Having a well-established medical device company has it’s advantages within the industry, but in cases like new market entry it could be a drawback. This is because, traditionally well established medical device companies have had many successes to get to the point where they are with various product launches and sales tactics. Over time this has the ability to build confidence and comfortability, which sometimes leads to oversight and omission.
Making a mistake when entering a new market can be detrimental to your path forward. We have outlined some of the most common mistakes many medical device companies should avoid when entering a new market.
1. Make the assumption that personas have the same customer perception
Customer personas are extremely important when developing your strategies. These are the very foundation of your strategy and effect language choice, tone usage, channel selection and the overall vision of your marketing. It is critical that before approaching a new market your data analysis team does enough research to fully understand your target audience and different segment groups. A persona should be created for your individual market segments and your marketing strategy should effectively incorporate each appropriately.
It is essential to properly update and train your sales team on the new market and the differentiating variables. The sales collateral and overall approach for in-person events, digital communication and even sales calls may be completely different from previous markets that the company has already entered. Never assume that things are the same. Do your due diligence and correctly communicate your personas behaviors.
2. Lack the Technical Content Development
As a well established medical device company, your organization may have a large amount of credibility within the industry already, but it is important that you do not let off the gas as you enter a new market. New market entry is hard, even as a well-known organization. Develop a healthy approach by considering marketing budgets in the early phases of your process. Content development should include a variety of technical and engaging content. This can be included in website lead magnets that utilize downloadable content like ebooks and white papers. These kinds of assets can nurture your prospective customers and help them become more certain in your technical knowledge and capabilities prior to a company representative making first contact.
Technical content and expertise does not just stop on the web, but should be highly considered for in-person events like trade shows. Staffing choices should include more than just sales representatives and business executives. It would be a good idea to have technical staff members such as members from the engineering team to be available so that they can provide the right technical detail, when specific topics and or questions arise. This will help build confidence that your company is a practical and feasible partner to do business with.
3. Being reluctant to change budgetary standards and metric requirements when making market entry decisions
Each marketing budget is going to vary from market to market, and the requirements that are needed to be successful are going to be different. Therefore, your criteria when entering a new market should change when necessary. Analyze what your desired outcomes are and what tactics will help you connect with your audience most. Digital metrics will continue to change from campaign to campaign depending on your objectives. Sometimes website visits and impressions are a priority, and in other cases click through rate (CTR) and overall conversions can be. These changes should also be considered for trade shows when deciding on which events to exhibit at, booth size, location selection and whether to participate in specific sponsorships. It will all depend on your company objectives, market requirements and budgetary constraints. Each of these variables will play a critical role in measuring success in new markets.
4. Lack of Knowledge of market response and price sensitivity
Understanding each aspect of a new market can be a daunting task and especially when considering pricing models. This is where having resources to help you understand would be extremely beneficial. It would not be in your best interest to make the assumption that pricing models are the same in new markets, and any price assumptions should be fully tested long before product launch approaches. Some effective ways to have early conversations with prospective customers to discuss pricing, is by holding customer interviews or walking trade shows. Building opportunities to have front-facing customer interaction to get direct feedback about pricing, could help indicate possible misinterpretations early on to drive business growth.
