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What You Need to Know When Searching for a Medical Manufacturing Marketing Agency

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Marketing budgets aren’t limitless. That’s a fact.

When deciding where to put your marketing dollars, you’ve got to be smart. This is especially true for the hyper-competitive medical manufacturing field.

Do it right, and you can tap into a vast market. In medical devices alone, the United States remains the world’s largest supplier, claiming 40 % ($156 billion) of the global market in 2017. By 2023, the U.S. market share is expected to equal $208 billion. Some of the bigger device manufacturers in the U.S. are Medtronic, Stryker, Boston Scientific, BD, Baxter and 3M just to name a few.

A medical manufacturing marketing agency can help you get a bigger piece of that pie by boosting your brand to grow your market share. Finding the right agency is the first step.

Here’s what you need to know when searching for a healthcare product marketing agency. 

Not All Healthcare Marketing Agencies Are Created Equal

Look for a marketing agency that specializes in medical manufacturing and intimately understands, IDNs, GPOs and Medical Distribution. They should either be dedicated to healthcare marketing or, at the least, have a dedicated healthcare vertical.  

To verify this kind of expertise, you can:

  • Check Former Clients: Many marketing agencies include the logos of big-name clients on their websites. This is an easy first stop when researching a medical manufacturing marketing agency. If this info isn’t available online, ask directly.
  • View a Portfolio: Request to see a portfolio of relevant work. Medical manufacturing covers a huge range of products, from hearing aids to catheters and stents. Ideally, the agency will have experience in your niche.
  • Request Resumes: Ask for resumes of team members who will handle your medical marketing needs. Their experience should be clearly healthcare-focused – maybe they even used to work in the field in a “boots on the ground” role like medical device sales.

All of this adds up to expertise – and that’s precisely what you want. You don’t want generalist marketing. You want medical manufacturing marketing, provided by people who are passionate about the field. They will bring valuable knowledge because they know the industry from the inside out. 

They’ve been in hospitals, at doctor’s offices, and at R&D facilities, talking to the people who matter: the Supply Chain Leaders. And guess what? Harvard Business Review reports that the most successful brands focus on users, not buyers.

What to Look for in a Medical Manufacturing Marketing Agency

Once you’ve narrowed down the field to a selection of healthcare marketing agencies with dedicated experience in medical manufacturing, it’s time for a more detailed assessment. 

1. Digital Knowledge

Digital marketing is already dominating other industries, from fashion to food. It’s also the future of medical manufacturing marketing. The field has been slow to catch up, but it’s making progress. With the COVID-19 pandemic restricting large-scale healthcare events, digital will gain more ground.  

Find out what digital-specific experience the agency has, requesting samples of campaigns and asking what healthcare marketing tools they use. Look for media diversity, from social platforms to online trade publications and email newsletters.

2. Comprehensive Strategy

It’s not all about digital. Physical marketing still has its place. Cross-platform capability offers the best of both worlds. The messaging of an e-publication can also be adapted to a print magazine found in a physician’s office, for example. Different audiences have different needs and wants, and the right channel depends largely on the intended audience.

Look for examples of innovation across multiple channels. Inbound and outbound marketing work best together. Digital and physical media might be complemented with educational seminars, lectures, or investigator-initiated studies, for instance.

3. Knowledge of Market Segmentation

An understanding of market segmentation and buyer intent is essential to success. Attracting the attention of best-in-class supply chain leaders or high-interest IDNs like Mayo Clinic will arguably get you further than attracting the attention of rural physicians in the Midwest.

The best marketing agencies not only have the knowledge and tools to execute campaigns across multiple channels, but they also know which channels to use to reach the desired audience. Discuss your target audiences with the agency to see how they would approach each one.

4. Measurable Results

Marketing success is measurable. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. From quantitative metrics like clicks on digital campaigns to qualitative methods like surveys on brand reputation, it’s possible to see the difference good marketing makes. Then there’s always the bottom line: sales figures. 

Ask what tools and metrics the agency will use to measure success and how these results will be reported to you. You deserve to see whether those marketing dollars you’re investing are reaping the rewards. 

5. Innovative Mindset

The fact is that marketers fight an uphill battle. Only 4% of consumers believe advertisers and marketers act with integrity. Creativity is the key to overcoming that doubt. Less “sexy” markets like medical supplies can learn from other fields – like the 2020 Superbowl ads, an example of authenticity in action.

That might seem like a wild statement to make. But it’s that kind of unconventional thinking that leads to success. Choose a medical manufacturing marketing agency that isn’t afraid to think outside the box.

The Latest Medical Marketing News

Share Moving Media helps best-in-class medical manufacturing suppliers increase market share. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Marketing Minute, to stay up to date on best practices.

