Healthcare content marketing has emerged as a necessity in the ever-evolving industry of healthcare. Content marketing allows companies to get their message heard and engage with their target audiences. 

The healthcare industry spans clinics, hospitals, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and wellness brands. We don’t want to forget the growing health tech industry, which spans over 30,000 companies in the U.S. alone. 

For the sake of this article, we’ll focus on the current state of content marketing in the health tech sector by examining trends, challenges, and best practices.

Healthtech is a unique sector of healthcare during this era of rapid advancements in technology, justifying the need for brands to stand out as thought leaders among the vast majority of the competition. 

Understanding the HealthTech Audience

A deep understanding of the healthtech audience is crucial for effective content marketing for healthtech brands. Rapid advancements in technology mean healthcare professionals and consumers rely more heavily on digital platforms for medical information. 

The potential audience for healthtech brands is vast, consisting of doctors, nurses, patients, and those with a general interest in health and wellness. This span of audiences requires using language that is not only clear and concise, but authoritative as well. 

Researched-backed insights and expert insight by industry leaders and help establish credibility and trust with the target audience. 

Lastly, understanding the unique challenges the target audience faces regarding technology adaptation can deepen content marketing strategies. Tailoring content to specific interests and pain points can help health tech brands position themselves as trusted leaders and resources within the industry. 

Tailoring Content for Different Stages of the Buyer’s Journey

Content marketing in the healthtech space is not one size fits all. It’s essential to create a content marketing strategy for different stages of the buyer’s journey.

There are three main stages a potential buyer goes through: 

1. Awareness
2. Consideration
3. Decision

In the awareness stage, a potential buyer is just now realizing they have a problem that they want to fix. In this stage, it’s important to have content that provides education. This could include blogs, videos, or published articles.

In the consideration stage, potential customer is actively searching for a solution to their problem. In this stage, more comprehensive and product-specific content should be produced. This type of content includes whitepapers, case studies, and user testimonials showcasing the positive outcomes your product produces. This type of content can also help build trust and credibility.  

Finally, in the decision stage, where buyers are ready to make a purchase decision, it is crucial to offer content that highlights your unique selling points and value proposition. This could be comparison charts, product demos or trials, or personalized offers tailored to their specific needs.

By tailoring content for each stage of the buyer’s journey your brand will demonstrate expertise while guiding potential customers towards making informed decisions about their healthcare choices.

Essential HealthTech Content Marketing Types

Healthcare tech companies can greatly benefit from utilizing specific content types that are essential for their industry. Two essential types of content are blog posts and informative articles. This type of content allows healthcare tech companies to provide valuable information about new technologies, advancements, and trends in the field.

By sharing this knowledge, these companies establish themselves as thought leaders and build trust with their audience.

Another important content type for healthcare tech companies are case studies or success stories. Since many products in the health tech space involve mobile apps and diagnostic tools, demonstrating how this technology has positively impacted patients’ lives can help boost product adoption. 

Case studies showcase real-world examples of how the company’s products or services have solved problems and provided value to customers, helping potential clients better understand the benefits of using them.

Lastly, interactive content such as videos, webinars, or virtual demos are crucial for healthtech companies to effectively showcase their solutions. This allows potential customers to see the technology in action and better understand its features and capabilities.

By strategically incorporating these essential content types into their marketing strategies, healthtech companies can better connect with their target audience and position themselves as innovative leaders within the industry.

Effective Distribution Channels for HealthTech Content Marketing

Even if you’ve created the greatest content, it’s not going to benefit you if it isn’t properly distributed. Effective distribution channels play a crucial role in the success of healthtech content. Know who your audience is and where they hang out. 

Healthtech companies need to be on social media. 

Point blank. 

What platforms you need to be on depends on your audience. But there are two platforms I recommend all healthtech companies have a presence on: 

LinkedIn and YouTube. 

You’d be amazed at how many healthtech companies I’ve encountered that don’t have any social media presence.

I’ll tell you why this is a big no-no. 

First, all healthtech companies need to be on LinkedIn regardless of their funding status, all the way from pre-seed to IPO. 

The reason? 

Healthtech companies need to demonstrate their thought leadership in addition to potentially finding investors and new partners. 

LinkedIn is a business platform that sets you up for networking with other companies on your level (and above). 

Next up is YouTube. 

YouTube isn’t actually a social media platform, but healthtech companies should have a presence on it nonetheless. 

With YouTube, you can document your journey as you’re building your product to show potential customers and investors what’s in store for your company. 

This video content and thought leadership content from the CEO can be shared on LinkedIn, so essentially, a single video can do duel duty and maximize its reach. 

Lastly, the most important part of YouTube is that it’s a search engine that will help your company’s web presence overall.

If you want to move beyond these platforms and explore others, add them in depending on where your end-users hang out. 

Measuring Healthtech Content Marketing Strategies

Measuring content marketing ROI is crucial in the healthcare tech space. The only way this is going to occur is by building an online presence.

You can track a few key performance indicators to ensure your content marketing is hitting the mark. 

