Archive for the ‘Effective Medtech marketing’ Category

It’s that time of year again. And I’m not just talking about the greeting card industry-created day that is Valentine’s Day.

I’m talking about that time of year where the icing meets the cupcake for all the goals and objectives you created in 2012 for your 2013 MedTech marketing.

THIS is the crazy-busy time of medical device trade shows: Medical Devices Summit, MD&M West, AAOS, MDMA, BIOMEDevice, MedCon, to name just a few.

For most medical technology marketers, this means having a booth at these events and networking with potential customers and strategic partners. And while that can be an effective marketing strategy, in this day and age, it’s simply not enough.

To set yourself apart from all the other vendors and medical device companies in attendance, you’ve got to do more than just tell them  sweet nothings about how great your company, products, and services are. You’ve got to go beyond flirting to demonstrating that you are serious about being a committed partner that will do for them what other suitors cannot.

Here is some L.O.V.E. potion to help you rock their world and establish a happily-ever-after partnership:

•  L: Look for ways that you can promote them.

  For example, do they have a new product on the market? Interview them about it for your blog.  Then Tweet out the link to the post and congratulate them for their new innovation.

  Pay attention to ways in which you could co-author an article — or interview them for one.  Trade shows are the perfect opportunity to look people in the eye and listen to what’s relevant to them.

• O: Offer relevant, value-driven resources that address your target audience’s needs, concerns, and interests.

  Do they care about speed to market? What about cost reduction? Create a white paper educating them on strategies for accelerating time to market and doing so at the lowest cost and highest quality.

  How about a case study that demonstrates how you helped a customer reduce cost and get their device to market?

• V: Value your prospects time by ensuring that your online and offline presence educates, informs, and addresses the issues they care about.

  Technology and easier access to information has enabled decision-makers to spend more time online doing independent research, obtaining information from their peers and other third parties about potential suppliers.

  So if your customers care about reducing time to market, consider creating a video explaining  how your prototyping process reduces iterations and cost for your customers.

  Most medical device companies are very concerned with FDA regulations and guidelines.  What about dedicating a page on your website, a case study, and/or an article about how your company stays abreast on RA/QA?

• E: Establish yourself and your company as a thought leader and trusted advisor.The most effective way to do this is through strategic content marketing–as opposed to haphazard content marketing that is created on a whim with no real plan for how everything ties in together.

  If your website, Tweets, articles, white papers, case studies, blog posts, etc. aren’t “singing from the same songbook,” then your company will come across as disorganized and inefficient. 

  What’s worse, is if you have little (or none) of those content marketing resources available for your prospects.  That simply communicates that you really don’t care about solving their problems or addressing their needs.

Give some L.O.V.E. this trade show season and get prepared to be courted by some attractive partners.

What are some other ways you show your prospects and customers that you appreciate them?

 

 

 

 

 

Want to strengthen your MedTech company’s marketing efforts in 2013?

Then consider these Advanced Medical Marketing posts: Read the rest of this entry »

This is the time of year marketers start to strategize about what their marketing efforts will entail in the next year. To help you prepare for a successful and productive 2013, consider the following content marketing wisdoms:

1. Think beyond your products and services. Focus on the interests, problems, needs and concerns of your audience. When content is genuinely focused on helping its audience, customers are inspired, loyalty is strengthened, and purchases of your products and services increases.
2. Offer content that answers your customers’ questions and addresses their needs and concerns. Your sales and customer service team are invaluable here. Work with them to compile a list of customers’ frequently asked questions and most common concerns. Then offer a variety of content resources to address them, such as blog posts, newsletter articles, LinkedIn Group discussions, and articles submitted to targeted industry publications.
3. Become the leading informational provider for your niche. To make an informed buying decision, your customers and prospects are gathering information from a variety of resources. Make sure that most of those sources point back to your company’s expertise, products and services.
4. Become an expert on your target audience. Who influences and makes the decision about whether or not to purchase your products and services? What do they care about? What’s their ‘day in the life’ look like? What are their concerns? Once you figure this out, create content specifically for them. In MedTech, there’s likely to be more than one influencer/decision maker (e.g. CFO, Engineering Manager, Marketing Director, etc.). Whoever they are, keep your content focused on the person you’re targeting.
5. Tell your MedTech company’s “personal story.” All humans appreciate a good story. By accounting an incident or event that helped make your company what it is today, you help explain your brand, company, value proposition, products and services in a compelling way.  And if you fear that your story Read the rest of this entry »

The process if figuring out when, how, and where to market your suite of MedTech products and services can be like herding cats. And even once you’ve done that, the process of creating the content for your marketing resources can be overwhelming.

This is why I was excited to read a post titled,  The 5 Stages of Your Content Marketing Evolution by Andy Crestodina’s on one of my favorite blogs.

His post offers a guide to help you evolve your content marketing and he also offers a checklist for “what tools and adaptations you will need to make to take your content efforts to the next level.”

His 5 basic content marketing elements are designed to not only create a solid market presence, but advance your company above and beyond the competition. The condensed version of these 5 points are depicted in Crestodina’s evolution-themed illustration:

I highly recommend reading Crestodina’s blog post in its entirety–especially if you want to discover if you’re still hunting, gathering, and dragging your knuckles, or if you’re evolving to cultivate fields of content, build roads of marketing connectivity, and settle new content marketing territory.

You can find the full article at: http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/2012/10/stages-content-marketing-evolution.

 

Last week I wrote about three strategies that savvy, productive medtech marketers incorporate in their marketing mix.

This post will explore three more noteworthy techniques to help you reach your customers, engage with them, and win their business.

Read the rest of this entry »