Origin, Author at Podymos

7 marketing tools that will make your life easier

Do you need to streamline your marketing efforts? Are you looking for tools that can save you time and effort, whilst also optimising your campaigns to improve how effective they are?

We’re here to shed some light on the best kept secrets in the marketing industry.

A marketer’s job often includes juggling what feels like hundreds of campaigns at once. There’s email, social media, websites, research and more. It can be time-consuming, but having the right tools will help you save time where possible and keep track of all your projects.

We’ve put together a list of all the best tools to help get your marketing back on track.

The tools are:

Canva
Looker Studio
Hootsuite
SEMrush
Campaign Monitor
Zotero

Canva marketing tool

Canva

Almost every marketer is aware of Canva, it is one of the most popular marketing tools out there!

Making sure that everything you put out looks good isn’t always easy. Design can be time-consuming, and it requires a niche set of skills, but luckily Canva makes it easy to anyone to create professional-looking designs if you don’t have an in-house designer. It has templates for many different marketing materials, from social media posts to logo design.

Many features of Canva are free and are super easy and straightforward so anyone can create great-looking designs with very little hassle.

You don’t need to be a great designer to build your latest social media post, Canva comes with hundreds of different templates and assets to help you out. These are free to access and edit and can be customisable for different platforms.

However, by far the best feature of Canva is the brand kits. Canva’s brand kits lets you save all your colours, specialised templates, fonts, assets and logos all in one spot so when it comes to building a new post you have everything you need to keep your design on brand.

Remember, it’s important to ensure that all your marketing materials have a consistent look so that your brand is easily recognisable. You can read more about the importance of branding in our article “Medical Device branding: What is it and how to do it”.

Looker Studio

Looker Studio is a game-changer when it comes to reporting. It’s an online program run by Google that allows you to compile data from a huge range of sources and put it into one easy-to-understand report.

Whether you’re collecting metrics from various platforms, such as Google Analytics, or exporting your data on to google sheets, you can funnel it all into one place.

Reporting is essential when it comes to marketing campaigns because it allows you to reflect on what is doing well and what isn’t. With Looker Studio you can customise your report to show you the real data rather than some pre-made report that only shows you want to see.

Data studio software

What’s great is that once it’s set up, it can automatically pull the data for you, instead of manually having to export data and loading it all into the same place. You can also personalise reports with your branding or by adding notes and comments throughout.

As a healthcare marketing agency, Looker Studio is one of the tools we use most often. Not only do we use it to demonstrate how their online campaigns are performing, but we also show them the status of their various projects with us.

If you’re unsure about reporting or don’t know where to start check out our article on .

Hootsuite

In our other articles on Medical Device social media marketing, we have spoken repeatedly about how useful planning and scheduling content is for ensuring you post consistently (which is super important!).

Hootsuite is an amazing website that allows you to not only schedule and post content to a huge variety of different social media platforms, but it also reports on how well your posts are doing.

There are various scheduling tools out there, but our favourite is Hootsuite. Not only does it allow you to schedule posts, but it also tracks mentions, comments, direct messages and provides you with insightful analytics such as the day of the week your posts are seeing the most engagement.

We’re able to manage our various clients’ social media pages across multiple platforms through a single dashboard, which saves us a staggering amount of time.

SEMrush

If your company is interested in boosting your ranking on Google, SEMrush is a must have! It allows you to track everything search engine related, from organic traffic to keyword rankings. It comes with loads of cool features, including a keyword research tool and SEO content templates.

You can also use SEMrush to track your social media statistics, Google ads performance and conduct competitor research, which is extremely important for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and understanding which keywords perform well in your market.

Our go-to feature on SEMrush is the website health check which highlights where there are technical SEO issues on a website, such as broken links and missing metadata.

Understanding SEMrush

Campaign monitor

81% of B2B marketers say their most used form of content marketing is email newsletters. They are a great way to reach out to your audience directly and keep your brand at the forefront of their mind. We spoke about the wonders of email marketing in our Digital Marketing Guide.

Campaign Monitor is an easy-to-use, build-your-own email platform that allows you to send out professional emails to your mailing list. This is a great tool that will help improve your marketing and expand your campaigns.

We like to use Campaign Monitor to build and schedule our emails, from newsletters to invitations, because it’s simple to use and looks great as well as coming with a lot of customisations. You can also build multiple different mailing lists on campaign monitor, allowing you to segment your audiences and personalise the emails you send out.

Once campaigns are sent out, you are able to track open rates, conversion rates and some demographics of your audience. All of these insights are helpful for building even more successful campaigns in the future.

For more advice on how to best run your email campaigns and take advantage of Campaign monitor check out our article on how to optimise your email campaigns in 2023.

By the way, if you haven’t already you can sign up to join our mailing list!

Zotero

Zotero is a fantastic tool for marketers, particularly one in Medical Device as it allows you to keep all your important references and document information in a neat order.

As healthcare marketers, Zotero has saved us endless time and headaches when it comes to referencing and research. Everything we create needs to be compliant with Medical Device regulations, so making sure we correctly reference is incredibly important.

It allows you to easily add papers to your library to be used as a reference later on, saving all the information that is available on the page. You can also add tags and notes to references, making it easier to sort through and find the relevant information quickly. Once you have downloaded the app and added the internet browser extension, saving references really is as easy as a single click.

Once you have downloaded the app and added the internet browser extension, saving references really is as easy as a single click.

Zotero

Zotero also has a Microsoft Word add-on, which allows you to very easily add references and bibliographies to your work. The days of having to manually update all your references are gone, as Zotero automatically makes all the updates as you go.

We wouldn’t be without it. It’s amazing!!!

Vimeo

Vimeo is a video-sharing platform that marketing teams shouldn’t be without. It’s so great because it gives your whole team access to videos and allows them to be stored safely online.

Helpful features of Vimeo include its embedding capabilities, reviewing tools and ability to post videos directly to other platforms, such as YouTube and social media. Instead of having to download and re-upload your videos, any one on your team is able to access the same video and send it to where it needs to be distributed.

The reviewing tools allow you to edit, leave comments and action changes to your video all without downloading video editing software. Although if you do prefer editing things on your computer Premier pro comes with Vimeo integration so you can export your video online straight from the cutting room floor.

Recently, Vimeo introduced interactive tools to its platform, making it even more appealing. If you’re interested, you can learn more about interactive video here.

Get the right tools for the right job

We hope these marketing tools are as helpful to you as they have been to us. Let us know if you have any recommendations!

Get in touch with us if you would like to discuss your current marketing strategy and how we could help you to achieve your business goals.

About Podymos

Podymos is a dedicated Medical Device marketing agency. We are passionate about sharing relevant knowledge to expand our clients’ capabilities. If you would like to find out more about what we do, you can visit our services page, or get in contact with us.

And don’t forget to follow us on social media

Do you need to adjust your HCP marketing and patient marketing campaigns?

Are you wondering if you need to adjust your campaigns depending on whether you’re marketing to patients or HCPs?

Are you looking for tips on the best ways to tailor your campaigns to different audiences?

We specialise in all different areas of Medical Device marketing and one thing our clients often come to us for help with is how their marketing activities should differ when appealing to healthcare professionals versus to patients.

So, we thought we’d write down what we know.

Although medical device marketing is surrounded by regulations, the basic principles of marketing can still be used to create successful campaigns that help businesses meet their objectives. We believe that being in a technical industry doesn’t need to mean that creativity is stifled.

When marketing to different audiences, the same principles still apply, but you need to shift your focus slightly.

1. Knowing your audience

Audience marketing

This is the golden rule of marketing, and one that will not change.

Knowing your audience isn’t as simple as just being able to say who you’re targeting (HCPs or patients), you need to know as much about them as possible.

You need to be able to understand your audience, for instance, what are they interested in? What are their challenges? What questions are they asking? How can you help them? Which platforms do they engage with?

Knowing this will inform you on the best way to reach you audience. Are they more likely to come across your materials on social media or through a search engine? Is the best way of reaching them through live events? You will be able to tailor your efforts to where they’ll be most fruitful.

Furthermore, you will also be in a better position to predict what they will be searching for online, or what will stand out to them when scrolling through social media. You can ensure that the content you create will appeal to them and leave the best impression of your company and device.

2. Multichannel marketing

One of the most prevalent rules of marketing, and one that we firmly believe in when it comes to Medical Device marketing, is that your audience needs to be exposed to your message at least 7 times before they act. With the rise of digital marketing, this number is now more likely to be closer to 15-25 times.

