This blog by John Smith originally appeared on MassDevice.com

Business communications is in the midst of a radical transformation through the rapid emergence of social media — from self-publishing on blogs to instant communication on Twitter and networks like LinkedIn and Facebook. If managed correctly, social media can be harnessed as a powerful tool for business. If ignored, competitors will have a significant opportunity to gain an advantage. A medical device company should be ready to leverage social media to help clients build business and introduce and address issues, such as accountable care. Social media has become a necessary strategy in which managing ongoing execution and keeping ahead of this rapidly changing phenomenon will pay tremendous dividends.

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Unlike other marketing disciplines, public relations offers the broadest and most expansive opportunity to educate target audiences with the highest credibility because of its nature as “earned” media versus “paid” media, e.g., advertising. It also enables medical device companies to achieve “thought leadership” status for its executives, researchers and physician champions through the publication of white papers, byline articles and opinion editorials, incorporating issues with which the company wishes to be aligned, such as ACOs.  Public relations is an important component of the marketing and communications mix because it easily and flexibly incorporates issues into a medical device company’s messages.  It is able to assess the nature of the world and markets and respond quickly as issues arise outside of a device company’s control, but which may affect their business and they might want to address. 

I wrote a blog about how  public relations can offer medical device companies a communications channel that aligns them with the issues that matter to them the most.  Read more…

Many believe that traditional marketing materials are somewhat antiquated in the new Web world.  While the Web has taken over increasingly important visibility roles, marketing materials still play an important part in communicating the features and benefits of a medical device company’s products as well as its corporate vision in its core sector. Next to the website, marketing materials are important in describing and enhancing a device company’s positioning and differentiation and are central in giving sales reps a leg up on the competition.  As long as there are sales reps, there will be marketing collateral.

So it is important that marketing and sales collateral reflect a medical device company’s awareness of, interest in and ability to help its customers achieve the ACO mandate.  As with the website, marketing collateral plays a very significant role in building a device company’s brand. Beyond describing what a medical device company does and for whom, it is also responsible for conveying a brand emotion that differentiates it from competitors, establishes credibility, and supports the personality it is developing in all other aspects of its brand presence. Marketing collateral helps determine the strategic approach that will work best for a medical device company’s unique situation, from corporate brochures to datasheets to product brochures.   Read more…

A prospective customer’s first interaction with a medical device company brand may typically take place online. It is, therefore, increasingly important to ensure that potential customers find a compelling, easy-to-navigate website that takes advantage of the latest technologies and design techniques, as well as addresses important issues vital to client success. An accurate and powerful website can harness the power of online marketing strategies to address the ACO mandate, capture additional market share and reinforce the benefits of products and services.

A medical device company’s website may facilitate hundreds of interactions every day, and it is important that the site design captures the same personality and evokes the same emotion the company is building with its sales force and other attributes “on the ground.” There are three key elements that are critical to today’s website designs: an appearance that is commensurate with the brand the company wants to portray to the marketplace, a design that utilizes the most contemporary styles and approaches, and a vehicle that shows fresh thinking and growing momentum to the market.  Read more.

The term “accountable care” grew out of studies at Dartmouth Medical School which tracked the variation of quality and cost of care across the United States. Their findings showed that cost and quality were not always in alignment and that regions that spent a lot of money on healthcare did not always reap the benefit of high quality. Hence accountable care became a fitting and useful lens through which to view healthcare delivery across the country. It is also a useful lens for medical device companies to view their customers in a new healthcare environment.  While every device company takes great pains to describe itself as a valuable partner and its products as critically beneficial to its key customers, companies’ narratives typically articulate how its products are patient- and physician-friendly, and ensure targeted and specific therapeutic answers to difficult and sometimes life-threatening circumstances. In the new healthcare environment, it will also be necessary for medical device companies to communicate to its customers that they can help them achieve the broader goals associated with Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

Positioning and messaging that reflect the values of accountable care and that are distributed through multiple marketing disciplines can help a device company educate its customers by broadening its messages to include achieving this new mandate of Healthcare Reform. And taking an integrated approach to communications regarding accountable care can be very effective. A recent blog published in MassDevice.com discusses how effective positioning and messaging can help device companies ensure their customers that they can help them achieve this mandate.

A recent global survey by Marks & Clerk, the UK patent firm, suggests that big pharma is rapidly approaching a “patent cliff” and will be more dependent than ever on its biotech brethren for the development of successful and profitable drugs in the years ahead.  The survey found that bio/pharm may be entering an even cozier relationship than they already have, resulting in a slew of mergers and acquisitions. 

Conducted among 400 biotech and pharma execs in the U.S., UK, Europe and Asia, the survey revealed a pessimistic view of the innovation capabilities of big pharma. Fully 82% of executives had little faith that big pharma would be able to innovate sufficiently to replenish shrinking drug development pipelines, resulting in a marked increase in acquisitions to augment that deficiency. Nearly three-quarters predicted substantial merger activity within the next two years, with increased activity beginning as early as next year.

These predictions suggest that the environment for biotech companies seeking partners or exit strategies has greatly improved. So In addition to shoring up balance sheets, tightening operations and demonstrating the clinical value of compounds and drugs, there are numerous actions to be taken on the marketing and communications front to ensure that a company is putting its best foot forward.

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