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How to avoid spammy outreach

Have you been sending out messages to prospects but aren’t getting the response that you expected? Maybe you’re not even receiving responses at all? It could be that the messages you’re sending are being considered “spammy”.

Although we’re inbound marketing specialists here at Podymos, we fully believe in the power of multichannel marketing, which means sending out your marketing messages across different channels for maximum effect.

After all, there’s no point in creating great content and then not sharing it!

Direct messages, such as email, can be included in those channels to create a well-rounded, integrated campaign.

So, we’re going to let you in on a few of our tips for creating outreach messages that convert, whether they’re emails or direct messages on social media.

Give, don’t just take

One of the worst things you can do when sending someone a sales messages (other than getting their name wrong!) is ask for something straight away, without building any rapport or offering anything of value to them.

We think that a great way around this is to send your prospect 3-4 pieces of really valuable content to them. This might be a video or an article that will be helpful for them in some way.

This is what we mean when we talk about an integrated campaign. The content you create can be used across all your marketing channels, and even as part of your sales process.

So, wait to ask for an action from your prospect until you have shown that you have something to offer first.

Answer their questions

Consumers are more likely to buy from a brand they trust. This can become even more important when dealing directly with a person who is representative of a brand.

One of the best ways to win over the trust of your audience is to create content that openly and honestly answers their questions. Answering their questions before they even ask them and showing that you understand their concerns is what will ultimately persuade them to trust you.

The content you send over in your messages should always be addressing a question that your audience might ask.

Want to learn more about answering your audience’s questions? Check out our article on “How to come up with great content ideas”.

Go through the buyer’s journey

When you’re writing your messages and deciding what content you’re going to share, you should consider how it leads the reader on their buyer’s journey.

Initially, you need to make the prospect aware of who you are and what you do. Hopefully, using our tips, you’ll have done this is a way that sparks their desire.

It’s then your job to nurture that desire and lead them through the consideration phase – this is where your content should be answering the questions that they may have before decide to proceed with you.

Finally, you can lead them to the decision phase. This is where you should suggest an action for them, such as setting up a meeting, which is usually considered a conversion.

When creating your stream of message, ensure that you’re thinking about their buyer’s journey and which content will most effectively lead them through the consideration phase.

Segment your audience

The key to avoiding your messages appearing as part of a set of pre-prepared messages to be sent out in bulk is to ensure you’re sending the right messages to the right people.

When creating your messages, consider your audience carefully. Segmenting your audience and adjusting your messages so they’re entirely relevant to each segment can help to avoid appearing spammy.

For example, if you’re sending information only relevant to those based in the UK to people outside of the UK, you’re probably not going to get the response you were hoping for. It can seem lazy and even careless.

Instead, you can segment your audience by geography, role, seniority and many other factors. From there, you can decide what information will be important to them. What questions are they likely to have? Are you able to answer them? This will help you to craft messages that are appropriate and probably more successful.

Personalisation

A little personalisation goes a long way in building trust. 93% of buyers say they are more likely to engage after receiving a personalised communication. It shows that you’ve taken time to do your research and you’re not just sending out another copy and pasted message.

Personalisation can take many forms. Obviously, you should include the prospect’s name (spelled correctly!), but you can also mention mutual connections, your thoughts on a recent post of theirs or something that you can see their interested in.

It doesn’t have to be anything too in-depth, but it will help you to cut through the noise and earn responses from the people who receive dozens of sales messages a week.

Make it about them

Our final tip is to make your outreach entirely about them.

Similar to giving instead of trying to take, you want to avoid talking too much about what you can offer and more about how they will benefit. Instead of “my device is amazing, it can do this”, you could try something more like “you’ll receive better patient outcomes and fewer bed days”. This is all about being benefit driven, rather than feature driven.

As a general rule of thumb, try to keep discussion of yourself to only what is necessary to raise awareness. After that, you should have a ration of 1 we/our for every 5 you/yours.

Outbound marketing with Podymos

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

Podymos is a healthcare marketing agency, specialising in multichannel 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.

What are the best platforms for building Medical Device websites?

Have you been considering building a website but aren’t sure which platform is the right one to build on? Are you overwhelmed by the number of platforms out there, each of them telling you they’re the best?

