How hyphens can reduce healthcare tech market noise

Many vendors are oblivious to the saturated market noise within hyped segments like cloud computing and artificial intelligence. They distribute their marketing materials, unaware of the sheer volume of similar messages bombarding their target audience.

Cloud technology discussions are particularly saturated, with petabytes of emails debating the merits of hybrid, private-public, or multi-cloud models in healthcare settings.

The constant repetition of these messages often leads to email recipients becoming desensitized to the nuances of cloud deployment options.

So, how can content marketers reduce this noise and make their communications stand out?

The solution is simple: hyphens.

I propose that the more hyphens your healthcare technology content includes in its themes, the clearer it will cut through the market noise during syndication.

So, what the heck do I mean? 

Hybrid Cloud in Precision Medicine would arguably have two thematic hyphens: Hybrid-Cloud-Precision Medicine.

If we went for a trifecta of hyphens on another hype topic we would use something like: Security-Hybrid-Cloud-Artificial Intelligence.

And lastly the quintet of hyphens could be: Patient Engagement-Clinical- workflow- interoperability- cloud- economics.

The Hyphenic Challenge

Admittedly, this approach poses a challenge for many companies, primarily due to the difficulty of achieving granularity.

First, content marketers need to engage subject matter experts who can provide highly specific insights beyond general awareness or consideration content.

Second, there’s the fear that such specificity might alienate leads or prospects who play a broader role within their organization. While this concern is valid, the depth added by precise, multi-dimensional themes can actually be a strategic advantage.

One of the greatest challenges HIT vendors have is in developing compelling, independent thought leadership at the bottom levels of the funnel. Hyphenation assists in doing just that. Adding just one thematic hyphen can transition content from the middle of the funnel (MOFU) to the bottom of the funnel (BOFU).

Content architects should view each additional hyphen as opening a new chapter, expanding on the themes that came before it.

Consider again the example: “Patient-Engagement-Clinical-Workflow-Interoperability-Cloud-Economics.” The addition of “economics” brings a new dimension to the content, previously framed by the other elements alone.

As an exercise, reminiscent of diagramming sentences in English class, review your current assets. Determine how many unique and compelling hyphens they would include if diagrammed as I have suggested. The emphasis here is on ‘compelling’—it’s not enough for the term simply to appear; it must add significant value to the content.

This strategy is equally effective for enhancing the impact of events, conferences, and social media content as it is for traditional marketing assets.