case study

Through HSC’s guidance as CMO, Phynd was able to:

• Define and dominate an emerging market segment
• Successfully launch the first- and second-generation manifestations of their software
• Realize rapid growth and ultimately hire a full-time VP of marketing

Designed as a cloud-based enterprise platform, Phynd’s software has a number of applications within a health system’s overall operations.

• Advances hospital and health system growth by acquiring new patients via the “find a doc” capability.
• Optimizes provider management by including part-time or locum employees.
• Identifies HCPs who are accredited, further assisting health system management.
• Provides information about insurance accepted by each provider.

2.1 Start-Up Limitations

Start-ups typically face a shared, yet significant challenge: balancing investments in product development with investments in sales and marketing. Since the CEO was carrying most of the load in both departments, and sales should be the priority, marketing was limited to a website and a few disjointed sales assets.

2.2 Market Unawareness

Phynd’s software was solving a problem in the healthcare industry–but it was a problem many health systems did not fully grasp. The few that did were just beginning to understand its scope and impact. For example, not all healthcare providers working under a health system umbrella are permanent, full-time employees. Some are part-time or locum tenens providers. And, others have their own practice that is contracted with a health system. 

Keeping track of this information can be very fragmented, time consuming and costly. Such situations also leave room for error or delay in claims processing and limit a health systems physician referral management capabilities. Phynd had the solution for all of these issues, but articulating and presenting the combined value to the right buyer personas was a challenge.

3.1 First Steps First: Competitive and Market Understanding

As with many other companies that have hired HSC, an important first step was to take the time to perform a SWOT analysis. We needed to refine the collective understanding of the unique space in which Phynd was operating, as well as the scope of impact. We found that other companies were competing indirectly, because some of their capability bled into areas that overlapped where Phynd participated.  

Through this exercise, we identified areas where the company had an edge over the competition. We also discovered shortcomings in their existing strategy. Both were essential components in creating subsequent product development as well as sales and marketing strategies.

3.2 Supporting Product Launches

While building awareness was a component of the HSC-directed marketing strategy, a great deal of attention was placed upon ensuring successful product launch(es). This relied heavily on refining messaging to align with the different buyer personas within the company’s target audience. As with any young company, new product introductions occurred frequently, and positioning them properly was important. This often involved determining whether to message it as an upgrade to existing capability or an entirely new product.  And, how did their value propositions intertwine?

HSC also revamped messaging in various content assets, including press releases, blogs, sales collateral, email, and social media. HSC completed a website overhaul to better articulate the myriad problems Phynd’s solutions could resolve. We also created graphic illustrations to provide a visualization of how those solutions worked. 

Trade shows were also a key part of the launch strategy, and HSC’s support and management of these events ensured consistent messaging and drove booth traffic.

3.3 Educational Marketing Tactics

Previous to HSC’s involvement, Phynd’s marketing was technical and narrowly focused. Given the fact that they were solving a fragmented problem that was not well understood, we quickly realized that marketing had to have a strong educational component. We needed to highlight the full impact of the provider data management problem by creating a white paper, website content, and collateral that quantified its scope and impact and help organizations understand the benefits of Phynd’s solution.

In support of this effort, HSC developed and wrote a new blog post each month, which highlighted different angles and implications of the provider data management problem as well as  proof points. These were all posted on the company website to enhance SEO and were promoted via email and social media.

HSC’s support during the company’s early stages allowed for that rapid growth. We played a fundamental role in the company’s initial product launch, and we were instrumental in the eventual launch of their second generation product. Phynd remains a market leader in provider data management to this day.