Healthcare content marketing requires time, effort and strong strategy — three resources that are always in demand within healthcare organizations (HCOs). Creating high-quality content that resonates with your audiences means figuring out what those audiences want and showing why your team is the best choice to help them. A messaging matrix can play a key role in that work.
At first glance, a messaging matrix is a simple-looking table that outlines key areas your healthcare messaging should address with your consumers. But look a little deeper, and you’ll see that this unassuming document has layers upon layers of complex utility for your HCO’s marketing team .
Perficient’s healthcare experts know what it takes to create an effective, successful messaging matrix for your outreach efforts. Let’s go over the components of a strong healthcare messaging matrix together, or feel free to contact us for more information.
1. A messaging matrix is the logical next step after healthcare personas and journeys
Our healthcare personas and journey maps offer a deep dive into what consumers are looking for from HCOs like yours. But all too often, we’ve seen clients take these valuable insights and stick them on the digital shelf, rather than taking the lessons they provide and putting them to use. A messaging matrix can help your team translate your consumer personas and their unique healthcare journeys into clear, discrete content touchpoints.
By identifying scenarios that map to milestones in a persona’s journey with your HCO, a messaging matrix can help you understand:
- Key moments of influence in the persona’s journey so you’re speaking to your audiences when they’re receptive to your messages
- What the persona is looking for at that moment in their journey
- How that coincides with your business priorities
- What to say to motivate the next level of action in the consumer
Your messaging matrix is one way your team can continue to create long-term, ongoing and demonstrable value from your strategy efforts.
2. A messaging matrix can help align your marketing team members
Good content strategy depends on the consistency of your messaging. You may have a fantastic content creator on your team. But if that creator is out of line with your strategy, or if the rest of your team isn’t aligned with the messaging of your high performers, then you’ll likely have problems with your consumer touchpoints.
Your content likely comes from many sources: your own team, strategic partners like us, other marketing teams within your organization, other vendors, freelancers and so on. But — and this is key — your consumers shouldn’t be able to tell these disparate players apart. Consistent messaging means you speak in one clear, distinct, on-brand voice, no matter who’s conceptualizing the message.
In addition to resources like your voice, tone and style guide and healthcare writing training for your team members, a messaging matrix can help keep your various internal and external teams aligned as they present a consistent, high-quality message at every step, no matter where they may sit or whom they’re talking to.
3. A messaging matrix can jumpstart your content creation process
I’ve written thousands of pieces of content over my career, and I can comfortably say from experience that I still get intimidated sometimes when I’m starting from a blank document on my screen. Even when given a thoughtful creative brief, the idea of reaching healthcare consumers and helping guide them to a conversion and beyond can be a lot to contend with when I don’t have much to go on.
But with a messaging matrix, you can tailor the message to meet the needs of the audience members you’re trying to reach. You can use language that will resonate with them. You can make sure to include key points that they’re searching for. By having key message points detailed, you can help ensure that campaigns carry those messages through for a consistent voice and experience, from the first outreach campaign through long-term nurture campaigns.
Plus, if you find yourself constantly creating content for a key scenario for one or more of your personas, you can update the messaging matrix to account for that scenario. Not only can that make your individual job easier, but it can also help ensure your team members handle the need the same way down the road.
4. A messaging matrix supports messaging throughout the consumer journey
Many of our clients are laser-focused on pulling healthcare consumers down the funnel to conversion — whether that’s finding care, choosing a healthcare plan or purchasing a medical device. That’s natural. Conversion is a key metric and one that’s crucial for measuring the success of marketing efforts.
But conversion isn’t the point at which your content marketing efforts should stop. In fact, it’s only about halfway through the content marketing cycle, because it’s only about halfway through the healthcare decision-making process. The remaining parts of the process consumers use to make and support healthcare decisions require continued check-ins and support at key milestones even after conversion.
Our healthcare strategy team uses the Transtheoretical Model often to inform our recommendations. As you can imagine, many HCOs focus their efforts on efforts up to the Preparation stage — the point at which the consumer is ready to do something and the organization’s marketing efforts can influence the consumer’s decision.
As we often note, however, a complete content marketing strategy often involves nurture campaigns, targeted content and other marketing materials geared toward supporting the consumer through the Action and Maintenance stages. These often aren’t rigid, and your HCO can lose consumers if they feel like they must navigate them on their own. But your messaging matrix can and should include scenarios that help the consumer feel understood and supported as they continue their journey.
A messaging matrix that considers the healthcare consumer’s entire decision-making cycle can:
- Build awareness of your organization and its services/products
- Ensure your messages include the value propositions that are most important to your audiences
- Build trust over time (whatever time it takes the consumer to be ready to convert)
- Pull consumers down the funnel toward conversion
- Build loyalty after conversion
- Foster an ongoing positive relationship with your consumers
The messaging matrix is real – and it’s essential
Our healthcare and life sciences strategy team members understand how to reach consumers with messages that resonate at every stage. And we know how to craft a messaging matrix that will fuel your team’s content marketing efforts with real results.
Contact us to learn more about the role a healthcare messaging matrix can play in your strategy and outreach.