In this article, we’ll be looking at how Wix, WordPress and HubSpot work and how they could benefit you. We’ll be focusing on the following:

• Ease of set-up
• Usability
• Customisation
• Cost
• Reporting

Wix

Wix has a huge range of unique features that can help to make your website look great. Statistically, Wix is one of the most popular website builders with an estimated 8.25 million websites user on this platform. It’s an “out of the box” platform, meaning that sites are built using pre-configured templates. Similar platforms include Strikingly and Weebly.

It’s favoured for its easy-to-use interface but may not be suitable for bigger companies looking for more advanced customisation.

Wix can be used for:

• Blogs
• Booking and scheduling appointments
• Collecting contact details
• Publishing new online content
• Building an online store

On the downside, Wix only sells products in one currency at a time which means that your sales can only target one Currency union. It wouldn’t be suitable for global Medical Device suppliers with a direct-to-consumer business looking for an eCommerce site.

This section of the article is going to run through everything that Wix has to offer and provide an honest review of its highs and lows.

Set-up

Setting up Wix is straightforward as you don’t need any knowledge of coding.

There are two different ways to approach setting up a website. The first is with Wix Editor and the second is with Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence).

Wix Editor is the default version of Wix which most people work with. This version allows you to manually build your site. Using their online tools and features, you can choose your colour scheme, photos, branding and content to build your website just the way you like it.

Wix ADI on the other hand can do it all for you. If you’re not sure what you want your website to look like or are in a rush, you can just answer a few questions about what your website is for and how you want to use it.

This is best for someone who is new to building a website. It can help you understand how you want your site to look and will allow you to switch to Wix Editor when you’re ready. However, the main drawback of this is that your site could be less personalised, and you could potentially see other sites with it.

If you’re looking for a step-by-step on how to set up your Wix account using Wix Editor or Wix ADI check out this recommended guide.

Usability

Wix Editor uses the ‘drag and drop’ method with all its building programs. This means that you can move a photo or a button by dragging and dropping an object anywhere on your website, so even beginners can feel confident making updates.

It’s a cloud platform, meaning there’s no need for anybody working on the site to install any local software as everything is accessible on the internet. Wix also hosts all their websites, so you don’t need to have or buy any hardware for your website to run.

One of the most important things to consider when building a website is: how easy is it to optimise for mobile?

Wix allows you to see what your site would look like on mobile and make updates, but it doesn’t adapt designs as well as some of its competitors. It relies on ‘absolute positioning’ meaning that all your website elements are positioned by pixels.

This does give you more flexibility when it comes to design but when moved to a smaller screen, the elements won’t retain their neat layout. With Wix, you’ll always need to check how your page looks on mobile before publishing and you may find that quite a few adjustments are needed.

Customisation

When it comes to customising your website, Wix Editor has tools to help.

When setting up your website, the free version of Wix allows you to pick from over 800 predesigned templates which outnumbers other competitors like Squarespace who only offer 150. With sites like Shopify and WordPress, you must pay to have access to the templates.

Although you’re able to customise templates to an extent, Wix doesn’t give you access to the background HTML code or CSS files so you can’t code changes that the editor doesn’t offer to you. So, you’re quite limited in how you can adjust the appearance of your site.

Once you’ve chosen a template to build from, you’re unable to change it. You can change small things such as the font of your titles or a picture here and there, but any larger changes are out of the question.

Ultimately, if you were looking to change your template, you’d have to change your whole website.

Additionally, if you choose to move away from Wix they don’t allow you to export your website to another provider, meaning if you choose to move away from them, you’ll lose everything that you have created on your website already.

Cost

Wix offers eight different pricing plans when it comes to charging its customers. Depending on the type of website you’re interested in creating and picking the right plan is important and can help get the most out of your website.

Wix websites are all hosted with Wix so you wouldn’t have to pay for hosting. This means that you wouldn’t have to pay for the physical server space where your website lives in the real world.

Combo — £7.50 per month

The combo package is the most basic package and is best for personal use. With this package, you get a custom domain, 3GB of storage space, a free SSL certificate (SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is a security technology which establishes an encrypted link between a web server and a person) and access to Wix Analytics and much more.

Unlimited — £11 per month

The unlimited package is best for entrepreneurs & freelancers. With this account, you get everything that you get in the Combo account with the addition of 10GB of storage space, priority customer care and much more.

VIP — £21 per month

With the VIP package, you get the Combo and the Unlimited package with the addition of 35GB, 5 hours of video time, and the option of having a professional logo designed for you along with social media files created for you that tie into your website.

