Business plans are changing as health tech companies plan for 2026 and look to drive growth. Highland CEO Mark Venables says traditional marketing approaches aren’t enough to keep pace. Innovators need to find new opportunities, convince evolving target audiences, and get directly in front of the right people from board to ward to succeed. The question: what will drive growth?

As a new financial year comes into view, do your 2026 plans look different to those of years gone by? Is growth more challenging to achieve? Most of the health tech companies we speak to are saying “yes” to the above.  

So, the question we are asking: has your marketing evolved to keep pace, or do you need a new approach, focussed on growth? The team at Highland has identified why traditional marketing is no longer enough for many businesses in the sector to succeed. We’ve innovated in response to customer needs, with companies now engaging us as a growth partner for health tech.  

We help health tech companies find market opportunities, engage and convince the right audiences, and accelerate growth. So, if you are thinking about the year ahead and assessing how to deliver on these aims, our experience will apply to you. 

The opportunity, and overcoming the challenge  

The opportunities in health tech are enormous. Every NHS chief executive we speak to is tasked with finding efficiencies, improving quality, and delivering locally on national policy. And they know the value that technology can deliver in these areas.   

Seizing the opportunity is the challenge, even for companies with the best ideas and products, with established customers or with cutting-edge innovation.  

Markets are more competitive. Decision maker strategies are evolving. User demands are growing. Customer budgets are tight. Success will depend on how you connect to convince NHS stakeholders that you can deliver.  

In this environment, traditional marketing is unlikely to be enough. It used to be the case that you could just factor in some budget for press releases, media campaigns, trade shows, and advertising, backed up by a bit of social media.

Now, a much sharper focus and more sophisticated techniques are needed. So, here’s how health tech companies that want to grow in 2026 need to be approaching the year:

Examine your business needs:

For many of our clients, the most important thing to understand is where growth is coming from. That doesn’t mean adopting random approaches to generating awareness or leads, but building the structural drivers for commercial success. Examining business objectives in the context of market drivers is where we begin with each client. It means we can determine the right strategy, rather than providing a shopping list of deliverables.  

Through market mapping, stakeholder assessment, and opportunity sizing, we can help you to identify what really matters when it comes to supporting growth. After a quarter of a century of championing health tech, we’ve learned how to apply what works to help each client meet their objectives: and that differs from one business need to the next.  

Identify the biggest opportunities:

Companies also need to work out how to create impact. We use evidence, insight, and foresight to uncover how and where our clients’ brands and products can land best.   

That might mean redefining your position in the market, reframing your value proposition, working on your messaging. It might mean determining who you really need to convince.  

Define how to convince your target audiences: 

Once you know who you need to talk to, you need to work out how to win them over. We shape messages that resonate with target audiences across healthcare: investors, commissioners, finance, operations, clinicians, patients, and many others.  

Then we craft those messages into compelling content and campaigns, reaching your audiences through the channels they consume. It’s about translating complex innovation into thought leadership and other compelling narratives that can condition the market. It’s about amplifying customer success into clear, credible stories. Resonance, not just reach, is essential. 

Direct reach – getting in front of the right people from board to ward:  

Growth happens when your message reaches the right people across the NHS and the wider system when those people are ready and able to act on it.  

Traditional media and marketing tools have their place. Increasingly, however, we are finding that leveraging our healthcare network in different ways is critical, especially when it comes to getting our clients directly in front of the people they need to speak to.  

We’ve helped to connect dozens of health tech companies directly with hundreds of NHS influencers and decision makers from board to ward in the past month alone. And every conversation has helped to facilitate the transition of boardroom strategy to bedside delivery.  

So, is your marketing up to the task? Or do you need a new approach to enable new growth?

As the financial planning season gets underway, I’m asking health tech companies a question: is your marketing thinking this way? Is your health tech marketing or PR resource aligned and ready to help you achieve your growth targets?  

I would really urge you to make a forensic examination of this question. You might be well ahead and think you’re in a good place. In which case, you might still value a conversation to confirm and enhance what you have planned?

Or, you might realise you need to rethink how you invest some or all of your market engagement budget. In which case, is now the right time to talk to us and find out how working with a growth partner could help you to find, convince, and grow your market? 

I really believe that, despite the current challenges, there are enormous opportunities in health tech and that they will only grow as the NHS moves from analogue to digital in line with the government’s plans, and clinical and patient demands.  

My team is ready to help you to seize those opportunities. Find out how we can help you accelerate growth in 2026 and beyond. Start the conversation.

Let’s talk about powering your 2026 health tech growth plans: Book 30 minutes with me this week.