I met with a potential client a few months back and walked him through what we typically do as a medical device agency. We talked about the positioning, the branding, the creative campaign development and the approach that we take when working on launching – or relaunching a medical device. But that’s not this client’s problem.
This client, let’s call him Dave, has a fantastic device, it’s very efficacious, the nurses who use it absolutely love it and he has tremendous awareness. So what’s Dave’s problem? He’s never been able to get past the ‘early adopters’ and hasn’t been able to build enough momentum around this brand to generate massive use. IF he were able to generate broader adoption, he’d be able to bring his costs (COGs) down and could make the product cheaper and available to even more hospitals. It’s kind of a chicken and the egg thing – he needs to bring the price down, but in order to bring the price down, he’s got to sell more devices. So his brand is kind of stuck and sales have plateaued.
That got me thinking about the kinds of strategies that he could employ to move the needle. So I pulled up one of my favorite books – it’s an oldie but a goodie – MarketBusters: 40 strategic moves that drive exceptional business growth by Rita McGrath and Ian MacMillan and set about looking for some inspiration. They break down their ideas into five different themes.
- Change the customer experience
- Reconfigure your products (or services)
- Redefine the business and metrics
- Anticipate future industry shifts
- Create a new market space
Not playing the price game, being proactive versus the competition and developing solutions that are truly aligned with customers needs are all tenants of building market busting strategies.
So for Dave, we can brainstorm around these five key things.
For example, take #3, Redefining the business and the metrics. Right now this device has a capital equipment and a disposable cost. The Company has been giving the capital equipment away and have been focused on selling the disposable. But that’s where they’re getting into a price war. Their disposable is $8.00 per use versus the standard of care which is $0.60. So what if that was flipped on it’s head and the revenue actually came from the capital equipment. OR, what if the Company were to create a subscription based model for the capital and disposable together. So they’re ‘renting’ the capital equipment.
Coming up with creative ways to think about and rethink about your business – and your brand – are key to helping move the needle.
Looking for more ways to get your brand ‘unstuck’? Click here to download 10 Ideas to Fast Track Your Brand
