All businesses know that marketing is essential for solving their larger product-success puzzle. For medtech innovations, digital marketing plays a distinctly important role in ROI for reasons not readily apparent to most companies.
Why is digital marketing such a powerful tool for medtech developers? And what are the most profitable areas to allocate digital marketing dollars? Let’s take a look.
Why Medtech Companies are Increasing Their Investment in Digital Marketing
The shift to remote work and the rise of telehealth have impacted the larger ecosystem in which medtech innovations are delivered, leads generated, and customers served. On the side of healthcare providers (HCPs) it has changed their communication needs, preferences, and expectations for how they interact with medtech companies and salespeople. On the side of medtech companies, it has increased awareness of the optimality of digital marketing efforts across three areas: 1) penetrating their target market 2), engaging their customer base (HCPs), and 3) increasing the return on their marketing investment.
These variables are driving a trend in medtech toward greater investment in digital marketing. Taking their cues from the commercial sector, companies rely on tactics that include social listening, email and social media campaigns, SEO and SEM (search engine marketing), and digital-channel and app management.
At Pivot International, we help companies capitalize on market opportunities with medtech innovations designed and developed at the cusp of digital evolution. With fifty years of proven NPD experience, in-house DFM expertise, FDA-Registered facilities, and multiple ISO certifications, we are powerfully positioned to meet medtech companies’ unique needs.
Our understanding of the medtech market makes it clear to us and our clients the role that digital marketing is increasingly coming to play in market success. What follows are the top areas in which we’re seeing our clients get the most bang for their digital marketing buck.
Target Market Penetration
With HCPs needing (and in many cases, preferring) digital communication, medtech companies are leveraging digital marketing to penetrate their target market and generate leads. About half of companies using this approach say that email campaigns are the most effective digital tactic, while the other half report gaining significant traction via social media campaigns. To effectively personalize messaging and tailor engagement (both pre-and post-purchase), companies can benefit greatly from the practice of creating customer personas — fictional characters that represent different types of buyers within their target market.
Hybrid Product Launches
During the height of the global pandemic, product launches shifted almost exclusively to digital channels with companies reporting success via email and social media campaigns and online conferences. Even with the lifting of lockdown restrictions and the return to traditional launch events, many medtech companies recognize the value of a hybrid approach. While non-virtual events will almost always be the most compelling context for product launch, their success depends more than ever on strategic digital marketing efforts before, during, and after launch.
Improved Value Prop Positioning
To compete in the current market, it’s no longer enough for a company to deliver a successful product. Instead, they have to successfully position themselves as purveyors of an entire portfolio of solutions. Digital analytics are indispensable in identifying opportunities where customers are primed for the introduction of additional product solutions. These solutions can be best positioned as complements to existing purchases that add value to customers’ businesses while also enabling them to better serve patients.
Sales Empowerment and Account Management
Medtech companies whose target market and customer base include more sophisticated or institutional players are relying on machine learning to provide salespeople and account managers with the data to effectively segment, prioritize, and care for each account. By integrating digital marketing with other marketing and sales channels, higher degrees of coordination and more consistent messaging are achieved to prime potential buyers for purchase. By taking an omnichannel approach informed by analytics, medtech companies can ensure they’re engaging their target market and customer base — online and in-person — at the right time and in the right way.
Looking to Launch a Successful Medtech Innovation?
If you’re looking to launch a successful medtech innovation, Pivot will work closely with your team to make your product vision a winning reality. Our industry-leading reputation, track record of success, and extensive portfolio of award-winning medtech devices assures you’re in good hands. (ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, ISO 80079-34, and IEC 60601-1) If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you scale, contact us today.
