Four Green Flags Healthcare Marketing Leaders Should Require in a Healthcare Tech Marketing Agency

Healthcare marketing leaders run a frighteningly high risk of wasting time, money, and opportunity if they sign with an agency that’s not specialized in their corner of B2B healthcare technology.

These are just some of the comments I hear when someone comes to me—usually after wasting months of time and tens of thousands of dollars. They’ve burned a ton of time and opportunity on a content marketing agency that just doesn’t “get” healthcare content marketing for SaaS companies. 

It’s honestly not surprising. 

The healthcare IT market is expected to inch toward a trillion dollar market by 2029, but in the world of marketing, we’re still pretty niche. Most marketers won’t understand our nuances, language, or culture. But even agencies specialized in “healthcare” can be worlds away from the realities of healthcare buying committees and buying cycles that can extend years. 

You might wonder why, as a writer and consultant myself, I would give out tips on finding a good agency. It’s because, in the complex world of B2B healthcare technology, successful vendors use multiple solutions—often using my services as part of their “vendor stack” to enhance the results of an agency they like. 

So, to help you avoid the ridiculously high opportunity cost of working with the wrong agency, here are four absolutely necessary green flags healthcare marketing leaders should look for before you commit to an agency. 

1. They Have Experience in Your Corner of B2B Healthcare Technology—Not Just “Healthcare Digital Marketing” 

You found an agency that’s got a great digital marketing portfolio. You love their work and they’ve got experience in healthcare…Great!

“Our agency just isn’t working out.”

Or maybe not. If, for example, you’re a SaaS company that sells into hospitals, those case studies on attracting more patients to an outpatient center or digital engagement for a biopharma company won’t likely translate to moving business in your neck of the woods. 

You need someone with experience in market-based content creation for your specific corner of healthcare—someone who believes in a “measure twice, cut once” approach to content marketing. This is the kind of content marketing that takes action only after listening to your specific personas for pain points, topics of interest, and where they spend their time. (Learn more about this deeper level of listening here.)

2. They Understand of the Enterprise Healthcare Tech Buying Culture

“They’re embarrassing us in front of healthcare leaders.”

A healthcare tech marketing agency that’s a good fit for you will understand that every industry has its own quirks and nuances. For example, here are a few things going on in enterprise healthcare marketing right now that many, non-specialized agencies miss. 

• B2B healthcare buyers aren’t engaging until they’re 70% through their buying journey. 83% of buyers initiate first contact vs. responding to outbound sales.
• On the low end, providers evaluate their revenue cycle claim management technology every three years.
• Decision maker profiles are expanding as technology impacts more clinical, financial, and administrative roles.
• Hospital CFOs prefer short form content and want references from their peers (Read more about healthcare leader content preferences here.)

The key takeaway here is that relationship-building in enterprise healthcare marketing takes time and a highly-intentional content strategy that’s focused on delivering value. Content has amazing potential to bridge that gap, but only if it’s built for your specific market. 

3. They Have Access to Content Creators Who Know Healthcare Digital Marketing

“We have to spend hours reviewing each piece of content by hand.”

Most agencies simply won’t have writers on staff who understand how to balance the sensitive tone of healthcare with the expectation of using evidence, with the respect for a highly-educated reader. The result is vendors spending entirely too much time reviewing and reworking the content they create to fill in gaps with their agency. 

Before you commit to any HIT content marketing agency, ask to do a sample project or for sample content. You can also ask for examples of a simple but full funnel of content—from top of funnel social content to deeper case studies and white papers. 

(If you’ve already committed and need to free yourself up from content review, this service might be helpful.)

4. They Understand HIT Persona-Specific Watering Holes

“We’ve invested in press releases and sponsored articles and still haven’t connected with our key decision-makers.”

Lots of agencies will try to impress you with their publications and email lists that reach millions of healthcare leaders. In enterprise healthcare marketing, that’s a red flag. It’s a sign that they might not actually understand your audience. For example, if there are about 6,000 hospitals in the US, and you’re selling into health systems, the buying committees would have to be laughably large for those numbers to make sense. 

A good agency will find watering holes based on your personas. Here’s a list of those watering holes based on research of hospital and health system administrators. 

If an agency doesn’t include professional organizations and events that correspond with your personas, you should likely move on.

How to Optimize Your Healthcare Digital Marketing Agency Investment

A healthcare digital marketing agency can be a great way to step into a higher level of content marketing maturity (assess your level here.) But it can also bring about new challenges. 

If you need help directing and reviewing your agency’s work, I can supplement your team in multiple ways. Grab some time here for a zero-pressure conversation and we can talk out some options.