How To Create Memorable Medical Product Tag Lines

by Casey Demchak | on Jan 08, 2012 | No Comments

The medical device and healthcare industries are not known for memorable product tag lines, but maybe this blog entry can help change that.

It’s always an advantage to have a benefit-driven tag line that clients automatically link to your product, because it acts as a simple, strong selling statement for your brand.

When developing tag lines, the power is in simplicity. Here’s a highly-effective tag line writing formula that is very easy to follow:

  • Use short, simple words
  • Keep it brief
  • State a benefit.

It’s that basic. Here’s a few all-time classic consumer product tag lines that follow this time-tested formula.

All-State Insurance – You’re in Good Hands with All-State.
Coca Cola – Things Go Better With Coke.
Metropolitan Life Insurance – Get Met. It Pays.

You can apply this same tag line writing formula to medical device and healthcare services with great affect. Consider these three examples from my copywriting career.

The first is for a product called Axis, which is a human dermis product used in pelvic floor reconstruction surgeries. The benefit of this product is that it has fibers running in many directions, which makes it a stronger tissue.

Axis
Strength In Every Direction.

The next tag line is for a product from BioCare, Inc., called LumiWave. LumiWave is an infrared device that reduces aches and pains by rejuvenating damaged tissue cells.

LumiWave
Pain Relief. The Light Way.

Lastly, here is a tag line I co-created for a rehabilitation center called, Denver Injury.

Denver Injury
We know where it hurts. And we can help.

Repetition does build reputation. When creating product tag lines, keep the message simple so it’s easy to remember, state a benefit, and then use it over and over again so people can’t forget it no matter how hard they try.

How To Write Great Medical Device Product Descriptions

by Casey Demchak | on Jan 08, 2012 | No Comments

Writing a strong description of your medical device is one of the most overlooked aspects of creating an effective medical marketing campaign. Don’t make this mistake.

It’s also important that your product description is consistent throughout your marketing campaign. For example, if the way your product is described in your brochure is different than the way it’s described on your web site, you are going to confuse your target audience.

In general, product descriptions should be brief, written in a concise style, and be formatted so they look inviting to the eye. Here is a simple formula for writing product descriptions that follows these parameters.

Formula:

  • A simple headline that states the product name.
  • A subhead that touts a product benefit.
  • A few lines of descriptive copy about the product and the 
challenge it meets.
  • A sharp set of benefit-driven bullet points.
  • A few more lines of descriptive copy that highlights additional 
benefits or other essential product information.

Example:

The WaterRich Excel System

Facilitates More Effective Water Therapy Treatments

Meet specific patient needs with a progressive system that offers a single solution for your various aqua therapies. The WaterRich Excel System gives you the flexibility to expand your possibilities for advanced water therapy programs.

Its open system allows you to implement any protocol required for prescribed treatments. Our industry-leading Water-K software enables you to create protocols that match individual patient requirements.

      • Provides easy-to-handle and effective therapy management
      • Delivers precise, specific treatments for patients of all ages
      • Enables the safe monitoring and treatment of children

In addition, the WaterRich Excel System includes a highly-intuitive user interface and ergonomic handling for greater ease of use. Its well-balanced components make therapies easier to perform, which enhances patient safety.

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As this example illustrates, you can pack a lot of essential information into this brief, simple formula. The key is to keep your description short and tight. Make every word count, and make sure every word in your product description really means something.

How To Acquire and Leverage Physician Testimonials

by Casey Demchak | on Jan 08, 2012 | No Comments

In the medical industry, renowned physicians making strong statements in favor of your product or service will do more to influence the opinion of their peers than statements made by your company. For this simple reason, collecting testimonials from industry experts should always be an ongoing part of your marketing program.

Several years ago I wrote the marketing materials for an intraocular lens called, MemoryLens®. At a panel discussion about the product, I was able to interview Professor, Dr. med. Thomas Neuhann of Germany, who is highly regarded as an international cataract and refractive surgery pioneer.