This means that you need to reach your audience as often as possible and with the right content, multichannel marketing can help you do this.

An effective multichannel campaign involves distributing your message consistently across multiple platforms and mediums, reaching your audience on numerous touch points. In Medical Device marketing, this means an approach that involves digital activities, like social media and SEO, as well as offline activities such as event marketing and magazine adverts.

The rule of 7 (or 25) spans across industries and audiences, so whether you’re marketing to HCPs or patients, a multichannel approach is a great way to approach your marketing strategy. Of course, you’ll have to tailor your approach depending on your audience.

For instance, when marketing to patients there may be few opportunities for the in-person contact that HCP conferences present, but you will find that less niche platforms such as magazines or even social media advertising can be used, and never forget SEO, one of the most underrated tactics in Medical Device marketing.

3. Tailoring your content

Again, the importance of knowing your audience cannot be overstated, especially as it enables you to tailor your content, which in turn means that you’re likely to see more success in achieving your business aims. This principle is the same for both HCP and patient audiences.

It’s helpful to understand their challenges and the issues that your Device can help them to overcome. Consider what the top questions your audience are asking and use this as a starting point for creating your content.

By reaching out to them in this way, you’re building more trust than if you were to simply just list the benefits of your Device. Although this type of promotion does have a time and a place, it’s usually when your potential customer is further on their buyer’s journey.

You can also tailor the type of language that you use and the message you present. For instance, when communicating with HCPs you can use more technical language and reference studies and statistics.

On the other hand, when you’re marketing directly to patients, this type of information may not appeal to them as much. You’re more likely to be focusing on lifestyle changes using approachable and open language.

For more tips, check out our podcast on coming up with content ideas.

4. Choosing the correct channels

We briefly mentioned the different channels you may approach for patient marketing and HCP marketing, but it’s important to consider this in detail when planning your strategy.

Generally speaking, you’re likely to find your patients on more casual platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, but again, it entirely depends on your intended audience. You’ll need to research which platforms are most popular among your patients.

On the other hand, HCPs are probably less likely to engage with Medical Device companies on these platforms, simply because they are not necessarily in a professional frame of mind when using them. That is not what they are there for, and as a result you may struggle to engage them.

Marketing distribution channels

Platforms like LinkedIn and YouTube and attendance at events may see better results. In this case, they are more likely to be in the right frame of mind and open to receiving marketing messages.

SEO is an extremely effective tactic, no matter who your audience is. For most people, when they have a problem or a query, their first port of call is likely to be a search engine, meaning they’re actively seeking out your help and your messaging.

They’re open and engaged, meaning it’s a great time to get in front of them and encourage conversion.

Are the regulations different for HCP marketing and patient marketing?

One thing to be aware of when tackling the differences in Medical Device marketing strategy for HCPs and patients is the difference in what you can say to still comply with regulations.

The EU MDR contains some differences between the member states with regards to patient marketing and often increased limitations do apply. France, for example, has the strictest rules forbidding marketing to a patient for any device that has a risk classification of IIb or higher.

We have a handy PDF download of EU MDR and local country medical device advertising guidelines.

Follow the basic principles

As you can see, successful marketing comes down to remembering the basic principles and applying them to your campaigns, no matter who they are aimed at.

As long as you’re complying with regulations and you know your audience well, you are sure to see success.

Patient and HCP marketing with Podymos

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want to be able to deliver high-quality, multichannel campaigns? You’ve come to the right place.

Podymos is a healthcare marketing agency, specialising in downstream Medical Device marketing.

We’re more expensive than non-specialised agencies and freelance teams because we only work in the Medical Device space so we have specialist knowledge and experience that other agencies may not be able to offer you.

If you want high-quality, compliant campaigns that help achieve your business goals, we’d love to hear from you. Simply leave us your contact details below and we’ll get back to you very soon for a no obligation chat.

Are you struggling to write high-quality content?

Are you thinking about introducing a blog to your website and looking for tips on writing high-quality articles?

Are you worried that not having an English or journalism degree might hold you back?

You needn’t worry, anyone can write good blog articles, it’s just a matter of sticking to a few simple rules.

We’re a marketing agency that helps Medical Device companies deliver comprehensive content campaigns and we believe there are no better people to write for a company than the ones who work there. So, we’re going to run through our tips for writing content that gets results.

Content marketing: An overview

Having an understanding of content marketing will help you to understand what makes great website articles.

Content marketing is all about giving your customer something without directly asking for anything in return. It allows you to add value to their lives in a way that convinces them of your value, creating a connection and building trust, which is incredibly important when it comes to increasing brand equity.

Content can come in many forms such as imagery, videos, slide shows and more, but written content can give you the chance to demonstrate your expertise and help your audience. It’s also a great way to optimise your website to rank higher in search engine results pages.

We’re going to delve into how you can write high-quality content that will not only create a great experience for your reader, but will also help you to rank higher on search engines.

Know your reader

When it comes to Medical Device marketing, knowing your audience is the first and arguably the most important step. If you don’t know who your audience is, how they think and what their challenges are, how can you be the solution they’re looking for? You can’t create high-quality content without high-quality content ideas.

We find that a great way to come up with ideas for content is to focus on the questions that your audience is asking. This is the information they’re looking for whilst they’re deciding whether or not to buy from you or work with you. Answering their questions before they even have to ask them will not only save time when it comes to sales meetings, but it will also earn their trust.

The likelihood is that you already have a very good idea of what content is required based on intuition alone, but involving your whole team can really help to generate amazing content ideas. Your customer facing teams are the ones who really know your customers, so it’s critical that they play a role in directing the content.

Keyword research can be also help you to understand your audience and generate content ideas, as it tells you what search phrases and topics are popular.

Write for your reader

When it comes to writing content for SEO, MedTech companies often focus on creating content that ranks, forgetting about the user. This may provide impressions, but as the impressions are not with your target audience, it is ultimately a pointless and costly activity.

Additionally, other practices such as keyword stuffing can be detrimental for SEO. Not only is it penalised by Google but it also makes your content less readable. Keyword stuffing is when writers try to fit a targeted keyword in every possible location. The disruption this causes to your article’s readability is primarily why Google frowns on such practices.

Whilst you will need to keep Search Engines (SE’s) in mind whilst writing, the priority should always be the reader. First and foremost, SE’s are looking for content that is going to be the most valuable to readers. They are extremely sophisticated and they are able to detect when someone is trying to ‘cheat the system’ and rank, without putting the hard work in.

The bottom line is you need to create original content that is of value to your intended audience.

Create a consistent tone

The tone of your content will be predetermined in your brand guidelines and is there to ensure consistency throughout your website and other materials, but when it comes to writing articles you may need to adapt it slightly.

Copy for articles is not like traditional website or social media copy, it doesn’t need to be condensed down and so closely focused on your messaging (although of course your messaging should guide it). Instead, you can expand upon subjects and go into more detail.

The tone and writing style in articles should be determined by who you’re writing for. For instance, if you’re writing an article aimed at engaging healthcare professionals, you should use more technical language which will not need so much explanation, but if you are trying to target patients, you may need to take on a more reassuring tone and explain more complex concepts.

Do comprehensive research

The content of your articles will always be better when it is thoroughly researched. Before you can even think about writing, you should make sure you’ve gathered all the research necessary and take note of the references you need.

women researching on laptop

Ensure that you have read up on relevant studies and clinical papers around your topic as these provide a reliable source that will add credibility to your article. You should link back to these sources where applicable as this not only demonstrates to SE’s that your article is well-researched, it also provides a level of evidence for your readers as well.

Keep your writing engaging

It goes without saying that your articles need to be well-written and engaging, if not, you will not only struggle to rank on SE’s, but your readers will click away with a bad impression of your company. So, how do you ensure that your article is well-written?

Working out the structure of your article before you start writing is a great place to start as it helps you to determine the overall takeaway of your article, which will provide clarity and conciseness to your writing.

In terms of technicalities, here are a few things to look out for:

Sentence length

You should vary sentence length, with some long and some short. Too many long sentences can become wordy and hard to read, but too many short sentences may end up seeming almost monosyllabic.

Language choice

Where possible, you should use the simplest word choice. Even if you’re writing for HCPs with a formal tone, SE’s reward articles that are not too convoluted, as not all readers possess the same depth of vocabulary as you. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use technical language when needed.

