MarTech 360 Interview With Amanda Costanzi, Head of Marketing and Communications At Swisslog Healthcare

By Krutika Parmaj Last updated Apr 20, 2022

Tell us about your journey in MarTech:

I grew as a marketer in tandem with the growth of MarTech. My career journey started when supportive technology was simple and automating any marketing process was less sophisticated – both in capabilities and tracking. The advancements in MarTech enable us to make educated pivots and reach our decision-makers more quickly. Marketing automation platforms have forever changed how prospecting and customer retention can be balanced in a marketing strategy. And MarTech continues to deliver new ways to meet our personas where they are already spending time. This makes marketing more powerful than ever before.

The only word of caution I offer to savvy marketers is this: Don’t lose sight of your intuition. Intelligent marketing used to require a more visceral approach to knowing the target market and reaching them with a compelling reason to believe. Let MarTech support theories that you just feel but can’t otherwise prove or disprove. MarTech cannot replace your creativity…but it can justify it.

What challenges did the Covid-19 pandemic pose for your marketing team?

Prior to the pandemic we participated in an abundance of traditional, in-person industry events. As exhibits, expos, and conferences turned to virtual experiences, our marketing team needed to step up our digital presence and dive deeper into our MarTech capabilities and opportunities. While this is not unlike what all marketers were facing, it was particularly true at Swisslog Healthcare for two reasons: 1.) We implemented a new marketing automation platform and integrated it with our CRM as the changes were taking place so there was a higher learning curve. 2.) While non-hospital teams were quarantining, the need for solutions enabling quality patient care wasn’t curbed – in most areas it increased. Further, our constituency didn’t have time to sift through communications that were not offering pragmatic information and useful ways to better patient care. Our marketing team delivered an increase in educational content aimed at helping industry decision makers assess their own challenges. We leveraged more video, more social sharing, and began a focused effort on artificial intelligence.

What sets Swisslog Healthcare apart from the competition?

All healthcare organizations have similar goals related to improving efficiencies in the healthcare industry. Swisslog Healthcare stands out from other organizations because of three key variables: 1.) empathic approach, 2.) quality operational technology, and 3.) accurate outcomes. As we empathize with healthcare professionals, we find the right-fit solutions to increase their efficiency. A natural differentiator which comes from our understanding of what is truly needed in the hospital environment is the process we follow for product development. Our roadmap is a strategic plan for what is best suited to help healthcare professionals reach patient care goals and create more efficient workflows. This outcome can only be attained from our high-quality standards resulting in the convergence of durable hardware and reliable software. Finally, our healthcare automation provides the highest level of accuracy in medication management, can dramatically reduce human errors, and provides a safer environment for patients and staff.

How do you envision Healthcare Marketing evolving, in the years to come?

Capturing the attention of busy decision makers in healthcare cannot be done with simple benefit statements or even a compelling value proposition. This audience seeks proof of efficacy which requires digital case studies, customer testimonials, and measured outcomes. Today’s healthcare professionals are savvier than ever about the ways operational technology can better serve their teams and patients so they cut through the clutter quickly. They expect marketers to repeatedly demonstrate the “why” in their story telling or they stop reading. This means healthcare marketing will evolve as an ongoing dialogue with followers and fans. Great healthcare marketing will be viewed as a resource and less of a sales tool.

What 3 things that business owners can do to optimize their digital outreach?

Meet them where they are. Not every prospect that you want to reach will be on the same digital platforms, but the majority of them will follow one of only a few industry-specific channels. You wouldn’t waste time trying to force your offering onto Pinterest if what you’re selling isn’t pinboard worthy – so apply the same logic as you evaluate which are the right digital mediums for your business.
Know your audience, tailor your message. Well written personas help commercial teams prioritize their efforts. Using them as a guide, marketers can better focus on messaging that is applicable to the target audience(s) you’ve identified. It is appropriate to tailor the communication for each segment to deliver a meaningful message. For example, here are two personas for whom we customize our outreach to address what is most important to each of them: A.) An upper middle-class pharmacist who works 9am-5pm, provides for a family of four, lives in the suburbs, drives an Audi Q5, and enjoys the well-established pharmaceutical workflow in their central pharmacy. B.) A clinical traveling nurse who works varying hours, is single by choice, lives in temporary inner-city housing, and has to remain flexible with dissimilar processes and changing technologies within different hospitals. They are both influencers in the decision making of automated healthcare solutions, and while they share a common work environment, each of these people has some different priorities from one another.
Make sure your data is organized: Segmentation will only work as well as your data organization allows it. Without proper organization, effective segments can’t be created. A robust marketing automation platform that is integrated with your CRM is critical to optimizing your digital outreach and ensuring that you can track the interest level of your intended readers. However, don’t overcomplicate it. There are a lot of things you could measure. Ask yourself which are the ones that drive intelligent decisions about your next marketing move and pay attention to those without distraction of data that is nice to have but not as informative about your buyers.

As a marketing leader, what are your thoughts on how ROMI and its uses as a metric to define success?

No business leader wants to spend without a predicted outcome. This is applicable to any functional area, including marketing. The key word to define the usability of ROMI as a metric is “investment”. Marketing should not be viewed as an expenditure but instead as an investment in the company. Knowing how it is applicable to your success is to first have it tied to your goals. A company in growth mode needs a different kind of marketing and the investment should be measured against the goal to achieve that growth. An unknown company to their industry may have a brand awareness goal which again requires a specific marketing approach and should be measured against the goal of achieving that brand awareness.

Your top pick for a book on marketing that everyone should read:

An oldie but goodie: All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World by Seth Godin

Could you name one other marketer that you would like to see featured here?

Swivel CEO and Founder, Simcha Kackley

What are the key ingredients that make a successful marketer, in this day and age?

Ingredients alone don’t make a gourmet dish. Used in the right sequence and relationship to each other, they can turn into an unforgettable outcome. Here are the staple ingredients that must be included:

Creativity beyond aesthetics
Setting OKRs aligned with the business’ strategic planning
Defining the right omnichannel approach(es)
Pipeline segmentation for tailored messaging
Leveraging automation tools
Utilizing KPIs for real time pivoting
Always thinking about what is next.