Business Basic — £15 per month

Business basic is the ideal package for small businesses just starting out. With this plan, you can process secure online payments (only in one set currency), set up your own payment plans or recurring payments, develop your own customer accounts and customer domain, removal of Wix ads and much more.

Business Unlimited — £20 per month

With the business unlimited package, you get everything in the Business Basic with the addition of 35 GB of storage.

Business VIP — £27 per month

In this VIP package, you get everything included in the other packages along with Priority customer care and customisable reports on how your website is doing.

To see the full list of features that you get in Wix pricing we recommend checking out their website.

Reporting

Wix Analytics is the platform’s reporting tool. It’s free with every paid package that Wix offers and is translated into a simple and easy-to-read format so that anyone can understand it. So you don’t have to be an experienced marketer to create actionable insights to improve your site.

It provides an overview and key stats on how well your website is performing to inform decision-making. Some of the things you can learn are:

• What day and time is your website’s busiest
• What types of people are coming to your site
• What people are doing on your site?
• Which products, content, and services you offer are the most popular

Not only will Wix analytics help you understand your website demographic, but how they behave once they get to your site. You’ll be able to see who is visiting your site, where they are coming from and how to better improve their experience.

All of this is crucial information to help your platform evolve, grow and troubleshoot any problems you may have.

WordPress

WordPress is used by 43.2% of all websites on the internet and is favoured by professional and amateur website builders alike. The platform boasts a wide range of features and options that allows users to create interactive and professional-looking websites.

Set up

Setting up your WordPress website is technically difficult for beginners, in particular non-technical people. WordPress can be auto-loaded onto your hosting package with easy however manual installation can be a little bit more difficult and requires knowledge about setting up a database.

A hosting package typically includes server space, bandwidth, email accounts, and other features that are necessary to run a website or application.

With access to templates, you can set up your site with a predesigned layout, you can also easily download plugins that can change your site without the need for coding. However, if you want a bespoke element on your site that cannot be achieved through a plugin, you will need a working knowledge of coding.

To keep your website up-to-date and healthy, you’ll need to keep up with WordPress and plugin updates. While this can be automated by the WordPress hosting server, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on it and be sure it doesn’t create any conflicts that would bring down your site.

Usability

The platform’s interface can be very user-friendly once you’re used to the software. Whether you’re setting up a blog post or building a landing page, users will be able to pick it up quickly.

However, unless you’ve chosen a theme with a visual builder such as Divi, all edits happen behind the page either hand coded or in a page builder rather than on the front. This doesn’t necessarily make it more difficult to use, it just means you won’t be building it on the front end.

On the other hand, one of the strengths of WordPress is that it gives you complete control over every aspect of your website so you can build anything you want using HTML, although, you will probably need to hire a developer to do this or outsource an agency.

Customisation

WordPress is extremely customisable as it gives its users access to the behind-the-scenes CSS or PHP code so you can make changes right into the foundations of the site. This is accessible through the theme editor.

Customizing a website on WordPress can be a simple and straightforward process. To start, log in to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Appearance tab.

Here, you can choose a theme to apply to your website with many themes offering customization options such as changing colours, fonts, and layouts. If you want even more control over the appearance of your site, you can use a page builder plugin like Elementor or Beaver Builder.

These plugins allow you to create custom layouts and designs for your pages using a drag-and-drop interface. You can also add widgets and plugins to your site to add functionality like social media integration, contact forms, or e-commerce capabilities.

Be sure to preview your changes before publishing them to ensure that everything looks and works as intended. With these tools and a bit of creativity, you can customize your WordPress website to meet your specific needs and stand out from the crowd.

The WordPress theme editor can be a useful tool for making quick changes to your website’s theme code, but it should be used with caution as it can also be risky, so changes like this probably will require the help of a developer.

The editor allows you to modify your theme’s PHP, CSS, and HTML files directly from your WordPress dashboard, without needing to access your website’s files through FTP or a text editor. However, any changes you make can have unintended consequences and potentially break your website if you are not careful.

Cost

While you can set up WordPress for free there are several payment plans that you can purchase to streamline building your website without having to worry about which add-ons you need to purchase.

This section will walk you through their four pre-existing payment plans.

