The Case for Targeted Marketing

What is Targeted Marketing?

“Targeted marketing works best in B2B situations where you can identify the individuals who can benefit specifically from your software or hardware solutions. ”

An old advertising and marketing adage states: “I know 50 percent of my advertising and marketing dollars are wasted; I just don’t know which 50 percent.” Targeted marketing works to eliminate this ambiguity. The term targeted marketing is fairly self-explanatory. It requires that you draw a fine bead on a defined, targeted group of prospects. Subsequently, the first step in targeted marketing is to define your prospect group as narrowly as possibly. For the purpose of this white paper, we will apply targeted marketing to the healthcare industry.

Who Can Benefit from Targeted Marketing?

Almost any healthcare vendor can benefit from targeted marketing, but it works best in B2B situations where you can identify the individuals by title, and sometimes by bed size, who can benefit specifically from your software or hardware solutions. This helps you hone in on your target audience. The more niche-oriented your product/solution, the easier your target identification process. For example, if you sell a registration quality assurance software package, you probably won’t want to reach the lab director; you will want to reach the registrar, registration director, and patient access manager, among others.

How Does Targeted Marketing Work?

After you have fine-tuned your prospective target job titles, the next step is to source both electronic and print lists for these titles. There are many excellent resources available to the healthcare industry for both of these media.

Now, that you know who your target audiences are and where they work. What tactics should you use to reach these prospects in the most cost-effective manner? Here, budget comes into play. You will want to use as many targeted marketing communications activities as your budget will allow. The more tactics you can afford to employ, the greater your chances of reaching your target audiences.

With most healthcare companies, budget is always a concern, so we’ll start with the most targeted tactics down to the least. This plan assumes that a company will see the value in purchasing good print and electronic lists from reputable vendors for their target audiences, if they don’t already have them. The next step is to develop your marketing message(s) with the most compelling value proposition statement possible. You must then put these messages into creative print direct mail pieces, email blasts, webinar programs, and other print and electronic formats, and deliver them, on an ongoing basis, to your target audiences, without burdening them with too many messages. The number and timing of marketing pieces sent should be carefully considered with your marketing professionals.

The next step is to identify any specific healthcare trade journals that your target audiences might read. How do you do this? Call them and ask. If there are no trade journals specific to your target audiences, select broader coverage magazines that they receive/read. For instance, if your target audiences use information technology, they are most likely receiving healthcare IT magazines. This media research can be used in two ways. One, if your budget allows, you can create print ads using your defined marketing message and place them in these targeted magazines. Two, the editors and writers of these magazines become your targets for a proactive media relations program, which you should aggressively conduct on an ongoing basis.

“Unless [trade] shows are small and fairly targeted, avoid them. Most large trade shows are a waste of small to medium-sized companies’ marketing budgets. ”

The final targeted marketing activity to be considered are trade shows specific to your software or hardware solutions. Even the most niche products usually have some sort of trade show specific to their users. Unless the shows are small and fairly targeted, I would avoid them. Most large trade shows are a waste of small to medium-sized companies’ marketing budgets.

What Are the Benefits of Targeted Marketing?

Your targeted marketing activities will demonstrate to your prospects that you are a specialist healthcare software/hardware provider, and you will therefore stand out from your competitors, even the larger ones. This can be a significant competitive advantage. Other advantages of targeted marketing are:

Your attention is focused on one specific target audience(s), which is likely to result in your marketing campaigns being far more cost-effective and resulting in more productive lead generation.
You will be perceived as a specialist in your prospect’s own field, and you will increasingly build your reputation as being an expert in that field.
Your promotional materials will seem highly relevant to your prospects’ needs, and are less likely to be discarded.
You will stand out from your competitors.
By differentiating yourself from your competitors, prospective customers will be less likely to focus on price as the key issue, thus enhancing your profit margins.

Conclusion