Readers Write: What Health IT Companies Can Expect in 2023

What Health IT Companies Can Expect in 2023
By Jodi Amendola

Jodi Amendola is founder and CEO of Amendola Communications of Scottsdale, AZ.

My crystal ball says tighter budgets, LinkedIn, and more targeted, integrated campaigns.

The beginning of a new year provides an irresistible temptation to make predictions. Unlike the ancient Romans, we don’t look to the flight patterns of birds to foretell the future, but base our predictions on what we see in the industry and the economy, what we hear from clients, technological developments, etc. Here are my predictions for what to expect this year in healthcare/health IT.

A tumultuous economy

Economists have been arguing for months about whether the US is headed toward a recession and, if so, how severe it will be. I don’t pretend to know the answer, but I do expect 2023 to be challenging for the healthcare and health IT industry given the challenges faced by providers and payers. Hospitals are still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and coping with rising expenses, ongoing staffing shortages, and continuing capacity constraints. In response, health systems have restricted services, laid off employees, closed departments, and even shut down entire hospitals.

However, systems are also investing in new digital technologies that allow them to operate more efficiently and expand care models, such as remote and virtual care, in the face of these challenges. The vendors who sell these products and others that support the digitization of healthcare are ramping up marketing and PR efforts to position themselves as the solutions to help systems clear these barriers.

To best reach their target audiences, what I am seeing for healthcare and health IT companies are budget considerations, such as whether to invest heavily in trade show marketing or if those dollars should be reallocated to more targeted account-based marketing (ABM), digital marketing, or integrated marketing programs.

Twitter down, LinkedIn up

I think 2023 will be a critical year for Twitter as an advertising vehicle and, quite possibly, as a viable social media platform. The uncertainty over Elon Musk’s takeover, the departure of so many staff, and Musk’s controversial decision to largely stop moderating tweets and to welcome back accounts that had been banned for misleading or false content has made brands understandably wary of being associated with Twitter.

According to a recent Media Matters report, half of Twitter’s top 100 advertisers have stopped promoting on the platform, brands which have accounted for nearly $2 billion in advertising since 2020. Some publicly announced their break with Twitter, while others have quietly stepped away. And Musk’s myopic claim that companies who choose not to advertise on Twitter are somehow engaging in censorship or violating free speech principles is not the way to woo them back. Brands have every right to avoid unnecessary and unwelcome controversy when choosing where to advertise.

By contrast, we’re seeing heightened interest among clients in LinkedIn as a marketing and advertising platform. The oldest of the social media platforms, LinkedIn has evolved from a glorified jobs board to a place where companies — including healthcare providers and payers — research vendors, network, and promote themselves.

LinkedIn content is becoming richer and more interesting as well. Yes, there are still plenty of photos of people sitting in hotel ballrooms captioned: “Excited to be attending the annual Widget Trade Show in Walla Walla,”, but creative brands are using it to tell stories and connect with target audiences on a deeper level. To encourage this, LinkedIn is adding content-friendly features, such as Creator Mode, Auto Embed, and image templates.

As LinkedIn becomes more important and versatile, brands would be wise to re-evaluate their approach to the platform with an eye toward expanding their content to engage target audiences beyond what they’ve traditionally posted.

Marketing and PR integration

It’s long been a good idea to integrate PR and marketing, but at many health IT companies, they are still separate silos. With tight budgets for both likely in 2023, it’s never been more important that they work closely together to achieve shared goals, measured using agreed upon performance metrics.

Comprehensive, integrated marketing programs that include webinars, events, digital marketing, and account-based marketing, in addition to media relations, social media, and thought leadership activities, will deliver better returns than separate, disjointed campaigns and help rise above the noise.

That also supports another 2023 trend: companies focusing more on strategic messaging and marketing to reach specific prospects. In a tough economy, it makes sense for businesses to focus on satisfying their most important accounts and landing the whales that could make the difference in a difficult year. Making the best use of tight resources and budgets through integrated marketing and PR campaigns can make all the difference.

Marketing resolutions

January is a great time for making resolutions, as well as predictions. In anticipation of what is likely to happen this year, here’s what healthcare and health IT companies should do:

• Look for new ideas and partnerships that work within their budgets while continuing to deliver great ROI.
• Integrate marketing and PR. Synchronizing efforts delivers a greater punch than pursuing separate tracks. If 2023 does prove to be a difficult year economically, it’s even more important to deliver a strong, coordinated message.
• Take creative risks. One of the great things about marketing and PR is that it’s not static; there’s always a new medium, platform or strategy to explore. This is going to be a good year to go exploring.

Whatever your resolutions, I hope you achieve them. Here’s to a happy and fulfilling new year.