Quiddity hit mkt_content_effectiveness_final
0 likes315 views
This document summarizes the key findings of a survey conducted with 100 hospital executives regarding their perceptions and use of health IT vendor generated marketing content in decision making. The survey found that the most influential materials for purchasing decisions were conversations with sales executives and case studies. However, hospital executives generally did not find most marketing collateral like brochures, white papers, and websites to be useful or provide meaningful information. They desired content that focused more on customer outcomes rather than products and provided tools to help implement solutions. There are significant opportunities for health IT vendors to improve their marketing content to better meet the informational needs of hospital executives.
Quiddity hit mkt_content_effectiveness_final
- 1. Health IT Marketing Content Effectiveness Survey A look at how hospital executives use health IT vendor-generated content for decision-making
- 2. Introduction The health IT marketplace is a unique, dynamic and highly competitive environment. Very few target audiences are as skeptical and disillusioned. Very few products have a life and death impact. Very few markets or solution offerings are as complex. Health IT companies generate a ton of content for prospects and customers along a very long sales cycle. Considering the budget and resources allocated to creating all this content, the big question is: how effective or compelling is any of it? With little room for waste in today’s marketing budgets, it’s time to take a hard look at the content we spend so much time and resources developing. That’s why Quiddity conducted a survey with 100 hospital executives on LinkedIn, through online surveys and telephone interview to better understand the perception and role of vendor- generated marketing content in decision-making, as well as identify key challenges and opportunities. The results are interesting, and the trends very strong and consistent with larger research studies in other industries. Randi Rossman Founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Quiddity Marketing
- 3. What You’ll Learn in This eBook Write an introductory sentence and use bolding here . . Lesson 1: Something here Finish with something like first let’s talk about the challenges facing OVERVIEW
- 4. I wish more vendors would focus less on all the marketing hype, and instead provide us with material that will help set priorities, build internal champions for initiatives and understand best practices for mitigating risk and successful change management.” Hospital CIO
- 5. What vendor generated marketing material influences your Health IT most purchasing decisions? Hospital executives do not find most marketing collateral useful or relevant for making purchasing Case Studies decisions. The reasons why were Conversations with Sales & investigated in this survey. Executives The leading vendor-generated White Papers influencers for health IT purchasing decisions are executive/sales Website conversations and case studies, followed by the vendor’s website and white papers. Note that not one Brochures hospital executive were influenced by brochures. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
- 6. What You’ll Learn in This eBook Write an introductory sentence and use bolding here . . Lesson 1: Something here Finish with something like first let’s talk about the challenges facing HEALTH IT VENDOR COLLATERAL
- 7. I don’t understand how so many vendors say the same thing and think they are so different. If you are different, then give me an example of what I can do with your solution that I can’t somewhere else . . . And don’t make me work so hard to get the picture of the value of taking on a new initiative.” Hospital CEO
- 8. Brochures “Brochures a credible source of information for purchasing decisions? Not at all. Who writes these things anyway, and why do they bother?” CIO brochures influence Why don’t your purchasing decisions? The key reason that brochures do not influence health IT purchasing They provide no valuable decisions is that the messages and information content are undifferentiated – they They make unsubstantiated all sound the same. claims Hospital executives also believed They all sound the same that brochures are so broad and vague that they don’t provide any valuable information, and They are marketing hype particularly called out vendors for their “marketing hype.” 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
- 9. Case Studies “I do skim over health IT vendor case studies. Most don’t provide much useful information, but they do at least tell me who their customers are.” CMIO case studies provide you with Do meaningful information for decision-making? In spite of being considered the most influential tool in the CASE STUDIES DON’T marketing collateral toolbox, case PROVIDE MEANINGFUL studies don’t deliver meaningful INFORMATION CASE STUDIES SORT OF information for purchasing decision- PROVIDE MEANINGFUL making. INFORMATION CASE STUDIES DO PROVIDE MEANINGFUL 66% INFORMATION 32% 2%
- 10. Case Studies Case Studies “””If you want me to seriously consider taking on a new initiative, then I’d like to see more peer-to-peer content, like we see at conferences.” VP Patient Safety How can health IT vendors make their case studies more useful for purchasing decision-making? Hospital executives overwhelmingly agree that case studies that focus Focus on the customer on the customer and best practices instead of the product instead of the product help them make purchasing decisions. Very few found product differentiators Best practice focus instead of product helpful. The good news? Hospital Focus on what the product does differently executives do believe vendor marketing material can be credible and valuable. Nothing, vendor material is never credible 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
- 11. White Papers White Papers “I’m hungry for knowledge, but don’t expect me to plow through 20 pages of dense writing that doesn’t teach me anything new.” CMIO Vendor white papers provide information that allows me to: While many vendors create white papers in the hopes of generating Think about a problem in ways I demand or leads, hospital haven't before executives tend to find them more useful much further in the sales Understand the need for considering cycle. a particular type of solution Hospital executives tend to view Form the strategy and/or solution vendor white papers as long-form criteria brochures that do a decent job of providing deep details of a product Understand how I can be successful implementing a solution or solution. Understand the product better once They typically don’t find vendor I've narrowed the field white papers make an effective case for changing the status quo nor do 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 they use them for developing their strategies.
