What to Include in a Healthcare Technology Buyer Persona

Buyer personas are relatively new, yet essential, to marketing campaigns. Buyer persona is defined as 

“... a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. When creating your buyer persona(s), consider including customer demographics, behavior patterns, motivations, and goals. The more detailed you are, the better.” 

Although relatively similar, buyer personas and target markets are not the same -- buyer personas are much more specific.

These buyer profiles consist of existing customer data, anecdotal observations, industry research and more. The goal in creating a persona is to better adapt your efforts to the preferences of your ideal customer. Companies often have multiple to create a clearer picture of their buyer demographics.

Knowing what to include, and what not to include, in your healthcare technology buyer persona can be difficult. Time is tight for these buyers, and there could be several decision makers in the loop.

When you thoroughly understand the customers you’re marketing to, developing a buyer persona will be easier than you think. No matter the market, a clear persona will increase your leads and improve your overall inbound marketing strategy.

3 Categories to Include in a Healthcare Technology Buyer Persona

When creating a buyer persona, consider the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the buyer. The most important categories to create when developing a buyer persona are:

1. Demographics
2. Consumer Behavior
3. Consumer Objectives
   
   

1. Demographics

Demographics are the who of your buyer persona. Demographic data is anything that helps you segment your potential market into more refined subcategories. 

Determining the demographics of your buyer persona is the first step of the process. Demographics can include age, gender, employment status, education, industry, yearly income, and anything else relevant to your market. 

An example of demographics for a healthcare buyer persona would be:

• Age: 35-45 years
• Gender: 70% female
• Education: At least a BA; higher degree is possible
• Industries: Medical device sales
• Yearly Income: $250,000+

Depending on the industry you’re creating a buyer persona for, the demographic information can either be broad or extremely specific. For B2B healthcare technology or medical device marketing, it’s usually in your best interest to make the demographics more specific. 

Creating a solid demographic of your buyer persona is fundamental in understanding who your buyer really is. Without a solid foundation of your buyer, it’ll be difficult to understand their buying behaviors, which will muddy your marketing focus and make it less accurate.

2. Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior is the what of your buyer persona. 

Creating the consumer behavior portion of your buyer persona can seem like a shot in the dark. To develop your consumer behavior understanding, you’ll need to take pre-existing data analytics into account. Behavioral data can be gathered through a combination of which paths your customers usually take on your website and how they get in touch with you, which marketing materials they interact with, and predictive analysis. Predictive analysis helps determine potential conversion paths of customers.

Using behavioral data, you can gather when your customers are most likely to purchase your products and services. Additionally, you can determine where and how your customers purchase products and services. Do they prefer demos? Are they likely to take several months to make a purchase decision? Knowing these factors will help to accurately predict buyer behavior..

B2B consumer behavior can also include the challenges your buyer faces. Here’s another example of a key observation from a buyer workshop:

“In the current client, a primary challenge is accessing trustworthy, affordable, and reliable healthcare services. With the COVID-19 restrictions of 2020, in-person healthcare services are becoming less and less common/consistent.” 

When you understand the problems your buyer might be facing, you can better evaluate what your business could offer to combat these challenges.

3. Consumer Objectives

Consumer objectives are the why of your buyer persona. 

Understanding why customers buy something is crucial, and it’s a challenge that’s more than skin-deep. Contrary to B2C buyers, B2B healthcare consumers purchase a product or service to solve a problem. Determining why your buyer is in the market for your product or service can help pinpoint how your business should approach its marketing. 

Learning how to target a customer’s problem rather than just selling and shilling to them will dramatically improve your inbound marketing process. Since B2B buyers are usually looking to solve a problem, why not be the first to solve it with your content marketing? 

In addition to determining your buyer’s problems, you must determine HOW your buyer purchases products and services. To gather this information, qualitative research, current-customer interviews, and data analysis will be very useful. 

How much research do they do on their own before approaching a salesperson? Do they prefer contact via email or phone? Using this information, you can adjust your inbound marketing strategies to meet your buyer in the middle.

Creating Your Buyer Persona

Once you’ve collected your research, it’s time to bring it all together into an actionable tool. The information you’ve gathered should help you identify patterns and similarities that can form your new persona. (Don’t forget to give him/her a name!). 

Considering the three categories above will help to efficiently complete your buyer persona in no time, even with a smaller marketing team An accurate buyer persona will refine your inbound marketing process forever. 

Learn more about developing the ultimate buyer persona by downloading our free e-book: