Which One Are You?
Over the last couple of years, we have spoken with dozens of healthcare technology marketing leaders.
It seemed like there were several key personality traits that defined the type of marketing leader they each were. So I thought, “I wonder if we can create personas that bring these to life?”
We got to work analyzing over twenty hours of calls. These were in-depth one-on-one calls and recordings from the twice-monthly Healthtech Marketing Network meetings. This is a private community of over 200 healthcare technology marketing leaders. Meetings are typically attended by 30-40 healthtech marketing leaders.
We enlisted the help of NotebookLM, (a personal favorite AI tool) to synthesize this. What we found is four distinct personas.
So let me introduce you to Sarah, Michael, Jennifer and Alex.
Sarah – The Data Maven
Sarah sits at her standing desk, multiple monitors displaying dashboards from Salesforce, HubSpot, and PowerBI. Her morning ritual involves diving deep into yesterday’s marketing performance metrics, not just skimming the surface with basic engagement numbers but analyzing the true impact on the sales pipeline. As a marketing leader at a growing healthtech company, she’s built her reputation on transforming marketing from a cost center to a revenue driver.
“MQLs alone don’t tell the whole story.”
She’s passionate about sophisticated attribution modeling, having spent the last year developing a custom framework that tracks marketing’s influence from first touch to closed deal. Her background in marketing operations gives her an edge in understanding the technical complexities of marketing analytics, and she’s not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom when the data suggests a different approach.
Recently, she championed a shift from quantity-based to quality-based metrics despite initial pushback from stakeholders. Her presentation showed how high-touch marketing activities led to larger deal sizes and faster close rates, ultimately winning over even the most skeptical executives. Now, she’s exploring predictive analytics to forecast marketing’s impact on future revenue better.
Listen to Lea Chatham, Mark Erwich, and I Discuss These Personas
Michael – The ABM Strategist
Michael leans back in his chair, studying his second monitor’s account engagement heat map while on a call with his sales counterpart. As a firm believer in account-based marketing, he’s transformed his company’s approach from casting a wide net to precision targeting high-value healthcare organizations. His desk whiteboard is covered with notes from yesterday’s sales and marketing alignment workshop, where he introduced new ways to personalize outreach for different stakeholders within target accounts.
“We need to think about the entire buying committee. It’s not just about reaching the CTO; we need to engage the CMIO, the CFO, and the clinical leaders who influence the decision.”
His team leverages intent data and account-based analytics platforms to identify and prioritize accounts showing active interest in their solutions.
Despite the complexities of implementing ABM in healthcare, Michael thrives on the challenge. He’s currently piloting a new approach that combines traditional ABM tactics with healthcare-specific insights, ensuring their targeting considers the unique nuances of health system purchasing dynamics.
Jennifer – The Customer Whisperer
Jennifer’s office walls are covered with journey maps and personal insights from countless customer interviews and focus groups. As a marketing leader who believes in deep customer understanding, she’s known for going beyond surface-level demographics to uncover the real motivations and challenges driving healthcare technology purchases.
“We’re not just selling software, we’re helping healthcare organizations transform patient care.”
Her content strategy reflects this philosophy, focusing on educational content that addresses specific pain points for different roles within healthcare organizations. She’s built a robust thought leadership program that positions her company as a trusted advisor in the healthcare technology space.
Her latest initiative involves creating personalized content journeys for different buyer personas based on insights gathered from customer advisory boards and win-loss analyses. She’s particularly proud of a recent campaign that resonated strongly with C-suite executives by addressing their strategic challenges rather than just technical features.
Alex – The Agile Innovator
Alex thrives in the fast-paced world of healthtech marketing, where limited resources meet ambitious goals. Leading marketing for a growing healthtech company, they’ve become known for their ability to achieve outsized results through creative resource allocation and innovative approaches.
“We may not have the biggest budget, but we can be smarter about how we use what we have.”
Their marketing tech stack is carefully curated, focusing on tools that deliver maximum impact for minimum investment. They’re not afraid to pilot new technologies or approaches, recently launching a successful ABM program despite having a lean team.
Alex’s strength lies in building strong relationships across the organization and with external partners. They’ve created a network of industry experts and thought leaders who contribute to their content program, extending their team’s capabilities without expanding headcount. Their continuous learning mindset keeps them at the forefront of industry trends, always ready to adapt their strategy as the healthtech landscape evolves.
Which Persona Best Matches Your Superpower?
Like all personas, very few people are purely one or the other. Most people are a mix of multiple. In our latest podcast, my colleagues Mark Erwich, Lea Chatham and I discuss these. Both Mark and Lea are longtime healthtech marketing leaders. They are also both active networkers and involved in communities like Swaay Health.
I loved getting their perspectives on this. You can listen to the latest episode or watch our conversation.
Let me know what you think about this. I am dying to hear how other healthtech marketers react to this.
If you liked this post and want to learn more…
- Check out more posts like this in the Healthtech MarketingLearning Center. It is chock-full of articles, use cases, how-to’s, and ideas. Check out our resource center dedicated to AI. You can learn how to do stuff there.
- Follow me or connect with me on LinkedIn. I publish videos and articles on ABM and healthtech marketing.
- See what other healthcare technology marketers are doing. Check out the State of ABM in Healthcare Technology.
- Buy Total Customer Growth: Our book on how to win and grow customers for life with ABM and ABX.
- Work with me directly. Let’s book a growth session and we can explore ways you can improve your marketing using the latest techniques in account-based marketing.