The global medical device market is booming! High incidence of chronic diseases due to lifestyle changes, an increasing geriatric population opting for home healthcare, and greater emphasis given by adults to health and fitness have necessitated wireless medical devices, portable devices, health monitors, and more.
Medical devices are apparatus that exerts action without relying on any chemical means and are used in diagnosing, mitigating, treating, or preventing diseases.
According to Skyquest’s insights, the global medical devices market was valued at USD 63.4 billion and is poised to grow at a CAGR of 11.35% to reach USD 134.56 billion by 2030. The skyrocketing demand has created neck-and-neck competition among healthcare enterprises, and to survive in such a competitive landscape, they need an effective medical device go-to-market strategy.
Businesses might spend millions of dollars developing a whiz-bang product, but their endeavor turns futile without investing time and effort in a go-to-market strategy. A medical device go-to-market strategy that outlines how enterprises engage with customers to persuade them to make a purchase and gain a competitive advantage is undoubtedly a deal-breaker!
Besides helping businesses achieve successful product launches, a strong go-to-market strategy enables them to channelize their efforts and funds precisely towards marketing success and reduce unnecessary spending.
This blog lets us understand how businesses can develop a go-to-market strategy to position their medical device for commercial success in the healthcare ecosystem.
“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.”
– Peter F. Drucker
A Medical Device Go-to-market Strategy Imperative for Businesses
The product development cycles of medical devices make marketing them challenging. One of the significant concerns includes testing of medical devices and regulatory authority’s approval before they are launched in the markets. Hence, medical device manufacturers should cross these crucial hurdles before venturing into product promotions.
An excellent medical device go-to-market strategy is like a focused roadmap. It prevents businesses from investing unnecessary efforts across several avenues, cuts costs, and streamlines initiatives in a single direction for tangible ROI. A GTM strategy provides businesses with a step-by-step framework that helps them overcome hurdles effectively and estimate budget costs much in advance.
A Viable Medical Device Go-to-market Strategy
A medical device go-to-market strategy is not only about selling the product; there is more to it. Fundamentally, it is how an enterprise comprehends and aligns with its customer needs to make its medical device successful. It is an integrated action plan that combines the customer’s voice, product benefits, sales, and marketing efforts to create brand awareness and a buzz around medical devices.
In the pre-revenue stages, a GTM strategy for businesses acts like a brain of operations. It ensures that the medical device healthcare company’s launch is the minimum viable product (MVP) in the market and generates significant sales traction.
Seven critical aspects of a viable medical device go-to-market strategy that will work wonders for healthcare businesses are:
Create a Well-defined Value Proposition
A value proposition should convey the medical device’s innovative approach to addressing a specific problem or its first-in-class solution for a debilitating condition. A unique selling point about how the medical device enhances the patient’s experience works wonders for manufacturers. Besides helping companies create the proper buzz, a well-defined value proposition allows them to communicate the benefits of their medical device to the users and persuade them to purchase it. According to iMPACT, 69% of business firms have significant value propositions indicating their importance.
Know Your Target Audience
The mainstay of an effective go-to-market strategy is understanding the target audience. With good market research strategies, healthcare businesses can identify their audience, i.e., which they will sell to, whether to a doctor or patient, clinics, etc. For significant insights about their target audience, businesses can pursue the following:
- Assess existing customer base or take their interviews
- Identify industry trends
- Analyze competitors
- Carry on market research
- Create ideal customer profiles
- Refer to well-segmented marketing/contact databases
While devising a medical device go-to-market strategy, enterprises could approach beyond the primary audience and zero in on the secondary audience, who can profoundly influence the immediate decision-makers. To ensure their sales pipeline is always brimming with action, B2B enterprises can consider creating a buyer persona for secondary audience like nurses, physician’s assistants, and hospital procurement managers.
Comprehend the Problem
Knowing the audience allows businesses to determine who their device is for. Followed by this, they should focus on comprehending the problem. B2B marketers must understand their audience’s pain points and how the medical device addresses them. It helps in coining appropriate messaging for the promotions that will strike the right chord with the audience and create awareness about the product.
For instance, doctors might prescribe patients an existing device to treat a condition. However, using the device has led to a high incidence of complications in patients, thus resulting in patients refusing treatment. The scenario is a valid pain point for the target audience. With a good understanding of the problem, the business’s promotional messaging to potential buyers can be centered on how the ready to launch new medical device will mitigate the risk.
Meet the User Along the Buyer’s Journey
Medical device purchases usually do not happen overnight. The customer arrives at a purchase decision after much consideration and research. Also, the buyer’s journey is extended for medical devices. Businesses should have relevant information and marketing materials for their audience at each decision-making step, including awareness, consideration, and purchase.
Businesses can leverage blogs, device guides, video testimonials, social media ads, email marketing, newsletter marketing, and more to target the audience at each step of the buyer’s journey and help them make well-informed decisions. The expansive contact databases available in the market will allow businesses to reach their clients at the buyer’s journey and achieve their business targets.
Gather Competitive Intelligence
Businesses will not be launching their medical devices into a vacuum. Hence, B2B marketers, while formulating a medical device go-to-market strategy, should strictly consider their competitors. By assessing competitors’ tactics, businesses can create a winning strategy to stand out in the market. It will enable enterprises to proactively plan countermeasures to protect themselves from the competitor’s response after the medical device launch.
Create a Strong Web Presence
According to Kurve B2B marketing statistics, 90% of B2B buyers start their purchase journey with an online search, even before interacting with sales teams. Hence, having a functional and informative website in their marketing tool kit is essential for businesses. Websites should give potential buyers information to persuade them to make well-informed purchases. Companies should utilize search engine optimization to draw users to their websites by including keywords specific to their niche. Incorporating the words the audience already uses will provide businesses a window to buyers’ mindsets, driving them towards the website.
Gain Trust by Maintaining Consistency
The healthcare industry is heavily reliant on the trust aspect. One of the vital elements in medical device go-to-market strategy is brand consistency. Businesses can build a communication personality by maintaining consistency in their marketing collaterals and messaging. Besides enabling brand evolution, companies can link their brand with specific values in the customer’s mind. Consistency in branding and messaging makes a business appear more reliable and professional, helping it establish a bond of trust with the buyers.
Choose an Effective Distribution Channel
A business’s medical device go-to-market strategy should also comprise a plan to distribute its offering to the users. After thoroughly analyzing their market presence, the business firms should decide whether to distribute the medical device themselves or associate with a vendor or distribution partner.
Wrapping Up
An effective medical device go-to-market strategy enables B2B enterprises to establish their product as trustworthy in the healthcare ecosystem. By thoroughly understanding the user’s problem, creating a compelling value proposition for their product through competitive intelligence, and leveraging other techniques mentioned in this blog, B2B healthcare device manufacturers can formulate an effective GTM strategy for better profitability.. With a good GTM strategy, healthcare businesses can foray confidently into known and unknown terrains and attain sales and marketing success.