Digital Health Sales and Marketing... Stop Wasting Money

This video provides an in-depth exploration of the critical challenges and effective strategies for sales and marketing within the digital health sector. Dr. Eric Bricker, the speaker, begins by highlighting a significant paradox: despite an astronomical surge in investment in digital health companies—totaling $85.6 billion between 2011 and 2021, with $29 billion in 2021 alone—the commensurate improvement in patient health and healthcare outcomes has not been realized. He attributes this disconnect largely to an inadequate understanding and execution of sales and marketing strategies, emphasizing that without getting these right, the substantial investments risk being entirely wasted. The core of his argument is that digital health sales and marketing is not a monolithic process but rather requires mastering three distinct and interconnected funnels.

The presentation meticulously breaks down these three essential sales and marketing funnels: the Employer Funnel, the Broker/Consultant/Carrier Funnel (representing the broader ecosystem), and the Plan Member Funnel (the end-user). For each funnel, Dr. Bricker outlines both the marketing and sales components. Marketing, he explains, is about gaining attention through both inbound (content-driven, educational) and outbound (interruption-based, advertising, cold calling) approaches. The sales process, particularly for the B2B funnels, is framed using the Miller Heiman methodology, which identifies three crucial buyers: the technical buyer (who uses the solution daily), the outcome buyer (who seeks strategic results like employee attraction/retention), and the financial buyer (concerned with costs and ROI). This structured approach underscores the complexity of selling digital health solutions, which often requires navigating multiple stakeholders with diverse motivations.

Dr. Bricker further elaborates on the unique dynamics of each funnel. The Employer Funnel targets benefits managers, HR VPs, and C-suite executives, each requiring a tailored value proposition. The Ecosystem Funnel emphasizes the necessity of winning over brokers, consultants, and insurance carriers, not just the employer directly. Here, the financial buyer within the ecosystem is paramount, as these entities need to see how promoting a digital health solution will increase their own income or market share. Finally, the Plan Member Funnel addresses the B2B2C nature of digital health, where even after a solution is implemented, adoption and utilization by the end-user remain a significant hurdle. This requires a dedicated marketing and sales effort to a heterogeneous population, leveraging early adopters and management endorsement to drive engagement and ensure the investment translates into actual patient benefit.

Key Takeaways:

• Digital Health Investment vs. Impact Discrepancy: A staggering $85.6 billion was invested in digital health companies between 2011 and 2021, with $29 billion in 2021 alone. However, this massive investment has not yet translated into a proportional improvement in patient health outcomes, suggesting a significant inefficiency in how these solutions are brought to market.
• Sales and Marketing as a Critical Success Factor: The primary reason for the underperformance of digital health investments is often attributed to inadequate understanding and execution of effective sales and marketing strategies. Getting this right is paramount to prevent wasted time and money.
• Three Distinct Sales and Marketing Funnels: Digital health sales are not a single process but require mastering three separate funnels: the Employer Funnel, the Broker/Consultant/Carrier Funnel (the ecosystem), and the Plan Member Funnel (the end-user). All three must be successfully addressed for a solution to gain traction and achieve impact.
• Dual Marketing Approaches: Effective marketing involves both inbound strategies (creating educational or entertaining content that attracts attention) and outbound strategies (interruption-based methods like advertising, emails, cold calling, or conference booths). Both are complementary and essential.
• Miller Heiman Sales Methodology for B2B: When selling to employers or the ecosystem, it's crucial to identify and sell to three distinct buyer types: the Technical Buyer (e.g., benefits manager, account manager) who uses the solution daily, the Outcome Buyer (e.g., VP of HR, subject matter expert) who seeks strategic results, and the Financial Buyer (e.g., CEO, CFO, producer) who controls the budget and seeks financial returns.
• Winning Over the Ecosystem is Essential: Digital health companies cannot succeed by only selling to employers; they must also win over the ecosystem of brokers, consultants, and insurance carriers. These entities need to understand the financial incentive for them to promote the digital health solution, such as increased sales or added value for their clients.
• B2B2C Nature of Digital Health: Digital health solutions operate on a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model. Even after an employer or carrier adopts a solution, a dedicated sales and marketing effort is required to engage the end-users (plan members) to ensure high utilization and adoption.
• Tailored Member Engagement Strategies: Engaging plan members requires diverse inbound and outbound marketing tactics (e.g., customer service integration, targeted emails, texts, calls, apps, social media, open enrollment campaigns) that are tailored to the heterogeneous nature of employee populations (e.g., millennials, Gen Xers, baby boomers, different genders).
• Leveraging Internal Champions for Member Adoption: To drive member adoption, it's critical to identify and sell to early adopters within the employee population. These early adopters can then become advocates, convincing more conservative employees to use the service. Additionally, engaging and securing endorsement from management (from direct supervisors to the CEO) significantly boosts trust and encourages utilization.
• Focus on Time and Attention for Member Sales: While members often face no direct out-of-pocket cost for digital health solutions, they must still invest their time and attention. The "sale" to the member involves convincing them that this investment is worthwhile and will simplify or improve their lives.

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Rock Health: A venture fund that provides insights and data on digital health funding, cited as the source for investment statistics.

Key Concepts:

• Digital Health: A broad term encompassing technologies that connect and empower consumers, patients, and caregivers to manage their health and wellness.
• Sales and Marketing Funnels: A multi-stage process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of a product or service through to conversion and adoption.
• Inbound Marketing: A strategy focused on attracting customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them (e.g., educational articles, videos).
• Outbound Marketing: A traditional marketing strategy where a company initiates the conversation and pushes its message out to an audience (e.g., advertising, cold calls, emails).
• Miller Heiman Methodology: A sales framework that emphasizes understanding the different roles and motivations of buyers (technical, outcome, financial) within a complex B2B sales process.
• B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer): A business model where a company sells its product or service to another business, which then provides it to individual consumers. In digital health, this often means selling to an employer or insurer, who then offers the solution to their employees or members.