Personal- £3/month

The personal plan is best for accounts that focus on websites for personal use. This is the most basic of all the plans and with it, you get a free annual domain, website hosting, ad removal, payment collection capability, and unlimited email support.

Premium- £7/month

This version is best for freelancers and with it, you get everything in the personal plan with the addition of access to premium themes, the capability to earn ad revenue, the capability to upload videos, google analytics integration and much more.

Businesses- £20/month

With the Business plan, collectively you get everything in the two previous plans as well as advanced SEO tools, the ability to install a large range of plug-ins, and with many other features. This plan is best for small businesses.

eCommerce -£36/month

The eCommerce plan is the most expensive but is best suited to online stores. With this plan, you get all the benefits of the previous plans with the addition of accepting payments from different countries with different currencies. To see the full list that this pay packages offer, check out the WordPress website.

However, another cost that you should also consider is the cost of your developer or designer. Because of the nature of WordPress, you’re reliant on waiting for your developer to update and maintain your website. These ongoing costs can be expensive to outsource.

Reporting

WordPress doesn’t have its own built-in reporting system, instead, you can download a Google analytics plugin which comes with both Business and eCommerce plans.

Google Analytics is a free online tool that can be used in Chrome, the WordPress plugin just allows you to have everything in one place, it doesn’t offer you any more data or information than it would in chrome.

Google Analytics is an amazing tool that helps track your website engagement. It has a range of different in-depth tools to help you track website activity. For a full breakdown of Google Analytics and how you can make it work for you check out this article for beginners.

Additionally, this setup is mobile-friendly as there is an option to check the website from a phone view and edit it to fit the new screen size. This is important as 60 % of people access the internet from their tablets, phones or another device.

One of the main reasons why setting up a website is easy is due to the HubSpot academy, a free service to assist and educate users on how to make the most of the platform and create sleek professional-looking websites. If you need help setting it up check out this guide.

Usability

The HubSpot suite is a powerful platform that can be overwhelming for people who are just starting out with websites and website design, so it wouldn’t necessarily be the recommended platform for beginners.

However, the CMS Hub uses a drag-and-drop editor which can be very intuitive.

Customisation

Design with HubSpot is very straightforward, especially for those who don’t have a design background. With HubSpot’s custom template builder users are given the freedom to change and alter a range of already-established templates.

Website templates are very important when it comes to designing your website and with HubSpot, you can either build your own or use and customise HubSpot’s already pre-made ones.

The templates can be edited in a large range of ways, from the page’s structure, design and layout, however, similar to WordPress, there are only so many changes that you can make without needing to create custom code, which will require the use of a developer.

Cost

HubSpot’s marketing tools come in a range of different packages that help you to run different types of marketing campaigns. Depending on the package you get you’ll not only get different types of tools for different prices, but you can get a combination of different tools for different prices.

This section will focus on specifically the CMS hub and how much that would cost by itself, to see their full pricing check out their website here.

Free version

With the free version of CMS, you get to design website pages, and blogs, access to the drag-and-drop editor, basic SEO recommendations and website traffic analytics. This version gives you the basic tools to run a website and is best for personal sites or small businesses.

CMS Hub Starter: $25 per month

This is the most affordable option for businesses just starting out as in this package you get everything in the free version with the addition of the removal of HubSpot branding, additional website pages, personalised tokens and live chat and email support.

CMS Hub Professional: $360

This option is designed for growing businesses with more advanced needs. This package includes everything in CMS Hub Starter, as well as features like multi-language content creation, A/B testing, and dynamic content. It’s a significant step up in price, but also a significant step up in capabilities.

Hub Enterprise: $1200

The Enterprise is designed for large businesses and enterprises with complex needs. This package includes everything in CMS Hub Professional, as well as additional features like custom dashboards, advanced security, and access to HubSpot’s API. CMS Hub Enterprise is a custom-priced package, meaning businesses will need to contact HubSpot for a quote.

It’s important to note that HubSpot CMS Hub pricing is based on a yearly contract, which means businesses will need to commit to paying for a full year of service upfront. Additionally, businesses may need to pay additional fees for things like extra storage or additional users.

Another one of the downsides of using HubSpot is that contracts are firm and have little flexibility, once you agree to a contract for 6 months or 12, you’re locked in for that period. They don’t offer refunds or cancellations even if you don’t use the whole product.

While this may work for companies who know how to maximise HubSpot’s features, it can be a significant expense for companies that are still learning to use it.

