How to Choose an Effective B2B Healthcare Marketing Partner

Tips for selecting an agency that’s a seamless extension of your team.  

Building a successful B2B healthcare business doesn’t just hinge on hiring a strong internal team. Thriving B2B healthcare companies master strategic use of external partners to round out, enhance, and extend in-house resources. If you’ve had the pleasure of working with a marketing partner who seamlessly adds value to your organization, you know it is precious. And if you’ve navigated the hardship of trying out a marketing vendor who added noise or headache to your workflow, you appreciate the relief of collaborating with a marketing partner who can plug in with ease. 

It can be tricky to find and build trust with a marketing agency that gets the nuances of your organization and truly adds value. As marketers with decades of experience—first as marketing leaders selecting agencies, and now serving as marketing agency partners—we’ve compiled our top criteria for collaborations. This cheat sheet will help you look for the right traits in your B2B healthcare marketing partners to build relationships that drive lasting success. 

1. Bring Specialized Subject Matter Expertise 

When it comes to choosing an agency partner, there are lots of intangibles to consider. These can include how interacting with them “feels,” i.e. whether you’re at ease with them, and think they’re reliable. But the top non-negotiable requirement? The marketing agency you choose needs to be experienced in the healthcare field. And–healthcare experience alone isn’t enough. You want a partner that has worked in your specific niche of B2B healthcare. They should be familiar with serving customers like your company, with the ability to show work samples that prove it.

For example, they should grasp current forces shaping the healthcare industry and what keeps your prospects up at night. There is no replacement for earned industry experience and the knowledge that comes with it. Starting with this as a baseline will save you a lot of time educating your marketing agency down the road.

2. Orient Towards Strategy 

Whether you are hiring a team to help define your strategy or execute on a strategy you’ve built, you should work with partners interested in orienting themselves to your overarching business objectives. They should be invested in understanding your business goals, target audiences, key differentiators, messaging pillars, and marketing road map. Even if you’re outsourcing individual tasks like one-pagers or paid ads, they will fall flat without being anchored in an intentional strategy based on your business goals. Look for a marketing agency who will not only help you and your team deliver on your vision, but actually share it. Ideally, this group serves as an extension of your team, aligning with and enhancing your growth efforts overall.

Look for a marketing agency who will not only help you and your team deliver on your vision, but actually share it. Ideally, this group serves as an extension of your team, aligning with and enhancing your growth efforts overall.

3.  Have a Caring “Owner” Mindset  

At a minimum, you want a partner that cares enough to do what they say they are going to do—and in a timely fashion. As noted above, the best partners care about your mission, goals, and strategies as though they were their own. This means they are invested in consistently delivering their best work. Marketing partners with an “owners” mindset respect your needs but also aren’t afraid to bring their own confidence and expertise to the table, offering insights and even delivering that extra turn of the knob to make a project shine.

In order to fully immerse themselves in your team, for example, an agency partner could take the initiative to conduct interviews with your SMEs. From there, they might tap into a wealth of content knowledge that might ultimately help you unlock a fresh perspective on branding or messaging that better represents the whole company. Once you’ve built enough shared language and trust, you can give them a seed of an idea and let them run with it.

To test new partners, give them one-off projects before a longer-term commitment to assess their reliability and approach. Do they add value? Do they go above and beyond to meet timelines? Do they remain accountable if anything gets hard?  Or do they delay, deflect, or do the bare minimum? If, after a trial period, you find that your partner is committed to seeing a project through in a timely fashion, owning any missteps, and always orienting towards a growth mindset, you’re on the right track.

4.  Maintain a Strong Reputation 

When you’re interviewing marketing partners, don’t be afraid to do your due diligence and ask for references. Talking to past clients gives you great insight into what your company’s experience might be as well. Perusing portfolios, case studies, and success metrics are all important too. But how does it feel to work with this agency as a partner? Would their past clients recommend them again? Potential marketing partners should have strong references who are willing to speak not only to the quality of their work and expertise, but also to their character.

Perusing portfolios, case studies, and success metrics are all important too. But how does it feel to work with this agency as a partner? Would their past clients recommend them again?

