5 Marketing Strategies to Employ When Your Brand is Stuck.

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.

  1. Change the customer experience
  2. Reconfigure your products (or services)
  3. Redefine the business and metrics
  4. Anticipate future industry shifts
  5. 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

When it comes to medical device marketing, think like a superbug

As a medical device marketing agency, one of the things that we help our clients do is to figure out their positioning within the market place. We have lots of posts on how we can help our clients differentiate their brands, here and here, BUT in a sense, what we’re trying to do is to help our med device clients protect and grow their businesses. And so you may be asking yourself, how pray tell, does a superbug fit into that?!?

Well I read this article on NPR on the Ancestry of Antibiotic Resistance. One of our clients plays in this space and so that’s probably why the article caught my eye. The gist of the article covers a report that was originally published in Cell. My synopsis is below:

  • Bacteria resides in our guts (No kidding)
  • When prehistoric creatures lived in the ocean that bacteria was excreted and settled to the ocean floor (No big deal. That was a nice environment for the bacteria and they thrived)
  • However, when animals left the sea and started living on dry land, that excreted bacteria was subject to all kind of harsh elements (Sun, heat, dusty barren earth, etc…)
  • In order for the bacteria to survive they had to adapt (just like the rest of us)
  • The bacteria that adapted the best and poses the biggest challenges for hospitals today is the Enterococci
  • According to one of the report’s authors, Michael Gilmore, “Basically, it’s like the bacteria put on a hazmat suit,” and developed characteristics and traits that “help make the bacteria rugged and able to withstand drying out and exposure to disinfectants”

So how does this apply to marketing? Well in a sense, when it comes to building your brand, you want to make sure that you’re building it such a way as to protect it from the competitive elements. And for marketers of med tech, that means doing the voice of customer research to assess the customer’s pain points, developing the product with features that truly differentiate it, gathering the clinical evidence and the conducting the bench top tests that help to prove your points and validate your claims.

And if you can do all of that, you will have built a little hazmat suit for your brand!

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Why does gender-specific medical device research matter?

Knowledge is power. Over the past several years, great strides have been made in making research gender-specific. This has resulted in a drop in women’s deaths from heart disease, but it is still the number 1 killer of US women. This Friday is National Wear Red Day, a promotion by the American Heart Association to bring attention to women’s heart issues. It’s important to remember that even though much progress has been made, there is still a long way to go and the field of women’s heart research is still wide open, especially when it comes to the medical device space.

The FDA tracks gender-specific research for both the pharma and medical device sectors, and issues guidelines for evaluating sex-specific data in medical device clinical trials (click here to view the FDA’s guidelines). Though gender balance in med-device research still lags behind pharma, the industry has corrected at least the reporting of gender-specific results. One hurdle that the med-device industry faces that pharma does not is technology: how to engineer smaller devices or different configurations that takes into account women’s anatomy. However, limitations drive creativity, and the need to innovate smaller and safer devices could benefit both women and men, even potentially  lowering healthcare costs by replacing current methods with less-invasive alternatives.

The medical device and pharma industries are already working together to implement better science by paying attention to women and making research more inclusive, but what can we do? Here at the Matchstick Group, we’ll definitely be wearing red. We also recommend all women (and men!) watch this very relatable video put out by the American Heart Association showing how women’s heart attacks differ from the well known symptoms of heart attacks in men:

The more awareness of women’s heart health we can raise, the better off everyone will be. Happy American Heart Month!

MedTech Industry Trends: What Medical Device Marketers Need to Know in 2017

We’ve taken a look into the future to bring you our predictions relating to the world of health, medicine, and technology in 2017:


VR/AR will be big at trade shows this year
In our experience doing market research for our clients, one thing is clear: physicians like getting their hands on new tools and new technologies and trying them out. Really, it’s a no-brainer. For cars, it’s easy to let people take a test drive because a safe infrastructure has been built around cars. Now, with VR and AR, a safe environment can be created for any imaginable medical simulation. Want to go in and bust through a calcified lesion inside an artery with the latest device? Now, a physician can try it out while standing in a tradeshow booth. 

