The importance of marketing in the healthcare industry lies in the advantages it offers to healthcare companies and professionals. Digital marketing gives medical technology companies powerful ways to increase engagement with healthcare professionals and to meet needs that have changed considerably since 2020.
Why digital marketing took over medtech
Medtech healthcare companies are essential to medical therapy’s development, because they play a vital role in improving patient outcomes and how healthcare services are delivered.
Many professionals shifted to remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and healthcare professionals were no exception. Over time, remote work and digital communications turned out to be a more comfortable option for medtech companies engaging with health professionals, and that is what pushed those companies toward digital marketing strategies as well as e-commerce and virtual sales channels.
Numerous healthcare companies responded by designing and implementing marketing campaigns over email, SMS, social media and other channels.
Many of those companies also needed expert help with search engine optimisation and search engine marketing, alongside social media management, web-platform management and app management.
Our own reading of the shift, unaudited and offered as an impression rather than a survey, is that around 80 out of 100 companies now spend more on digital marketing than they did five years earlier. Recent surveys — none of them named in this article — have suggested that companies will dedicate around 40 percent of their marketing budget to digital marketing within a few years. Treat both figures as indicative.
- 1 — Product release puts a relevant offer in front of healthcare professionals
- 2 — Lead generation identifies and cultivates suitable opportunities
- 3 — Analytics turns interaction evidence into campaign and sales decisions
- 4 — Omnichannel coordination joins digital, inside-sales and face-to-face work
- A — Integrate digital work with the rest of the commercial system
- B — Give the strategy a central coordinating unit
- C — Build the team, platform and CRM capability the work requires
- D — Define and monitor useful performance indicators
- E — Treat professional engagement as an ongoing practice
Where medtech marketing budgets go
The most successful companies in the medtech industry allocate their funding to four key areas: product release, lead generation, analytics and omnichannel campaigns.
Product release, done on digital channels
The great majority of medical technology products are now launched through digital channels. Many companies use email and social media campaigns to show clients a new product, and online conferences and SMS campaigns are the usual alternatives.
Lead generation, and which channel wins
As healthcare professionals adopted remote interactions, medtech healthcare companies increased their use of digital marketing to identify and cultivate potential customers. Companies generally believe email marketing campaigns are the most effective channel for generating new opportunities during a launch, with social media campaigns next in order of preference.
Analytics, and what it is actually for
Data and analytics decide whether the rest of the spend can be judged. Digital campaigns work best when they are augmented with analytics that show how people interact with content, which advertising converts within which age group, and which keywords appear in search trends without being clicked. That is what makes a decision informed rather than confident.
Analytics also helps a medtech company reach professionals with product solutions that complement what they have already bought. Some life-sciences companies use machine learning to build integrated data pipelines and help sales representatives segment and prioritise accounts.
Omnichannel campaigns, and why they come last
Omnichannel campaigns make a company reachable across online and offline channels at once. They are built around the customer rather than the channel, so the experience holds together wherever it happens. The benefits named for them are higher revenue, a cohesive brand identity and a better user experience — and they only work once the first three areas exist to connect.
Mistake one: running digital marketing in isolation
Moving to an omnichannel approach means a company has to link its digital marketing to its other channels — inside sales and face-to-face representatives — rather than managing it as a separate function. Communicating effectively with healthcare professionals depends on knowing the purpose of each interaction and the engagement method that fits it.
Mistake two: no central organisation
Best-practice companies set up a central unit that drives the whole marketing strategy and produces quality content against it. Each region then adjusts that content to fit its own regulatory requirements — which in healthcare is not an optional step.
Mistake three: neglecting capabilities and tools
A digital marketing strategy needs a team behind it: a digital marketing lead, designers who know UX and UI, data analysts, campaign and channel specialists and product owners. It also needs a marketing platform wired into the CRM, which is what makes campaign optimisation, conversion analysis and digital analytics possible rather than theoretical.
Mistake four: not watching performance metrics
Digital marketing reaches an audience, but without rigorous monitoring a company cannot say what the impact was at a regional level. Defining and tracking key performance indicators is what points the effort in the right direction and lets a company judge whether the investment returned anything.
Mistake five: underestimating digital engagement
Healthcare professionals invest their own time in social media business platforms, networking platforms, online communities and search engines. A company reaching them needs a specialised team watching that digital strategy, tracking engagement and identifying trends, rather than treating the channel as a broadcast.
What to do with all of this
Digital marketing is how a medtech company reaches healthcare professionals with new products and services, and building a strategy that works takes time rather than budget alone. The four budget areas and the five mistakes above are the shape of that work.
Global Wizards is a digital marketing company with experience in the medtech industry. Our piece on why digital presence matters when you open a bank account covers the reputation side of the same problem, and our services page lists what we actually do.
If you would like to talk it through, contact us for a 30-minute consultation, or read more on our blog.
Frequently asked questions
Why does marketing matter in the healthcare industry?
Medtech healthcare companies are central to how medical therapy develops, so reaching healthcare professionals well is part of how a product gets used at all. Digital marketing gives those companies a way to raise engagement with professionals and to meet needs that have changed, which is where the value sits.
What changed after healthcare professionals moved to remote work?
Remote work and digital communication turned out to be the more comfortable option for medtech companies engaging with health professionals, rather than a temporary substitute for meeting them. That is what pushed those companies into digital marketing strategies and into e-commerce and virtual sales channels.
Where do medtech companies put their marketing budgets?
The most successful medtech companies concentrate spending in four places: product release, lead generation, analytics, and omnichannel campaigns. Each answers a different question, and the fourth is what stops the other three being run in isolation from each other.
Which channel generates the most leads in medtech?
Companies generally believe email marketing campaigns are the most effective channel for generating new opportunities during a launch, with social media campaigns next in order of preference. Both grew in use as healthcare professionals moved toward remote interaction.
What does analytics actually tell a medtech marketer?
Analytics shows how people interact with content, which advertising converts within which demographic, and which keywords appear in search trends without being clicked. It also points a sales team at professionals whose current purchases a product would complement, which is what turns the data into a call rather than a chart.
What is the most common mistake in medtech digital marketing?
Running digital marketing in isolation is the first and largest one: an omnichannel approach means linking those efforts to inside sales and to face-to-face representatives rather than running them beside each other. Communicating well with healthcare professionals depends on knowing the purpose of each interaction and the method that suits it.
