Medtech brand messaging: from complex to compelling

Every generation of medical technology (medtech) providers faces the same challenge: new advancements surge demand, leading to more competition.

Yet, when it comes to communications, few brands break away from complex, clinical, and generic messaging.

And in the age of AI, you can’t afford to keep buyers at arms length.

This article will help you to understand why it’s important to talk about medtech in human terms, how storytelling is your secret weapon and what you can do to communicate value.

Key takeaways

• Build trust at an awareness level by focusing on the compelling, human story behind your brand
• Use storytelling to highlight the lived experience behind your solution to differentiate yourself from the competition
• Communicate value in real terms to help convert buyers that are still on the fence
• Develop a brand messaging framework that gets your team speaking the same language

How to enhance your brand messaging

Talk about tech in human terms

You’ve poured years of research, testing, and technical expertise into developing a medtech product. Of course you’d want to shout about this to your audience.

But all too often, medtech brands fall back on technical terms and jargon as ways to boost credibility in their messaging.

This can often be a misstep, as clinically minded people actually prefer plain-speaking language.

You don’t have to avoid mentioning any technical aspects to ‘humanise’ your solution – you just have to put them into easily digestible terms.

For instance, you could:

• Simplify an existing product description – How might someone with no technical knowledge understand what your solution does? Imagine a doctor is explaining it to a 10-year-old patient – describe it in the simplest terms, then add specific technical terms where appropriate.
• Make the clinician the focus – Explain how your technology becomes an extension of the clinician and assists their day-to-day tasks. How would you frame it in a way that excites them about the tangible benefits?

Use storytelling as your secret weapon

An unmet patient need. A painfully outdated process. A daily challenge that clinicians are too busy to solve.
Medical innovations are not created in a vacuum.

Showing the human story behind your technology can help people relate to the problem you’re trying to solve – and help them connect with your brand on an emotional level.

When developing the story behind your medtech brand, consider:

• The protagonist(s) – Shine a light on the people in your team who brought your brand to life. Who has had front-line experience that clinicians can relate to? What was their daily life like and what challenges did they face?
• The inciting incident – Show your audience what life was like before your solution. What experiences did your team go through to realise there was a problem that needed solving? Was there a specific turning point, or did the problem build over time?
• The call to adventure – Explain the catalyst that led you to develop your solution. Was there a key partnership between people from clinical and technical backgrounds? Did you trial the first iteration of your solution and find success?

This story-led approach to messaging will not only resonate with your audience and grow their awareness of your brand, but also help to highlight the expertise and lived experience of your team to enhance your credibility and build brand preference.

Communicate the value of your solution, beyond just cost

When you’re competing on price, communicating the long-term value of your solution beyond ROI can help to convert those buyers that are still on the fence.

You will also resonate better with your audience by speaking to deeper needs than just their bottom line.

It helps to know your audience personas inside out, as different healthcare job roles will look for different criteria:

• Clinical leads may prioritise solutions that save time and make clinicians’ lives easier.
• IT teams may want something that’s easy to implement and manage.
• Ops and administrative teams might focus on compliance and interoperability.

One way to quickly communicate value is to distill your most relevant and compelling data into easily digestible forms, such as an infographic, short motion graphic or GIF.

You might also rely on case studies showing how different departments or organisations became more efficient after using your solution.

Or, you could leverage user testimonials and reviews to provide social proof of how your solution has transformed people’s lives.

There are many ways to communicate the value of your medtech solutions, but consider these things when deciding on the most important benefits and USPs to build your messaging around:

• What is the impact of your technology on a clinician’s day-to-day work?
• Can your products boost efficiency, improve communication or reduce errors within a department or wider healthcare organisation?
• Do the benefits of your solution accumulate to save time and costs for departments?

Make complex messaging compelling

We hope this has provided you with ideas for taking a more strategic approach to comms and content.

This is something Rationale specialises in and, in an increasingly crowded medtech space, it’s an essential step in setting your business apart from the competition.

Ready to find your brand’s unique voice and build compelling messaging to connect with your audiences? We’d love to partner with you. Get in touch with our team today.