More devices will be mobile connected and expect more health apps
If you saw our post on the best MedTech ads of 2016, you might have noticed that it included several app-based solutions. Most experts expect the Smart Health segment to grow by almost 25% by 2020, and with more and more wearable devices being developed, we predict that many more health-related mobile apps are in the pipeline.

Big Data will come to MedTech
With the shift to electronic health records ad the accompanying rules, regulations, and security protocols, we predict that companies will be utilizing the massive data analytics tools out there to gain insights toward innovations and greater efficiency. (By the way, if you’re interested in the intersection of government, health, and information technology, we recommend following @n_brennan the Chief Data Officer for Medicare and Medicaid.)

And speaking of Big Data…

The medical device industry will use need to innovate using Big Data to comply with government UDID regulation
There is so much data involved in the tracking of devices. With the benchmarks that are on the horizon, moving the industry toward having a tracking number on EVERY device by 2020 will require an enormous investment in companies’ analytics capabilties. You can expect to see Big Data making a Big Impact on the medical device industry this year.

What’s in a name?

A few years ago, I became pregnant with my first child. Amidst the joy, anxiety, nesting, and doctor’s appointments lay another task—thinking of a name for this person! At first we made light of the situation, thinking of every silly name we could (I expect that most celebrities stop at this phase of the process). We would have endless fun spouting any ridiculous name that popped into our heads, trying to best each other in feats of whimsy. “Tomato!” “Butterscotch!” “Frank Zappa!” Eventually, we began running out of “silly” ideas, and the good ideas would start to make their way into the game. We knew we wanted something unique, but not weird, something cool, but not embarrassing: “How about Cyrus?” “Percival?” “Tiberius?” The good ideas started to multiply, which was followed by research: “No, we can’t name him that, that was the name of a terrible Roman emperor”! Through the gradual process of narrowing down the pool of possibilities, we finally arrived at the perfect name for our little guy. And then found out we were having a girl.

How do we go about naming things in the advertising world? An article in the New York Times Magazine says that one agency can generate up to 6,500 potential names for a single product. Agencies are now using algorithms and apps to aid in the brainstorming process. One Swiss agency bases its business on making up neologisms for products based purely on the visual and rhythmic appeal of the word. The big business of naming has fostered new technologies and a plethora of different approaches, but at its core, coming up with a novel name for a product is more than a purely creative process.

Our process for medical device naming usually begins with the brand positioning because we strive to make the name as powerful a brand statement as possible. A good example of this is a product that we worked on for Angiotech, now Surgical Specialties. They had to rename and relaunch a medical device that addressed biopsy-related pneumothorax because of a trademark conflict in China. We worked with them on the strategy and positioning for the brand and conducted a series of one-on-one interviews with interventional radiologists.

The key insight uncovered was that no physician wanted to acknowledge that they had an issue with pneumothorax in the first place (this device was originally positioned as something that prevented pneumothorax by sealing the lung tissue). So how could we speak to preventing something that in the target’s mind was an off-limits subject? We pivoted from positioning this device as one that offered prevention to a device that offered protection from pneumothorax. This spoke to the IRs wish to protect their patients from harm without trespassing on issues of physician competency.

We then used that position as ‘protector’ as a cornerstone in our naming development. The product was renamed BioSentry and the relaunch has been an amazing success. 

<<Click here for more on the BioSentry case study>> 

By starting with research, we were able to make the most of our creative process, a bit like starting a race closer to the finish line. Naming my child started with the creative and ended with research, vastly extending the time spent on the project.

So which is harder—naming a medical device or a child? Well, here at The Matchstick Group, we’re glad to assist you in naming your medical device. In fact, you can check out the simple app that we built to help you get started.

As for your children’s names, you’re on your own.

