How iPads Revolutionize Medical Device Marketing

Have you ever tried to present a complex medical device at a moment’s notice? If so, you’ll know how difficult it is to communicate complex product differentiators, workflow and processes without a visual aid. With medical devices,  product accessibility is often limited as they can be large, fragile and expensive to ship. So what do you do? Many companies have found success using iPads to demonstrate virtual 3D Product Models (which look and behave like the real thing.)

If you’re faced with this challenge, there are a few things you should consider before purchasing hundreds of mobile devices for your global sales force.

Make Sure They are Equipped With Content that Genuinely Accelerates Sales

Mike Hedges, Chief Information Officer at Medtronic recounts exactly the type of situation where iPads are revolutionizing medical marketing, by enabling presentations at a moment’s notice. “During a dinner with several cardiologists, one asked about Medtronic’s drug-eluting stent. Normally, the conversation would have shifted to another topic, but one of the Medtronic salesmen quickly pulled out his iPad with the product information, which kicked off several hours of discussion.”

This blog post will outline the key criteria required to generate interactive marketing content for the iPad that will enable medical device marketers to a) accelerate product sales cycles, b) create engaging, hands-on customer experiences, and c) differentiate their medical products at a moments notice, anywhere and any time.

If you’re looking for an iPad app for your Sales team that helps them better demonstrate and differentiate their medical devices in a moments notice, consider this:

• Make sure your content lets you tailor presentations. If it doesn’t, you’ll have trouble communicating to a variety of audiences—as physicians, lab technicians, and CTOs all have varying levels and areas of interest. Your prospect’s time is precious, so being able to jump directly to the information and products that are of interest to them can make or break a sale.
• Ensure your content accurately represents the medical device in a photo realistic manner—cartoonish models don’t do your product justice. Kaon’s 3D Product Models are the only high-definition product demonstrations available that a) deliver realism (make the virtual 3D product resemble the actual product as closely as possible), (b) mimic behavior (make the virtual 3D product behave the same as the actual product does – doors open, power supplies are removed, etc.) and (c) maximize performance and visual experience (make the entire virtual 3D product experience fluid, natural and visually appealing and realistic). This means the product models are visually identical to physical products, allowing the user freedom rotate and view these photo realistic models from any angle, as well as interact with them to run animated sequences to demonstrate product features and operations in the most realistic and engaging way possible.
• Ensure that the iPad content you create can be re-used on multiple delivery platforms, so you can provide customers a consistent, universal presentation wherever they encounter your brand (website, trade shows, training sessions, briefing centers)—without paying to re-format, re-create or re-develop content. This also helps to ensure that you’re articulating a consistent product message everywhere a prospect encounters your medical device.
• Look to develop iPad content that can show medical devices fully-functioning in their natural environment. It may be impossible to show a prospect a 1.5 ton analysis machine, but showing a 3D Product Model that looks and behaves just as the actual product does, in a hospital setting, can actually help to articulate MORE features and benefits than giving an actual demonstration of the physical product or presenting a shell of the product.
• Create medical device content that is TRULY interactive, unlike videos or PPTs—meaning that when the user does something, the content immediately reacts; putting customers in the “driver’s seat” creating a personalized interaction they control based on their interests as they view products and messaging in whatever sequence they choose.
• Construct easily translatable content to extend global reach. Medical companies often have offices, channel partners and sales teams spread across the globe, and communicating to this wide audience can be challenging if the marketing content can’t be easily translated into multiple languages.  Localized 3D Product Models extend your global reach, providing every remote sales office a full portfolio of products to demonstrate where they previously may not have been able to obtain physical products due to shipping costs or export red tape.
• Find a way to repurpose existing messaging and supporting collateral. Due to device complexity and regulatory compliance issues, inconsistent messaging is one of the most crucial obstacles medical companies must overcome. Fact sheets and collateral that have been previously created MUST be incorporated within your interactive iPad content. The immediate accessibility of iPad Apps provides the perfect way to get up to-the-minute information updates out to sales people around the world– ensuring all prospects receive the same standardized message.
• Develop content native to the iPad – NO INTERNET NEEDED. The mobility of iPads allows for presentations literally anywhere, at any time, but if the app requires an Internet connection then this can seriously hamper the desired mobility—as many hospitals, clinics and corporate headquarters have strict firewalls or limited access to Internet. Content that runs natively on the iPad allows for presentations ANYWHERE you can take your iPad, expanding the potential locations of demonstrations tenfold.

Now that you know some crucial features in creating great iPad content, you have an excellent idea of what to look for in an iPad app  – interactivity that will genuinely excite Sales teams while providing them with engaging medical device content that can help them win deals.