(This article was created in part with the use of AI, as well as the image creation. Please be patient, AI is still young.)
One of the common medical billing marketing strategies when trying to go to grow includes hiring a salesperson, attending trade shows, and engaging an outbound lead generation firm to set up calls. But are trade shows a good investment? Should medical billing companies spend time and resources on them?
There’s a belief that trade shows are effective because that’s where the customers are. If you don’t know how to reach your target audience, it seems like a good place to start. In theory, trade shows should generate leads, deals, and a strong return on investment (ROI).
The Reality of Trade Show Marketing
The problem is that trade shows often don’t deliver as expected. Many times, they result in no deals, and they can be extremely expensive. In some cases, the revenue generated is very small compared to the large costs involved.
There are also other challenges. I’ve participated in trade shows across multiple industries within healthcare, including revenue cycle management (RCM) and radiology. In my experience, the success of these shows varies greatly. Sometimes they go well, but there have also been huge failures where the show completely bombed.
Why Clinicians Aren’t Focused on Billing at Trade Shows
A major reason trade shows can be ineffective is that if your target audience is clinicians—physicians, physical therapists, or similar—they aren’t attending the event to address billing concerns. Many attendees are there for clinical reasons, not operational or billing issues. For example, a physician attending an orthopedic conference is likely focused on continuing education units (CEUs), not billing solutions.
If they have a billing problem, they’ll address it immediately, not wait until they attend a conference that’s months away. At the event, their minds are still on clinical matters, thinking about the latest medical technologies, like CT scanners, MRI machines, or orthopedic surgery tools from vendors like Stryker.
Challenges Even in Optimized Scenarios
Even when you’ve optimized your presence at a trade show, it’s often difficult to generate significant leads. In my experience, despite doing everything possible to maximize our chances, trade shows in the RCM space only generated a modest ROI. In fact, it was the lowest ROI of all the channels we used, apart from the ones we eventually abandoned altogether.
Why Continue with Trade Shows?
So, why keep attending trade shows if the return on investment is so low? That’s the real question. If trade shows aren’t yielding strong results, it’s worth considering other ways to reach potential clients.