Duplicated: Best MedTech Advertising of 2016 – [#1062]

  1. Start with research. Pharma ads are often researched ad nauseum – but only to ‘pick’ a final concept. Instead turn the sequence around and start with research with the primary target. True voice of customer research looks at the customers needs, their thoughts, feelings, attitudes and beliefs. Make sure that your research focuses both on what they think about the problem you’re trying to solve and your product’s ability to solve it.
  1. Focus on the benefit. If you want to tell a customer about your products, talk to them about the features. But if you really want to sell them on your product, you have to understand their problem – and then sell them the benefits that you can provide. At The Matchstick Group, we work with our customers on this all of the time. Check out one of our case studies on this subject here. In our industry, the R&D teams drive a lot of innovation. And that innovation ends up manifesting itself as a new composite material or a hydrophilic coating or perhaps they’ve developed a proprietary manufacturing technique. And R&D’s enthusiasm can be infectious! But as much as the teams might want to focus on those aspects of the product itself that might make a competitive difference, our job as marketers and strategists and creatives is to elevate that. I like an article that Gregory Ciotti wrote for his blog on Helpscout.net where he reminds us that no one wants to buy a bed. People just want a good nights sleep!
  1. Create a burning platform. A what?! What in the world is a burning platform? At it’s most basic level, a “burning platform” is a term that describes an urgent or compelling business situation that if not addressed could lead to disaster. The burning platform is used to build awareness of the need for change very quickly. And while the burning platform is a term well suited to the field of change management, it works in the creative field too. A need has to be established that the reader can recognize and then take action on.
  1. Think iconically. Brands need to be able to transcend borders. And when your creative hangs on a tagline or a local colloquialism, that just doesn’t translate. One of our favorite creative campaigns in the med tech space was for the Cypher stent (J&J). This brand wanted to communicate the product’s strength but also the benefit of that – keeping arteries open. Prior to the launch of this campaign, Interbrand conducted a brand audit and despite this being a flagship product for the organization, there was little consistency across the globe. By creating a very iconic look that promoted product features (but sold the benefit), J&J was able to roll out a unified campaign across the US, Europe and Asia-Pac regions quickly and consistently.
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  1. Compel an action.

Good advertising compels the reader to do something. What is it that you want your customers to do? Buy a product? Sign up for a demo or a trial? Share something? Click for additional information? And ideally whatever the action is, there should be a way to measure it. Direct Response TV and print advertising measures the number of people who call a 1-800 number, send in a postcard, type in a specific url or snap a QR code. Emails measure open and click through rates. Landing pages measure conversion. Consider your objections and the action that you want the user to take and then craft your call to action accordingly.

Best MedTech Advertising of 2016

As we close in on the end of 2016, we feel so honored to have contributed to the success of so many cutting-edge new devices. We’ll let you in on a little secret about us: we love medical technology. Ok, maybe you knew that already, but the reason we love it so much is that medical technology usually has an immediate beneficial impact on people’s lives. This is our motivation for keeping on the cutting edge of medical device advertising — because at the end of the day, people are being helped, people’s lives are improved. So, we put together a list of the MedTech ads that were awarded Clioawards this year in order to review the best of what our industry has to offer.

DOT. The first Braille Smartwatch
You might think at first that this is just another wearable in the Fitbit/Apple Watch universe. But, keep a box of tissues close as you watch this video — the look on the faces of people with blindess using this product for the first time made us cry. Remember how we said we love this industry? This is why.

Parkinsounds (Powered by Spotify)
The highly advanced, esoteric realm of Parkinson’s research might seem like it’s far removed from the everyday struggles of those suffering with the disease. However, here is the ultimate practical application of science — literally an app! Those in the Parkinson’s community have known about the benefits of music for years, but now with this app, patients have more control than ever over how to deploy the therapeutic properties that can help them live more normal lives.

Medela
First, let us just say that breast pumps have been such an important piece of technology that, for several of us here at The Matchstick Group, has allowed us to continue reaping the benefits of breastfeeding while still being amazing rock stars in our careers. We applaud this campaign from Medela for helping to portray the breastfeeding community in a modern, inclusive, and real-life way. This not only benefits women, but babies everywhere!

And, for sheer amount of medical technology in one piece of promotional material, check out this video for Parkinson’s NSW “The Lucky Ones” which was filmed during an actual, live brain surgery procedure on a Parkinson’s patient.

We hope our review of this year’s best medical technology advertising shows you how inspirational this industry can be. We’re excited to see what innovations 2017 brings!

Pharma Brand Ad Spending Compared to Google Searches

By now, most everyone has seen Coyne College’s map of the most searched-for pharma brands in the US — it has shown up everywhere from Fierce Pharma to r/dataisbeautiful. But, here at The Matchstick Group, we were curious: does this map reflect these brands’ advertising spending? The answer, surprisingly, is no. When comparing the top brands on the map to the top ad spenders in the pharmaceutical space, it’s clear that airwave saturation doesn’t seem to impact state-by-state Google searches. So, if the map shows no apparent correllation between ad spend and search traffic, what does it show?

The top searched pharmaceutical drug in the US is Suboxone, a drug used to treat narcotic addiction. The opiate addiction epidemic has been gaining more and more attention in the news, so this might lead you to wonder: did people start doing more Google searches about Suboxone because of increased news coverage of the opiate addiction epidemic, or did the opiate addiction epidemic itself cause the enormous search volume? Framed another way, is the news coverage a form of “free advertising” for Suboxone, and is that contributing to the search volume? From looking at the trend indicated by our comparison, the answer would favor the opiate addiction epidemic itelf — rather than the news coverage or any other advertising — being the cause of the high search volume.

So what does this mean? How can pharma marketers take advantage of the trend indicated by the map? The simplest answer is to think of search as a place where consumers want to start the conversation. They’re typing questions into Google in order to find answers. As marketers, we have to ask ourselves, are we providing the right answers for them? Are we thinking of them as taking steps on a journey to find a solution to their problem? This is called the buyer’s journey.

Interested in learning more about the buyer’s journey? Click here.

It’s evident that television ads, while they may impact other performance indicators, don’t really translate to an increase in the organic search volumne. TV can be good for other metrics, such as brand awareness scores, physician awareness, patient awareness, refill/compliance rates, etc. However, “awareness” is only helpful if it is part of the solution to the customer’s problem.

If you’re not sure what performance indicators companies should be looking at, check out our “Marketing Metrics That Matter” cheat sheet.

It would be nice to be able to dig deeper into Coyne’s data to find out more, like who are the people who did these searches? Consumers/patients or healthcare professionals? How many were repeat searches? How did these brands rank in prescriptions in these states? What were the top sites served up by Google for these searches and did they vary by state? How does this list compare to the top medical problems that were searched for? There’s clearly more for the industry to analyze here, and opportunities to make the most of their advertising dollars. Stay tuned to this blog for continuing analysis.

Cross Reference Tool for Stealing Competitive Share

When it comes time to steal share from the competition, it’s important for your sales team – and your customers know exactly how to switch to your product. Sometimes that’s simple – swap Heinz for Hunts in the grocery aisle. But when it comes to switching medical device products, things get a little more complicated. Kind of like mattresses, medical device manufacturers name their products differently, everyone uses a different proprietary material blend, etc… So how can you help your sales team more effectively swap your product in and swap the competition out?

With a cross reference tool!

We have seen companies that publish and print massive catalogs of current and competitive products that allow the sales team to look up the information. Unfortunately, most of those catalogs are out of date as soon as they hit the printer’s doorstep.

We’ve also seen massive databases that live on one person’s desk and they end up spending their entire day answering questions from customer service, the sales team, marketing teams etc… about what exactly is in that thing.

And then we’ve seen the effective development and deployment of an online database powered cross-reference tool. Cue the angels singing! Finally something that will shed light on the data that you do have and turn it into a powerful resource for growing your market share. However, how do you go about building one of these dream applications? What are some tips and tricks of the trade?

For starters, you give The Matchstick Group a call as we have some significant experience building these platforms. Second, learn from our best practices!

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Click the above to download your copy of our Medical Device Cross Reference Guide.

This guide will provide you with intel on:

  • Handling competitive codes
  • Ensuring accuracy
  • The power of a ‘non-breaking space’
  • And more