The Problem: Bluestream Health’s Marketing Message Was No Longer Working
In 2020, the telehealth market exploded as healthcare organizations frantically adapted to the pandemic so that they could deliver care remotely. This created massive growth for companies like Bluestream Health, a virtual care platform serving health systems, clinics, developers, and payers.
Bluestream Health’s sales soared because they took the step of creating awareness of their Virtual care platform.
They also used SaaS marketing tactics to generate demand and their marketing message was about Simplicity.
The message was compelling in 2020, given that customers and prospects said that ease of use and ease of implementation were the most important decision factors.
In 2021 the market abruptly changed.
Nearly everyone who was going to buy a solution had done so in 2020. The pace of inbound opportunities declined, and maintaining a high growth rate became a tough challenge for Bluestream Health.
The Solution: Develop a New Marketing Message
In early 2021, Bluestream Health engaged healthlaunchpad to help improve marketing effectiveness. One of the first things we did was analyze Bluestream Health’s marketing message.
Brand Positioning is central to healthlaunchpad’s approach. We use a simple framework that looks at fours factors:
- The company’s mission and what they are trying to achieve with the product or solution
- What customers say the solution does for them, i.e. value and benefits
- Competitor messaging
- What market trends and other external factors affect the positioning.
The healthlaunchpad team got to know Bluestream’s executive team, spoke with the sales and product team to understand what drove them and how they were trying to differentiate from other vendors, and what was special about Bluestream.
We analyzed web traffic, leads, and deals
In addition, we looked at how competitors were positioning themselves. And last but not least, we spoke to several customers to get their feedback on different positioning statements.
We surfaced the following insights:
- Bluestream Health’s uniqueness is the ability to create personalized experiences for patients and providers with customized solutions for each client. In particular, Bluestream Health’s APIs made this possible and relatively easy to implement. As a company, they aspired to be a leader in the new area of Virtual-First Care.
- Most of Bluestream Health’s more recent opportunities were coming from developers and healthcare organizations that were interested in creating their own applications or solutions. This was a leading indicator of where future opportunities lay.
- Customers said that what they liked most about Bluestream Health was its ease of use and how they could tailor the solution to their workflows, i.e. to match the way that worked.
- Lastly, when we looked at the competition, it was clear that the vast majority had almost identical messaging around simplicity and ease of use. There was no differentiation.
As a result of this research, we recommended to Bluestream Health that their positioning reflect how customers and prospects planned to use the product, why they were most interested in Bluestream Health, and most importantly, to own a positioning that was distinct from competitors. We proposed a new positioning and tagline:
“Virtual-first Care That works the Way You Work”
Implementing the New Marketing Messaging
This new positioning addressed all the issues.
We then set to implement the new marketing message strategy across the entire marketing ecosystem, specifically:
- Updating the website, especially the home page in order to reflect the new message
- Updating case studies to ensure that the new positioning is reflected accordingly
- Securing a major case study in HIT News on the work they do with NYC H+H
- Training the sales team on the new message for enhanced brand awareness and shared goals
- Developing new sales tools that reinforced the message
- Running a blog series that both brought this message to life and improved SEO
- Launching a white paper for developers on how to implement virtual care applications
- Creating a resource center of content that positioned Bluestream Health as a leader in Virtual Care with a heavy focus on how customers were implementing new models of care with Bluestream Health’s platform
- Presenting at a regional telehealth conference on new models of virtual care and how telehealth is being customized.
- Running a webinar where customers spoke about how they had implemented innovative new care delivery models by tailoring their telehealth solutions.
Results: How a New Marketing Message Reignited Sales Velocity
As a result of the new campaign and new message, lead velocity increased. Leads jumped by 125% quarter on quarter.
The sales team matched the new focus and got good traction with healthcare organizations and developers who wanted to implement a more customized solution.
Bluestream’s revamped approach has also changed the conversation with the media – resulting in more exposure with the press.
Danny Scalisi, Chief Growth Officer, Bluestream Health
“We have been working with the healthlaunchpad team for a year now and they deliver! They are an integral part of our team. What sets them apart is deep experience in selling technology to healthcare, strong strategic insight, and really strong digital work, especially in content, SEO, and ABM.“