- 12. What You’ll Learn in This eBook Write an introductory sentence and use bolding here . . Lesson 1: Something here Finish with something like first let’s talk about the challenges facing HEALTH IT VENDOR WEBSITES
- 13. I would think that vendors have an incredible opportunity to build a valuable source of online information. After all, they seem to spend a lot of money on their websites, and they should have a good view of what’s needed and how to address challenges from their customer base. But it’s all the same stuff. And I often have to hunt to understand what they offer.” Hospital CIO
- 14. “I am well aware that any content on a vendor website is biased. Still, I Websites would imagine they could be a valuable source of information. Yet most vendor websites all sound alike, and provide very little thoughtful insight. VP Operations Maybe Would you be more likely 17% Hospital executives believe they would show preference for a vendor to engage a vendor that’s No who delivered quality online provided quality online 21% Yes 62% information. information? How valuable is the online information vendors provide for the following purposes: But are not often finding quality online Define a previously unrecognized need Not Very information from vendors. Just as Valuable 1 2 3 4 5 valuable with vendor white papers, most Identify the right type of solution to Not Very websites are too product focused. Valuable valuable meet that need 1 2 3 4 5 Determine the criteria for choosing the Not Very Valuable valuable solution 1 2 3 4 5 Research which vendors offer the Not Very solution we decided to invest in Valuable valuable 1 2 3 4 5 Determine which vendors will be Not Very Valuable valuable considered for RFP 1 2 3 4 5
- 15. “Most vendor websites are overwhelming and do not tend to provide any relevant information. I’m not going to hunt for the information I need. It Websites makes me wonder – if the usability of their site is so bad, how could the technology they are selling be much better?” CIO What challenges do you find with health IT vendor websites? Health IT vendor websites present a Often seems more focused on being clever than providing me with confusing array of content that is not information meeting the information needs of hospital executives. Does not provide me with tools to champion solution in my organization Overwhelming amount of information that is not put in context Hard to get the big picture of the solution 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
- 16. Websites “Vendors don’t seem to understand what it takes to start an initiative internally. I need help championing solutions. CNO vendors to do with their What would you like websites to provide more value? Executive prospects would like to see vendor content on their websites organized better. Organize the information better An additional opportunity for vendors is to provide tools that allow prospects to champion change and Provide tools that help me make the new solutions within their case within my own organization organizations. Focusing on how existing customers Showcase how they mitigate risk have addressed the risk and obstacles and overcome obstacles inherent in implementing the solution is top on the requested content list, 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% yet very rarely provided.
- 17. What You’ll Learn in This eBook Write an introductory sentence and use bolding here . . Lesson 1: Something here Finish with something like first let’s talk about the challenges facing HEALTH IT VENDOR SALES ENGAGEMENT
- 18. The best vendor salespeople fight for me, and bring together all the people and information required to help us move forward with a decision. That said, those folks are few and far between. Too often the people that contact me from vendors are really off the mark. I don’t need someone who so obviously doesn’t understand my needs in my face pushing products.” Hospital CMIO
- 19. Sales “In all honestly, vendor salespeople would be better off putting down the Engagement PowerPoint and just talk to me.” CMIO Do you feel vendorsalespeople meet your needs during your buying process? The perception of sales effectiveness was inconsistent among hospital executives – it depended on the SALESPEOPLE OFTEN vendor and the particular salesperson. DON’T MEET OUR NEEDS IT DEPENDS, SOME The chief complaints about vendor SALESPEOPLE DO AND salespeople were lack of knowledge SOME DON’T about the prospect’s needs, and often SALESPEOPLE a lack of knowledge about their own OFTEN DO MEET company’s products. 53% OUR NEEDS 31% A key complaint was the inconsistency 16% across different vendor representatives – they could get multiple stories, facts and advice, depending on who they talked to within the vendor. That raised red flags with the executive prospects.
- 20. What You’ll Learn in This eBook Write an introductory sentence and use bolding here . . Lesson 1: Something here Finish with something like first let’s talk about the challenges facing CONCLUSION
- 21. Conclusion Most vendors are falling short on providing relevant, meaningful content to their prospects. Chief complaints include: • Too much marketing hype • Information that was too vague • Loss of credibility due to so many vendors making the same claims of “uniqueness” • Lack of relevance • Lack of truly educational and informative content • Not meeting the informational needs of all the members of the buying team • Information is too long Health IT vendors currently have • Content does not address the questions they need answered to a huge opportunity to make effective purchasing decisions. differentiate themselves by filling the gap between the information NEXT STEPS: healthcare executives would like Want to know what you can do about addressing these challenges? to receive during the buying Quiddity Marketing will be releasing a series of PLAYBOOKS that will process vs. what they are improve your Health IT marketing effectiveness. Subscribe to the receiving. Story to Sale blog to be kept informed about the release.
- 22. What You’ll Learn in This eBook Write an introductory sentence and use bolding here . . Lesson 1: Something here Finish with something like first let’s talk about the challenges facing ABOUT QUIDDITY MARKETING
- 23. About “Randi is a talented marketer and strategist with a wealth of experience in the healthcare IT industry.” Zach Mortensen (formerly) Product Manager, Microsoft Amalga Randi Rossman Randi is Founder and Chief Marketing Officer for Quiddity Marketing. With over a decade of in-depth Health IT experience as a marketing leader at McKesson and Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group, Randi combines a passion for the promise of health IT with marketing excellence. Quiddity Marketing develops marketing strategies, Randi's career is defined by her programs and content that connects the dots relentless search for fresh marketing between the story and the sale. strategies that solves business problems. With a background in Through messaging that resonates, persuasive both marketing and sales, Randi content, sales enablement and demand generation, takes a broad approach to building Quiddity accelerates revenue generation by strategies and programs that engaging the customer in the right way at the most accelerates the sales cycle, builds opportune time. bridges between sales and marketing teams, and encourages audiences to For more information, email take action. randi@quidditymarketing.com or call 425-591-2612. ©2011 by Quiddity Marketing LLC