5 Reasons Why Content Marketing is Essential for Healthcare & Pharma SMEs

2019 has been named ‘the year of healthcare content marketing’, with health and wellness generating an influx of search traffic and at least 8 out of 10 people turning to search engines as their primary source of health-related information.¹ Not only that, but now more than half (58%) of the pharma/biotech industry are currently spending over $50 million annually in content development.² 

We may be over halfway through 2019, but there’s still time to utilise this essential area of digital marketing and get an edge on competitors who are yet to see the power in content.  

Wherever you sit within the medical sector from life sciences, medical devices to consumer healthcare… If you’re still not convinced, this is why content is key. 

Thought Leadership

For niche SMEs within the healthcare sector, it is incredibly important that you establish yourself as the expert in your field. Content marketing is one of the most effective ways you can do this.  

Through generating carefully crafted content you can showcase your ability to predict market changes, analyse difficult topics and spark conversation in ways that your competitors may not be able to, making you the thought leader.  

Most importantly, your content must add value to your target audience – a great way of making sure you are doing this is through solving their problems and answering any important questions your audience might have.  

Increased Visibility 

Simply put, content marketing makes it easier for prospective clients, customers, investors or whoever you’re targeting, to find you. Content marketing forms the foundation of your search engine optimisation (SEO), which means overlooking it can result in your website struggling to be found, having a knock-on effect on your business.  

However, the visibility benefits go beyond SEO, excellent content combined with effective promotion efforts means that your message will reach the right people. SMEs that work in highly specialised niches can especially benefit from content that has been properly tailored to a target audience. 

Build Trust & Brand Loyalty

Not only does content marketing contribute to lead generation and sales force effectiveness, it also helps retain customers and improve client relations. By producing regular, valuable content you are reminding your existing audience of why they came to you in the first place and attempting to stay fresh in their mind – ready for when they next need your product, expertise or service.  

You can also use content as a way of PR upkeep, announcing company news such as landing investments and acquiring top talent, or regular roundups. 

Silent and faceless brands will find it difficult creating lasting connections with their clients. Content can act as way of humanising your brand, giving a platform for your story, and opening up a dialogue between you and your audience, ultimately building trust and loyalty. 

Online Portfolio

The content hosted specifically on your website, ideally ranging from video, blogs, images, infographics to website copy, acts as your online portfolio. To be effective, this portfolio should showcase your company’s specific expertise and insight, achievements and services or products. From the blogs you post right through to your case studies and videos, you need to make sure they all come together to act as one incredibly impressive portfolio.  

Once you have your portfolio fully fleshed out, you can even recycle it and develop long-form content such as e-books and whitepapers.

Drive Behaviour

Content marketing is often mistaken as simply broadcasting a blog or a video on social media, with little thought behind why. Not only is content marketing much more multifaceted, but if the content has no real strategy or purpose behind it and ultimately fails to drive behaviour, it has no value.  

Successful content marketing combines strategy, creation and promotion. So, without aligning all three, you could be at risk of wasting precious time and money on one simple technique that has mediocre results.  To drive behaviour, content first needs to be seen, it then needs to convey a clear message and lastly, have a compelling call-to-action (CTA).  

When content marketing is used effectively it has the ability to drive or change behaviour which can be exceptionally powerful, and not forgetting useful, in the hands of an SME.

Need help getting started?

Onyx Health’s skill-based content marketing team have a wealth of experience in helping healthcare, pharma and biotech clients develop effective content marketing campaigns from strategy and generation, to promotion and reporting.   

We’d love to tell your more about what we can do for you through powerful content, so why not contact us?

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