Account-based marketing (ABM) is all about treating your highest-value leads as markets of their own. This approach is especially useful in the healthcare and life sciences (HLS) industry, where marketers must often tailor messaging to individual healthcare professionals (HCPs) as well as members of healthcare organization value analysis committees (VACs). VAC members are the key stakeholders and organizational decision-makers of the healthcare industry, and HLS marketers need to foster close relationships with them to earn their buy-in.
To successfully market to high-value HLS leads, you need to find out exactly who VAC members are and develop a strategy for engaging with them. In other words, you’ve got to intelligently segment your audience. In the HLS industry, this often takes a bit of extra care and attention due to the highly regulated nature of the industry and the depth of the marketing and sales relationships marketers are working to establish.
Here’s a guide on how to segment healthcare audiences for account-based marketing from our new e-book The Healthcare and Life Sciences Guide to Account-Based Marketing: A Prescription for Successful Client Relationships.
STEP 1: BUILD A LIST
Start by building a list of both the healthcare organizations and the key influencers or buyers within those organizations who have the highest potential for purchasing your product. This could include neurologists, cardiologists, or senior hospital administrators.
Research these organizations and contacts to understand key characteristics, including their various roles and responsibilities, geography, amount of time they’ve been affiliated with that healthcare system, and so on.
STEP 2: GET SPECIFIC
Time to narrow things down a bit. From that list, segment the accounts and contacts based on these different characteristics. For example, examine one of your chosen HLS segments — let’s say it’s neurology — and find a part of the country where there is a significant neurology presence.
Create and launch a marketing campaign based on known needs and pain points for neurologists in San Diego, for example.
STEP 3: TARGET YOUR MESSAGING
As a result of your targeted campaign and resulting responders, you’ll have identified a handful of accounts at specific HLS organizations that may have high revenue potential — such as the Neurology Department at Scripps Health in San Diego.
Dedicate additional campaign resources to specifically target other types of buyers at additional high-value HLS accounts. By using specific messaging that resonates with these buyers, you can begin cultivating relationships with HCPs and VAC members that will turn into long-term client partnerships.
Once you’ve segmented your HLS audiences, you can supercharge your ABM strategy with artificial intelligence (AI) solutions like Einstein Account-Based Marketing. Through the power of machine learning, AI lets you see which accounts are most likely to close, and helps you deliver personalized messaging to HCPs and VAC members across the channels they use.
For more insights and information to guide your ABM strategy in the HLS space, check out our new e-book The Healthcare and Life Sciences Guide to Account-Based Marketing: A Prescription for Successful Client Relationships.