During our discussion I collected some raw thoughts from him that captured his feelings about MemoryLens®. After giving his raw words some polish, he agreed to sign off on the following testimonial:

“MemoryLens is my lens of choice. I have implanted over 1,000 of them and the quickest way to say how I feel about MemoryLens is to say it is the lens I would have put in my own eye.”

—Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Neuhann

This quote, among others, from one of the most respected cataract surgeons in the world was pure gold for our marketing campaign.

Collecting such strong physician testimonials can be easier than you think. Why? Because when physician testimonials (along with their photos) appear in your marketing materials, participating doctors receive free publicity and are positioned as industry experts among their peers.

If you need a few tips on how to collect physician testimonials, here’s a simple three-step process that I’ve used with great success over the years.

1. Interview the physician

Schedule a brief interview with your physician after he has agreed to provide you with a testimonial. Doctors are very busy, so be sure to tell him you’ll only need about five minutes of his time.

Engage your physician in a free-flowing conversation about your product and the specific benefits you’d like to tout in the testimonial. Remind your doctor not to worry about choosing just the right words. Tell him that you’re just looking for his raw thoughts, and that you’ll reshape his quotes into a more polished testimonial after the interview.

When your interview concludes, review the doctor’s raw statements, and then edit them into a polished testimonial. Make sure the testimonial is short and concise—a few lines will do. Most of all, make your physician sound intelligent and professional.

2. Send the testimonial to the physician for review

Give your physician an opportunity to review the testimonial you’ve written, and tell him he’s welcome to alter it in any way he sees fit. If you’ve written a well-crafted testimonial that makes your doctor sound professional, there’s a good chance any alterations he suggests will be intended to make your product or service sound even better!

3. Finalize the testimonial and get approval

After your physician sends you his suggested revisions, be sure to send him a reply e-mail with the finalized testimonial in it.

Ask him one last time if he is happy with it, and if he is, have him reply back to your e-mail with his final approval. You’ll then want to save this e-mail in your permanent records.

In addition, your legal department may also suggest that your doctor complete a release form that he can sign, scan and send back to you.

The Upward Trend In Online Healthcare “Shopping”

by Casey Demchak | on Jan 08, 2012 | No Comments

While working on a white paper for a client last year, I came across some important statistics on healthcare “shopping” that really captured my attention.

According to a study released by the Pew Research Center in February, 2011, 80% of all Internet users go online to research healthcare information. That’s a lot more than I suspected.

For those tracked by the Pew Internet Project, learning about healthcare is the third most popular online activity behind e-mail and search engine use.

When you consider that about one-quarter of adults do not use the Internet, the percentage of those seeking healthcare information online is 59% of the total U.S. population.1 That’s nearly six of every 10 adults.

When you break down the numbers further, a growing body of research indicates that consumers are searching for information online about specific physicians and hospitals. This is a break from only a few years ago when consumers used the Internet primarily to research specific diseases or medical treatments.

For example, I reviewed a 2003 report on the top online healthcare searches of that time, and 63% were performed to learn about a disease or medical problem. Only 21% were done to learn about a hospital or physician.2

Today, approximately 47% of searches are performed to learn about doctors or health professionals, and 38% are done to research hospitals and other medical facilities.

This demonstrates that the percentage of people going online to search specifically for hospitals or physicians has increased significantly since 2003.

Engage potential end users of your products and services online

Common sense says that it’s smart to assume that the percentage of consumers searching for information about doctors, hospitals, services and medical devices will continue to rise as Internet technologies and mobile platforms become more powerful.

Given this information, it’s easy to conclude that medical marketers can longer afford to dedicate only a small percentage of their marketing budgets to online initiatives. It’s now essential to reach out and engage consumers where they are gathering and doing healthcare research in increasing numbers—online.

Leverage online healthcare “shopping” traffic

Whether you market a healthcare service or medical device, it’s critical to develop digital strategies that educate consumers before they ever step into a physician’s office. Because the more they know about your products or services before they visit a doctor, the more likely they are to ask about them during a consultation.

1Pew Internet and American Life Project, February 2011
2Pew Internet and American Life Project, July 2004

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