MedGadget.com recently interviewed Joe Hage, leader of the world’s largest medical device community. As a medical device marketing consultant, his LinkedIn Medical Devices Group boasts over 220,000 members. He had some very interesting things to say about lead generation, developing a medical device marketing strategy, social media and web development for medical device companies.
Although he felt that some marketing strategies for medical devices can be similar to those found in the traditional B2B and B2C fields, he did acknowledge the additional challenges of attracting the attention of those in the medical fields who can be influencers or decision-makers.
Changing established beliefs in the medical field can be an uphill battle. Chief among his requirements for successfully marketing a medical device is creating a compelling value proposition. The target audience, whether the end consumer or the medical professional, needs to clearly understand why this medical device is better, faster, more effective, or less expensive than currently available options in order to build up the necessary motivation to make a change.
Although he believes that social media is helpful in spreading the word about any new medical device, he adamantly believes that success must revolve around having something useful, relevant and helpful to say. Just letting the medical community or patients know that a new device exists isn’t good enough unless there is a strong rationale and steady stream of supporting information behind the claims.
How can these insights translate to those trying to create a marketing strategy to introduce a new medical device or reinforce the effectiveness of an existing one? A few thoughts would be:
Medical device marketing presents some unusual challenges to those who are trying to implement it properly. Relying on experts who have a record of success in the field can help ease the transition from new product to success.