Medical device manufacturers have unique sales structures
and target a very niche market. For this reason, many manufacturers don’t pursue traditional marketing strategies. However, digital marketing enables businesses of all kinds to reach exactly the individuals who are most likely to become customers.
Building a medical device marketing strategy for the digital age requires some creativity and research, but it can generate remarkable results. Standing out in the crowd is important for medical device manufacturers. The digital world is one marketing option that gives creative marketers a lot of space to differentiate themselves from the pack.
You might believe that you need to hire a marketing agency to assist you with digital marketing initiatives. While these agencies can certainly be helpful, there are many steps you can take on your own to start building an effective marketing strategy.
Do Your Research
Your potential customers are having conversations on social media and searching for relevant topics on Google. Digital marketing starts with listening in on these conversations and search queries to understand your target audience and the way they think about medical devices. You might think you have a strong idea of this already, but pain points shift over time — knowing what people want or need right now can give you insight into how to address issues and attract leads.
[Free Whitepaper: How Upgrading Hospital Rooms Can Improve Patient Satisfaction]
Keyword research offers insights into the way people in your target audience are looking for information. Keyword research involves using software tools to process data on what word combinations people are using to search for certain topics.
Small changes to the way you phrase text online can generate big changes in how high you rank on search engines like Google. By looking up searches related to, say, “pulse oximeters,” you can identify target keywords that you can incorporate into your website to increase your ranking. For example, “buy pulse oximeters,” might be very difficult to rank for, but “reading a pulse oximeter,” could have much less competition.
Create or Improve Your Website
Because of the sales structure of medical device manufacturing, you might not believe you really need a website. However, a website is a necessary component of all the most beneficial digital marketing strategies.
If you don’t currently have a website for your company, there’s no better time than the present! If a professionally-created website isn’t in your budget, low-cost DIY website creators have made it easier than ever to build an online presence for your business.
At the very least, your website should include the following:
Where you go from there depends on your chosen medical device marketing strategy (and your budget). When you send emails, buy advertisements, or target keywords on Google, you’re trying to get people back to your website so they can take the next step toward becoming a customer.
It’s very important that your website is clean, doesn’t contain any mistakes or typos, and is up-to-date with design and user experience trends. Having a bad website reflects poorly on your company, and might be worse than having no website at all.
Offer Useful Information
Inbound marketing is a digital marketing tactic that invites interested leads to come to you, rather than inundating them with unwanted advertising.
The key to inbound marketing is to create keyword-optimized content (like blog posts, ebooks, whitepapers, infographics, and videos) that gives your target audience information they can really use.
What do you write about? Start with your list of keywords. What seems to be on everyone’s mind when it comes to medical devices? Think about ways to use your expertise to help someone make an informed decision. Regularly update your blog with keyword-targeted articles and syndicate them using your company’s social media accounts (more on this later).
Another way to leverage this content is to try and place it in valued medical device publications. This kind of placement will help get your company’s name out there and attract leads.
Use Social Media
Join the conversation! Social media is a valuable asset for medical device manufacturers. On sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, you can connect with interested buyers without leaving your office.
Discovering where your target personas hang out on social media is the key challenge here. Social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn host professional groups where people network and discuss industry topics. Contributing useful information to conversations in these spaces will help connect you directly to potential customers.
Paid Advertising
Digital marketing initiatives can be broken down into two broad categories: organic and paid.
Every item we’ve discussed up until this point has been organic. However, gaining a lot of traction using exclusively organic methods is becoming increasingly difficult. For many medical device manufacturers, it makes sense to put some resources into paid advertising.
Paid advertising is available in various forms tailored for different approaches. You can purchase Google Adwords ads to appear in search results for certain keywords. You can pay to get content promoted in industry-related publications. You can put banner ads up on certain websites to attract people back to your site.
You can also pay to advertise on social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. These advertisements can be very beneficial for marketers in niche industries, because they allow you to target audiences with very specific criteria.
Whatever digital marketing strategies you use, make sure you tie everything back to some core messaging about what differentiates your products from the competition’s. With strong messaging, some effort, and a little know-how, you can improve your bottom line with digital marketing initiatives.
Research shows that hospital room settings can impact health outcomes. Download the whitepaper to learn more.