Tag: health tech

INTRODUCTION

Marketing medical devices has evolved since the days of business lunches and in-office visits. Many practices, especially hospital-based practices, no longer allow sales representatives in the office, and physicians’ schedules have become more hectic than ever.

In fact, a 2016 Survey of America’s Physicians conducted by Merrit Hawkins and the Physicians Foundation found that 80 percent of doctors reported being either overextended or at capacity in their practice, with no time to see additional patients.

This can make it challenging to promote your medical device to today’s physician. Following are some tactics your company should use to help draw attention to your product.

Establish buyer personas. It is important to identify to whom you’re selling before making a connection. For instance, private practice doctors may have different motivations, challenges, concerns and frustrations than physicians who practice in hospitals or clinics.

Creating buyer personas, or representations of your ideal customers, will help your company identify those factors, tailor messaging and establish a more personal approach for each of your target audiences.

Communicate via email. A 2017 HealthLink Dimensions survey revealed that 66 percent of doctors prefer email communication for industry news, product updates and research opportunities. This comes as no surprise as email allows for some flexibility in a physician’s fast-paced profession.

Use your buyer personas to help segment and personalize emails. The subject line, content and images should speak directly to each recipient, emphasizing solutions to his or her specific problems.

While it may be tempting to purchase or rent an email list as a quick way to grow your database, you’ll get a better ROI through collecting email addresses organically by creating easy-to-find sign-up forms or pop-up forms on your website, and/or by offering a lead generating incentive such as a free white paper that requires an email address to obtain. Encouraging current subscribers to share and forward emails to their peers is another way to grow your list.

Use content marketing. According to Demand Metric, content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional marketing and costs 62 percent less. Your marketing team will need to create a variety of content such as infographics, white papers, slide decks, videos and informative articles to help keep your medical device top of mind.

Involve your subject matter experts (SMEs), such as your technical or medical advisers, whenever possible. Case studies and test studies are one of the best forms of education marketing materials for physicians. In today’s world of value-based care, make sure to highlight positive patient outcomes or the specific solutions your device can provide, such as average reduction in pain score or percent reduction in expense per episode of care.

Connect on social media. Master of Health Administration found that 88 percent of physicians use the internet and social media to research pharmaceutical, biotech and medical devices. Create and maintain a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube in an effort to reach these individuals.

Share product updates, company news and scientific findings in conjunction with hashtags such as #MedTech, #MedicalDevice and #MedDevice to make your content easier to find. Your company’s CEO, sales staff and SMEs can further promote your brand by joining relevant LinkedIn groups or participating in industry-related TweetChats.

Physician-oriented platforms such as SERMO and Doximity have become increasingly popular in recent years; however, both are exclusive to healthcare providers and may not be used to market your medical device.

Up your public relations efforts. Pitch your medical device to medical journals and trade publications targeted toward physicians, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), New England Journal of Medicine and American Family Physician.

Involve your CEO or SMEs in your PR efforts by promoting their expertise, especially as it relates to a national health topic. Review health stories, such as those found in Google News, to see what’s trending.

Attend conferences. Conventions and conferences can be a great opportunity for your sales staff to connect with providers. Display product data and set up demos to give medical professionals the opportunity to interact with your medical device. They will want to see how your device works first-hand before considering it for their practice.

The MedTech Impact Expo and Conference and HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition are both national opportunities for your company to exhibit your product. The next MedTech Impact Expo is scheduled for December 2018, and the next HIMSS Annual Conference will take place in February 2019.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers health tech companies and startups services related to media relations, email marketing, investor relations, tradeshow marketing, content marketing and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.

INTRODUCTION

Content marketing can help grow your company’s brand visibility, build its reputation and draw prospects through your sales funnel. According to Demand Metric, content marketing generates three times as many leads as traditional marketing and costs 62 percent less.

However, a 2016 HIMSS survey on the state of B2B content marketing in healthcare reveals a gap between goals and efficacy. While lead generation was identified as the primary objective of content marketing, only 4 percent of respondents with a strategy in place thought their efforts were “very effective.”

The same study identified the main reasons for this disconnect, including: challenges producing engaging content, lack of content consistency, limited variety and difficulty measuring success. The best content marketing in health tech involves overcoming these obstacles and establishing expertise.

Following are some content marketing tips for health tech companies.

Develop and document a content strategy. As with other forms of marketing, content marketing requires a specific plan of action to be effective. Consider your business goals, target market, audience needs and overall branding initiatives when developing your tactics. Once established, publish your plan and share it with your marketing team. Every piece of content they create must align with your overall strategy.

For example, if your company is focused on brand awareness among primary care providers, your team should create content that is highly tailored to them instead of the industry as a whole.

Create relevant and engaging content. Producing consistent, high-quality material proves to be a challenge for many health tech companies. This is where your subject matter experts (SMEs) can help. They are a valuable, knowledgeable resource that should be involved in content curation and creation whenever possible. For instance, Cleveland Clinic uses its in-house experts to review and approve technical content before it is published on its Health Essentials blog.

SMEs should participate in interviews or brainstorming sessions with your marketing staff, or they could even create content of their own. Before you embark on a strategy, make sure to establish expectations. If you’re conducting an interview, have your marketing team research the topic and create an outline to help stay on track. If your SMEs have a hand in writing, include a disclaimer that their work is subject to edits. Have the SME review the final draft and share feedback with your marketing team to help guide future efforts.

Use appropriate distribution channels. Take advantage of the various digital and social media platforms available to connect with your target market. Remember, it is better to excel at a handful of channels than to be partially present on many. Research where your audience gathers online and go from there. For example, if your target market is primarily on LinkedIn, your team should spend time developing white papers, slide decks and informative articles to help peak interest.

Hashtags such as #HealthTech and #MedTech should be included with your content to make it easier to find. Similarly, your team should join relevant LinkedIn groups to participate in discussions and further establish your company’s brand within the industry.

Health 2.0, for instance, is a collaborative group dedicated to the advancement of new health technologies. Members have access to resources such as global conferences, thought leadership roundtables and leading market intelligence. Innovations in Health is another LinkedIn group focused on improving quality and process within healthcare organizations. Its members include industry experts, consultants, administrators, executives and other healthcare professionals.

Integrate content marketing with sales efforts. Equip your sales team with valuable content to help them establish relationships with prospects, and eventually, convert more leads to sales. Social selling, for instance, incorporates content with the salesperson’s social media networks to help educate potential customers and answer questions before they are ready to buy.

Your marketing team should emphasize the role content plays throughout the buying cycle and provide sales staff with tips about how and when to use it. At the same time, sales staff can provide insight into prospect trends, such as pain points, recurring questions and concerns to help direct content marketing efforts.

Be patient. Content marketing will not produce immediate results. Instead, think long-term when setting your goals and allow 12-18 months to see results. Most B2B health tech buyers need to interact with your content regularly throughout their buying cycle before making a decision.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media offers healthcare IT companies and startups services related to media relations, email marketing, investor relations, tradeshow marketing, content marketing and social media management. Please contact Brian Lee, brian [at] experiencerevelation.com or 608-622-7767.