By Ava Campion, Content Specialist
In 2022, health IT, mental health tech, and telehealth all saw funding increases, according to a CB insights report on the State of Digital Health.1 As the need for innovative technology grows within the healthcare industry, B2B healthcare tech companies need to evaluate their lead generation strategy.
Healthcare tech companies typically have:
- Long sales cycles
- Buyers who have to make group purchasing decisions
- High price points
When it comes to healthcare technology companies implementing a lead generation strategy, the focus should be on capturing quality information from qualified leads rather than generating as many leads as possible at any cost. This requires a thoughtful and targeted B2B lead generation strategy.
To learn more about how Ironpaper increased a healthcare tech company’s qualified leads by 33%, check out the case study here: https://www.ironpaper.com/case-study-retarus
Enrich and Expand Audience Insight
Before trying to capture their audience, marketers need to understand who they are, what pain points they’re trying to solve, and what engages them.
Sales and marketing must work together on researching and creating data-backed ideal customer profiles (ICP) to inform their lead generation strategy. These teams can work together to evolve the ICPs over time as they learn more about their ideal customers and buyers. Both marketing and sales have unique insights into what their customers seek.
When developing ICPs, healthcare tech companies should re-evaluate their messaging and consider whether it speaks to their target audience. Does the messaging speak to the buyers’ pain points? Does it address their needs?
Set Meaningful Marketing Goals
Key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics, and defined goals provide essential insights that drive results for B2B healthcare tech companies.
Choosing the right metrics to track is an important first step in creating valuable marketing goals. The metrics tracked should provide meaningful insight into how marketing efforts affect revenue growth:
- Qualified leads generated per month
- Sales-qualified leads per month
- Deals closed
- Target account acceleration
- Conversion rates from marketing
As teams track metrics and KPIs, it is essential to adjust the goals to remain realistic and not overextend the marketing team. Adjusting also allows marketers to reflect on their strategies, seeing what has and hasn’t worked.
Marketing’s top goal should be building adaptive strategies focused on outcomes and buyer needs. Methods built around these critical focuses will result in more qualified leads that become sales opportunities.
Create a Content and Engagement Strategy
If your business uses an inbound marketing strategy, you can’t forget to include content! A DemandGen report found that 44% of buyers consume between 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a salesperson.2
A successful content strategy should educate, inspire, and build interest post-conversion. Businesses must engage and nurture prospects at each stage of the buyer's journey, meaning marketing needs multiple conversion points.
Healthcare tech companies seek to solve problems for the healthcare industry, so content needs to speak directly to buyers and their needs. Otherwise, the messaging could fall on deaf ears. Healthcare companies don’t want to read autobiographical pieces or articles on software features.
Healthcare executives and operations managers are often not technology focused, so outcomes need to be clear to people who understand healthcare, but potentially not software.
Instead, create buyer-centric content that speaks directly to their pain points and makes it easy to see how the product they’re reading about will help them achieve their business objectives.
Healthcare tech companies that write buyer-centric content will position themselves as thought leaders in the industry, drawing in more qualified leads.
To see how Ironpaper approaches messaging for healthcare buyers, check out this case study:
Leveraging Buyer-Focused Content and Messaging to Increase Conversion Rates
Attract and Convert Qualified Leads with Account-Based and Inbound Marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) and inbound marketing are two methods for educating and engaging B2B target audiences. Both methods require marketing and sales alignment to execute functional lead-generation campaigns.
HubSpot defines ABM as “a focused growth strategy in which Marketing and Sales collaborate to create personalized buying experiences for a mutually-identified set of high-value accounts.”3
Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is a foundational strategy. Inbound is the method of drawing in qualified leads, unlike outbound marketing, which is often intrusive and an ineffective use of time and budget.
A Linchpin report found the average cost per lead (CPL) in the healthcare and medical industry is $162, with a high of $286.4 Since CPL can be high, healthcare tech companies need to invest in strategies that will allow them to generate more leads with their limited resource. Outbound requires one-to-one outreach, while inbound marketers can generate more leads and nurture them before any one-to-one contact.
B2B tech companies benefit from highly targeted strategies since it allows marketing and sales to focus on attracting the right people to their business. In conjunction, ABM and inbound marketing helps companies move the right prospective customers through the funnel, educating and engaging them every step of the way.
Implement Behavior-Based Email Marketing
Every healthcare tech company should implement an email marketing strategy. A Litmus report found that for every $1 marketers spent on email marketing, they received $36 in return.5 Since email marketing proves to have a good ROI, implementing an email strategy makes it an effective and inexpensive way to scale lead nurturing.
However, the type of email campaigns deployed is crucial. Just like patients expect customized care from their healthcare provider, healthcare institutions expect personalized experiences from their tech providers.
Rather than buying email lists and blasting those contacts, healthcare technology companies will generate more qualified leads by utilizing behavior-based email marketing.
Behavior-based email marketing is the tactic of sending appropriate communications based on behavior, activities, and interests. A Blueshift report found that “triggered messages resulted in a 41% higher click-through rate and had a 600% higher conversion rate than batch messages.” 6
To gather buyer insights and create more personalized emails, healthcare tech companies should implement A/B testing to determine what messaging resonates best with the audience and motivates them to purchase.
Tracking behavior and gathering insights via email will help teams identify qualified leads since behaviors can indicate the likelihood of interest. Insights will determine if the lead fits the ICP.
Drive Decision-Making with Data and Full-Funnel Analytics
Healthcare tech companies who review data and performance can drive informed decision-making for their B2B lead generation strategy. Instead of taking a shot in the dark and hoping campaigns will be effective, marketers and salespeople can intelligently use sourced information to define their audiences and the most receptive messaging.
One way to evaluate data is by implementing full-funnel analytics with marketing automation software. This software will gather data from user and customer activities across the entire funnel, measuring multiple touchpoints and identifying where prospects are in the funnel.
Full-funnel analytics is a great way to generate first-party data, providing clearer insight into a business’s audience. Lead generation is about quality — not quantity. Once healthcare tech companies have assessed the data, Marketers can begin iterating on campaigns.
Iteration helps healthcare tech companies measure results against benchmarks, allowing for adjusting, improving, and building successful new campaigns. Reviewing and refining strategies is the best way to continue generating qualified B2B leads.
Conclusion
Healthcare tech companies implementing these B2B lead generation strategy tips will attract more qualified leads, resulting in revenue growth and better customer retention. Strategies need to be buyer-focused to be effective. By using these processes, companies can better understand their buyers, what solutions they’re looking for, and how to speak directly to them.
To learn more about generating qualified leads, check out our process here. If you’re looking for assistance on your B2B lead generation strategy, Ironpaper can help. We accelerate the pipeline for B2B companies, focusing on ABM, inbound, and demand generation for our programs.
Request a proposal today to see how we increase qualified leads.
Sources
1CB Insights, State of Digital Health Q3'22 Report, November 1, 2022
2DemandGen, Content Preferences Survey Report, 2023
3HubSpot, Account-Based Marketing vs. Inbound Marketing: What's the Difference?, June 17, 2022
4Team Linchpin, Projected 2023 Average Cost per Lead by Industry and Channel, October 1, 2022.
5Litmus, The ROI of Email Marketing [Infographic], November 3, 2022.
6Blueshift, Benchmark Report 2023: Cross-Channel Marketing, January 12, 2023
