Regulated Marketing Content: Three Takeaways from Veeva MedTech Summit

Veeva MedTech Summit Europe took place early November 2023 in Munich, Germany, bringing together a diverse group of medical device and diagnostics professionals from the fields of clinical, regulatory, quality, IT, medical, and marketing content. Among various tracks, the commercial content segment took a step away from traditional discussions around marketing claims and content management and shifted to the application of these concepts in real medtech organization situations. The key topics were around enhancing customer experience, streamlining end-to-end claims management, and delving into the complexities of marketing technology stacks. Additionally, sessions tackled pivotal medical affairs topics, including engaging and managing collaboration with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). In this article we share the key insights from industry leaders at Summit.

Key Takeaways

Cut Through the Digital Marketing “Noise”

In an era where digital marketing is prevalent, potential customers are overwhelmed with numerous messages through a variety of channels from multiple companies. Thus, medtech organizations are looking for a way to limit ‘marketing noise’ and focus on effective, engaging communication in which the principle is quality over quantity. Here is what some industry experts recommended:

• Customer Journey: Understanding and tailoring the customer journey across your organization is essential for engaging customers. Having a clear customer journey model allows for targeted, relevant messaging, especially important in an industry where precision can make the difference in patient outcomes.
• Personalized Content: The shift from content proliferation to personalization can help medtech organizations create meaningful connections with their audience. Personalized content ensures that the desired messages about the organization and/or portfolio resonate with the right people, enhancing the credibility and effectiveness of a campaign.
• Sales & Marketing Alignment: These teams need to work hand-in-glove, leveraging CRM tools to ensure messages are personalized and timely. A challenging aspect here is making CRM usage more appealing to sales teams. CRM platforms will become more critical to medtech sales teams as the industry moves forward. Having a platform that unifies your content management with your sales channels will give greater ability to reach HCPs faster with consistent, personalized messages at point of sale.

Relevant Traditional Marketing tactics in the AI Age

It’s natural for organizations to get swept up in their individual digital transformation journeys – looking to modernize and speed marketing processes with the use of exciting tools such as artificial intelligence, however certain traditional marketing practices remain invaluable. Industry experts believe certain marketing tactics remain “evergreen”.:

• Claims Management=Credibility: Strong, compliant claims remain the cornerstone of effective marketing, including properly managing from ideation to substantiation and into the market. This ultimately upholds the credibility of your organization. Especially in an industry where trust is paramount – ensuring claim traceability and accuracy in data is non-negotiable.
• Customer-centric Marketing: This is not simply a trend, but a necessity. Modernizing your marketing requires a shift from isolated strategies to a holistic, tailored and responsive approach to customer needs. It necessitates building a strong foundation, optimizing processes, and employing strategic governance within an organization.
• Personal Relationships & Interaction: Personal relationships built through face-to-face interactions remain irreplaceable as they facilitate more effective communication through non-verbal cues and allow for immediate feedback – creating stronger, more enduring relationships.

Medical Affairs and Marketing Collaboration

The collaboration between medical affairs and marketing is critical as medical affairs’ deep scientific insight combined with marketing’s strategic input can ensure that messaging is compelling, yet clinically accurate and compliant. Industry experts in both fields emphasize the importance of this synergy and offer additional insights on fostering a successful working relationship:

• Targeted marketing strategies: By leveraging medical affairs’ insights, marketing campaigns can be more data driven and personalized. This is especially effective when tackling “patient-centric marketing”, in which understanding the patient’s perspective is crucial, even when the primary target may be health care professionals
• Feedback mechanisms: Collaboration between commercial sales and MSLs requires a structured, real-time feedback loop and regular interaction. Especially when for example teams require an exchange of important safety information and field insights. Additionally, aligning on joint training for consistent messaging can bring a unified front to the customer.
• Increasing market access, credibility & trust: The role of medical affairs in facilitating peer-to-peer engagement with KOLs is invaluable. This exchange led by medical affairs can enhance trust and credibility with customers, thereby bolstering the efforts of commercial sales teams.

Closing Remarks

Veeva MedTech Summit in Europe showcased the latest trends and challenges in the medtech industry, while also serving as a pivotal forum for shaping the future of medtech marketing and communications. Industry leaders provided a clear message that precision and compliance are non-negotiable, so the integration of innovative marketing strategies with deep customer insights is vital. The discussions focused on a paradigm shift in thinking – one that balances the rigor of medical science with the agility and personalization of modern marketing. A striking revelation at Summit was the shared sense of surprise among attendees from various medtech organizations, regarding their common challenges in business processes, meaningful technology integration, data management, compliance, and audit preparedness. This collective recognition added a unique dimension to the discussions, reinforcing the idea that while the medtech industry is diverse, many face similar hurdles.

Pearl Vyas, Director, Commercial Strategy, Veeva MedTech