Typos and spelling errors

We all do it, but multiple proofs from multiple people can help you to avoid them being published online for all to see.

We use Grammarly to check through all of our documents as well. You can either have it as an extension on your computer, so that it checks everything as you’re writing it, or you can upload documents to the online version to check all at once.

Difficult concepts

Make sure you take your time to fully grasp difficult concepts as this will help you to explain them better. Einstein once said ‘If you can’t explain it to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself’. This is something we live by at Podymos, as it’s so true!

Unnecessary words

Try to avoid using unnecessary words. For instance, the word ‘very’ is often overused when it doesn’t really add anything to your writing. Other phrases like ‘in order to’ and ‘all of’ can often be left as ‘to’ and ‘all’ without changing the meaning.

Use headings

Unfortunately, despite all your hard work, readers are unlikely to read every single word that you’ve painstakingly crafted. Internet users typically scan copy to save time and find exactly what they are looking for, which is why main page copy needs to be so concise.

Having descriptive headings throughout your article will help readers find what they need, making your content much more useful.

It will also give your article a better chance of appearing as a featured snippet, also known as position zero. This ends up being the first result you see on search engines and often shows a breakdown of the headings so that the user knows what is contained on that page. When a featured snippet appears on a results page, it will be clicked more than the other results.

Abbreviations

Often when writing for Medical Device marketing, there are a lot of long words and phrases that can be abbreviated. It is okay to do this, but ensure that the word or phrase is written in full, with the abbreviation after in brackets the first time it appears. That way, readers know exactly what to expect.

Content needs to be trustworthy

When it comes to making decisions, the most important aspect to help your audience decide whether they do or don’t want to work with you is trust. Your articles can help to convey trust by demonstrating how knowledgeable you are.

group of friends reading article

To help with this, you should use references or external links to show that you have read around the subject. When writing about medical devices in particular, references must be included with every claim, see our guide to the EU MDR for further details.

References and links also signal to SE’s that your article will be of more value to readers as it indicates that it is well researched. So, whilst it is regulation to include references, it is also beneficial for SEO purposes.

You should also ensure that your content is not biased in any way and that your article is written to be genuinely helpful for them, rather than promoting your business. You must be transparent, otherwise, readers will see through you and the trust is gone. This means presenting both sides of the argument, even if it doesn’t reflect well on you.

Useful tools for writing high-quality content

We find that a lot of work needs to go into writing content in medical device marketing, but there are a few tools that we use to make it more efficient.

Coggle: A mind-mapping tool, to help you get all your thoughts down and structure your article.
SemRush: Can be used for keyword research and creating content templates based on keywords. This has paid features, but the free version can add a lot of insights into your audience. Additionally, if you want to branch out with the paid version it will analyse each of your articles and provide you with an SEO score and guidance on areas to improve.
Grammarly: You can use this once your article is written to check for spelling and grammar errors. This is also great to gauge the reading age of your article.
Zotero: This will help you to keep track of your claims and references. Something we use a Podymos a lot!

High-quality content from Podymos

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want to be able to deliver high-quality content campaigns as part of your larger multichannel marketing strategy? You’ve come to the right place.

Podymos is a healthcare marketing agency, specialising in downstream Medical Device marketing and training companies to deliver high-quality content.

5 tips for using social media hashtags

For years now, hashtags have been a common feature on social media, adorning posts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

When used correctly, they are an excellent tool for expanding your reach and increasing your engagement, even in Medical Device social media marketing.

We’re going to look at what hashtags can help you to achieve and how to make the most of them.

What do social media hashtags do?

Despite how they are sometimes used, hashtags do actually serve a purpose. People using social media platforms can search and follow hashtags, meaning that they will see only posts with that hashtag. They may be simply for entertainment, for education or to keep up with news. For whatever reason, hashtags help people to see the posts they want to see.

Hashtags also act as an indicator on what the content of the post is about, which can help when it comes to beating the pesky social media algorithms. On Instagram, users are able to visit a discovery page where they are shown posts that may interest them. If Instagram knows that a user likes to see posts about a certain topic, having those contextual hashtags may help your posts to appear here.

Beyond expanding your reach though, hashtags can be useful for developing trends or running competitions. They can be a useful filtering tool, so when you ask users to get involved and post in some way to do with your company, asking them to use a unique hashtag will allow you to see all the relevant posts at once.

Social media hashtag best practices

We have delved into the world of social media best practices before, but this time we wanted to focus particularly on hashtags. Whilst there isn’t really a right or wrong way to use hashtags, there are ways to get the most out of them to help you achieve your social media goals.

1. Mix high volume and low volume hashtags

When it comes to choosing the hashtags you use, it’s not just about choosing the ones you think sound the best or describe the post. Believe it or not, there is data involved in which hashtags you should choose.

When you search for a hashtag, you can see how popular it is based on how many posts it has. Similarly, you can use a tool such as BuzzSumo to do your research. The instinct may be to go for all the high volume hashtags, but as with choosing your keywords for SEO, a mixture of high and low volume is actually the better method.

hashtag best practices

2. Don’t overdo it

This is because, although fewer people search for the less popular hashtags, you are more likely to appear and be seen by those people who do.

Conversely, although you may potentially be seen by more people when using a more popular hashtag, there is more competition, so your post stands less chance of being seen. Using a mixture of both is a way to cover both bases.

Although it may be tempting to use as many hashtags as possible on a post to increase your reach, this may not be the best idea. Not only does it look spammy to the people viewing the post, giving them a bad impression of your company, but it is extremely time-consuming.

Instead, we recommend using a maximum of 3 on platforms like LinkedIn, but more on visual platforms like Instagram. 1 of the hashtags you use should be a filter, for instance your company or product name. That way, if people want to see posts only about your company or product, they can use the hashtag as a filter.

3. Make sure they are relevant

There is little benefit to using hashtags that aren’t closely related to the contents of the post. Although other hashtags may have more followers, if your content isn’t relevant to them, not only will it be annoying, giving them a bad impression of your company, but they’re just not your customers and they’re not going to convert. In that way, it’s completely pointless.

Instead, it is better to focus on finding hashtags that are relevant to your company and that your potential customers may be searching for.

4. Don’t use punctuation

Hashtags obviously start with the hashtag symbol, but they can’t contain any other punctuation or symbols. This can be annoying as it sometimes means that the phrase appears incorrectly, for instance something like ‘We’re here!’ would have to appear as #WereHere. Punctuation breaks up the hashtag, so only the part of it before the punctuation would actually count.

Try and find a way around it by editing the phrase or simply choosing other hashtags, or you could simply post it and allow people’s mind to fill in the blanks.

5. Keep it short

Long hashtags are distracting and unlikely to have many searchers. You may be tempted to hashtag your tagline as a reminder of your messaging, or something else along those lines, but think about it, what is the point? If it is not a hashtag that already has a following or you are using to develop a trend or run a competition, it is not going to be seen by anybody, so its not really doing anything for you.

Short, snappy hashtags that people are actually searching for are the way to go.

#HashtagMiniGuide

We hope this mini guide has helped you to understand why companies use hashtags and how you can start to utilise them for yourselves. If you have any other questions that we can help you with, please don’t hesitate to let us know!

About Podymos

And don’t forget to follow us on social media

Archetypes in Medical Device branding

Branding is what helps companies to differentiate themselves from their competitors and build connections with their customers.

When companies give their brands humanistic traits and personalities, they create something tangible that audiences can relate to, which builds a stronger and more memorable connection.

Archetypes can help to guide companies in creating their brand by providing a model for who the company would be if they were a person. This creates more consistent and authentic branding that customers will appreciate. We’re going to delve into the different archetypes and how they can benefit Medical Device companies.

What are archetypes?

Archetypes are a set of different personality types that are considered to be hardwired into human nature. According to Carl Jung, every person falls into one (or sometimes more) of these categories. Companies can use these archetypes to inform and consolidate their brand messaging and external expression.

As archetypes are based on real human personalities, they add depth and complexity to brands beyond just looking good. Brands can become like their own person, with traits and characteristics that customers can relate to.

Why do archetypes matter?

Archetypes help brands to achieve consistency, connection and differentiation, all of which are essential for effective branding.

Consistency

The importance of consistency in branding cannot be overstated as you want your customers to be able to recognise you when they come across you, wherever that may be. Aligning your brand tightly to a single archetype allows your brand personality to feel familiar to your customers. It allows you to communicate with the consistency and humanity of a real person.

