Marketing may be your best weapon

The Japanese consider business to be a form of warfare. Some American companies understand this, but medical manufacturers and practices are hesitant to adopt this line of thinking, perhaps due to the scientific or “collaborative” nature of the medical business. Doctors and researchers are collegial; they want to be respected, and an aggressive posture might negatively impact their reputation.

The bottom line, however, is this: You made a better device, test or treatment available because you knew you could make a difference.

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Fighting the good fight

Consider these scenarios:

A primary care doctor knows a CT scan of the lungs is more likely to reveal cancerous lesions, but orders a standard chest X-ray instead.

A gastroenterologist knows a 13^C urea breath test is just as accurate as the endoscope at detecting H. pylori, but orders the scope anyway.

A cardiologist knows that the stress test is not as effective at determining heart attack risk as other tests, but continues to put his patients on the treadmill.

A cardiothoracic surgeon knows a particular heart valve would be better for her patient, but because her hospital refuses to purchase it, she uses an inferior device.

It is an outrage. You might even think it’s a crime.

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Client: Atherotech Diagnostics Lab

Project: Social media campaign with a blog leading the conversation

Planning/Goals of Project:

Armada’s challenge was to transform Michael Cobble, M.D., from a behind-the-scenes chief medical officer with a national diagnostic testing company (our client Atherotech Diagnostics Lab) into a well-known and respected expert in the field of lipidology.

The first and most important step in this process was to strategically position Dr. Cobble as a lipidology expert and key opinion leader using the most effective communication tools and platform. The primary platform we chose was the blog, a very powerful social media tool.

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A: Whether you’re marketing a medical device or a health care service, chances are there’s a national “awareness month” that you can leverage to improve the effectiveness of your marketing.

To illustrate, I’ll use the example of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. During October, most consumer news outlets are heavily focused on stories related to breast cancer early diagnosis and treatment. This presents an excellent opportunity for hospitals, medical practices, diagnostic imaging centers, biopharmaceutical companies and equipment manufacturers focused on breast health.

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Armada Medical Marketing’s Jim Koehler and Jessica Black recently presented to the Colorado Healthcare Communicators on how to effectively market to physician and clinical audiences. The information and slides below are part of this presentation.

Physician Marketing Trend #1: The process by which physicians receive their information is changing … constantly

Physician Marketing Trend #2: Marketing to physicians requires a different approach than marketing to other audiences

Physician Marketing Trend #3: New physician marketing models require increased scrutiny of compliance guidelines

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We recently read the New York Times article about doctors using Facebook for both personal and professional reasons. It makes sense and we do the same. Just like any profession, you balance your career and personal sides.

Balance is the key phrase.

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