Track website visitors, lead generation, conversion rates, and social media engagement to gauge the effectiveness of your content marketing strategy.

Measuring ROI in the healthtech industry can pose challenges because of the intricate nature of the industry, which often requires a longer sales cycle involving multiple stakeholders.

In addition, there are stringent regulations surrounding patient data privacy and compliance due to the sensitive nature of healthcare in general. Make sure to run all marketing initiatives through your legal and compliance team before publishing content.

Let’s look at a hypothetical case study of a healthtech company that employs a strategic content marketing strategy and how it can benefit the company overall.

Hypothetical Healthtech Content Marketing Case Study:

Situation:

MedTech Innovations, a budding health tech startup, has developed an advanced AI-driven patient management system that promises to streamline hospital workflows. While the product is groundbreaking, the company struggles with brand visibility and lead generation. Despite having a website and a blog, their content lacks direction, and they fail to attract the attention of hospital decision-makers.

Solution:

Understanding the power of content marketing, MedTech Innovations decided to revamp its strategy:

1. Audience Research: They initiate a deep dive into the needs, pain points, and information-seeking behaviors of their target audience – hospital administrators, IT heads, and healthcare professionals.

2. Educational Content: Given the complexities of their product, they start producing detailed explainer articles, infographics, and videos breaking down the benefits and functionalities of their AI-driven system. This helps in demystifying their product for non-tech-savvy stakeholders.

3. Industry Thought Leadership: They initiate a series of guest articles on prominent healthtech and medical journals, positioning themselves as pioneers in AI-driven hospital management. They also conduct webinars with real-world doctors discussing the future of healthcare management.

This thought leadership content is posted on both LinkedIn and YouTube to expand reach. 

4. SEO Optimization: Knowing the importance of search visibility, they optimize their content around keywords relevant to hospital management, AI in healthcare, and patient management solutions.

Outcome:

Over the span of six months, MedTech Innovations witnessed a transformative change:

– Their website traffic sees a surge of over 50%, with a significant chunk coming from organic search.

– The engagement on their content, especially the explainer videos and webinars, goes through the roof, indicating they’re addressing their audience’s real questions and concerns.

– Leads from hospital administrators inquiring about the system increased by 35%.

– Their brand starts getting recognized in industry forums, events, and conventions as a thought leader in AI-driven healthcare solutions.

Relevance of healthtech content marketing:

This hypothetical scenario underscores the immense potential of a well-thought-out content marketing strategy for healthtech companies. By addressing the audience’s actual needs and positioning themselves as industry leaders, healthtech brands can boost their visibility and build trust and authority in a competitive marketplace.

So how do you get these results for your healthtech company? 

Let’s break down the strategy I use to help healthtech companies with their content strategy.

Go-to-Market Strategy for HealthTech Companies

 Target Audience Segmentation: 

• Identifying primary and secondary audiences within the healthcare tech space.

Any noteworthy content strategy involves deep research on both the company and the end-consumer, whether that be hospital systems or women tracking their fertility cycles. 

Content Calendar Creation:

• Creating a calendar that outlines online distribution channels to share content for the next 6- 12 months.

The content marketing calendar gives us a guide on where to post our marketing material. During this stage, the specific distribution channels will be established.

As I mentioned earlier, LinkedIn and YouTube are a must. Other areas to distribute content depend on the research gathered from the end-user and the most effective distribution channels for that audience.

Content Amplification: 

• Using multi-channel marketing to spread awareness about the product. Channels may include SEO-optimized blog posts, LinkedIn promotions, and targeted email campaigns.

Multi-channel marketing occurs whether or not the product has fully launched; the earlier, the better.

  Collaborative Partnerships: 

• Leveraging relationships with industry influencers and platforms to endorse and share the product.

User-generated content (UGC) is big in marketing now, especially with the advancement of digital technology. Incorporating UGC will be considered for companies with mobile apps and products that they can use from their home.  

  Engaging and Converting:

• Hosting webinars or live Q&A sessions to address doubts, showcase the products’ benefits, and drive sign-ups.

Webinars and live Q&A sessions can work for a multitude of use cases. This content can pose as thought leadership content and be redistributed on other channels. In addition, depending on the target end-user, this type of content can help drive early adoption of the product.

 Feedback and Refinement: 

• Collecting feedback from early adopters to continuously refine the GTM strategy and ensure it remains relevant and effective.

This strategy is dependent on constant iteration based on performance reports from website traffic, engagement metrics, sales, etc. It is not meant to be a “set it and forget it” type strategy.

Conclusion

In conclusion, content marketing in healthtech has become an essential tool to effectively engage with audiences, establish thought leadership, and drive sales.

Next Steps

Hire me for healthtech content marketing strategy consulting: If you would like to discuss how I can help your healthtech company with a research-driven content marketing strategy, book a complementary 30-minute call here.

Have content marketing nailed and need graphic design instead? Check out my design subscription service – Studio Design Lab, exclusively for the healthtech, femtech, and famtech industries.

Still confused about what a fractional Content Marketing Manager can do for your company? Check out this blog post.

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