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What Medical Suppliers Can Learn from the Backlash Against Ellen DeGeneres

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Seen as progressive – in part due to being an LGBT personality – Ellen DeGeneres has up until recently maintained a positive public persona. However, it seems like there are new “working for Ellen” horror stories every day.

Medical suppliers might ask, “What does this have to do with us?” We can learn a lot from paying attention to current events, whether it’s by observing Super Bowl ads or following celebrity news. 

What Happened to Ellen DeGeneres — and Can It Happen to Medical Suppliers?

It’s easy to forget that The Ellen DeGeneres Show is relatively new. She’s been in the limelight since the ‘80s. When she came out as a lesbian, it was a huge deal. Ratings of her sitcom dipped, and the series was canceled. It wasn’t until 2003 that DeGeneres found her footing in Hollywood again. 

America empathized with DeGeneres as she rose, stumbled, and got back up. That’s a compelling story! But it also laid the groundwork for what’s happening today. 

In a sense, 2020 marks her second fall from grace. 

Building trust is powerful – but when people fall in love, betrayal can sting. What could be more hurtful than finding out that someone preaching kindness is a mean person?

What her plight teaches us is that even great brands aren’t untouchable. Anyone can be brought down by a bad reputation.  Bad things usually happen fast, just think of 3M getting called out by President Trump a couple months ago in the Rose Garden.

3 Tips for Medical Suppliers to Avoid a Fall from Grace Like Ellen’s

When business leaders think of reputation management, their minds often go to damage control after the fact. The idea is actually to get ahead by influencing what people think of you in general.  

This way, unexpected messes can be cleaned up with ease. An excellent reputation could also be the deciding factor that gets a consumer to choose your hospital equipment over those offered by your competitors.

How do you take care of your reputation? Here are three tips gleaned from observing Ellen DeGeneres’ current PR battle.

1. Track What People Say About You Online

In 2016, comedian Kathy Griffin wrote a memoir. The book revealed that it was an open secret in Hollywood that a well-loved daytime TV host had a mean streak. Griffin later confirmed that she was talking about DeGeneres.

That wasn’t the first time people heard unpleasant descriptions about DeGeneres. Remarks on social media platforms surfaced from time to time, finally coming to a head this year.

So medical suppliers: Listen to your audience. Did you know that a business can lose over 20% of its customers if users find even one negative post about their brand online? 

That doesn’t mean you need a full-blown social media presence. Just know where your target audience hangs out online and monitor that space. 

You can also work with key opinion leaders to boost awareness. Let people know the basics, like:  

  • What types of products do you manufacture or distribute? 
  • How can IDNs learn more about your offerings? 

2. Don’t Ignore Customer Feedback

Respond to comments, especially if they’re bad reviews. 45% of consumers note that they’re most likely to visit a business that takes the time to address negative feedback. 

Rumors of the toxic work environment on The Ellen DeGeneres Show have been going around for more than a decade, but the TV host never confronted them. It took an official investigation into the franchise’s workplace culture for DeGeneres to apologize to her staff and acknowledge the issue.

Allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by the show’s top executives also surfaced. Some former employees believe executives shielded DeGeneres from the gory details and controlled what she knew of the set’s day-to-day activities.

Ignore a problem, and this is what happens. It grows! Medical suppliers, let this be another teachable moment. Do you read the Amazon reviews of your products?

It’s not enough to know what goes on online. The real world is still out there. Participate in industry events. Subscribe to and get your name in trade publications. Volunteer in industry workgroups, and most of all: respond quickly and recalibrate your work processes when needed.

3. Build Trust and Get to Know Your Audience

This is not so much an observation as it is advice for DeGeneres. Building trust back with her fans — not to mention her current staff — is key, but it’s not going to be easy. 

Whether you’re avoiding having something similar happen to you or you’re in the middle of some reputation troubleshooting yourself, the key is to know these two things: your target audiences and value propositions unique to each one. 

Decision-making during a B2B transaction involves six people on average. Do you have custom-tailored value propositions for those six stakeholders, or are you only focusing on clinicians making medical equipment purchases? Do your reps come from diverse backgrounds, able to deftly interact with different consumer bases – or are they all middle-aged men? 

Brand messaging in healthcare is crucial. When you know your audience, it’s easier to figure out your brand identity. When you know who you are, you’ll be that much more convincing when you talk about why your company matters and why your customers should remain loyal. 

How Can Share Moving Media Help Medical Suppliers?

Share Moving Media is a full-service content and media company committed to helping medical suppliers gain or increase their market share.

Interested in finding out more information about what we do and how we do it? Contact us and let us know what you need.

Understanding Your Audience: The Value in Market Segmentation

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A “one-size-fits-all” strategy rarely works beyond socks and gloves—it’s certainly not a technique successful companies use to target or understand customers, or both! In this day and age audiences are receiving messages from all directions. So how do businesses ensure that their message isn’t lost in all the noise?

