HealthDecember 06, 2019

Five trends that are driving medical device marketing today

The evolving digital world is reshaping how healthcare marketers reach their audience. Learn how to implement these strategies to get ahead.

It is an exciting time to market in the medical device industry with new technologies, improved wireless capabilities, and artificial intelligence (AI) to name a few. It is important to keep up to date on new opportunities and expand your knowledge on various ways to target healthcare professionals (HCPs) to grow your business.

The following are 5 trends that are driving medical device marketing to adapt and be more effective in this technological world.

Create a superior experience through content

As we create relevant content to attract more HCPs, it is important to ensure you are also providing them with the best interaction through every touch point. When you provide a superior experience along with content you share, you will not only stand out from other medical device companies but create a closer relationship between you and your audience. This facilitates the breakdown of barriers and creates a willingness to interact with your brand.

Creating an effective audience experience starts with making the content you share relatable. With an audience made up of purchasers, hospital executives, physician assistants, and surgeons, you need understand each of their various needs and create valuable content to address those needs. For example, a Director of Purchasing would be interested in the broad functionality of a medical device and the costs involved, while a surgeon desires the more technical aspects of the procedure. As part of your marketing strategy, create different versions of marketing collateral pieces, advertisements, social media posts, and webinars targeted to each of these groups. Each communication piece will be a helpful tool in making a purchasing decision.

Another way to make the audience experience memorable is to recruit participation amongst peers through the content creation process. This involves asking KOLs and highly regarded HCPs in the industry to provide commentary from their point of view. Whether they serve as a guest on a live streaming video or offer a simple quote for a blog, referencing their peers emphasizes that you recognize industry leaders who high regard towards your brand. It also makes your content more trustworthy coming from their peers and gives validity to your products.

Lastly, demonstrate you care about their concerns by not just listening to your audience but providing a response in a timely manner. This can be implemented by acknowledging their comments posted on a webinar, blog, or social media post. You can simply like a comment or respond directly. Communicating that you are available to interact strengthens your brand as being reliable and attentive to their concerns. This instills trust, which will keep you top of mind when making a purchase.

Voice is the future of search

Searches by voice-activation is growing. It is estimated that by 2020, 50 percent of all searches online will use voice search capabilities. As a healthcare marketer, there are a few ways to optimize SEO through voice search. Think of how these questions will be asked in a natural speaking voice and incorporate that language in your SEO strategy. Remember that these searches are longer than text searches, as most are complete sentences. Then ensure that you have content that answers these specific questions to increase your organic search. Just like text, the content should be concise and easy for your target to comprehend.

Videos are mainstream

Incorporating videos into the marketing mix have grown quickly in the last few years. What used to be a nice to have is now a must for any marketing outreach. Why? Videos have proven to have 72% higher engagement rates. Plus, videos with high quality content helps search engine optimization, making your page appear on relevant searches. In addition, videos allow for better communication of complex devices and pharma products on a platform that can easily be shared.

Various forms of videos allow you to create different communication strategies based on your goals. Explainer videos, hosting webinars, and live streaming are powerful tool to utilized in the healthcare industry. Specifically, live video has grown four times according to a Facebook report. The beauty of live video is that it allows your brand to speak directly to HCPs about complex medical devices and pharma products. They can interact by asking questions and commenting. This personalization also encourages viewers to spend more time engaging with your brand. It is estimated that 80% of audiences prefer to watch a live video rather than reading a blog post, while 82% prefer to it to a social media post.

Compose meaningful content that is sought out

Creating rich content that HCPs are researching is more important than ever in this digital world. Identifying what they are searching for such as disease states, case studies, and available solutions can allow you to create content that can answer their questions. Highly sought out information is vital to generate engagement in hopes of them requesting more information from you. The more relevant information you provide that is easily searchable, the greater chance of creating a connection built out of respect for the quality content and ultimately trust.

Have a presence on social media sites

There is no denying that social media is a part of day to day life, both personally and professionally. Embracing these platforms and creating a strategic plan to utilize them can offer benefits to support marketing strategies directed at HCPs. Social media can support your marketing strategy to create brand awareness, engage with purchasers, address misinformation, and offer product or sales support. Each platform should reflect the business persona and be personal to create a following that in the future, may turn into a purchase.

Contact us to learn about our multichannel solutions to engage your target audience.
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