case study

When Healthcare Service Consultants began working with Apollo Enterprise Imaging Corp., the company was a small, established entity in the pathology space. Apollo had existing customers, but it wanted to expand product capabilities and become an enterprise PACS company.

Apollo did not have the background in other imaging areas to make this move. Additionally, the CEO, who was a businessman at heart, was the one driving marketing. An administrative assistant occasionally helped out.

With HSC’s help, Apollo was able to:

• Pivot from being a niche vendor to being an enterprise vendor
• Gain credibility as an enterprise medical imaging provider

Apollo Enterprise Imaging Corp. develops enterprise medical image management software for hospitals and health systems. The company’s initial commercial success was in digital pathology, but it desired to expand to other imaging areas (e.g. radiology, cardiology, ophthalmology) in an effort to become an enterprise medical image management company.

The primary market drivers for Apollo’s business were:

• The strategic business goal of moving into adjacent markets
• The healthcare trend towards defining enterprise medical image management as a new market segment
• To better compete with other enterprise image management companies that were looking to move into the digital pathology space

2.1 Lack of Product Marketing Expertise

Apollo had extensive experience operating in the pathology space. But, the company lacked an understanding of the market dynamic and purchase drivers in other imaging specialties such as radiology and cardiology.  

In addition, the CEO, and sometimes an administrative assistant, managed the company’s marketing efforts as best they could given their primary responsibilities laid elsewhere. Apollo’s CEO was an experienced business leader, but he did not have a marketing background. These limitations combined to hinder the companies ability to articulate its differentiating value within the marketplace.

2.2 Poor Positioning

As with many of the companies HSC has helped advance to the next level, Apollo’s messaging relied too heavily on features and functions. This held the company back from positioning itself against its unique benefits and product capabilities. Apollo also benefited from HSCs perspective about how other companies in the medical image management space were messaging themselves towards being enterprise imaging providers.  This challenge was made worse by the fact that the enterprise imaging market was just being defined and many larger companies were trying to bias the conversation to their benefit.

3.1 Market Analysis

While we conducted some competitive analysis, we focused more on market analysis. We needed to understand various company approaches so we could improve the positioning of the company. As a result, we were able to reframe the company in a way that better articulated its value. 

3.2 Refined Messaging

Apollo’s presence in digital pathology was established. Our goal was to refine their messaging to support their expansion into adjacent medical image management service lines. We developed messaging that repositioned them as a provider of enterprise image management solutions — not just pathology solutions. This refined messaging appeared across all customer-facing assets, from the trade show booth to website content. HSC also provided strategic input into their sales strategy and how to modify their call-points.

3.3 Integrated “Challenger Sale” Framework

The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation is a sales book authored by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. HSC worked with Apollo to help the company incorporate relevant aspects of the “challenger framework” into their marketing strategy. This included developing strategies for enhancing the sales and marketing efforts and reworking sales collateral and tools to support the effort.

3.4 Tagline/Company Name

HSC worked with Apollo to define and reposition the company’s value proposition to reflect its expanding capabilities. Part of that focus was on accurately rebranding the company by its tagline. Soon after we ended our contract with Apollo, the company changed its name. We had succeeded in getting Apollo to a place where they had defined themselves as experts in the market–and the name change was indicative of that.

HSC’s contributions helped Apollo progress in its mission to gain credibility as a provider of enterprise medical imaging management systems. Our marketing strategies also improved the company’s ability to increase awareness of its unique product functionality among a broader group of healthcare decision-makers. In a brief amount of time — just nine months — we were able to elevate Apollo’s presence in the enterprise PACS market. 

Contact us if you feel your company could also benefit from improved positioning and a strategic marketing approach.