Reporting

HubSpot CMS Hub also gives its users access to analytical software to help you find out what is and isn’t working for them and your website.

As well as a built-in CRM, CMS Hub also provides basic SEO recommendations and website traffic analytics. As you upgrade in price, you’re given access to more advanced analytics. This is something to factor in when making a choice about budgets.

HubSpot enables full tracking of inbound marketing ROI so it’s a must-have for any company that is focusing on inbound marketing an inbound marketing strategy.

What does all this mean?

At the end of the day, you want to know which one is right for you and the answer completely depends on what type of business you are, how much you know about websites and what you’re hoping to achieve.

For complete novices to the website side of marketing or a new business just setting up shop, Wix is an easy tool to start with. It’s a great starter platform for you to work with and develop yourself as a brand.

If you’re a little more website savvy, then WordPress is more your speed as it’s an ideal site to work with if you have technical website knowledge or the budget for a developer/agency.

However, if you’re looking for more from your platform than just a website, then we’d recommend HubSpot. As a website builder on it’s own, CMS hub is uninspiring, so we’d only really recommend it for those who want it in combination with HubSpot’s other products, which can really elevate your inbound marketing campaigns.

If you’re still unsure you should reach out to us here at Podymos and have a chat with our specialists, so we can help find the right one for you.

Medical Device marketing at Podymos

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want a high-quality website to be at the centre of your multichannel marketing 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.

Check out our other articles on:

• How much does a Medical Device website cost? A comprehensive review
• Keyword research for Medical Device websites

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.

The top things you should know to work more effectively with graphic designers

Are you overwhelmed by the world of working with graphic design? Do you want to know how to work more efficiently with a designer? How to speak their language and streamline projects?

We’re here to answer some of the most frequently asked design questions we hear, so that you can feel confident embarking on a project involving an element of graphic design.

What are the different file types and when should each be used?

PDF, PNG, JPEGs… a world of acronyms all thrown about casually, but what do they actually mean?

PDF

The most common file type you’ll likely see is a PDF, which stands for Portable Document Format, and it’s just that.

PDFs are the universal file format used to send documents, as they not only preserve your fonts and images, they also tools which allow you to edit, sign and comment on the document.

Although they’re an Adobe software you don’t need an Adobe subscription to view or edit them, meaning they can be viewed by everyone which is what makes them so popular.

One of the greatest benefits of the PDF to a graphic designer is that you can save Adobe illustrator documents (with editing capabilities enabled) as a PDF and it will still maintain all its editing functions when you then reopen it in Illustrator. This makes it the perfect format for sending documents between you and your designer.

Top tip: Designers will usually send you files as a PDF because they are much smaller but still retain all of their editing capabilities when opened in Adobe.

AI

Now, you might be asking what is Adobe illustrator? Illustrator (also known as AI) is the industry standard software for vector-based graphics.

Vectors are comprised of paths rather than pixels, which is the case with raster-based files like JPEGs and PNGs. This means that vectors can be resized indefinitely without losing quality, whilst raster files can lose quality and end up appearing pixelated when enlarged.

Any graphics such as logos, social media posts and small documents will most likely be created in Illustrator.

An Illustrator file is saved with the ‘.ai’ tag but you will need an Adobe subscription to view these, which is why designers will save Illustrator files as PDFs so anyone can view them.

PNG or JPEG?

Files you might be more familiar with are PNGs (Portable Network Graphic) and JPEGS (Joint Photographic Experts Group).

These are the most common way to export images and graphics. But you might ask what is the difference?

PNG

Well, firstly PNGs offer transparency whereas JPEGs don’t, this means you don’t have to have a background on them, which is what makes them perfect for graphics such as logos.

PNG compression is also lossless which prevents loss of data in the file, so it maintains the same image quality and sharpness, unlike a JPEG which can lose quality when edited and saved multiple times.

JPEG

You might be wondering why JPEGs are still around if the PNG has all these benefits, but the JPEG does have advantages of its own.

JPEG offers a much smaller file size than PNGs which means it can be great for websites where you need the page to load quickly, or you’re sending an email and the attachment can’t be too large.

Also, even though it doesn’t offer a lossless compression like the PNG, JPEGs can still provide a good quality image. It’s all about choosing which file is most suitable for your needs.

