Before the Rule of Six, there was the Rule of Seven

(You can read this blog in less than 5 minutes) As we adjust to living with COVID-19 and the new Rule of Six in England in particular, it struck me how, here at Podymos, we have been encouraging clients in the MedTech industry to apply another rule – the Rule of Seven – to marketing their Medical Devices. The Rule of Seven came from the advertising industry as a neat way of remembering what it takes to move potential customers along their buying journey: Awareness > Consideration > Retention > Purchase > Repurchase > Advocacy Gaining the confidence of customers is a journey rather than a short trip

Seven is a magic number

Gaining the confidence of customers is a journey rather than a short trip. The Rule of Seven suggests that a customer needs to see your messaging (on average) seven times before they finally take action. That means you need to continually drip-feed information about your brand to potential buyers. Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and many people don’t think marketing works. We believe it does – but only when you do it well. That means, the process is completely understood, expectations are realistic, and measures of success are agreed and put in place. And never rule out ‘going digital’. We firmly believe in the power of digital media to reach your customers so that you build brand awareness quickly

There’s going digital…

Podymos is not only a digital marketing agency. We help our clients get their messages out there – through all channels, both traditional and ‘new’. However, we firmly believe in the power of digital media to reach your customers so that you build brand awareness quickly – particularly as we’ve had to suspend the traditional routes (e.g. conferences and face-to-face meetings) because of COVID-19 restrictions.

…And then there’s good digital

So here are our top tips for getting digital right:

Content must be relevant

You need to get inside the heads of your customers and understand their needs and issues. People will only follow you on social media if your content meets a need, and they can learn something from you. You must be willing to share something essential and offer something in return for their ‘followership’.

Without a clear understanding of how you can help, the right messages won’t get through, and the Rule of Seven won’t work

The kind of things HCP customers might be interested in discovering include: – Product and technique innovations – Upcoming educational webinars – Key online events you are attending – How to get fast online support from you (increasingly important) – Understanding who else is using your product and how – Which patients are best suited to your product – Recently published data (in digestible snippets)   And patients might be interested to know: – Other patients’ experiences (patient stories) – How your product works – How it compares to similar devices – How it could help them Without a clear understanding of how you can help, the right messages won’t get through, and the Rule of Seven won’t work. It’s a bit like trying to sell a car to someone without a driving licence: they might have the money, but they can’t use it and don’t need it, so your sales pitch is wasted. Your information architecture, the user’s experience and search engine optimisation are key areas to get right

Content must be easy to find and share

For example, if you invested in a website, how will you attract readers? How will they know you’re there for them? Your information architecture, the user’s experience and search engine optimisation are key areas to get right. And once someone has found you, and they’ve got the information they were looking for, you should make it easy for them to be able to share it with their friends and colleagues, to increase your addressable market.

Reach your target audience

With so many different digital channels available (LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram etc) you need to pick the right one, and use it in the right way, to reach your target market. Getting on top of these channels can involve quite a learning curve. Focus on one thing at a time and resist sending out too many messages

Make your messages consistent across all platforms – both digital and traditional.

As the old Russian proverb goes: “Если погонишь двух кроликов, ни одного не поймаешь”, or “if you try to chase two rabbits, you won’t catch either one”. In other words, focus on one thing at a time and resist sending out too many messages that may start to conflict with each other and cause confusion. Remind you of anything? To find out how you could improve your digital strategy, book your free 30-minute review call. >book now< 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.

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