Lessons From Hundreds of Healthcare Marketing Campaigns
After helping healthcare organizations and solution providers develop hundreds of marketing campaigns designed to reach healthcare executives, the American Hospital Association has identified a few patterns. Some of the biggest drivers of campaign success aren't always the most obvious. Here are some of the biggest lessons we've learned.
Even Strong Targeting Can Miss the Actual Champion
Most healthcare marketers already segment by title and already know the buyer is rarely a single person. Where even experienced teams get tripped up is building target lists around the product category instead of the person who feels the problem first. For example, a supply chain or asset tracking tool appears to be an operations purchase, so the reflex is to build a list of COOs and supply chain directors. But the person who deals with the daily friction, and who is often the one pushing the purchase internally, may sit somewhere else entirely.
The AHA developed and executed a campaign on behalf of Barcoding, Inc., a supply chain automation company, to promote its patient belongings tracking solution. Rather than targeting operations leaders, the campaign was built around nurse leaders and patient experience professionals, since they were the ones dealing with the daily consequences of misplaced patient property. Focusing on the people who experienced the problem firsthand helped the campaign generate more than 1,000 leads against an initial goal of 200.
The takeaway is not "map your buying committee." It is to stress-test the assumption that the obvious title tied to your product category is actually the person who will champion it internally, since those two are not always the same person.
Build One Asset for the Entire Buying Committee
Every healthcare marketer already knows content should educate rather than pitch. The reality is that a hospital purchase usually involves a committee with different priorities, and a single piece of content aimed at one persona often loses everyone else on the list. Instead, build one core asset that gives each stakeholder a different reason to engage. A CFO may focus on the financial impact, a CNO on the clinical implications and a compliance officer on risk.
The AHA worked with a healthcare software company to develop a campaign promoting its incident reporting solution built around a single e-book designed for multiple stakeholders, including CFOs, CNOs, compliance leaders and quality executives. Rather than creating separate assets for each audience, the campaign highlighted different aspects of the same content for each group while also repurposing it into an infographic and email campaign. The e-book remained available as an evergreen resource, continuing to generate leads months after the original campaign ended.
This approach also helps your content keep delivering value long after the campaign ends. An asset built for a single audience tends to get used once and shelved. Content built with multiple stakeholders in mind can be repackaged into a new infographic, blog articles, social media posts and executive briefings, long after the campaign that produced it has ended.
Bring Practitioner Voices Into Your Content
A vendor speaking alone about its own product will always sound like a vendor, no matter how compelling the presentation. What changes engagement is bringing in someone from inside a health system who has faced the same challenge and can speak from firsthand experience.
The AHA produced and hosted a webinar on behalf of Dr. Ann Hendrich, founder of the Hendrich II Fall Risk Model, built around the question of whether zero falls should be the goal for hospital safety programs. Rather than positioning Hendrich as the sole presenter explaining her own model, the session featured Hackensack Meridian Health's Clinical Program Manager for Geriatrics, who shared how the organization approached the challenge in practice. The webinar attracted more than 1,000 registrants with an attendance rate exceeding 55%.
Whether it's a webinar, executive panel, white paper or conference presentation, people respond differently when they hear peers discussing real-world challenges instead of vendors describing their solutions. That shift in perspective often makes the difference between content that feels promotional and content that earns trust.
Don't Go It Alone
Even the strongest content and targeting strategy can benefit from the credibility of a trusted partner. Healthcare executives have limited time and countless demands on their attention.
Partnering with a respected healthcare trade association, professional association or industry thought leader, such as the American Hospital Association, can help you extend your reach while adding credibility to your message. It's not just about putting your message in front of more people. It's about putting it in front of the right people through organizations they already trust.
Putting It All Together
The most effective healthcare marketing campaigns are built on a series of smart decisions that work together:
- Look beyond the obvious buyer to identify the person most likely to champion your solution.
- Build one strong asset that gives every stakeholder on the buying committee a reason to engage.
- Bring healthcare leaders into your content so it feels like a conversation rather than a sales pitch.
- Partner with trusted organizations to expand your reach and add credibility to your message.
The American Hospital Association’s strategists understand the issues healthcare decision-makers care about, the messages that resonate and the programs that generate results. From webinars and targeted email campaigns to thought leadership and custom content, we help organizations connect with healthcare leaders and generate high-quality leads.