Targeting the Right Persona in Your Health IT Marketing Campaign

In my work as an industry analyst and consultant to healthcare IT product and solution providers, the most frequent topic of discussion is about reaching buyers and delivering the right messaging to attract interest. This is where marketers roll up their sleeves and partner with their sales teams to fill the the “funnel”. That is, attract potential customers, build relationships, and begin what hopefully will become a successful buying journey.

The first stumbling block is consistently answering "who is the buyer?". Answering this correctly will yield more qualified buyers at the middle of the funnel, where potential customers are actively researching solution options. The alternative is casting a wide net and filling the top of the funnel, where captured leads must be vetted and qualified because they may or may not be serious. In the health IT industry, it is natural to target marketing efforts towards the IT department, and therefore concentrate on the head of that group, the Chief Information Officer (CIO). In my experience, this is the wrong approach for most companies, and below I share some of my thoughts about a better approach.

Buying is a Team Sport

If you have ever been invited to give a sales pitch at a hospital or other kind of healthcare delivery organization, you likely did it in a room full of people. If the host has done their job correctly, you'll meet clinicians, IT, finance, purchasing, security, operations and even (gasp) consultants. Purchase decisions are made by teams, in fact they can be pretty large. A survey published by HIMSS earlier this year reported that only 38% of respondents indicate than less than 5 people are involved in the decision making process. That means 62% said 5 or more, with 27% saying it was 10 or more. That is a lot of people to sell to, and minds to capture.

Source: HIMSS. The full survey is available here thanks to healthlaunchpad.

If your buyer is literally everyone, including finance, operations, and administration, where do you start? As I said above, don't fall into the trap of aiming everything at the CIO. The better approach is to determine who in the healthcare enterprise is most likely to champion the purchase because they have a problem to solve now that impacts their line of business. Hint: whether your product is ultimately chosen in the end is not a concern at the start of the buying journey. What you want is to get into the conversation, and start building a trusted relationship. You do that by meeting that future champion during their research phase, and success is getting your product on the list of potential “vendors”.

If you are having trouble identifying who that champion is, you can start with a simple approach that introduces the idea of personas. Personas are fictional characterizations of groups of real people who share the same interests, needs, preferences, motivations, and pain points. This blog is not about personas, and I encourage you to learn about them more deeply. However, as a first pass, consider the list below of basic buyer personas:

Basic Buyer Personas

1. Influencer: This person may not be directly involved in the use or purchase of the product, but their opinion can influence the decision-making process.

2. End User: This is the person who will be using the product on a daily basis. Their feedback is crucial as they can provide insights into the usability and effectiveness of the product.

3. Business Owner: This person is responsible for the business outcomes that the product is expected to deliver. They are typically concerned with how the product can drive business results.

4. Technical Decision Maker: This person evaluates the technical aspects of the product, such as how it integrates with existing systems, its scalability, security, etc.

5. Financial Decision Maker: This person looks at the financial implications of the purchase, including cost, return on investment, and total cost of ownership.

In healthcare buying, it may seem like everyone is an Influencer. But that persona is not specific enough to realistically be a target for marketing, and further that persona likely cannot champion the buying process. The End User is logical since they will use the product daily, however they too generally lack the ability to be a champion or even have time to be thinking about solutions.

The Business Owner is the sweet spot here, because they know what their problems are and can even assign a numeric value to them (start thinking about return on investment here). The CIO can be a Business Owner when a product directly impacts their ability to deliver services to the enterprise. However, if your product is clinical in nature, i.e. is use in patient care, then the better choice is to target the clinical department leader. This is true no matter how technical the product is behind the scenes, as you will have time later in the buying journey to influence the Technical Decision Maker.

As I stated before, the job at this stage is to simply get included in the conversation about a possible purchase. You don’t need to make the sale yet. Your job as a marketer is to get invited to offer more information, and if you are really good be tagged as a thought leader. By the way, nothing is stronger in making your case than having a department chair walk down hall to the CIO's office and say "we really need this!".

Quick Take: make sure your website is up to date and fresh with content. Buyers of all personas will be surfing the web looking at possible solutions. That’s where middle of the funnel buyers will find you. I can help tune up your website to improve the odds of capturing those opportunities. Please reach out.

Since I mentioned the buying journey, it will not come as a surprise to any veteran of the healthcare marketplace to learn that purchase decisions take a long time. In the same HIMSS survey, 41% of purchases took more the 24 months!

Source: HIMSS. The full survey is available here thanks to healthlaunchpad.

In conclusion, understanding and targeting the right persona in your marketing campaign is not just a good-to-have, it’s a must-have in today’s healthcare marketplace. The landscape is evolving rapidly, and so are the needs and behaviors of healthcare consumers.

By developing a deep understanding of your target persona, you can tailor your messaging to resonate with their specific needs and challenges. This not only enhances the effectiveness of your marketing efforts but also builds trust and loyalty among your audience.

As we navigate this exciting and challenging marketplace together, let’s remember that at the heart of every persona is a person – a person seeking better health outcomes and a better healthcare experience. By keeping our focus on these individuals, we can not only achieve our marketing goals but also contribute to a healthier and happier society.

I hope you found this article insightful and practical. If you’re looking for a partner to help navigate these challenges and opportunities, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I'm here to help you achieve your marketing goals and drive success in the healthcare marketplace.