Market (or audience) segmentation is defined by a business dictionary as “subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics.” This strategy allows businesses to accurately target new customers and understand the needs of existing customers.

There are four basic types of market segmentation strategies: psychographic, geographic, behavioral, and demographic. Geographic is perhaps the most commonly used; and demographic, wherein an audience is targeted by variables such as gender, age, income, housing type, and education level, is arguably the most familiar (what new parent hasn’t received a diaper ad soon after their abundant newborn-related Google searches)?

Today, however, we want to discuss psychographic segmentation. This type of market analysis collects and examines the more elusive characteristics of your audience, such as interests, habits, attitudes, emotions, and communication and other preferences. You may be thinking, “That sounds difficult” or “What’s the use of that?” Isn’t it better to know that the majority of your customers are, for example, unmarried, urban-dwelling twenty-somethings?

Of course that type of demographic information is useful, but people who fall within the same demographic profile can still have fundamental differences in likes, needs, and wants. Remember, one size rarely fits all. For example, perhaps half of that demographic is open to purchasing a certain make of car, and the other half wouldn’t be caught dead in that vehicle. Why? The demographics don’t explain it, but the psychographics will.

It may also seem logical to tailor your marketing based on generational perceptions, which requires certain demographical information about your audience. But this type of stereotyping leads to blanket assumptions that are rarely accurate or useful. Overgeneralizing different generations is something that has been going on for, well, generations! I think we all know that not all baby boomers are workaholics who can’t work an iPhone, and not all millennials immediately leave the office when the clock hits 5:00 and only read e-books! Psychographic segmentation allows companies to view their audience in a “made to order” manner (rather than the “one size” generalization) for more tailored messaging.

These two segmentation methods are not mutually exclusive! In fact, demographic information can be a great starting point that allows you to develop an outline of your customer base. Psychographic information allows you to dig deeper, discovering not only what product or service your customer may be interested in but also why. This insight into the motivations of your target audience offers a better understanding of consumer behavior than demographic information can offer. This understanding empowers you to customize marketing to what will hopefully be a more responsive market.

Market segmentation allows you to understand your audience and tailor your message. Demographics can only get you so far—a psychographic analysis of your market could be the route to a better understanding of your customers’ motivations and values.

Holiday Marketing Campaigns for Healthcare Marketers: Have You Made One Yet?

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Every year your audience is bombarded with holiday messages.

To make sure your prospects and customers are paying attention… you need to know what healthcare marketing campaigns will spur them into action.

Plus, people are expecting more campaigns and promotions during the holidays… will you let your audience go to someone else? Or will you keep their attention this season?

The holidays serve as an important time to make sure you’re staying top of mind for your audience. But, it’s not always easy trying to figure out the right campaign to set up.

Here are 2 compelling holiday marketing campaigns you can emulate to launch your next big campaign.

Giving Back (CISCO)

Oftentimes, the simplest campaigns are the most effective.

Back in 2012, CISCO (a networking software firm) put together a noble charitable Christmas campaign titled, “How Do You Give Back?” CISCO created this Facebook campaign and asked their audience to share stories of how they gave back to their community.

So what? Anybody can ask their community a simple question. What’s so special about this campaign?

CISCO created an interesting spin with the campaign. For every response they received, CISCO would donate four meals to the World Food Program.

The campaign blew up. The holiday campaign not only focused on giving (which is a common theme around Christmas), but it created a flurry of engagement on social media.

The reason it worked so well is because people didn’t even have to pull out their wallets to make a difference. All they had to do was write a comment. They knew they would be helping four people receive a meal which made the campaign go viral.

CISCO was not only able to give back during the holidays in a big way… But they were also able to leap above the noise of nearly every other holiday campaign that year. And creating that type of engagement is not an easy task for a B2B company.

Create A Content Series (The Economist)

As soon as Halloween is over, Christmas moves on in (whether you like it or not). You can either take it or leave it, but if you want to have a successful December, I suggest you take it and run with it.

The Economist decided to take advantage of the season at the beginning of December with ‘Advent’. No, they didn’t send out advent calendars filled with chocolate. They sent out a different type of advent calendar. They sent out an advent calendar of content.

They created a digital advent calendar that took you to a new piece of content every day leading up to Christmas. Whether it was a video, a blog post, or a simple tip, they took their audience through an exciting journey leading up to Christmas.

As much as you already know how important content marketing is, It’s not always easy coming up with ideas. This advent calendar is an easy win in any healthcare marketer’s content strategy for the holidays. Plus, you don’t even have to create 25 pieces of new content. You could repurpose previously made content and work it in throughout the calendar.

If you’re thinking it’s still too much content for one month, just do half. Skip the advent calendar and create a “12 Days of Christmas” content experience.

What campaigns moved you during the holidays? Let us know what your favorite holiday marketing campaigns are.