Why Buyer Personas Are So Important In Healthcare
Caid Christiansen•Buyer personas are valuable in any industry. In healthcare marketing, they’re all but a necessity.
For healthcare suppliers and other related entities, marketing without a niche is a waste. Those medical supplies you’re selling aren’t needed at all hospitals. And within those hospitals, selling is never as easy as selling–there are many stakeholders in the picture, all of whom need to be convinced of the value of what you’re offering.
The same is true for software and other services. Your target for the latest and greatest EMR software is most certainly not all hospitals. Some already have EMR software. Others have secured a solution and are just starting to implement. Some may have even had a failed implementation and are now leery of alternatives. In high-dollar, high-stakes purchases–as so many healthcare transactions are–there are dozens of factors in play.
Navigating this difficult landscape is, in some ways, the job of your sales team. They are there to answer questions, influence stakeholders, show your product, and ultimately, close the deal. The trouble is, your sales team isn’t there when the sales cycle is first starting. That starts long before your prospect ever picks up the phone, which means that you have to pick up the slack somewhere else: marketing.
Good marketing will help decision makers along before they have a chance to speak with your sales team. The right messaging will help convince people that you’re the right solution long before your sales team even knows the cycle is starting. But in marketing–and especially in healthcare marketing, where so many decision makers are involved in the process–casting a wide net just doesn’t work. You’re shouting into a void.
Convincing buyers in the way we’ve described here takes targeting and laser focus. You can’t write the right content without first having a rich understanding of who you’re going after. Who are those decision-makers? Where does the supply purchase process begin? Who’s involved in product research?
Enter the buyer persona. Understanding your customer(s) and audience is a great thing, and marketing personas can help narrow your focus rather than trying to cast a wide net.
What goes into a good buyer persona? We’ve answered the question on our blog before, but here’s a recap: a good buyer persona takes research, hard work, specificity, and a ton of data. It takes interviews with current customers and conversations with prospects. It takes knowledge of your product and the need it fills. It also takes trial and error.
Knowing who your buyers are and developing personas to market to is good in any industry, but it’s especially important in healthcare where the sales cycle is long, product is expensive, and good relationships can last years. Well-developed buyer personas make sure you’re not shouting into the void.
When laser targeting is what you need, buyer personas are a great place to start. You have a niche. Get to know it if you want to see results.
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