Hospital Decision-Makers Hate These Six Terms You’re Using Every Day

The language your marketing and sales teams are using could be putting off the most influential members of your buying groups. Listen for language that healthcare leaders use themselves and reflect that in your content marketing.

“Overused”…”problematic”…”tired of hearing”—that’s how hospital decision-makers feel about six terms I see used constantly in HIT vendor content marketing.

This article on healthcare buzzwords from Becker’s should be required reading for your content marketing team. That’s because it’s got some incredibly useful insights that are actually easy to apply—and apply them you should.

These are the kinds of terms that, if used incorrectly, can absolutely sabotage your marketing efforts. And they’re so incredibly subtle, you’re probably using them in email subject lines, conference collateral, and sales presentations more than you realize.

1. Workforce Crisis
2. Bandwidth
3. Providers
4. Burnout
5. Population Health
6. Value-based Care

When I say I run across these all the time in vendor materials, I mean all the time. I’ve even used them myself as a writer. But if they do pop up in your marketing and sales communications, it’s time to sit down and make some changes.

This is because poor word choice can inadvertently send highly negative messages about your brand, reinforce subtle buying committee psychological objections, and mask opportunities to get bigger results with improved application of content marketing.

Three Healthcare Buzzword Content Lessons

If you read the rationale behind each of the complaints, it’s more than just annoyance. This isn’t your regular list of passé buzzwords that have fallen by the wayside in the constant evolution of business jargon. This is healthcare—a field where the stakes are higher and, in my opinion, the use of language requires even more care and consideration. If you look a bit deeper at the comments from the representatives of the hospital and health system C-suite,  you’ll see a few issues underlying their complaints.

This Is a Listening Problem

At its core, this is a listening issue. Ideally, all your content marketing terminology should be guided by your market—and that can be tricky in healthcare. Terminology can vary between the payor and provider space or even between clinical and financial roles. But for the most part, issues like this go back to leaning too heavily on “self-centered” listening—vendors letting their internal terminology leak out into the market. (Learn how to listen better in healthcare tech content marketing)

A Lack of Specificity Is Holding You Back

The article mentions “catch all phrases” and “diminishing significance” of terms like “burnout” and “population health”. That’s the outcome you get from language that isn’t specific and that doesn’t keep up with the shifting nuances of enterprise healthcare tech.

But notice that the specific issue exists on a couple of levels. Issue with the “providers” term was brought up by clinicians. Your financial and administrative decision-makers might not have any problem with being called “providers”. (Which is why persona-specific content is so critical to shortening your iteration process.)

“Excuses” Aren’t Helpful

Every piece of vendor content should position you as a solution. Even your content marketing should be an extension of your value proposition—helping your ideal customers solve problems from the first point of contact. And this is why terms that feel like “excuses” can be so detrimental to your content marketing results.

Terms like “value-based care” have concrete definitions, but when they’re misplaced (i.e. missing the relationship to patient care and outcomes beyond financial results), they can give the impression that you’re disconnected from efforts to resolve your market’s problems, or worse, that you don’t understand them at all. That’s a blow to hard-earned trust that most vendors can’t afford to risk.

Treating the Buzzword Problem in Hospital Content Marketing

Turning this around is a relatively straightforward (though not necessarily easy) fix.

• Find the root cause: Ask why you’re using the terms in the first place. If you’ve never thought out content marketing terminology at the level of reflecting customer and market language in your content, it’s time to make some changes.
• Figure out replacement language: I talk a lot about letting your ideal customers guide your word choice through Evidence-Based Listening that flows into a Value-Based approach to content. This is a great opportunity to put that concept into practice. (I typically recommend specialized market research for this level of language refresh, but the Becker’s article is honestly enough to get most vendors started on serious improvement.)
• Talk to your content creators: If you’ve got a style guide or brand guidelines, update them and announce the updates. If not, talk to your writers, podcast hosts, sales team, and even your CEO so that you’re all on the same page in optimizing your use of language.
• Test your changes: Don’t just release your new terminology out into the wild unchecked. Monitor results and responses. Consider tactics like A/B testing a couple of email headlines on your prospect newsletter list with old and new language to see just how much these buzzwords could be costing you.
• Consider retro review: You don’t have to rewrite all your content.  Just look for opportunities where you could’ve been more specific in your existing and especially evergreen pieces. This is even more important if you use gen AI for content creation or if you’re doing any repurposing work. (Here are some thoughts if you’re looking for repurposing opportunities on your existing content.)

Your language is your brand, so, especially as we go into 2025, don’t let a few less-than-optimal word choices sabotage your content marketing efforts and business goals.

…and if you need to focus on other responsibilities and it’s something you’d like me to potentially take off your plate, grab your free Diagnosis & Discovery session here. (You’ll receive a free, free, no commitment Content Program Orientation and Pillar Priority deck.)