Launching a new medical device is a twofold journey. First, you must develop the technology itself, submit regulatory filings, demonstrate sufficient clinical evidence, and, finally, get the regulatory stamp of approval — but it’s not time to celebrate yet. While R&D may appear to be the most important step, what many innovators often overlook is the second crucial step of developing a commercial strategy. After all, how can end-users benefit from your cutting-edge technology if they don’t even know it exists? The challenge for many lies in one-sided internal expertise: the strength of clinical and developmental expertise often comes at the expense of commercial preparation. As a result, many are left wondering what they truly need to launch — and that’s where things can go wrong.
4 Key Steps in Your Go-To-Market Roadmap
- Optimize your website. Far and away, the most important asset to build for your launch is a website. But here’s where the first mistake is often made — don’t use your site to simply display information. Optimize each page to serve as a conversion tool that helps buyers easily navigate their way into a purchasing decision. Structure each page as a lead generation-style landing page, with multiple opportunities to engage and, if the prospect isn’t quite ready, provide several types of resources and content to educate them about why your device is the answer to their problem. When prospects visit your site, within about one minute they should be able to understand what your device does, how it addresses their pain point, and why it’s different — and better — than other solutions. Furthermore, most companies will have different prospect types visiting the site. A well-designed website acts like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, where the visitor gets exactly what they are seeking without having to wade through other, irrelevant material.
- Establish a CRM system. Gone are the days of simple spreadsheets and pen-and-paper sales. With the data analytics and reporting capabilities available in customer relationship management (CRM) systems, your team can gain full disclosure of your sales and marketing data. This is especially vital in medical device marketing, as the average sales cycle can range anywhere from three months to three years. We often recommend HubSpot to our medtech clients, as their platform excels in long-term prospect monitoring and engagement and has surpassed more traditional tools, like Salesforce.com, in its functionality. When you can clearly map out the buyer’s journey, including where prospects fall out of the pipeline, you can tailor your efforts accordingly to seal the leaks in your sales funnel.
- Build a consistent brand. Clinically-oriented innovators may think a brand guide is just a nice-to-have, but, in reality, a standardized branding and messaging strategy is the cornerstone of a successful launch. Why? Because people respond to consistency — they are drawn to what they know and are familiar with. Your decision-makers are far more likely to engage with your campaigns if they can instantly recognize your branding. If you plan to attend trade shows, how will you get prospects to visit your booth? You should already be working ahead to ensure they can immediately spot your brand on your booth graphics. Brand consistency is the key to building enough awareness and visibility to motivate prospects to engage when the opportunity arises.
- Start at the finish line. Knowing where you want to go is the best way to know where and how you should start. For your launch, start with your revenue goals and work backward, identifying the content you need to develop to meet smaller goals along the way. These assets should include proposal templates, sales PowerPoint templates, sales sheets, trade show booth graphics, and case studies — sales enablement tools that have the power to make a lead say “yes”. Moving upstream, think about how you can set the stage for your sales reps to have those successful conversations. Develop medtech marketing materials such as white papers, blogs, videos, emails, ad campaigns, and paid search campaigns, executing an omnichannel strategy to drive awareness and get people talking about your device. Plan your content strategy ahead of time to develop the needed assets on time to, first, prime the market and second, seamlessly fill your pipeline with qualified leads.
Asset Overview: What You Really Need to Launch
Identifying the assets that are truly necessary for your launch can be a challenge. At Jairus, we recommend the following list to drive a smooth launch for immediate medtech sales growth:
- Website
- Customer relationship management (CRM) system
- Brand guide
- Sales PowerPoint template
- Sales sheets & brochures
- Case study / testimonial (three are ideal)
- Marketing PowerPoint template
- “Thought leadership” literature (Your perspective on the problem you solve)
- “Thought leadership” literature (Industry viewpoint)
- Blogs (2-4 are ideal)
- Proposal template
- Demo video
- Testimonial video
- Brand story / “Why Us?” video
- Trade show booth graphics
Drive a Successful Launch With a Trusted Medical Device Marketing Partner
Jairus serves as a fractional marketing department and commercialization specialist to help medtech innovators achieve rapid sales growth as soon as you hit “go” on your launch. We have the experience, industry know-how, and technical expertise to develop and execute the right content at the right time on the right channels. Schedule a discovery call to strategize for your upcoming launch and discover how an expert partner can help you reach your revenue goals.
