How to Market B2B Medical Devices in 2021

We’ve all seen them: those awkward television commercials for breathing apparatuses that always come on when your kids walk in the room. And while those may work for some medical devices, it’s safe to say not all medical devices can be marketed using traditional methods. 

As an inbound strategy, B2B medical device marketing focuses on identifying and targeting your ideal customer by posting relevant content to your brand’s blog, website, social media sites, and email marketing.  

Focusing on industry-specific topics will help drive organic traffic growth to your site, gaining trust with potential customers and notoriety within the medical equipment industry. B2B medical device marketing plays a large role in generating quality, qualified leads over time.

How to Market Medical Devices to B2B Customers

If you want to learn how to market medical devices in the digital age, follow these four steps: 

1. Identify your ideal customer
2. Create a content plan and execute
3. Consider how to reach a remote audience
4. Nurture those leads

Identify Your Ideal Customer: 

Effective B2B medical device marketing starts with identifying who your customers are. Understanding who orders these devices will help you generate relevant and meaningful blog post topics that suit every stage of the buyer's journey: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision.

Start by creating a buyer persona; an “ideal” semifictional customer who you’ve clone 100x if you could.  

Many factors go into an ideal buyer persona. First, analyze where, and by who, the purchases are coming from. 

• Are you generating more orders from independent doctors offices versus rehabilitation centers or hospitals? 
• Is the person responsible a department manager, doctor, or other medical worker? 
• Who does this person report to? 
• Why is this person buying our goods? 

Asking these questions will help identify what problem the customer is having that your medical devices could be a solution for.

You also need some supplemental information about your ideal buyer persona. Understanding where your customers get their information from, be it social media, Google, or medical forums, will help you understand the customer’s pain points and opportunities.By writing educational content about these issues, you’ll generate higher search ranking results and, over time, an increase in qualified leads. 

Once you have identified your ideal buyer persona, it’s time to create a content plan.

Create a Content Marketing Plan and Execute It:  

The next step to an effective medical device marketing plan is creating a meaningful and relevant content creation plan. This process deeply relies on your ideal buyer persona, as your content plan will include topics that will inform and engage your ideal audience. 

Content plans should map out your: 

• Blog topics, 
• Calls-to-action, 
• Social media posts,
• Email marketing campaigns
• Videos and
• Website page creation

You should include topics, keywords, goals, and any links that may be beneficial to the topic at hand. Having an explicit goal with everything you create will ensure your content is relevant and useful to your audience. 

Blog topics can range from innovative or new technologies, to comparing two solutions, to understanding medical device manufacturing certifications. Choose specific keywords a potential client may use to search your product -- for example, “class II computed tomography scanners” -- and integrate them into your content plans for each blog topic. 

Calls-to-action (CTAs) are a crucial part of B2B medical device marketing. CTAs promote a premium offer, such as:

• Ebooks,
• Whitepaper, and
• Newsletters signups. 

CTAs  provide useful resources to your customers. As an example, perhaps a CTA for the medical device industry would be a free e-book of the different types/sizes and uses of compressed-air machines. 

Social media posting is the next step. You should use social media not only to promote your blog, but also to post other relevant content related to the medical device industry. Posting third-party content helps your brand gain trust within the medical device industry. 

Email marketing campaigns are also an effective way to nurture leads and keep in front of existing customers. Having a newsletter go out each week or month allows you to promote a recent blog post, send a premium offer (such as an e-book, webinar, or other resource), or send out pertinent information to your clientele to drive engagement and traffic. 

Once you have your content map created, it’s time to execute it. Ensure you are posting consistently with useful and engaging content.

Consider How to Reach a Remote Audience 

COVID-19 has upended the work world -- in some ways, permanently.

Even in post-COVID 19 times, the same level of in-person activity will not happen. Having effective sales email videos, virtual trade show strategies, and virtual demoing options will help you reach a remote audience. 

When marketing medical devices to a remote audience, turn your live demonstrations into on-demand video resources any potential customer could use. If there are any tech updates that may affect your product's functionality, offer explainer videos or virtual tutorials to existing customers.

As for trade shows, use email and social media marketing -- during, after, and before the trade show -- to replace the lack of in-person communication.

Hold virtual events of your own, too! Hosting events will allow remote audiences to ask questions, get educated, and find out if you're the expert they may someday need. It’s also a good time to learn about any pain points these customers have -- they'll make great future content topics. 

Medical equipment marketing in the age of COVID-19 can be challenging, so follow these additional tips on how to engage remote audiences. 

Nurture Those Leads  

The last step in an effective medical equipment marketing plan is to nurture your leads. 

While you’ve already been nurturing your leads by creating helpful and meaningful content, it’s also important to make sure you follow up by answering any questions, tracking engagement, and analyzing the performance of each of your blog and social media posts and email campaigns. 

These results will help you dictate when and how customers are most likely to engage with your content. Analyzing the engagement and clicks on your blogs shows which topics and CTA’s drive the most clicks, time spent on your site, and ultimately, leads. Applying this information to future content maps will ensure you’re posting content that will generate engagement and promote brand awareness. 

Analyzing your social media posts is also an important step in nurturing your leads. Try these eight tips for analyzing your social media posts. 

More Free Resources on B2B Medical Device Marketing

To find out more about medical device marketing and how to market devices, check out this blog on creating a B2B digital marketing strategy. Or, get cracking on making your buyer persona a better lead generator with this free e-book: