Breaking Down Content Role Archetypes in Enterprise Healthcare Tech

Strategic investment in content marketing can be incredibly powerful in fueling growth and maturity in enterprise healthcare tech. The costs of engaging an agency or bringing on FTEs can be dwarfed by the return…but vendors can also burn incredible amounts of time and opportunity on trial and error. 

This is why one of my primary goals when working with a client is identifying the “role” that content marketing plays in their business. 

Every vendor is different and these roles evolve over time (i.e. nascent content programs can look very similar before a team finds its “content legs”), but there’s value in settling on a classification (or two) to guide strategy and protect the ROI of your larger, future investments. 

Here are a few that I look out for when doing discovery with a vendor.  

(Warning: I kept the Star Trek references as light as possible…but this is a heads up that a few might have slipped through.)

The Engine

Content is a workhorse, driving leads and contributing to sales. This is your traditional content funnel and generally the easiest to make a business case for since it clearly positions content as a driver of marketing as a revenue center. 

The Brain

In this case, content marketing is deployed as a method of exploration to inform all business processes. This kind of content-first approach is grounded in deep market engagement and Evidence-Based Listening through market research, surveys, and exercises in centering market needs. This approach feeds through not only to content creation, but product dev, branding, sales training and enablement, and even organizational structure.

The payoff is organic authenticity and fewer needs to justify content spend since content is a part of the business strategy itself. You’ll find this example in companies that invest early and heavily in professional market research for product and marketing needs. 

Learn more about a content-first approach and why it’s perfect for times of change. 

The Universal Translator 

This approach leverages content to translate tech-forward solutions to practical use by the enterprise healthcare market. The payoff is shortened sales cycles thanks to the removal of “interference” between vendor and the market. 

The Shield

In this role, the vendor leverages content as a protection against risk-averse buyers by building a perimeter of trust. It gets in front of the buying committee “no” through white papers, case studies, solution guides, and technical documents. Content also functions as a competitive moat against competitor solutions. 

Market Sensors 

Content primarily exists in the form of surveys, roundtables, webinars, and other methods that are high-feedback. This allows content to function as a probe—a method for testing and developing messaging, evaluating what resonates, and gauging engagement on new and emerging topics in healthcare regulation, tech, and challenges. 

When mature, this role continually validates product-market fit to prevent drift toward wasted spend and away from market relevance. 

Customer Transport

Content primarily exists as a customer marketing exercise, escorting customers from their status as new users and helping them get the most out of their vendor partnership. 

It involves high-quality onboarding content and documentation, ultimately increasing customer lifetime value, reducing churn, and relieving strain on customer support teams. Epic is a solid example, with its (relatively) minimal market-facing content presence.

Vision Comms

In this case, content is primarily a vehicle for translating thought leadership and category authority. It positions the CEO or even the solution as a voice of authority through research and visionary content. This is incredibly effective in times of change when the market is looking for guidance from vendors and the buying process is becoming increasingly self-driven. 

Learn more about the Shadow Phase of the enterprise healthcare buying committee journey. 

Figuring Out Content’s Role at Your Organization

Content can play multiple roles and can exist at varying levels of maturity for each role. 

If your content program is still emerging or you’re exploring a new campaign, it can be difficult to evaluate where you fall—but this is a crucial step before bigger spend on agency engagements and hiring new staff. 

If you’re ready to plot content’s role so you can make smarter investments in your future, LocutusHealth can help. We are a fresh and flexible approach to outsourced content marketing, sales enablement, and ops in enterprise healthcare tech, equipping marketing and sales leaders with vetted Talent, Tools and Tactics—while providing a level of strategic guidance, budget flexibility, and lean operations for emerging content programs that agencies can’t offer. Grab a slot to start exploring where you fall today.