Something to remember is that PNGs and JPEGs are both raster files, this means that unlike vector files they can’t be enlarged without losing quality. So, if you do choose to use PNG or JPEG you need to make sure the artwork is set to the correct size, or it may appear blurry.

PSD

A common file type graphic designers use is a PSD. This is the file format for Adobe Photoshop, which is the industry standard photo-editing software.

PSDs are raw editable layered files that a designer will create and edit from, they will then export the file as either a JPEG or PNG to send to you, since PSD files can only be viewed if you have the Adobe suite.

INDD

Adobe InDesign files (.indd) can also only be used with an Adobe subscription, so your designer will export the document as a PDF when it’s ready for you to review it.

Graphic designers use InDesign for any long-form multipage documents such as magazines and brochures. It arranges your pages ready to print, which is what makes it popular for long, text heavy documents.

If you do have an InDesign file that you want to be able to edit, or give to other people to edit, it will need to be packaged. This means that all the documents and fonts used to build the file, are put into one folder that InDesign can access.

What you need to know about colours

RGB, CMYK… what does it all stand for?

Surely a colour is the same no matter what screen you look at it? Well, actually, designers use different types of colours depending on how and where the file will be used.

RGB

RGB is what’s used to display colour on a screen, it combines red, green and blue (hence the name RGB) spectrums of light to create any colour in the RGB spectrum.

Ever wondered why when you print something off it doesn’t look like it did on the screen? Well, that might be because you were working in RGB. As you can see above, the RGB spectrum of colours is much larger than that of CMYK.

This means when you print something off in RGB when it converts the colours to CMYK. Some of the RGB colours can’t be recreated in CMYK, so they’ll lose vibrancy.

CMYK

CMYK stands for the four colour plates used in a process print, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Key is a printer’s name for black). In CMYK printing different levels of each ink is applied in small dots to create a solid colour.

If you see a CMYK colour written as C80 M40 Y10 K0 this refers to the different percentages of ink needed on the page so 80% cyan, 40% magenta, 10% yellow, and 0% key.

CMYK is a cost-efficient way to print as it can produce a wide array of colours to a good standard, using just four inks.

RGB

RGB is what’s used to display colour on a screen, it combines red, green and blue (hence the name RGB) spectrums of light to create any colour in the RGB spectrum.

Ever wondered why when you print something off it doesn’t look like it did on the screen? Well, that might be because you were working in RGB. As you can see above, the RGB spectrum of colours is much larger than that of CMYK.

This means when you print something off in RGB when it converts the colours to CMYK. Some of the RGB colours can’t be recreated in CMYK, so they’ll lose vibrancy.

CMYK

CMYK stands for the four colour plates used in a process print, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Key is a printer’s name for black). In CMYK printing different levels of each ink is applied in small dots to create a solid colour.

If you see a CMYK colour written as C80 M40 Y10 K0 this refers to the different percentages of ink needed on the page so 80% cyan, 40% magenta, 10% yellow, and 0% key.

CMYK is a cost-efficient way to print as it can produce a wide array of colours to a good standard, using just four inks.

PANTONE™ spot colours

PANTONE is different to RGB and CMYK in that it’s a series of spot colours made up by the company Pantone, Inc..

Spot colours are created using a specific premixed ink, and PANTONE is the most common brand of spot colours.

Every colour has its own ink, which means each needs to be printed one at a time making it more time-consuming and therefore more expensive. The upside of spot colours such as PANTONE is that they guarantee a consistent and high-quality colour.

Spot colours are great if you have a specific brand colour, or colours such as metallics and neons which can be hard to create in CMYK.

What’s the difference between a raw design file and a preview file?

Designers will usually send you a preview file, rather than the actual raw file they’re working on.

A raw design file is where the artwork is created and has all the editing capabilities. It’s where any updates or changes will be made.

On the other hand, preview files aren’t editable and usually come as flattened PDFs with all layers and functionality removed. They are sent rather than raw design files because they’re lower-resolution and therefore easier to send. Also, everyone is able to view them, whereas with files like AIs and PSDs require an adobe subscription.

It’s important to know this as the final exported file in whatever format you require it will be higher quality, so is something to keep in mind when reviewing previews.

Preparing files for print

Once approved, files to be printed will be updated by the designer to expedite the printing process.

Your designer will obviously handle this whole process, but it’s useful for you to have an understanding of how a print file differs.

