By John Smith
A prospective customer’s first interaction with a medical device company brand may typically take place online. It is, therefore, increasingly important to ensure that potential customers find a compelling, easy-to-navigate website that takes advantage of the latest design techniques and addresses important issues vital to client success. An accurate and powerful website can harness the power of online marketing strategies to address the new "accountable care organization" mandate, capture additional market share and reinforce the benefits of products and services.
A medical device company’s website may facilitate hundreds of interactions every day, and it is important that the site design captures the same personality and evokes the same emotion the company is building with its sales force and other attributes "on the ground." There are three key elements that are critical to today’s website designs: an appearance that is commensurate with the brand the company wants to portray to the marketplace, a design that utilizes the most contemporary styles and approaches, and a vehicle that shows fresh thinking and growing momentum to the market.
Much of the strategy in creating an effective website is rooted in the information architecture. Simply put, it is organizing the information and presenting it in a way that enables the reader to navigate directly to what they want to find in the fastest, easiest way possible. Make sure that key issues, such as ACO, are worked in and included in the information architecture at the outset of the project – before pages are designed or copy is written – including text navigation, graphical navigation, internal/external linking strategies and page naming conventions. A large part of the linking strategies is to ensure that a robust inbound linking approach is in place to pull traffic back to a company’s website. This inbound link facility will increase search engine optimization, multiply the number of backlinks pointed toward a company’s website and augment a company’s ranking in link popularity.
While Web 2.0 made the Web more interactive and easier to navigate, Web 3.0 takes these techniques to a new level and offers opportunities to customize content to an individual user’s preferences. Medical device web developers must stay abreast of these trends and embrace the most contemporary technologies in site development. This will result in sites that are faster to load, easier to maintain, more interactive and friendlier to the latest platforms, such as mobile devices. Newer development strategies also take advantage of ever-changing search algorithms, ensuring optimal placement in both standard and non-standard search engine page rankings. So if a client is searching for "Accountable Care" on the web, make it more likely that your device company’s site comes up, and don’t be afraid to send your client the links to reinforce your depth of knowledge in this area.
The development of Web content relevant to key issues facing customers can help a medical device company leap ahead of its competition. Ensure that copywriters have a rich understanding of the ACO mandate and drivers, including the delicate relationships between stakeholders, in addition to the the competing motivators of improving care while reducing costs and the common challenge of selling technology solutions that are ahead of the market.
A medical device company’s website, like its other communications vehicles, enhances its value to key customers and audiences. This perception of increased value will, in turn, lead to improved revenue and a closer partnership between company and customer.
My next blog will discuss making sure that company marketing materials address the new mandate and describe specific ways that the company can help the customer get ready for ACO.
John Smith, a Vice President at Dodge Communications, has more than 20 years healthcare communications and marketing experience with life science, medical technology and healthcare companies. He has developed and overseen program planning, communications and marketing strategy, media relations, positioning and Medicaid reimbursement programs for therapeutic, biotechnology and medical technology clients while serving as senior vice president and healthcare practice leader in the Boston offices of Fleishman-Hillard, Manning Selvage & Lee and Brodeur Worldwide. John can be contacted at jsmith@dodgecommunications.com.
Maze image acquired on Flickr from ‘rafeejewell.’