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Medical Businesses: From Print Ads to Multi-Channel Marketing

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I went to see a dentist a friend recommended to me last week. His clinic turned out to be at the older part of the city, a place that used to thrive commercially before malls and hotels decided to expand away from downtown. Just as I expected, the building was a little too old school for my liking — it was a throwback to the 60’s with the heavy doors, wood walls, and geometric floor designs. Imagine my surprise when a battery of high-tech dental equipment greeted me. It’s like seeing a rippled, tattoo-covered, ill-dressed guy helping an elderly woman cross the street. It just doesn’t add up at first glance. Then again, technology has caught up with almost everybody and everything.

Up until maybe 15 years ago, marketing materials for health products and services were mostly printed on brochures and pamphlets. Back then, marketing was limited to print and television ads and collaterals — ballpens and paper fans with the names of the hospital or clinic or some over-the-counter drug.

Today, marketing strategies have invaded the virtual world, making it easier to reach potential B2B clients. It sounds just about right, because what else can we expect?  

But here’s the catch: the rise of these digital marketing platforms means an increase in online competitors.

Report by Strategy Analytics Advertising Forecast, 2015

Recent Report by Strategy Analytics Advertising Forecast, 2015

This gave birth to Multi-Channel Marketing, a smart integration of marketing techniques that aims to maximize marketing efforts and penetrate all the possible channels to reach business prospects. With the help of multi-channel marketing, we are given more ways to relay announcements and new deals to potential customers without having to go out there and personally pass the information.

But why should a medical businesses go with this kind of marketing?

According to www.pmlive.com,

“Multichannel is much more than a proliferation of channels – it’s an opportunity to look at multiple stakeholders, the experience an organisation creates and understand where and how they interact. To deliver that promise it’s essential that all available channels are integrated.”

This is the best way to communicate with your target market. Considering the fact that every decision maker is relying on these channels, you have a greater chance of talking to them and presenting your proposition. It also means greater chances of generating more leads and closing more sales.

Also, if a business communicates well with their target market, consumers and clients are assured that the company includes customer satisfaction in their goals.

How does multi-channel marketing work for medical businesses?

Let’s assume that you already have a website where you place all the details of your product and your services. Here’s a sample sequence on how to incorporate a simple multi-channel approach to your current marketing campaign:

Example:

1st Channel (Website and Search Engine) : This is when an interested prospect discovers your website through Google and decides to fill out the contact form because he/she is interested to learn more of your product or services. 

We all know that it’s not enough that you drive leads inside your pipeline — the bottomline here is closing the sales. 

Related: From Wannabe to Superstar: How to Do Marketing in Asia

2nd Channel (Phone call): Follow up these leads and respond to their inquiry by using the contact details they provided. Call them to make your offer and make them realize the benefits they could gain. Watch this video and learn how to make prospects buy from you..

3rd Channel (Email): Send them an email with all the details and benefits of your product and services.

4th Channel (Social Media): Connect with them on social media.

Marketing Mix By Channels

The one place where the increasing digital dominance wasn’t reflected was in the data about channel marketing mix (see below). Respondents devoted the greatest percentage of their marketing budgets — 13.7% — to professional meetings/conferences.

Sales reps sponged up 13.3% of budgets, sales materials 10.3%, and content/materials development 9.8%. Digital channels lagged behind: Respondents assigned 8.8% of their budgets to websites/microsites, 4.5% to paid digital advertising (versus 7.4% to print/TV/radio ads), and 4.0% to social media.

Ref: www.mmm-online.com

This is why multi-channel marketing works on so many levels — it will never leave a stone unturned. It aims to access all possible ways in communicating the prospects and not miss a single opportunity.

Related: Healthcare Marketing: Selling Products and Services, Creating Awareness

Of course there’s no definite sequence in using these marketing platforms. It always depends on your preferences as an organization and the marketing scheme you are most comfortable with.

Do remember that the most effective way to be able to establish a stable connection with the target market is to identify the prospect’s preferred business time and  their communication preferences. Incase, you called them on a bad day, here’s what to do. It is also important that a company should know how to treat their target market accordingly and invest in a good relationship with them.