Connection

There is so much choice out there for customers now and it is so easy to compare companies, so how do you stand out? Branding is all about creating something tangible, that an audience can connect with and feel a loyalty towards. The merit of your device isn’t enough on its own, instead, customers want to buy from a brand that they respect.

Building connection through branding is all about being relatable. When a person sees humanistic traits in a brand, they can relate to it and connect to it. That is why archetypes are so important, because they give you something to model your brand on.

Differentiation

Your Medical Device might be competing with lots of similar Medical Devices, in which case, focusing on the features and benefits of your device alone is not enough as they may be similar to other products out there. On the other hand, personalities are unique and have infinite possibilities, this means they can help to tell your customers who you are and your brand story.

Using archetypes to develop your brand personality can only make this stronger, allowing companies to appeal to what their customers want rather than just what they need. For example, customers looking to buy trocars have lots of choices, but they are probably more likely to choose to buy from a brand they aligned with personally.

The different archetypes

Let’s have a look at the different archetypes. As a Medical Device marketing agency, there are four archetypes that we come across most often, so we’ll be focusing more closely on those.

The Creator

The creator archetype is driven by the free flow of creativity but stays within the parameters of control. They promote self-expression, imagination and innovation. They believe that if you can imagine it, you can create it.

Lots of Medical Device brands fall under this category due to their ambition to drive forward innovation. Due to their archetype, the marketing materials for these brands tend to be very creative, almost like pieces of art themselves.

Desires: Freeflow of creativity, to create something of everlasting value.

Traits: Expressive, imaginative, innovative, but also melodramatic and perfectionist.

Examples of Creators: Apple, Adobe, Lego, Medtronic (new branding), Willy Wonka, Steve Jobs.

The Ruler

The ruler is a dominant personality that seeks power above all else. Rulers are confident, polished and responsible, but they can also be controlling, entitled and cold. At their best they seek to provide for others in need and to be a leader, but they can also seem power-hungry. Think of people like Winston Churchill, Hilary Clinton and Jay-Z, these people all fit under the rule archetype.

Ruler brands evoke a sense of exclusivity. A few Medical Device brands such as JnJ Ethicon Endo show some traits of the ruler.

Desires: Control and power.

Traits: Confident and polished, but also can be cold.

Examples of Rulers: Mercedes Benz, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Winston Churchill and Ethicon Endo-Surgery UK used strong language as a Ruler, but this has been softened recently and they are back to a caregiver archetype.

The Caregiver

As the name suggest, this archetype is all about taking care of others. They are driven by a compassion to help others and will go out of their way to serve the greater good. The Caregiver exhibits parental like traits to make sure that other people are taken care of.

Johnson and Johnson is one of the most famous examples of The Caregiver archetype. Their commitment to making the world a healthier place can be seen very clearly in their altruistic actions as well as their messaging.

Desire: To protect others, the greater good.

Traits: Generous, benevolent but can be weak and masochistic.

Examples of Caregivers: Johnson and Johnson, WWF, Toms, Mrs. Weasley.

The Sage

The Sage revolves around finding knowledge and truth. They believe that by gathering knowledge and sharing it they can make the world a better place. As their main ambition is to seek out knowledge, Sage brands are considered experts in their fields.

Marketing materials from Sage brands are usually refined and perfected, using a neutral or muted colour palette and they don’t feel the need to impress with any additives to what they produce.

Desires: Knowledge and truth to understand the world.

Traits: Wise, articulate, but occasionally cold and self-absorbed.

Examples of Sages: The Mayo Clinic, Google, BBC, Yoda.

The Hero

The hero values honour over everything and will do whatever they can to avoid losing. They are ambitious and persistent, with a drive to gain power. Rocky Balboa is one of the most famous examples of the hero archetype.

Often sports brands take on the Hero archetype as they want to encourage people to push themselves to achieve bigger and better things. They often feature strong colours and bold shapes, as they want to challenge you and inspire achievement.

Desires: To prove their worth, power.

Traits: Brave, determined, ambitious and unrelenting.

Examples of Heroes: Nike, Adida, FedEx, Wonder Woman.

The Outlaw

The Outlaw goes against the norm at every opportunity. They want to do things differently and go against societies’ expectations, either for selfish reasons or to help others. Think of Robin Hood. Outlaw brands often use edgy, unexpected advertising to shake things up.

Desires: To disrupt the status quo.

Traits: Sharp, free-spirited, but sometimes out of control.

Examples of Outlaws: Harley Davidson, Mountain Dew, Jack Daniels, Batman.

The Innocent

The Innocent archetype has a desire to keep things simple and live happily. They seek to do things free of corruption to bring harmony to the lives of others. Innocent brands tend to use muted colours and soft imagery with a clear and honest message.

Desires: Harmony, paradise.

Traits: Optimistic, moral, honest but can be irritating and childish.

Examples of the Innocent: Aveeno, Coca-Cola, Dove, Forrest Gump.

The Everyman

The Everyman is wholesome and genuine. These brands don’t try to impress or shock customers with bold claims and messages, instead they try to appeal to the masses with straightforward messaging. Their branding is nothing fancy, rather it is relatable.

Desires: Belonging and enjoyment.

Traits: Friendly, genuine, reliable but they can be mundane.

IKEA store - The everyman archetype

Examples of the Everyman: IKEA, Ebay, Tesco, Dr. John Watson.

The Jester

The Jester, as the name suggests, is about humour and fun, but there is also a deeper level to the Jester as they use humour to illuminate hypocrisy and level the power playing field. They can take a serious subject and make fun of it in a way that is comfortable for the consumer.

Desires: To live joyfully, innovation.

Traits: Joyful, carefree, original but sometimes irresponsible and cruel.

Examples of Jesters: M&Ms, Old Spice, Skittles, Chandler Bing.

The Lover

The Lover brand is all about evoking emotion and making people feel special. They are not just about evoking romance, but all types of relationships such as familial and friendships. They evoke a sense of connection and intimacy. In practice, these brand use adjective rich language and passionate imagery.

Desires: Relationships, to create a special feeling in others.

Traits: Passionate, but occasionally obsessive and shallow.

Examples of Lovers: Chanel, Haagen-Dazs, M&S, Princess Diana.

Disney - The magician archetype

The Magician

Magicians make dreams come true. They are always coming up with solutions for problems through their knowledge of how the world works. Magician brands are all about bringing something special into the lives of their customers.

Desires: To transport people and create something special.

Traits: Charismatic, healing but occasionally dishonest and distant.

Examples of Magicians: Disney, Dyson, Tui and now Sky with their latest TV advertisements, Gandalf.

The Explorer

The Explorer has the goal to live an inspiring and fulfilling life. They are independent thinkers, forging new paths to find purpose in life. Any brand that veers off the beaten path and forges their own way can be considered an Explorer.

Desires: Freedom, fulfilment.

Traits: Independent, ambitious, spirited, but also restless and flaky.

Examples of Explorers: Jeep, National Geographic, Patagonia, Huckleberry Finn.

Aligning with an archetype

When it comes to figuring out which archetype your company aligns with, it is not always straight forward. It is not as simple as choosing the archetype you like the most, the one you want to be, but instead it is about figuring out which one you already are. A company trying to be something they are not can appear inauthentic and may damage their reputation.

Occasionally, companies may find that they don’t align comfortably with just one archetype. They may have characteristics of two archetypes, but companies should never choose to align with 2 archetypes with more than a 70-30 split. As in, your brand should be at least 70-100% one archetype.

How to use archetypes for branding

Once you have decided on an archetype to align with, you can begin to build your branding around that, allowing it to guide your choices so that you create a consistent tone and feeling.

Archetypes can be used to help determine messaging, voice, colours and personality. This can then be distributed across multiple platforms to begin appealing to and building a connection with your customers.

Which archetype are you?

Archetypes are fascinating, but they are also useful. They are a great tool to give your branding a clear direction, but remember it is incredibly important that you base your branding on an archetype that your company already aligns with, not the one you want to be.

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How to present Medical Device brands digitally

We’ve already covered the immeasurable importance of developing a strong brand for your company. When your brand is based on representing who you are as a company rather than aesthetics it can help you to connect with your customers.