According to a recent Fast Company article echoing this sentiment, “It’s no longer enough for an agency to represent itself purely on the basis of its creative output. Clients today need to focus less on case studies and more on trust.” This is consistent with what we’ve seen work best, both from the perspective of hiring marketing partners, and also being them. Competence should be there from the beginning. But trust is earned over time. And when that’s there, collaborations deepen and flow much more easily.

5. Prioritize Communication 

Nothing builds trust more effectively than clear communication. Your marketing partner should be forthright about updating you on the status of projects and quick to highlight any issues that might impact successful delivery or timeline. It doesn’t feel—or look—good to be guessing about whether you’ll meet a deadline, especially when other stakeholders (including leadership) are involved. Look for an agency that is candid about the steps in their process—from initial discovery (think competitive or internal research like interviews with SMEs), to content review and approval checkpoints you can expect along the way. For example, if you were exploring a rebrand that included restructuring your website it would be reasonable to have a roadmap that outlined phases and timelines. These might include an initial audit, a draft restructure, a first phase rewrite of core pages, proposed plans for phase two, and so forth.

By the same token, you want to work with a partner who can be honest, yet motivated. For example, if you ask them to undertake a task that they might not be as familiar with, “I don’t know, but I’ll be sure to look into it,” is a positive and reasonable answer, much better than pretending to know or trying to dodge the question. The key thing is that not knowing doesn’t get in their way.

When you’re vetting potential options, make sure their communication style is a good fit. Are they easy to reach, and responsive? How clear and comprehensive are their updates? And this might seem counterintuitive, but are they able to push back respectfully and advise truthfully around strategy if needed—or are they simply agreeing with you and telling you what they think you want to hear? As noted in the article referenced above, “Ready, fire, aim is no way to solve problems and rushing in to execute a project without thinking it through usually leads to costly re-dos. Critical thinking is a form of leadership.” We agree. Choose partners who are deep thinkers and solid communicators– who can listen to you, and who you want to listen to.

Choose partners who are deep thinkers and solid communicators– who can listen to you, and who you want to listen to.

6. Be Solution-Oriented and Flexible  

As B2B healthcare marketers, we know that the industry evolves quickly, which means business priorities sometimes need to shift rapidly too. This has a downstream effect on the types of marketing campaigns/initiatives we need to pursue, and the messaging we need to hone to reach our audiences. For this reason, it is imperative to work with collaborators who can approach projects with creativity and a flexible mindset. Look for agency partners who lead with positivity and curiosity, as well as respect.

Instead of, “But we can’t do that,” the tone should be one of, “What if we tried this?” Solution-oriented partners like this are truly priceless. In their presence you know that even if the goal posts change (like the board deciding to focus on a different target audience mid-way through Q1, your CEO throwing you yet-another creative curveball, or the private equity firm backing your organization deciding a rebrand is essential) they will keep an open mind.

Instead of, “But we can’t do that,” the tone should be one of, “What if we tried this?” Solution-oriented partners like this are truly priceless.

As noted earlier, this is the type of partner who will take ownership, and rather than deflect or deny when a project doesn’t go as planned, they will explore a new tactic or angle. When you’re meeting with potential partners, keep these questions in your back pocket for the purposes of discernment: Do you feel excited and energized after speaking with them, even inspired? Or do you feel more stuck? If it’s the latter, keep looking.

Build Lasting Partnerships for B2B Healthcare Success

Choosing the right B2B healthcare marketing partner can make or break your marketing efforts. The right partner is not just an external vendor but a seamless extension of your team, bringing specialized expertise, strategic alignment, an owner’s mindset, a strong reputation, clear communication, and a solution-oriented approach. By prioritizing these traits, you can build a partnership that not only meets your immediate marketing needs but also contributes to your long-term business growth and success.

Remember, the goal is to find a partner who is invested in your vision and capable of adapting to the dynamic healthcare industry landscape. With the right partner by your side, you can confidently navigate the complexities of B2B healthcare marketing and achieve lasting results.