Elizabeth Watson: What we’re seeing for outpatient care is a more significant reliance on marketing in general. It’s much harder to make an impact with human sales resources, and then once it transitions over to a sales resource, they are equipped with leads that are more productive through different channels, so that they’ve received our message before it’s getting into the sales team’s hands.
Announcer: It’s time for another episode of the Alexander Group Revenue Growth Model Podcast. Welcome and enjoy.
Mike White: Hi, I’m Mike White. I lead our medtech practice within the Alexander Group. I’m joined today by Elizabeth Watson, who leads our focus in marketing. We’re here today to talk about the modern marketing strategies in the medtech space, and particularly as it relates to outpatient versus the acute space. We know there’s a big transition that continues in the outpatient space where procedures continue to move to Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) and other outpatient facilities. In a recent study conducted by the Alexander Group, we saw that providers are projecting ASC value to increase to about 21% of total procedures from the current 17%. So, that’s a 20% increase in ASC procedure projections into the future. We also know that as hospitals are continuing to deal with capacity constraints due to staffing shortages and other factors, outpatient is the number one priority around how they’re addressing capacity constraints or investing in expanding outpatient capabilities.
What does that mean for medtech companies? Elizabeth, knowing how fragmented the outpatient space is compared to the acute space in particular, what are some of the marketing strategies that more modern companies are using to deploy in the ASC or outpatient space?
Elizabeth Watson: First and foremost, what we’re seeing for outpatient care is a more significant reliance on marketing in general. Knowing that given how fragmented it is, it’s much harder to make an impact with human sales resources, and it’s much more efficient as we increase our investment in marketing. And then, once it transitions over to a sales resource, they are equipped with leads that are more productive. We’ve been able to reach out to some of the influencers and the buyers through different channels, so they’ve received our message before it’s getting into the sales team’s hands. So, first and foremost, it’s an increase in overall reliance on marketing when it comes to outpatient.
Elizabeth: The second trend we’re seeing is really doubling down on segmentation. Instead of thinking about our segmentation in this two-dimensional way that we’ve traditionally done, we’re moving away from just thinking about it as size and facility type, and starting to think about it more as a target persona. So, thinking about who are the folks that are influencing and buying from us in those outpatient facilities, and then building that profile using additional data outside of our traditional first-party data. So, using things like cookies or intent data to understand where they’re getting their information, how they want to receive their information, and then determining how we’re going to invest in channels in order to reach those buyers from the outpatient facilities? And then, at the end of the day, we’re able to reach them through social media forums, bringing them to our website, they’ve received a lot of our messaging in advance before we’re even talking to them from the sales perspective. So, really understanding overall marketing’s role in outpatient care, and then also really doubling down on targeting those buyers within outpatient, so that we’re effectively getting our message to them.
Mike: What are some of the roles, Elizabeth, that are really driving the marketing strategies, newer roles that we’ve seen deployed in tech or other industries that we’re seeing start to emerge, lead generation type roles or inside sales type roles. Are we seeing those roles that have a lead role or have an impact in the medtech space?
Elizabeth: Absolutely. So, there are two core sales roles and one marketing role that we’re seeing as an increased investment for folks. So, the two sales roles are a sales development rep, which focuses on that outbound lead generation motion, where they then pass that lead on to the appropriate sales rep. The second is inside sales, where it is true end-to-end account ownership with resources sitting inside. And we’re pairing some of our lower-cost resources to the smaller, more fragmented market. The third role that we’re seeing an increased investment in is the content creation role. To make sure that we’re able to reach and drive leads to our website, especially for outpatient facilities.
Mike: Can these strategies you’re referring to in the outpatient space be translated to the acute space, whether it’s marketing or these additional roles?
Elizabeth: Absolutely. So, first and foremost, the marketing side of doubling down on segmentation and transitioning away from two dimensions. It can be translated to the acute space. We’re seeing that in some of our recent research, where we’re building these targeted personas not just for outpatient, but for influencers and buyers in the acute space. Additionally, supporting our higher-paid field resources with an insight team, whether it’s for small regional hospitals or providing support for admin activities, so that our more experienced and higher-cost resources can focus on top opportunity accounts. Both of these strategies can be translated to the acute space.
Mike: Yeah. We’re seeing a lot of advancement in marketing in recent years, more so in the healthcare space than in the past.