However, it is just as important to use that branding well. Often companies are good at branding physical materials such as event stands, mugs, and pens, but this can slip when it comes to branding how they present themselves online. Consistent branding can be forgotten when it comes to social media, emails, and websites. This article will delve into the importance of maintaining your brand online and how to do it.

The importance of multichannel marketing and online branding

Multichannel marketing involves distributing your marketing efforts across several different platforms. This not only allows your customers to interact with you wherever is most convenient for them, but it also increases your chances of getting on their radar initially.

Typically, customers need to see a company around 15 times to be able to recall it easily, and 71% of people are more likely to buy from a brand that they recognise. Naturally, it is easier for people to recognise and recall a brand when everything they are producing is consistent.

The main premise of multichannel marketing is to be seen as often as possible, but often we find that Medical Device companies focus a lot of their branding efforts on events or literature that is given directly to HCPs. They then may not dedicate as much time and attention to branding their online resources. Realistically, Medical Device events only take up a couple of days in a year for companies, but your appearance online is 24/7, so why does it not matter as much? If anything, it should matter more.

The digital world also offers more touch points for customers, and therefore more chances to be seen. Customers may come across you on social media, through your website, through emails or maybe even through a podcast. There is so much opportunity to be seen.

Remember though, it is not just about being seen, it is about being recognised and consistency is the key to doing this. Your brand needs to look the same everywhere your customer might find you.

As an example, a customer may come across you on social media and be impressed by you, but take it no further. You then have the opportunity to attract them at an event, if they recognise your stand branding because it’s the same as it is online they may recall that they were impressed and come over to interact with you.

If your branding is not consistent, there’s a chance they may not recall you and you may merge in with the other stands on the day. As you can begin to see, all of these touch points need to work together to guide the customer on their journey.

So, how do you do it? What do companies need to do to ensure that their online presence is consistent and effective?

Brand guidelines

Brand guidelines are absolutely essential to ensure that you present your brand consistently. If there are discrepancies in the way that you present your brand it may be harder for your customers to recognise you.

Furthermore, if you have found the perfect way to externally present your internal branding, why wouldn’t you want to ensure you did it exactly that way every time?

Brand guidelines should be referred to anytime the company is being represented and should include:

Logo – There should be set rules for using your logo for maximum impact. If your logo comes in different formats (which it should, to ensure that it is optimised for every background), there needs to be advice on when and where each format should be used.
Fonts – Typically a brand can be represented through a primary and secondary font.
Tone of voice – This is where the key traits of your brand are personified, tone of voice needs to make this immediately perceptible.
Colour palette – Typically brands will choose one dominant colour and 3-4 complementary colours for consistency, but not monotony.
Imagery – There should be guidelines in place on what imagery to use, for example, if using stock imagery, ensure that it is representative of who your customers are.
Copy – Guidance for copy should look at the words you use and how you use them. For example, do you need to write in a formal tone, or can you afford to be more casual? Are you going to use contractions? Everything needs to be in the tone of voice of the brand.

Once the guidelines have been defined, they should be distributed throughout the company, so that everyone understands the brand and how it is to be conveyed. Guidelines can also be sent externally when working with agencies or other partners.

Clinician browsing on computer

Asset organisation

It sounds simple but ensuring that all your assets are organised will help you to continuously present your brand in the most effective way. By creating a written set of brand guidelines, you can have a final set of assets.

This means any new member of the team or agency can jump straight into your brand without an issue. By keeping all your logos, product images and other assets in one place, you can be sure that everyone is always using the same (and the correct) materials.

Tools like Canva can have your branding already uploaded to make things easier when creating social media posts and other materials. This can be really handy to improve efficiency.

Use branding in the most effective places

Branding is only effective if it ends up in front of the right people. When it comes to externally expressing your brand, it is important to prioritise when and where you chose to do it.

Whilst it is important to get out there and be seen as much as possible, budget constraints and other limitations may prevent it. Instead, it is better to use your branding where it will have the most impact.

For instance, if you are working on a tight budget, being active on social media is likely to have better return on investment than getting jackets printed for employees with the company logo on them, especially when reps aren’t able to get into see HCPs.

To be effective at branding and to be seen multiple times doesn’t mean you need to brand everything or go down every channel. Companies need to pick multiple channels that are effective to their audience.

The most important step to distributing your branding in the right places is to know your customers well, which means knowing where they are, so you can get in front of them. Do the market research to find out where they are most engaged and be there. For instance, there is no point posting on Instagram if your customers are most active on Twitter.

Create a content calendar

Creating a content calendar not only helps you to keep track of what you’re posting and where, it also presents a good opportunity to effectively present your branding through the content that you push out. Planning in advance not only gives you time to ensure that everything is branded and presented to the highest standard, but it also allows you to plan ongoing campaigns that will have the most impact.

For example, Medical Device companies can incorporate awareness days and holidays into their digital campaigns, if they align with their brand. You can plan these out far in advance when putting together your content calendar.

We have spoken about this topic before in our article on integrating seasonal trends into your digital marketing.

You can allow space in your content calendar for ad hoc posting so that you can be reactive. For instance, you can leave space to report on current news that is relevant to your company. Remember though, anything you post needs to be relevant information for your customers, otherwise, you may lose their interest.

Bring your brand alive in the virtual world

Although it is okay to test new ideas when it comes to your branding, everything you produce must be similar, otherwise you risk your customers being unable to recognise you.

Your aim should be to provide a seamless experience wherever your customer comes across you, whether it’s through a brochure, an exhibition stand, or an online destination. Everything should be reminiscent of your company and its values.

his is how you really bring your brand to life, even online, and make it almost like a person with traits and characteristics that your customer can spot and relate to.

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Medical Device branding: What is it and how to do it

Are you starting your own Medical Device company or looking into how to rebrand your existing company?

Or is your branding just a little outdated and in need of some TLC?

At Podymos we know how important a brand can be for a company, so we have written this article in order to help answer a few questions that we often hear from our clients.

A brand isn’t just made up of a logo and colour scheme, it’s so much more than that and these elements are simply the tip of the iceberg. A brand encompasses everything that a company is. It’s an external expression of the internal vision and mission which runs deep into the core of a company.

What is a brand?

A brand is the way a company or product is perceived by those who experience it. Contrary to belief, it isn’t just a logo, tagline, or colour scheme.

“Branding isn’t just what your external assets look like, but also the feelings they provoke.”

Medical Device companies can often find themselves competing with similar companies with products that achieve similar results. The immediate urge when posed with this dilemma is to focus solely on the differences between the devices, but branding offers an alternative.

Whilst addressing physical differences is important, branding can help companies to be differentiated in the mind of the customer in a way that isn’t necessarily expressible. It’s more of a feeling – a loyalty that is created as the customer feels they know who the company is and what they stand for.

Think of a brand as being like a person. It has likes and dislikes, beliefs, and a vision of what the future will look like, and this is what potential customers can relate to and connect with. Logos, colour schemes and tone of voice are just the tools used to convey this.

Why is branding important for Medical Devices?

Some companies might not prioritise branding when it comes to their marketing strategy. It isn’t something that creates instant results, it isn’t easily measurable, and it can be quite time-consuming when getting started. So, what’s the point?

When strategic branding underpins all marketing activities it forms the foundation that everything else is built on, providing direction on what a company should talk about and how they should interact with customers.

Without branding leading marketing decisions there is a risk of becoming a ship lost at sea with no real direction.

Connection with your audience

Consumers want more from brands than ever before, in fact nearly two thirds of consumers seek connection with a brand.

Connections breed trust, which in turn creates customer loyalty, the importance of which can’t be overstated. Look around your home at the brands you buy and consider why you buy them.

Your brand gives your customers a reason to intentionally buy from you over others. It’s far too easy for potential customers to compare multiple companies at once to decide which one to buy from, so when one stands out as having values and beliefs that are relatable, it makes a big difference.

Brand awareness and recognisability

Having a strong set of brand guidelines that includes everything about a brand, from tone of voice and logo to who the brand is, will ensure that all materials, whether online or physical, are consistent.

Consistency is the key to being recognisable, which leads to being memorable.

Ensuring that potential customers can look at something your company has produced and instantly relate it to you increases the chances of being remembered, and them getting in contact when you solve the problem they have. Beyond that though, having a consistent look and feel will seem more professional, and therefore more trustworthy to potential customers.

Employee pride

A brand encompasses everything about a company, from company culture to how employees answer the phone, how they act and maybe even what they wear. This ensures that every touch point has an impact.

