marketing for medical device startups

Marketing for New TechnologiesSetting the Stage for Your Success

Maureen A. ShafferMedical Device Bootcamp

University of Cincinnati 2010

Maureen Shaffer Bio

• Vice President, Life Sciences for Prolifiq Software

• Former VP Marketing at AtriCure and InSet

• Marketing roles at Cordis (pre-JNJ), US Surgical and Heartport.

• FiberOptic Sensors• Converge Medical

Marketing Role

• Strategic market direction from Concept to Launch and beyond– Ongoing analysis and market assessment– Positioning/Differentiation– Market entry

• Multidirectional communication hub– Customer advocate

Continuous Market Research

Observe Procedures and PatientsFind Opportunities

Ask the Right People

• Team ask• Broad demographics– FiberOptic Sensors: CCF LAP– Heartport: non-locking NDR

• Advisory Board– Hands-on with time– Not podium assets– Not investigators

Ask the Right Questions in the Right Forum

• Across the desk• Share drawing• Share prototype• Use prototype in wet lab• Preclinical use• Clinical use

Customers

From Concept to Launch

Your First Customer is…Internal

• R&D• Manufacturing– Tolerances and Testing– Forecasting and Samples

• Regulatory– Indications and Claims

• Legal• Finance

Onerous Compliance = Patient Safety

Laws Multiplying

Enforcement Increasing at FDA, DOJ and SEC

Sentencing Toughening

Governing bodies at federal, state and hospital

Whistleblowers 1%

Your Second Customer is…Field

• Sales– Work the Comp Plan– Time is Money– Foster Competition– Involve, Develop Buzz, Grow Organically

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Marketing Materials

Articles & Abstracts 303

Case Studies & Clinical Data28

Graphics & TradeshowMaterials 122

Brochures & Sell Sheets 51

Emails & Web Content 29

Media Files (Video, Animation,Podcasts, Presentations, etc.)134

Other 41

“The world is changing”, November 2008, Awopetu.

Your Third Customer is…Consumer

Which Disease?

Where Are The Patients?

Who Are The Patients?

• Age groups• Activities• Geography• Relationships• Who is most likely to want new therapies?– Who is motivated? Why?

Source: 2005 Health Care Survey, conducted by GMI and Media Screen (March 2005).

58% go online first!

Which Site(s) of Service?

How Do You Reach Them?

“In 2010, …digital content is changing the way physicians practice medicine,” said Meredith Ressi, VP of research at Manhattan Research. “Professional use of smartphones and online user-generated content are no longer early adopter activities of a tech-savvy few – these types of activities are the norm for the majority of physicians today.” HBR, “Stop Delighting Your Customer”, July 2010. Self service = Web, Voice

Prompts, Chat or Email, Person = Phone interactionManhattan Research’s Taking the Pulse report, 2010. n=2000 US Physicians

Growing Economic Arguments

• Product and Procedure Value = 9x effort– 90% of hospitals have made cutbacks

• VAC– $2.7B savings have been identified in Cardiology

and Orthopedics with GPO pricing• Coding, Coverage and Reimbursement– Three-year ACE demonstration project for single-

payment bundle underway by CMS“GPOs Embrace New Cost-Cutting Initiatives” at MedTech Insight:

www.medtechinsight.com“Payment Bundling – The Future of Reimbursement” at MedTech Insight“Pulse of the Industry”, Ernst and Young 2009 per American Hospital Association data. www.ey.com/medtech

Market Launch Communication

Hard-Wired Habits and Humor

• PFC and STN or Newton’s Law of Motion– 7 times to make it a habit; McKinsey 9x benefit

• Peers listen to peers• Sell the data/make it a competition• Employ humor– Humorous items are more easily remembered than

non-humorous ones, which might be explained by the distinctiveness of humor, the increased cognitive processing time to understand the humor, or the emotional arousal caused by the humor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_memory_biases

Be Gutsy

• If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever.– Use a pile driver. Hit the

point once.– Then come back and hit it

again.– Then hit it a third time –

a tremendous whack.

Winston Churchill

Psychology Sells312 symposium attendees312 symposium attendees

457 booth leads!457 booth leads!

Carmen’s Grandma and Warren Buffet

• Would you want your grandmother:– Treated with this?– Reading this material and making a decision?

• The Newspaper Test– Written up next day in local paper– Read by family, friends, neighbors– Written by smart but unfriendly reporter– If close to the lines, it is out

http://youtu.be/A0mNKh7lYE4

Contact Information

Maureen A. Shaffermaureen.shaffer@gmail.com

linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/maureenashaffertwitter: http://twitter.com/maureenshaffer