Embedding images

One of the first things designers will do when setting up your file for print is to embed any images. If the images are not embedded, they’ll appear pixelated and will be rejected by the printer or they’ll be printed at very low resolution.

Some printers prefer for the images to not be embedded and to be sent as links, in which case all assets will be packaged accordingly.

Outlining text

Next, the text must be outlined.

Outlining turns your text into vector paths, meaning that it is no longer editable as text. The text has essentially become a series of lines rather than something that the software recognises as text.

Designers do this so that printers are able to view text without needing to know the font used. If you send your file to the printer without outlining the text and they don’t have the fonts used, it will be rejected by the printer or printed with different fonts.

Spot colours

If your project is to be printed in spot colours/PANTONE colours, your designer will remove all unused colours from the colour palette in Illustrator and rename your spot colours with their PANTONE name or print effect.

This makes it clear to the printer which and where spot colours are being used.

Saving your print file

Firstly, when going to print , your design will need to be in CMYK. Your designer will also add a bleed (usually 3mm). A bleed is to ensure that ink prints beyond the edge of the design so that when it is trimmed off afterwards, you’re left with a crisp, precise edge.

Your designer will save the print file as a new file, so that the original file is still editable. Once a file is set up for print, it cannot be easily edited, hence why it’s important to keep the original design file.

They will select the ‘High Quality print’ PDF preset and add crop/trim marks to the document (these can only be seen once doc has been exported/saved as pdf). They will also select ‘use document bleed settings’.

Did we miss anything?

These are the topics we find that our clients most commonly need guidance on, but please feel free to get in touch with us if you feel that we’ve missed anything out or there is a topic you would like us to cover.

Graphic design from Podymos

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want to be able to deliver high-quality marketing materials to support your wider multichannel 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.

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.

Email marketing vs. social media: Which is better for Medical Device?

Have you thought about adding email or social media to your marketing campaigns but aren’t sure which one is best for your company? Are you unsure about the benefits of introducing more channels into your medical device marketing?

Adding value

Before you consider the benefits of expanding your marketing campaign, you need to first consider why you think introducing social media or email marketing will help add value to your business.

Adding value should always be the priority when considering introducing new channels to your marketing strategy, specifically how each this will help achieve your goals.

1. Are you looking to expand your brand awareness?
2. Are you looking to get more sign-ups for your events?
3. Or are you simply trying to gain new leads?

This article will go through the benefits and downfalls of both email marketing and social media for promoting your Medical Device, to help you decide which is the best choice for you.

What’s so great about social media?

Social media can help boost your marketing in a range of different ways. Let’s look at how.

Visibility

On average, your message needs to be seen between 15- 25 times before any action is taken by your audience. To expedite this and see leads rolling in quicker, you need to post on as many appropriate channels as you can – social media is fantastic for this.

Your posts could be seen by thousands of people daily, if not more and the more you post, the more times you’re likely to be seen by your audience.

There are a few things you can do to increase your visibility on social media and expedite leads.

Platforms use algorithms to determine what content is shown when and where. They tend to favour accounts that are active on their platform daily, whether that be commenting on pictures or liking posts. All activity is good activity.

Furthermore, accounts that post regularly are more likely to see success, so we suggest posting at least three times a week, but more if you can.

To learn more about how you can bring social media into your marketing campaign check out our complete guide to social media in Medical Device.

Building stronger customer relationships

Have you heard the phrase “online community” thrown around and not really known what it meant? An online community refers to an account or several linked accounts that act as a platform or virtual meeting space for like-minded users.

Sharing relevant content and updates from your field that you feel might interest your followers will help you establish yourself as a trusted brand, and your audience will come to rely on.

In Medical Device building up your network and connections with doctors, institutions and patients is a fantastic way too, not only bring people together but drive new conversations and support one another.

Building these relationships with your audience is intrinsic to the success of social media platforms so think carefully about what they want to see on their timelines.

What are the disadvantages of social media?

While social media can offer your brand a large number of options, there are some drawbacks to working with and maintaining an online presence.

Content limitations

Social media is incredibly versatile in the types of content that you can share with your audience, but there are some limitations regarding how much content you can share. While there is no limit to the number of times or the number of things you can post, most platforms do have a word limit.