This also builds employee loyalty as the brand they work for aligns with their beliefs and values, providing direction and motivation.

It enables them to feel that they are part of something special!

Medical Device branding strategy

As we’ve already said, branding is so much more than just how a company looks. Developing a Medical Device brand can be split into two sections: the internal branding, so who the company already is, and then the external expression of that.

It’s vital to start with the internal brand to really understand the company and ensure the external expression is authentic.

It’s important to note that branding is not who a company wants to be, but who they already are. If a company tries to portray themselves as something they aren’t, it can do more harm than good as it comes across as inauthentic.

Consumers are extremely savvy these days and will disregard you quickly if they do not believe you are being truthful.

For instance, Apple and Tesla are two extremely well-known brands and companies often want to strive to be like them, but if it isn’t authentic then customers may lose that connection and trust.

Internal branding

Internal branding is the culmination of a company’s purpose, vision, and mission, which can be discerned through internal interviews, to understand where the company already is.

The focus should mainly be on the present, but if for example a company is planning on doing community outreach in the future, the branding might nod to that.

Purpose

This is the company’s goals beyond monetary gain. Not all companies necessarily have a purpose, but often medical device companies do have a strong purpose for existing, such as making it possible for patients to live longer and more fulfilling lives with their friends and family. This purpose can really help to identify a brand’s main characteristics.

Vision

A company’s vision is where they are planning to be in the future. It is what they are striving towards. For instance, phrases like, ‘in 10 years, we will be…’ demonstrate the vision.

Mission

A company’s mission is how they will achieve their vision. It’s what they do every day to get there. There are often the company’s strategic pillars.

Mission and vision are interconnected and need to work together, for instance you can’t have one without the other. Without a vision, you will struggle to guide your daily activities (mission), but without a mission you have no way of achieving the vision.

Positioning

Positioning consists of getting to know the customers and how to appeal to them and then getting to know competitors, so that companies can differentiate themselves and stand out. It’s about finding a niche. What are the customers’ needs and wants and how can you, and you alone, address them? External interviews and competitor research can help to consolidate positioning.

Customers

It’s important there isn’t a disconnect between what a company believes their brand is and what the customers think their brand is, because at the end of the day its customers that companies should be trying to appeal to more than anything.

Companies must understand their customer, their likes, and dislikes and how they would want to digest information. This is where a brand really starts to gain substance as they seek to form an emotional connection with their potential customers by addressing their needs, but more importantly their emotional wants. This attention to detail helps companies to stand out from the competition.

Competitors

Understanding the current market and competitors is just as important as understanding the customers. Companies need to know not only know who their customers are, but they also need to understand their own unique selling points, so that they can find what makes them separate from competitors.

There is no point in trying to go head-to-head with competitors, instead it is better to create a competitive difference that is something to shout about.

A useful tool when creating competitive positioning is looking at brand categories and ladders. Companies should always strive to be in a brand category where they are in the top position. A great example of this was FedEx, who dominated the overnight delivery category.

Character

Working on character is all about developing the brand voice and personality that reflects and outwardly expresses everything that the company is.

Persona

Once a company understands their customer, it’s time to decide how they will appeal to and interact with them. The easiest way to do this is through developing a brand persona. A brand should be like a fully-fledged person that you can picture in your head. This will help to establish a clear brand voice, chosen based on the internal branding.

The book ‘Brands and Bullshit’ perfectly exemplifies this. It discusses the internal branding of Amazon who felt their brand characteristics were best represented by a boutique concierge who would always remember their customers’ names and provide amazing service.

Having this persona guided the team at Amazon on brand elements such as one-click purchase and remembering customers each time so that they never had to re-enter their login details. It’s fair to say that Amazon changed the game, and it was all guided by branding.

Archetypes

Archetypes can be used to help companies consolidate their brand persona and create a set of guidelines for external expression. They are a set of common personality types that are considered innate and hereditary.

It’s believed that every person fits into 1 of the 12 archetypes that were laid out by Carl Jeung to simplify archetype groupings. When using them in branding, they can give a company consistency and make them compelling to their audience.

Once a company has identified their brand’s characteristics and traits, they can look for the archetype(s) that they align with (1 archetype is always stronger than 2, but if a company is best represented by 2, ensure no more than a 70:30% split or the powers of archetypes will become diluted).

Some of the common archetypes we see in medical device marketing include:

The Caregiver who is driven by compassion and a desire to help others.
The Creator who is an innovator and non-conformist. They are known for pushing boundaries with their creativity.
The Sage who is a seeker of knowledge and wisdom.
The Ruler who has a dominant personality and desires power and control. They are exceptionally confident, but also trustworthy and stable.

Choosing one of these categories will give a company a clearer image of their brand and therefore how to convey it. If you would like to learn more about archetypes for branding, we recommend The Hero and The Outlaw by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson. This is an excellent introduction into the almost magical world of archetypes.

If you want to learn more about Archetypes, we recommend our article on Archetypes in Medical Device branding.

External expression

Once all the internal branding is complete, it’s time to decide how this will be expressed externally, so that customers can connect with it. This can be divided into two categories.

Verbal expression

This should comprise of the company’s tagline, their core messaging, their stories, and the way in which their copy is written. Is the tone always formal? Is there a playful element to it? These are some of the things to consider when creating guidelines for verbal expression of medical device branding.

Visual expression

This is when the logo finally comes into play, but it isn’t simply about looking good. All a brand’s visual elements should be an expression of the company and what it stands for. It should add to the brand story and appeal to the target customer. All elements of effective visual branding should link back to the core message in some way. For a deeper dive into external expression of your brand, check out our article on how to digitally present MD brands.

Marketing the brand

Once the brand and its guidelines have been created, the fun can start, and it can be incorporated into everything that the company produces.

Branding messages can be distributed across all channels, including social media, websites, emails, and congresses. This is how a company becomes recognisable, and more importantly, memorable.

Although there are more stages and lots of detail that go into creating a successful brand, we have outlined the main structure of brand development. If you have any more questions about medical device marketing that you would like us to address, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Brand Marketing

Medical Device branding at Podymos

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want to be able to deliver high-quality branding as part of your larger multichannel marketing strategy? You’ve come to the right place.

Podymos is a healthcare marketing agency, specialising in downstream Medical Device marketing. We’re more expensive than non-specialised agencies and freelance teams because we only work in the Medical Device space so we have specialist knowledge and experience that other agencies may not be able to offer you.

Medical Device events: Interview with an events coordinator

Over the coming months we’re going to be sharing interviews with our team on their area of expertise, starting with Medical Device events.

Becca is an Account Manager here at Podymos, with experience in running both in-person and digital events. She has travelled the world attending Medical Device events, and since the pandemic, she has become an expert on virtual events as well. She discussed everything Medical Device events, from how they’re going to change in 2022 to how to make an impact when attending events.

1. How do you see events changing in 2022?

Events are going to need to adopt more of a hybrid model, with some elements online and others in person. I think people will move to attending 1 or 2 big events a year and then getting the rest of the content they need from online events. There are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, HCPs are short-staffed and leaving their hospitals for 2-3 days can be difficult. Signing into a relevant online session is a lot easier in comparison. Also, if an attendee is able to get what they

need from an educational point of view, it makes more sense in terms of ROI to attend online.

On the other hand, face-to-face connection can never truly be replaced and speaking with companies and building connections is still as vital as ever. Online events make it considerably more difficult to do this. That’s why I think that people will still make the effort to attend events that will have the most impact on them, rather than attending all of them.

2. Why are events so important?

Events, whether online or in person, should be seen as a crucial part of a company’s commercial plans. They can allow for larger marketing campaigns to be done in only a few days during an event vs. through other marketing channels such as email campaigns, social media, or through sales representatives which would all take longer. For attendees and exhibitors, there are different but still crucial reasons to attend.

For exhibitors:

Allows the opportunity to meet and build connections
The education available allows people to stay on top of therapeutic areas and keep at the top of their game
They can showcase new products and perform large commercial launches
The speakers can position themselves as thought leaders that are changing their space through innovation
Companies can get valuable feedback from customers on current and future technologies

For delegates:

Expand knowledge on the latest technologies and innovations to improve patient outcomes and operational gain (a topic increasingly important in today’s post COVID world) through podium presentations and poster sessions
Engage with peers about the latest clinical data and real-world experience
Network with Medical Device companies to understand how current and new technologies will support their practice moving forwards
Dedicated time away from normal practice to focus on learning

3. What makes an event successful in this industry?

The best events have the right balance between networking and learning. Delegates should have information that will advance their clinical practice and patient outcomes. Companies should have a list of leads that they can follow up and improved customer relationships to advance the adoption of their technology. There should be relevant content that pushes the industry or specialty forward and allows for peer-to-peer learning.

