Health IT: How to Fix Your Market Mismatch

Imagine after months of hard work, you finally discover your health IT story. You’ve got your marketing message nailed. It positions you perfectly. Your story is interesting, compelling, and motivating. It separates you from the competition.

Yet, something is missing…

You sense your story isn’t really connecting with your RIGHT Market. Qualified leads are minimal. Sales are lagging your objectives.

What’s missing?

Building a fined-tuned health IT marketing machine requires a balance. The three-prong formula requires:

RIGHT Market

RIGHT Message

RIGHT Media

So, if your message is sound, but your marketing fails to deliver, you have either a Market, Media, or a combination of the two problem. Let’s explore how to fix a Market problem here today.

Fixing a Market Problem

Fixing a Market problem requires strategic thinking and research. The big mistake many businesses make about market is failing to clearly define who is… and who is NOT… a potential client.

Build an Attraction Profile and Repulsion Profile of your potential clients. Here are questions to ask to focus your buyer personas, create an Ideal Client Profile, and fix your Market:

How old is your Ideal Client? Conversely, what age is your Ideal Client NOT?

Is your client married? Have children in the household? Or, what is the family dynamic of someone who is NOT a client?

Level of education? Is a post-college degree the perfect future client… but a college drop-out less than perfect?

Picture the buyers home life. What car do they drive? What do they see as they pull up to their home? How are they greeted? How do they spend time at home? And… picture the home life of someone who does NOT fit who you’re trying to attract.

Describe the Ideal Client’s work environment. How do they travel to work? What do they see? Do they stop for coffee or breakfast? What does their office look like? What’s on their desk? Is the desk neat and organized or a mess? How do they interact with co-workers? What is their role and style of work?  And… describe the opposite.

Describe a pressing problem your Ideal Client wants to solve. Write a short story about this person encountering the problem in the course of their daily life. What do they see, hear, feel when it becomes top of mind for them? And… outline a pressing problem your potential client might have in which you are NOT a good fit.

Who influences your potential client about the problem? Where do they go to get answers? And then… who is NOT a source to help solve the problem?

What does he or she value most— family, power, freedom, security, status, acceptance etc.? Why is your solution suited to enhanced experience of this value?  Then… why is your solution NOT a fit to enhance the individual’s values?

Describe this person’s goals, dreams and aspirations for the future. Why is your solution a perfect fit? Shift gears… why is your solution not in line with the person’s goals?

What risks might this person fear taking when it comes to solving the problem you solve?

Describe your ideal prospect’s attitude toward life. Is he or she a pessimist or an optimist? Self-serving or nurturing? Internally or externally motivated? Introverted or extroverted? Leader or follower? Creative or analytical? Responsible or blaming?

What does he or she really need in order to realize the goal or dream facilitated by your solution? Is he or she likely to be aware of this reality?

How does he or she measure success when it comes to this specific goal or desire? What isn’t a measure of success?

Build a visualization of these two types of prospects in your mind’s eye. This helps you develop genuine empathy for your ideal clients and allow you to communicate on their wavelength.

When you gain this deep level of insight into their needs, desires, fears, frustrations and beliefs, then you will find the secret on truly having your marketing message connect. 

This exercise will also help you to more clearly identify the kinds of clients you don’t want to work with. Side benefit: When you chase away undesirable clients in your marketing you pull the desirable ones closer to you.

The idea here is to exercise your creative imagination. You may struggle with answering many of these questions. That’s good news. It’s telling you something …

Most health IT  firms businesses focus too much on the products and services they sell. They lack genuine empathy for the people who use them. Take this little exercise seriously and you will be positioned to absolutely slaughter your competition.

Set aside several hours to do any necessary research to complete this thinking and research. Don’t get stuck in analysis by paralysis, however.

Marketing your Health IT firm  is evolutionary, rarely revolutionary. Revisit these questions from time to time to keep iterating your understanding of your RIGHT Market.

 

photo credit: VFS Digital Design via photopin cc