A recent Medical Marcom subscriber wrote me and said,
“I like your blog and your approach. In fact, the way you represent yourself through your content, it’s almost hard to tell how you make money. Now, that’s content.”
– John
John, I’m grateful for your compliment especially for the question it sparks for my readers:
How much value do visitors get from your website?
You certainly have marketing information about your medical device. You talk about its features and benefits. You may have a video. You may have a case study.
That’s a good start. But if that’s all you have, you’re missing opportunities to engage visitors.
Here are five practical ideas you can add to your medical device marketing efforts.
- Give them something immediately: The top third of my homepage gives away a list of US Doctors on Twitter. When it’s downloaded, I’m given the opportunity to identify and reach the prospect again. Without “lead capture forms,” as they are called, that visitor might otherwise come and go without a trace.
- Add a testimonial and lead capture in the footer: To my great delight and surprise, I lifted my site response by 20 percent when I added a testimonial from my former boss to my footer. Right there is an opportunity for you to sign up, just as he had, because I provide “relevant, contemporary marketing strategies in the medical device space.”
- Treat prospects like people: Medical devices need to be sterilized – not the professionals who work with them! Talk with us, not at us. Use familiar language. Don’t be overly technical or boring (the main point of my services video).
- Use more photos, use standard web design, an easy-to-read font like Arial, and bump up your font size to 14. Make it inviting for us to poke around.
- Use SnapEngage (as I do): When I’m online, I have SnapEngage send a message to visitors. It says, “Hello, thank you for visiting! I happen to be online now. Can I help you in any way? The free ebook download is popular at http://bit.ly/tNDA6P.” I’ve converted many visitors into prospects this way.
So, to answer John’s question, I make money when I demonstrate my expertise marketing medical devices. They ask me to help them do the same and that’s how I earn my living.
Which of these ideas will you put into practice? Say so in the comments so I can visit your new and improved site!
I’m Joe Hage, a Wharton MBA and 20-year marketing professional. I specialize in marketing communication, strategy, and lead generation. Discover my
Ha! I posted about it too – http://ventajamarketing.com/writingblog/2012/02/your-content-is-so-good-that-i-cant-tell-how-you-make-money/ – with a couple more examples of sites with content so good that it’s hard to see how they make money.
File them under “Really Valuable Content.”
How delightful! Thanks!
I hadn’t seen your most flattering post. I loved your approach:
What if you removed every trace of self-serving-ness from your marketing content? What if you filled your blog, white papers, newsletters and technical articles with content that completely benefited your readers, with no apparent benefit to you?
Would your boss let you publish it?
All great ideas, but I love it that you pointed out the value of readable type. If they can’t read it, they can’t react to it…many WordPress templates have type that’s just a bit too small.
Thanks, Karen. What’s funny is I have a client who associates “big type” with “too bloggy” and therefore “not corporate looking.”
I think this impression will change over time.
Interesting article in today’s Ad Age:
Content: Marketing’s Best Hope, or More Hype? Advertising Age http://ow.ly/9lhsi
Done Right, It Can Work Wonders. But Too Many Confuse ‘Content Marketing’ With PR or Advertising