There should also be ample time for companies to network and highlight their new products and innovations as this also pushes the industry forward.

4. How can companies make an impact at an event?

All events present lots of branding opportunities, anything that can be branded at an event often is, but just because it can be branded doesn’t mean it should be. Companies should use branding to tell their story, not simply just to be seen.

Companies often talk about event ROI and the expense of branding, but it can be money well spent if there is a sound strategy in place. You should pick the highest impact items that will add to your story. Good questions to ask the event organisers include:

What would the footfall be like here?
How many delegates are you expecting in total?
Have you got zones designated for technology types in the hall?
Last year, who sponsored your additional branding items?

If your stand has low footfall, you will need to add your branding into high footfall places such as near food and water stands, to encourage people to visit your stand.

Another point would be measuring your event success. If you’re going to give out flyers, add a QR code to direct people to more information (you could even create a quick video linked through the QR code which shows someone walking to your stand so that people know exactly where you are). This is helpful for your customers to learn more, but it also helps you to measure how people engaged with your content.

5. How can companies make an event part of a multi-channel approach?

We’ve talked a lot about the multi-channel approach elsewhere on our knowledge hub and website and I think this should be at the front of people’s minds when they plan their event strategy. You need to know your brand story and be able to impart this to your audience at every opportunity including on your stand, social media, podium presentations, email campaigns, dinners, general interactions and the materials that you hand out.

multichannel marketing for medical device

Something worth mentioning is that if you’re promoting your sustainability on social media, you should also be sustainable at events and make an impact with branded materials that are sustainable. You must be authentic at every stage.

6. How can I optimise my event presence?

You should promote your details for the event before it takes place, including adding your stand number to your social media posts. You should also make the most of posting on social media whilst the event is taking place. It’s important to think outside the box, posts like “meet us at our stand”, with a stand number, have a place but why not do a series of interviews with KOL’s attending congresses, or from your team about what your company will be doing at the congress. I would also recommend an email campaign before the event, to really extend your reach.

If you have any more questions for Becca about events, multichannel marketing or any of the other topics mentioned in this interview, we’d love to hear from you. We are always happy to share what we know with you.

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12 tips for running Medical Device webinars in 2023

Webinars can be a truly powerful tool in Medical Device marketing. They provide a forum for your company to establish itself as a thought leader. In addition, they can be inexpensive revenue driver for your business. For instance, did you know that 20-40% of all webinar attendees become qualified leads?

Since the onset of the pandemic, the internet has been saturated with webinars leading to much speculation about whether they are still as successful as they once were.

That is why it is so important to run webinars the right way, ensuring that they are engaging enough to capture an audience and keep their attention. We’re going to share our 12 top tips for running successful Medical Device webinars.

Webinar statistics

73% of B2B marketers and sales leaders say webinars are the best way to generate high-quality leads (source)
In 2017 webinars were reported as one of the top revenue drivers for B2B marketers (before Covid-19 drove up the popularity of webinars!) (source)
Webinars produce 453 times less CO2 than in-person events (source)
Pharmaceutical webinars receive the highest attendance rate at 63% demonstrating that the life sciences industry clearly engages in webinars) (source)
89% of marketers believe webinars outperform other channels in creating qualified leads. (source)

Are people bored of Medical Device webinars?

Firstly, we need to address the worries that webinars aren’t as popular as they once were. There is a belief that there are now so many companies running webinars that they just don’t have the same appeal as before and consequently, the number of webinar attendees is dropping. In a sense this is true, people are bored of poor-quality, sales-led webinars.

We still find that Medical Device webinars that are informative and provide vital insights are attracting hundreds of registrations.

Creating helpful content without asking for anything in return evokes a sense of trust with your potential customer, building the foundations of a relationship that is likely to generate better ROI than sales pitches that ask for something without giving anything in return.

Webinars that are led by HCPs vs sales reps or business leads will always deliver better returns, as people are expecting content they can apply.

So, it is important that webinars are highly relevant to the potential audience and are made to be informative, rather than to promote a Medical Device. For instance, a good title might be something like ‘Complications in orthopaedic surgery and how to address them’. This will help to build trust with your audience, by providing them with genuinely helpful information.

Our top tips

Start promotion a month before

One of the biggest stresses with running webinars is gathering registrations, with so much noise about it, it can be hard for companies to cut through and get noticed to earn registrations and attendees. Because of this, marketers may think they need to start promoting the event months in advance.

We wouldn’t recommend this, as it is such a long time for people who register early, they may forget about the event by the time it arrives.

webinar promotion

Instead, we suggest beginning promotion a month before the date. This is plenty of time to gather your registrations via promotion on social media and email campaigns, but it is not so long that people will forget they even registered in the first place.

Encourage speakers to promote

Another great way to promote webinars is to ask speakers to use their platforms to also advertise their appearance on the panel. This will allow you to capitalise on their audience as well, expanding your reach.

Optimise the registration process

Getting people to click to register for the webinar on your social posts or emails is a success, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will follow through and register. You need to be able to ensure that they actually complete the registration, which requires optimising the registration page.

Firstly, you need to ensure that the page looks good by including the company branding. The whole process should feel smooth, designing the registration page with your brand logo and colours is one way to help with that.

Next, you need to make sure that the description is enticing. It should discuss the topic of the webinar and make it clear what people will gain from attending the session.

Panellist information should also be included, to let people know who they can expect to hear from and why they are a credible source of information. We’d recommend collecting their job role, a recent photo and their bio for the webinar registration page.

Finally, the description should end with a call-to-action, encouraging people to follow through and register, and what they can expect to happen after they have registered, for instance ‘you will receive a confirmation email shortly’.

Use a diverse panel

People may be less inclined to register for a webinar if it doesn’t feature a diverse panel that will present differing points of view. A panel of speakers that are too similar, for instance in their job role, may be boring for the viewer.

Furthermore, companies that feature a panel made up entirely of men may appear to audiences as outdated and therefore alienate some of their audience, so this should be avoided if possible. This is known as a “manel”.

medical device webinar speaker

Pre-record and edit speakers

Presenting live can be difficult, but it can be especially awkward when you can’t see your audience or their reactions. That’s why we recommend that panellist presentations are recorded in advance, so that they can be edited.

The final result will be much more polished and will allow the presenter to get their point across succinctly, without feeling the pressure of having an audience. This will also be more engaging for the audience, and it will reflect well on the webinar host, who has clearly put time and effort into producing the webinar.

If pre-recorded presentations doesn’t sound like the right fit for your webinar and you would prefer to go down the route of open discussion, ensure that you have plenty of topics and questions on hand. You should also prep your panellists and let them know what to expect beforehand.

Start at a time that works for your audience

The time that your webinar starts should be determined based on when your audience will be able to and are likely to attend. For instance, if you are trying to target an audience in a time zone that isn’t the same as the one you’re in, you will need to adjust your timings to suit your audience.

This article suggests that the ideal time to host a webinar is between 11am and 2pm, but if you are hoping to attract health care professional, it may be better to host in the evening, when they are less busy with patients. In our experience of hosting webinars for our clients, 7pm on a Monday or a Tuesday is a good time for surgical teams.

Test speakers

Before setting the webinar live, there should be some time set aside to test all speakers’ mics and ensure they are comfortable with the running of the webinar. This should include having someone on hand to act as technical support in case any issues occur. Technical issues halfway through the webinar will not reflect kindly on the host.

Have a moderator to run the session

A moderator on the session can help things to run smoothly and will keep the audience abreast of what is happening at every stage. The moderator can introduce each panellist and facilitate the Q and A session.

Mix up the format

It is hard to hold people’s attention after 10 minutes, so it is useful to mix up the content to keep people engaged. Instead of having people talk solidly for an hour, it can be beneficial to incorporate videos, polls and other interactive features to hold the viewer’s attention.

We find that the ideal format is to begin with video to draw the viewer in and then to hold their attention the webinar should be split into three sections, giving panellists up to 15 minutes for their presentation and then finish with 15 minutes of a Q and A session. Webinars really shouldn’t exceed an hour as it is hard to keep hold of people’s attention for that long and it will take up a large chunk of their day, perhaps discouraging them from registering.