5 Steps Guide on Reaching Out To Malaysian Prospects Effectively

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Knowing your ideal customer is important before reaching out to them. It’s essential to have a targeted list so your team’s effort will not be put to waste. The information you gather in profiling a list makes it easier to identify why customers buy from you. The more information you have about your customer, the easier it is for you to know if there will be opportunities to sell them your product.

Also, you must make sure that you’ve examined your existing data before reaching out to your prospects. Having a clean and updated database with no duplicate records is important for your sales team to maximize their time and effort in getting hold of their target prospects. Here’s how to know if you’re wasting resources on a dirty marketing list.

As discussed in my previous article, Get it Right: Double the Number of Your Sales Leads with Multi Channel Marketing, the best method to reach out to prospects in Malaysia is through Multi-channel marketing. Follow these steps to have better campaign results: 

STEP 1: Send out introductory email first

5 Steps Guide on Reaching Out To Malaysian Prospects Effectively

Now that you have a targeted list, you are now ready to reach out to your prospects.

Email allows you to communicate with your prospect and at the same time, respect their time. According to Robert Graham, the author of Cold Calling Early Customers, “An initial email makes more sense because it doesn’t require for the prospect to answer the moment they receive it.”

Emailing let’s you educate your prospect about your product or service and connect it with their current situation. Plus, you can always use email as a reason for your call. However, if many are already familiar with your company, for example; Salesforce.com, Dropbox, Microsoft, etc. Then I suggest that you should start calling your prospect and ignore the email-first rule.

STEP 2: Make sure to maximize every call

5 Steps Guide on Reaching Out To Malaysian Prospects Effectively

When calling, you don’t only focus in one decision maker. Different people with different roles are involved in the decision making process. These people are;

  • The evaluator. He’s not the decision maker but he’s the one who evaluate if there are some issues with their current setup.
  • The recommender. He’s usually the one who evaluate what’s available in the market and present a recommendation with reasons why the top decision maker should consider a certain product.
  • The influencer. He’s not the final decision maker but he’s the one who can influence the decision of the final decision maker.
  • The final decision maker. He is the top decision maker. He’s not directly involved with the process but he’s the one who decides which product to consider.

Also, when making a call, follow a prospecting schedule. Learn about your prospects availability and evaluate as to when is the best time to call Asian prospects that will give you higher contact ratio.

STEP 3: Warm referrals through word of mouth

5 Steps Guide on Reaching Out To Malaysian Prospects Effectively

You may have satisfied customers, only to the fact that their expectations  were low or no one else is doing a better job. Having a satisfied customer isn’t enough nowadays. For you to have a booming business, you need to have loyal and satisfied fans who will keep on patronizing your product or service to their family, relatives and friends.

How to get more referrals?

STEP 4: Conducting or Attending trade shows and events

5 Steps Guide on Reaching Out To Malaysian Prospects Effectively

Trade show, conference or any event is usually targeted for a specific industry. The people involved or those who attend are usually interested in that industry. Hosting or attending a trade shows can be a great way to reach out to your target market, create brand awareness and promote your product or service.

Find out what’s the best event marketing game plan for your next event.

STEP 5: Connect through social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc)

5 Steps Guide on Reaching Out To Malaysian Prospects Effectively

Stay in touch with your prospects through social media by sharing contents, company update
s and tips regularly. It is one way to establish yourself as one of the experts in your field. Also, using social media to communicate and interact with your audience can be an advantage on your end. However, be careful as social media is ineffective when it comes to sales. Social media is more effective if you educate your audience about your products and service and make them feel like they need it, instead of selling it directly to them.

Example: Healthcare Marketing: Selling Products and Services, Creating Awareness

It is easy to sell something to someone when you know that they’re interested with the product or service that you’re offering. By profiling your database and having a targeted list, it’ll be easier for you to reach out to your prospects through various channels and create brand awareness which may eventually convert into a sale.