your brand was created for; the reason your business exists. Building out this brand persona profile helps your team create a connection with your target audience on a deeper, more personal level.
Understanding this individual is the secret sauce to transform your brand from another product/service on the market, into a relatable and memorable brand in the hearts and minds of your audience.
Let’s explore the five crucial questions that will help you uncover and refine your brand persona, setting the stage for marketing success in the health & wellness industry…
1. Who is Your “Person”?
Like a soulmate in life and love, your persona is your brand’s soulmate. The reason your brand exists is to serve these individuals. If this persona goes unidentified, then you’ll find yourself marketing into the great abyss, with messages that resonate with no one.
To start, identify specifics about the individual. This could include:
Demographics – Picture Sarah, a 32-year-old fitness enthusiast who is navigating a busy career while prioritizing a healthy lifestyle. Understanding her age and gender helps tailor your brand messaging to align with her life stage and unique needs.
Psychographics – Meet James, a health-conscious individual aspiring to achieve holistic well-being. Understanding his attitudes towards wellness and discovering that he values sustainable and science-backed approaches to health, provides insights that help shape your brand’s identity.
Behaviors – Consider Emma, whose behavior involves frequent engagement with wellness content on social media, showcasing a preference for digital platforms. Understanding her behavior helps you optimize marketing efforts on channels where she’s most active.
Firmographics – Enter Chris, a business professional actively seeking solutions to provide his clients with work-life balance. Firmographics, in this context, may include details about Chris’s company size, solutions, culture and more, helping your brand understand the challenges he faces and tailoring solutions that fit into his corporate lifestyle.
Look to your most ideal customers to guide the development of these personas. Collect surveys, conduct interviews, and engage with your audience on social media.
Lean on the business’s founder and/or CEO to dive into the history of the brand and the story behind why it was created.
The answers you uncover in these conversations will not only help you build out the persona, it will provide you with delicious and juicy insights to use in your brand storytelling moving forward!
2. What Values Does Your Brand Embody?
Like most industries, in health and wellness, consumers seek brands that align with their values and beliefs.
Defining and authentically living your core values helps to create clarity and connection with your brand persona. Whether it’s your commitment to holistic well-being, sustainability, or scientific innovation, your values will often be what creates a deeper, more meaningful relationship with your audience. These values should tie directly to your persona’s attitudes and aspirations, and help them achieve their goals in the way they’re seeking. Ultimately becoming the key drivers in purchasing your brand over another.
Clearly communicate these values consistently across all brand touchpoints, from marketing materials to customer interactions. Authenticity is key, so ensure that your actions align with the values you profess.
3. What Problems Does Your Brand Solve?
Your business was (hopefully) created with the clear vision of solving a specific problem (or two).
Identify the primary challenges or pain points you solve for, and ensure that the persona you’re building out relates to and prioritizes the solving of this problem.
Whether it’s managing specific chronic conditions, promoting mental health, or reaching new fitness levels, your brand should provide meaningful solutions that solve a pressing and relevant problem.
In your customer interviews and surveys, include questions like:
What is/was the biggest challenge you face, as it relates to [your product/service/industry]?
What were you hoping to achieve with [our product]?
Have you made progress towards that? How does that feel?
Position your brand as a problem solver – focused on outcomes and benefits – and communicate how your products or services address these challenges. Use real-life examples and stories from customers to bring this problem-solution story to life and entice more individuals in your target audience to take action.
4. What Makes Your Brand a Unicorn?
In a sea of endless options in nearly all industries, standing out is essential. What do you do that no other company does to the same degree, of the same quality, in the same way, etc. How is your brand different in the most wonderful ways?
Once you’ve defined this internally, evaluate competitors and collect feedback from prospects to understand if these differentiators hold true and if they actually matter to your brand persona. Ask questions like:
Is [our brand] the sole provider for [service/product]? If not, who else do/have you used? What did they do well?
What do you feel the competition does well (in general)?
What could the industry improve upon as a whole?
How do you feel we compare to the competition?
What do you think makes us unique?
What made you decide to go with us over competitor A/B/C?
Your ‘unicorn’ factors could be a proprietary approach, a distinct visual identity, a groundbreaking product feature, a specific and unique process, a revolutionary customer service/support component, or a number of other things.
Once defined and validated, highlight these differentiators in your communication and brand strategy to capture the attention of consumers.
5. How Can Your Brand Effectively Engage?
Understanding where your audience is active is crucial in crafting effective engagement strategies. Start by taking a look at where your target demographic thrives – whether that be on social media platforms, online forums, or digital health and wellness communities. Recognize the channels where they seek information about products and services similar to yours and tailor your communications to resonate with their preferences, using language and visuals that align with their values.
Beyond the digital landscape, consider offline avenues such as health events, fitness classes, or wellness workshops where your audience may congregate. Crafting a multi-channel approach ensures a comprehensive outreach strategy that meets your brand persona where they are, creating a presence and active involvement in the spaces that matter most to your community.
The Benefits of a Well-Defined Brand Persona
A well-defined brand persona makes it easier to establish trust and credibility amongst your best-fit prospects, as your deep understanding of their wants, needs, desires and goals makes communication authentic, relevant and valuable.
As individuals, we surround ourselves with people who we feel understand us and can relate to us. The same goes for the brands we follow or love. Our sense of trust, loyalty and reliability increases when we feel a brand understands us.
And lastly, a well-defined brand persona also serves as a guiding force to ensure that everyone on your team is aligned with who they are here to serve and how to best serve them.
Overall, a strong brand persona becomes a powerful asset, driving customer engagement, fostering loyalty, and contributing to the long-term success of your healthcare and wellness brand.
Radiant Marketing and Your Brand Persona
At Radiant Marketing, we’re not just partners in marketing; we’re partners in your success story. Our collaborative, passionate team is here to help you uncover the answers to crucial questions like the ones outlined here, and turn them into actionable strategies that drive growth.
Together, we can bring possibilities to life, amplify your story, and achieve success in the healthcare market.
Ready to embark on this journey with Radiant Marketing? Schedule a Discovery Session today!
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Promoting Mental Health and Wellness through Social Media Campaigns
2023-12-15 16:47:56 | Lauren Karwoski | marketing strategy,marketing tips,mental health,small business marketing,social media marketing
The bad news: demand for mental health care across the country has skyrocketed in recent years – including support for anxiety, depression, trauma and stress-related disorders. An increase in demand primarily attributed to the enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New research from the American Psychology Association shows that psychologists cannot meet the growing demands for mental health care, with 56% of those surveyed stating they have no openings for new patients and wait lists reaching three months and more.
The mental health of individuals, our community and our country should not rely solely on psychologists
The good news: Healthcare brands have a unique opportunity to leverage social media to advocate for mental well-being and share valuable and critical resources. These brands can play a crucial role in shaping the narrative around mental health.
By actively promoting mental health information, your brand can contribute significantly to bridging the widening gap in accessible mental health care while fostering a supportive and informed online community.