Have seed questions ready

When it comes to the Q and A section, viewers are usually armed and ready with questions, but it is a good idea to prepare some questions just in case. The moderator should have some seed questions they can use to get a conversation flowing, which should hopefully encourage viewers to begin submitting their own questions. The last thing you want is for the webinar to be ended awkwardly because there are no questions from the audience.

Survey the attendees

Once the webinar is finished it’s a good idea to gather feedback. Zoom allows hosts to direct attendees to a survey once they close the webinar, which presents a great opportunity to hear from your potential customers.

You should enquire to find out what they enjoyed about the webinar, where they think there could be areas of improvement and what topics they would like to hear more about. This will give you valuable insights into the wants and needs of your customer, which will not only help you to run better webinars in the future, but can have a positive impact on your marketing as a whole.

medical device survey

The better you know your audience, the better you can appeal to them. Surveys are also a great way to do a small amount of market research, you can add 1-2 non webinar related questions while you have an engaged audience.

Use the content on social media

Just because the webinar has finished, it doesn’t mean that you should stop promoting it. Clips and quotes from the session can make great content on social media for those who missed it. Videos perform well on social media in terms of engagement, so reusing the content from your webinar is a great way to easily create videos that will benefit your social media offering as a whole.

You can also allow your audience to watch a recording of the session, expanding its reach even further. Often recordings of webinars see even more success than the original event because they are available on demand, it doesn’t require people to be available at a certain time on a certain date.

Time to host your own Medical Device webinar

Webinars can bring in an impressive number of leads for your business as they allow you to display your knowledge, portraying you as a knowledge leader in order to build trust with potential customers. But they have to be done right, otherwise, they may not see the same level of success. Our top tips should help you to host your own events, but get in touch with us if you would like our help.

We also interviewed Becca, our Events Co-ordinator, to find out what she thinks makes an event of any kind more successful be it online or in-person, visit our article on Medical Device events to learn more.

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Traditional healthcare marketing vs digital healthcare marketing

Traditional marketing and digital marketing for Medical Devices are two parts of the same whole. They both work to promote Medical Devices, communicating effectively with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients.

Historically, most Medical Device marketing has been traditional, based on building relationships through sales representatives, but since the Covid-19 pandemic, that has needed to change.

Sales reps have not been able to go into hospitals to meet HCPs in person. Live events were halted completely for a while, so Medical Device companies had to look for other ways to market their devices.

Enter digital marketing. The new way to reach your audience without having to leave the office.

So, what is the difference between the two? And is one better than the other? We’re going to delve into what separates the two and how you can utilise them both in healthcare communications.

What is traditional healthcare marketing?

Traditional marketing encompasses any marketing activities that aren’t online. This includes any physical sales aids, brochures, adverts in journals or live event stands. Word of mouth and sales representatives even count as traditional marketing.

Traditional marketing is all about brand credibility and forging personal connections.

What are the advantages of traditional healthcare marketing?

Traditional marketing, especially conferences and face-to-face meetings, allow sales representatives to understand their customer more precisely, allowing them to adapt their approach depending on the customer. This means that reps can also get an idea of how interested potential customers are and whether they will convert. The results of this type of marketing can be more immediate than digital marketing.

Alongside this, traditional marketing also helps to build credibility for your business. Professionally designed and printed ads, sales brochures, and event stands all require expertise to create, seeing these pieces of physical evidence will give potential customers the impression that your company is well established, and therefore they are left feeling more able to trust your company.

On top of that, these types of materials only have to be created once and can be used repeatedly until they are no longer relevant either because of a change in messaging or the publication of new data. As an example, the same brochure can be handed out time and time again, so once it is designed and completed, it is finished and you have something that can be used for several months. On the other hand, digital activities like social media need to be regularly updated with new content, almost daily.

What are the disadvantages of traditional healthcare marketing

The main disadvantage of traditional marketing for healthcare communications is that it is not as measurable as digital marketing. There is no way to directly track the success of materials such as brochures and therefore it is hard to decipher how well it has worked for bringing in customers and whether it is worth your investment in the future.

Equally, the lack of ability to track this information and lack of quantifiable evidence means that you are less able to improve on campaigns. For instance, with social media you can see which of your posts are performing the best, you can tell what your audience enjoys seeing and then you can do more of that in the future and see your results get better and better. Unless you get feedback directly from the customer, you can’t do this for physical materials.

As well as the lack of tracking, it is difficult to be reactive when it comes to traditional marketing. Although they will last for a long time so are worth the effort, traditional marketing materials take time and there are costs each time something needs to be reprinted. For instance, if there is new data that you want to include in your materials, you will not be able to publish it straight away, instead, you have to wait until the brochure is complete and then wait again for the right event to be able to hand it out. In this time, you might miss valuable opportunities.

digital marketing

What is digital marketing for Medical Devices?

Medical Device marketing is different to marketing in other industries as it is subject to regulations and for a long time, traditional marketing was massively favoured. Not many companies were capitalising on the opportunity that digital marketing presents, but things are starting to change.

Digital marketing, also known as internet marketing, includes any activity that takes place online. This includes search engine optimisation (SEO), social media, email marketing, paid advertising, online videos, and digital sales aids.

It is considered to be the new frontier of marketing and new information and research is emerging every day about best practices and trends.

What are the advantages of digital healthcare marketing?

One of the main benefits of digital marketing is the ability to closely target specific segments of your audience based on factors such as intent and location.

As a result of this, marketers can tailor the content they show to their audience so that they will see content that will be most effective for getting them to convert.

Marketers can also report in detail on their activities. They can use analytics to gain actionable insights that will improve their campaigns and therefore improve their outcomes.

For instance,if a website is not bringing in as many leads as expected, marketers can look at the data and troubleshoot. The data unravels the mystery, revealing how the website can be improved to bring in more leads.

reporting for marketers

As well as this, digital marketing campaigns can continue to bring in leads long after they are launched. For example, optimising your website for search engines will continue to work in the background, even when you are not dedicating time and effort to it. So, the benefits of digital marketing are long-lasting.

What are the disadvantages of digital healthcare marketing?

Digital marketing is not necessarily a quick win. For instance, many experts say that it takes 7 months from when you start optimising your website for search engines to start seeing the results.

Furthermore, social media and email campaigns may not convert straight away, and customers may have to be exposed to your content a few times before taking any action. Still, the effects build up over time and are long-lasting, meaning that after a while, your digital marketing campaigns will be running in the background like a well-oiled machine and bring in a stream of leads for you.

One of the criticisms of digital marketing is that the connection between the customer and the brand is lost. There is a belief that you cannot replicate the connection from face-to-face, and whilst this is true to an extent, studies have shown that customers are still able to feel connected to a brand online. Our guide on digital marketing for Medical Devices delves into how companies can achieve this.

Which one do you need?

Neither digital nor traditional marketing is the better option for Medical Device companies because operating both simultaneously is the best option. It allows companies to cover both bases, targeting potential customers wherever they may be. This is known as multichannel marketing. It blends tactics to create a comprehensive marketing strategy.

In order to create the widest-reaching marketing strategy, elements of both types of marketing will be beneficial, because digital marketing and traditional marketing actually complement each other. In fact, the issues that both types of marketing create can usually be solved by the other.

For instance, if exciting new data is published it may take a few weeks to be able to design and print new brochures that are updated with the new data, but with digital marketing, you can start promoting it immediately. You can begin to build up a buzz straight away, that you can consolidate in your physical materials.

Conversely, whilst digital marketing may be criticised for lacking personal connection, it can be utilised to publicise sales reps and build them up an online following. Reps can use social media to network and build up leads. They can plant the seeds of connection with their potential customer and maybe get to know them better so that in-person meetings are more productive and the personal connection is deepened for better outcomes.

Utilising both digital and traditional marketing will also allow your company to build up brand recognition. In today’s world, your audience needs to see your company around 15 times before they remember it and are able to recognise it. By having clear branding that is uniform across multiple different channels, you increase your chances of being seen and therefore being remembered by your potential customer.

As you can see, digital marketing and traditional marketing are each one part of a whole. Alone they can both be effective, but multichannel marketing increases your chances of success. Together, digital and traditional marketing will create a well-rounded and reactive marketing strategy.

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