February 17, 2022  |  Amy Rambo

How to build an effective healthcare campaign.

Your healthcare campaign is only as good as the data you use. Send your message to outdated contacts or the wrong audience ... and your marketing dollars go to waste. To maximize your efforts and investment, tap into a data–driven approach to find your audience and reach the right physicians and decision–makers.

Where do you start? It's crucial to choose the right data partner and to target your message hand–in–glove with your data to maximize impact. Here's what to keep in mind to set up your next healthcare campaign for success:

Choose quality over quantity

Starting with the right data source is key for getting the response you want. While some data partners can offer quantity, those numbers are irrelevant if the data is not high–quality. And while some provide lots of data for a low price, you might not get the level of service you need to execute your campaigns and gain insights. Other providers come with a hefty price tag and offer more data or services than you may need.

To build an effective campaign, look for a data partner that supplies quality information and gives you the tools to define your best audience. That way, you will reach the right people with a relevant message and maximize your marketing dollars.

Ensure your data is valid

Whether you need to reach a broader group of dentists or a more specialized group of orthopedic surgeons, you want your message to be seen by the people you're contacting. After all, there's not much worse than sending an undeliverable message. To get the most out of your healthcare campaign and ensure deliverability, your data needs to be accurate and up to date.

Ask your data provider how their healthcare data is validated. Most snail mail data will be CASS or NCOA certified, so be sure to confirm that your data partner follows these standards. Your company may also consider data integration with your sales and marketing stacks. Integration improves data hygiene because it provides clean, updated data on a continuous basis, offering real–time intelligence that drives strategic decision–making.

Understand your audience

You've got your database, but who is your target audience? When you build a strategy to expand your customer base, start with what you know about your existing customers. Where are these physician groups located? Do you have specialist information? Who are the primary contacts and what are their roles? These insights will help you understand what's been working, and in turn, what will be most effective moving forward.

Although physicians may be the ultimate user of your product or service, it's important to keep in mind who your gatekeepers, influencers and decision–makers are. Typically, the smaller the organization, the greater the influence of physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners on buying decisions. Physicians also act as a gatekeeper between medical products and patients. Within a physician group, office managers and assistants frequently play a role in the buying process. In general, you will get better results when you target the appropriate gatekeepers and decision–makers with your message.

Use filtering capabilities to target your audience

Once you know your audience, it's time to dig into the data to reach those key people. Start with a broader list of medical providers, and then filter to more specifically target the right audience. You can narrow the data by location type (physician practice groups, radiology facilities, medical imaging centers, hospitals) and then identify specific job titles to target decision–makers by role or specialty. This level of filtering gives you the flexibility to narrow your audience to those who will be most receptive to your message.

Your data provider can help guide you through this process. Ask about certain job titles within larger physician groups, as well as specific requests such as arthritis specialists, cardiologists, imaging centers or pediatricians. The more filtering capabilities available, the better you can target your ideal audience.

Time your message

After building your campaign contacts, think about when those physicians, office managers or specialists would be most receptive to your message. Every product and healthcare provider has their own unique buying cycle, and part of building your business is learning who will (and won't) respond to your marketing message. The right timing has the power to increase your response rate.

An experienced healthcare data partner will be able to share insights and set up a test of any medical provider list, including subsets of physician groups, to find the best time of day, week or year to maximize response rate. They can also help you shape a plan that tests your offer, creative, value and pricing to pinpoint what type of message has the greatest impact.

Tap into campaign planning expertise

When you team up with the right data provider, you won't be left on your own. Your partner should go beyond supplying a one–and–done list transaction. A good healthcare data company will be able to help you better understand what your buyers look like, including regional clusters, business size and more. They will offer data linkage to standardized physician NPI data and append services to improve your existing health provider's data.

Through this level of consultation and service, you'll have the insights to identify marketing opportunities and define your best audience. When you tap into quality data and expertise, you'll be able to make the most of your campaign.

Review campaign analytics

But then, what happens after you run a campaign? Sometimes, housing and analyzing campaign results is a challenge due to limited technology and resources. Other times, a marketing team's bandwidth limits create a tension between getting campaigns out the door and analyzing what's working and what's not. You need a data provider that can help you enhance and expand what's working in your marketing, including specific campaign analysis to understand what may or may not entice a healthcare professional to buy.

After your campaign has run, work with your healthcare data partner to review analytics and evaluate performance. This level of collaboration will help inform your future strategies and better target your message. Those learnings make each campaign you execute more effective, accelerating your insights and revenue.

MCH's revamped healthcare data

The healthcare industry is full of opportunities and challenges. It's important for marketers selling to this segment to understand their audience and use those insights to dive into the data and reach those decision–makers. Our updated, affordable healthcare database has been revamped to reflect this ever–evolving market.

With these updates, you can now view links between physicians and institutions to zero in on the right people in the right places. Our database also allows you to leverage links between points of care. With expanded insight into corporate ownership, MCH can help you identify corporate parents with shared purchase affiliations and integrated delivery networks. You'll also find thousands of hospitals, outpatient centers, residential care facilities and other healthcare organizations to meet your marketing needs.

Our data gives you the confidence to expand your search and then zero in on your best audience. Filter by facility type, institution size, job function, specialty and more. As always, we stand by the quality and accuracy of our data. We know you need comprehensive, up–to–date information to execute an effective healthcare campaign, and we're here to help.

Ready to get started on your next healthcare campaign? Reach out to MCH at 800–776–6373.

More Insight from MCH

• Read more on how to navigate the healthcare purchasing journey
• Learn how to market to healthcare decision–makers and physicians.