The Importance of An Email Marketing Strategy For B2B Healthcare Startups and SMBs

In the healthcare space, there is always something going on. If you have ever joined a Twitter chat or participated in a webinar, you’ve learned that digital healthcare is a very passionate space where everyone has something of great value to share.

Sometimes, however, ideas seem like they can go a mile a minute, just far enough for those interested to like or share and not much else. This can be rough for businesses who want engagement but might have smaller followings or do not have much time to devote to social. This can lead to a very specific case of marketing "FOMO" that you definitely don’t want.

Luckily, there are many powerful ways to get your message out there and achieve engagement from it.

According to the Marketing & Growth Hacking blog, other than lead generation and brand awareness, engagement is a major goal for B2B marketers. Part of the reason why it is that the more engagement users have with your brand, the more loyal they become. (Who doesn’t love loyal users?) Yet, engagement can be a challenge for businesses simply because it can be hard to position products and solutions without coming off sales-y (which can be off-putting), especially on some channels like social media.

Here’s where email marketing comes in. Email presents itself as an opportunity for companies, especially startups, to deliver owned media that is unique to their brand while drawing in a quality audience (and KEEPING that audience engaged). Email may be one of the most influential tools in a content marketer’s playbook. It may be the most direct way for B2B companies to get a value proposition right in front of their desired audience.

And the great thing about it is you don’t need to be a Fortune 500 company to use email marketing and you don’t need to be an expert to create well-designed emails that capture leads and engagement at the click of a button.

Before you get started, consider these 5 elements:

1. The Customer’s Journey - mapping out who your customers are and why they need the content you are delivering is key to making every email count!
2. Benchmark like you mean it - the more email marketing campaigns you create, the more valuable data will be available for you to adapt your tactics, i.e. figure out what works and what doesn’t.
3. Review and refine your subject lines - subject lines are very crucial to your open rates and it’s important your create attention-grabbing phrases that highlight why a recipient should engage.
4. Investing in a good CRM - if you have not already, investing in a CRM, like Hubspot, can really step up your marketing and sales game. Not only can you automate your email marketing activities, but you can also track leads generated and follow up with those individuals -- all on one platform.
5. Leverage educational content over direct sales - general information about healthcare policies, industry news, and best practices that serve your audience.

Email marketing is not only a channel of communication between you and your clients. It’s a sales and marketing tool, that if used correctly can be truly magical.