• Twitter: 280 characters
• Instagram: 2,200 characters
• LinkedIn: 3,000 characters
• TikTok: 2,200 characters

Furthermore, most platforms have guidelines on what you can and cannot post, for instance, graphic images go against the rules, meaning you wouldn’t be able to post images or videos of surgery. Likewise, on some platforms you’re not allowed to feature images of body parts in paid advertising, which can pose an issue for Medical Device companies.

So, as you can see, there are some limitations and not all of the content you want to post will be suitable for social media.

Time

Another disadvantage of social media is that it can be very time-consuming. It requires daily activity and consistency in how often you post on the account to be successful.

For instance, if you start your account at three posts a week and then are forced to move down to two or even one, you’ll see a drop-in activity which can hinder your account.

What are the benefits of email?

Email offers a lot of creative freedom when it comes to the type of content that you can send out to your subscribers. It’s a platform solely created by you where you can make up the rules.

Direct to your audience

Email is the consumer’s choice for the preferred method of contact with brands and businesses as statically, 99% of people check their inbox daily.

You should take advantage of this direct channel that you have with your audience and use it to help build a relationship with them. Try to incorporate this personalisation as much as you can, even going as far as to cater the email’s content for them specifically.

Using a name in an email could be the difference between an email your audience engages with and one that they ignore. Personalisation draws your audience in and encourages them to look through the content of your email.

Targeting your audience

One of the best features about email is that you can segment and target your audience. By grouping your mailing list by categories like; location, age, and previous purchase, you can tailor your emails specifically for your audience.

Sending them helpful information, videos, events, surveys, and links to online tools that are directly relevant to them will help make the most out of your emails.

Surveys suggest that over 57% of people are influenced by emails in their purchasing decisions, so make sure that they have all the information they need

For more information on how to maximise your emails have a look at our article on how to optimise your email campaigns.

Relationship marketing

By signing up for your mailing list, your subscribers have already demonstrated a significant level of commitment to your brand and your products.

This either means that they’re interested in the brand and would like to know more, or they’ve already established customers who want to keep up to date with what’s going on with you.

What are the drawback of email?

Email campaigns are effective and relatively easy to create, but when it comes to Medical Device marketing, email does have a few drawbacks.

Limiting reach

While email is a great way to maintain and deepen your relationship with customers, it’s not a good medium for finding a new audience and nurturing your brand awareness and visibility.

With only your email list to work with, you’re limited by the number of people who have signed up to be contacted by you.

What is GPDR?

GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation refers to the legal method requiring all companies to keep and protect all information stored or shared by an individual with them.

This could mean information like:

• Name
• Address
• Email
• Card Information

GDPR will limit your ability to build up a mailing list, but it’s incredibly important to adhere to. It helps to invest in data protection software to store your mailing list. Be clear and concise to users when they sign up about where their information is going and what they’re agreeing to.

What about multichannel marketing?

Of course, you can incorporate both social media and email marketing into your overall marketing strategy, but you must be sure that they will work just as well independently as with each other.

Multi-channelled marketing is a strategy that is being used more and more marketing managers and agencies. It involves using several different channels to complement one another is a great way to ensure that your message gets across.

It’s good for all your channels to feel uniform, with the same branding, the same tone, and the same message – this way all your marketing has a cohesive and united feel to it.

Building a brand and a story across all your platforms will help make sure you hit that 15- 25 mark.

Social media and email campaigns can feed into one another. Your social media channels could advertise your email list, whilst your emails could highlight the latest updates from your social media page.

However, don’t feel as though you need to take up both channels before you have the capacity to do so, otherwise one or both will feel lacking. It’s always good to go for quality over quantity.

How do you decide what’s best for you?

While both email and social media can bring so much to the table, you need to think about what’s right for you and your brand. If you’re still struggling to decide you need to think clearly about what your goals are and think about what you want to achieve by introducing a new marketing channel.

• Are you looking for a platform to share the latest news from your company? Then an email newsletter may be right for you.
• Maybe you want to raise brand awareness and generate more website traffic? Give social media a go.
• Want to let people know about your upcoming webinar? Emailing them an update might work best for your demographic.
• Thinking of showing off your new branding? Social media is definitely the one for you.

Consider which channel and content will help add value to your company and will help your audience understand your message.

Medical Device marketing at Podymos

Hopefully, this article has given you a good overview of email campaigns vs social media and will help you figure out which one is best for you and your brand.

Do you want to communicate more effectively with HCPs and patients? Do you want to be able to deliver high-quality email or social media 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.

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.