By Eat More Fruit Communications
If you’re leading marketing for a medical device company, chances are you’re focusing on the wrong things.
Your novel mode of action. Your breakthrough technology. Your innovative mechanism.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: only 20 per cent of Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) will ever care about that level of detail. The other 80 per cent just want to know if it works and how likely it is to deliver results.
And procurement? They’re even further down the line. They need benefits tied to value, clinical outcomes mapped against their priorities, and evidence that fits their organisational strategy.
66 per cent of procurement decisions are now taking longer because stakeholders are demanding more evidence, more collaboration, and more strategic thinking.
Yet most medical device marketing still reads like a science textbook or emotionally-charged patient diary entries.
The Mode of Action Trap
Last week, new data on hospital procurement priorities arrived from NAMSA, a global medical research organisation .
100 hospital decision-makers across the US and Europe revealed something worrying: the gap between what companies are selling and what buyers actually need is widening.
The pattern is clear. Companies confuse differentiation with unique product features. Your named mode of action isn’t the selling point, it’s internal excitement.
But what procurement teams are prioritising is increased collaboration with manufacturers which ranks as the top strategic priority, not innovative technology.
When 9 times out of 10, clinicians and payers want the same fundamental outcomes: to work more efficiently, with better clinical results, at a reasonable price, with the best patient experience – why are we still leading with technical mechanisms?
What the Data Really Shows
The NAMSA study reveals a healthcare procurement landscape that’s becoming more sophisticated, not less.
77 per cent of hospitals report increased budgets, but the motivations differ dramatically.
US facilities are driven by AI and innovation investments, while European institutions emphasise digital integration and strategic partnerships.
More telling: 58 per cent of hospitals stay loyal to their current vendors despite rapid industry change.
When they do switch, it’s driven by new product offerings and enhanced technology – but the decision-making process is slowing down everywhere.
Why? Because you’re not just competing with Device X or Procedure Y anymore.
You’re competing with the entire healthcare industry which is trying to achieve the same efficiency gains, cost reductions, and outcome improvements through different approaches.
The Universal Outcomes Framework
Here’s where most medical device marketing gets it wrong. Instead of starting with your novel antimicrobial coating or breakthrough imaging algorithm, try asking “so what?” five times.
By the fifth “so what,”, chances are you’ve moved from technical feature to organisational impact and that’s where procurement lives.
But here’s the crucial bit: that final outcome needs different packaging for different stakeholders.
The multidisciplinary team approach isn’t optional in healthcare marketing, it’s essential.
The Multidisciplinary Messaging Challenge
Real-world evidence ranks as the top emerging procurement trend across all geographies. But evidence without narrative won’t land.
You can have brilliant pilot results, but if nobody understands them or sees themselves in them, they won’t convert.
The mistake most teams make?
Trying to be everything to everyone, or over-extrapolating clinical results to procurement metrics. Both approaches fail.
Instead, start with the same core outcome and package it differently:
- Patient perspective: Safety improvements and experience outcomes
- Clinician perspective: Workflow efficiency and clinical confidence
- Procurement perspective: System-wide impact and value demonstration
Your clinical efficiency story becomes a supply chain resilience story for European buyers.
Your reduced complications become a workforce optimisation story for stretched departments. Your faster procedures become a sustainability story through reduced waste and follow-up visits.
The Broader Impact Opportunity
Here’s what most medical device companies miss: clinical improvements create ripple effects across every procurement priority. Post-sale customer service and supply assurance rank highest in manufacturer support needs.
But a medical procedure that runs more efficiently impacts supply chain resilience, waste management, CO2 emissions, and staff utilisation.
The European market particularly values this system thinking.
European procurement is heavily influenced by government-led reforms. Your device isn’t just solving a clinical problem – it’s contributing to national healthcare transformation.
The New Marketing Playbook
The old playbook – feature, benefit, clinical study – doesn’t work when procurement decisions involve more stakeholders and requires deeper evidence.
Decision-making processes are slowing due to regulatory complexity, stakeholder involvement, and demands for robust clinical evidence.
What works instead:
Evidence hierarchy: RCTs and health economic audits first, but presented as outcomes, not methods.
Challenge-based messaging: Frame your solution around the universal healthcare challenges – efficiency, outcomes, value, experience – with realistic expectations.
Multidisciplinary evidence packages: Same core story, different supporting evidence for different stakeholders.
Early engagement: With longer procurement cycles, you need to be part of the strategic conversation, not just the vendor selection.
Making the Shift
If you’re marketing to the 20 per cent who care about your mode of action, you’re missing the 80 per cent who just want results.
And if you’re not speaking to procurement’s broader organisational priorities, you’re competing with one hand tied behind your back.
The question isn’t whether your device works – it’s whether you can articulate why it matters to a healthcare system under pressure.
Can you help procurement teams make the internal case? Can you show clinicians how it fits their workflow?
Can you demonstrate patient impact beyond the clinical endpoints? Can you demonstrate the strategic value your solution brings to healthcare transformation.
Which category is your marketing in?
Ready to shift from feature-focused to outcome-focused medical device marketing? The evidence is clear – but the execution requires strategic thinking, multidisciplinary messaging, and genuine understanding of healthcare systems.
That’s where the real competitive advantage lies. Get in touch to see how we can help you today.
