All subscribers are equal, but some subscribers are more equal than others.
– Joe Hage

Journeyfolk like you are my favorite because you expressed an interest in my specialty, medical device marketing strategy and communication. The first 52 Journeys came weekly.

Then bi-weekly.

Then less frequently.

It’s been two months since I last wrote you.

And I now recognize the pattern.

A pattern developed.

I love writing you. I do. Here was my process:

1. Collect. Keep observations in a folder for later development. ????
    

2. Filter. Decide, Is this Journey worthy?
    

3. Provoke. Find the perfect headline using Headline Analyzer, reiterating until I got a 70 or higher score. Today’s headline, “I see a pattern developing here – and it’s not just me,” got a 73. It was my ninth try.
    

4. Write.
    

5. Iterate.
    

6. Search. For the right image to represent the post. I found this pattern for free on Pixabay.

   

   Then I ended up not using it.

7. Embellish. Will videos help tell the story? Sometimes the native file is on YouTube, other times on Wistia. (Wistia vs. YouTube.) How about an emoji from emojipedia? ????
    

8. Yoast. The Yoast plug-in is where I prepare the social share.

   

   Then I changed all that, too.

9. Preview. Is everything perfect? No? Go back to step 5. Yes? Publish! ????
    

10. Check. Once published, I use the LinkedIn Post Inspector to see how the story will appear when I share the link. (I might have to revisit steps 6+8.)

    

    That’s what I ended up going with.

That was a bad pattern.

10 steps where one step will do?

That’s a bad pattern – and not just for me. For you, too.

I’m making a change that will DECREASE the time I spend creating content and INCREASE the effectiveness and efficiency of educating and serving you.

Introducing MDG Premium.

I’ll explain it in a moment. But, first, what just happened (it’s 10 a.m. Tuesday) is a PERFECT ILLUSTRATION of the benefit.

1. My designer Antonio sent me early concepts for an updated homepage.

2. We jumped on a quick call. I recorded it.

3. I shared it on MDG Premium with zero editing. You can see how I do what I do.

I would never have made a Journey out of it.

That post took me five minutes. This post is already 5+ hours. In fact, I wanted to send it to you yesterday to give you more time to get in at the lower price.

So what is MDG Premium?

Technology has given us a big opportunity here. I’m excited about it!

It’s given us a more scalable and practical way to give you advice, resources, and access to my network.

If you know Slack: MDG Premium is a workspace I created to serve the medical device industry. I invited my closest advisors – the folks I ask when I have a question or someone asks for a recommendation – to join the workspace as experts.

Each has a #channel they manage and (of course) you can contact them via direct message. In effect, my team is just a message away.

I priced it at $39/month (free trial and half price until the official launch) so even the smallest outfit (which, arguably needs it most) can painlessly join.

If you don’t yet know Slack: Let me say I believe “Slack 2019” is to virtual collaboration what “Facebook 2007” was to social networking.

If you have a few good years of work ahead of you, and you haven’t joined Slack yet, you will. It’s just a matter of when.

I made you this introductory video. It’s just 2½-minutes long.

What The World Needs Now

Is Love Sweet Love – and MDG Premium.

MDG Premium the most efficient way to communicate freely, securely, and across companies – and continents! – with clients, followers, and subscribers.

Perhaps this exchange, also this morning, even better illustrates the benefit.

I didn’t even know Phil last week!

Six extra benefits.

Click here for details about them.

Quickly, they are:

1. Efficient collaboration with my network.

2. A directory of everyone on the platform.

3. Timely updates available nowhere else.

4. Weekly team meetings – face-to-face with me and guest experts.

5. Watercooler conversation (see the site).

6. 10% off every live MDG event we host, including 10x Medical Device Conferences.

Please join me on MDG Premium.

The Journey was wonderful.

It was precisely what I needed after my Marketing Midlife Crisis.

MDG Premium is what I – and you – need today.

Please join me? Say yes before October 22 and take half off the $39/month price. Your price will $19/month and you’ll be grandfathered in at that rate, as long as your account stays in good standing.

There’s a free trial; cancel if you’re not delighted.

I’m excited about this next chapter in our relationship and chatting with you more often.

Thank you for joining me on The Journey MDG Premium!

Did you like this? Then please  with your network.

P.S. Early response to MDG Premium has been very encouraging. Please, take the free trial and check it out.

The post I see a pattern developing here – and it’s not just me appeared first on Medical Marcom.

Look what I made! A podcast!

I decided today to go into the “podcast business.”

Well, I decided to give podcasts a try, anyhow.

Here, I’ll let Joe Hage tell you all about it. Embellished transcript below for readers and our site-crawling overlords. Enjoy!

Today’s topic is when do you need marketing?

So I wrote a friend of mine, who is the managing director of a boot camp for startups, an incubator. I mentioned I had talked with Lance Black, Medical Device Innovation Lead for the Texas Medical Center, the largest hospital system in America. Lance told me his candidates get help from mentors.

And I thought, Okay, well, that probably means when you need someone who knows such a thing, you try to get that person on the phone and arrange a time when you guys could talk.

And I thought, what if there were a more dedicated resource for that?

What if I were to put together a package of some kind and offer a suite of marketing and strategy services? Would that be appealing?

I mentioned this to Allan, saying, “I’ve been tossing around the idea of being a resource to companies and incubators. Here’s my pitch. Tell me if it will resonate with you as “Incubator Man.”

Marketing Strategy Counsel

The concept: Entrenched, deeply available marketing strategy and communication counsel for program participants.

Benefit: A part-time yet highly available and committed resource (namely, me) can support candidates more reliably than mentor volunteers with spotty availability.

The package would/could include:

1. Direct access. Participants would join a dedicated Slack channel on which I could be reached any time, every day.

2. Generous availability. Participants could schedule time on my constantly updated calendar. We could agree on hours; say, 10 per month?

3. Team Meetings. An hour each week when I “sit” in my virtual office, walk-ins welcome. No appointment necessary, a dedicated GoToMeeting link.

4. In person. One visit per program to include formal training day(s)?

5. Online training materials. I’m creating a 16-hour medical device marketing course which could be made available for all participants.

Investment: Subject to scope and discussion. ($4995 per six-week session? Alternate proposals welcome.)

Editor’s Note: What do YOU think of that offer? Would it make sense for your company or incubator?

Allan said no.

He said,

For early stage companies, probably not. At that stage, they are trying to bring a concept to reality. And they’re more concerned with regulatory prototyping and the like.

They’re not permitted to market yet. That type of help would be valuable at the stage where they can actually take the product to market, which is typically post-accelerator, it would be more valuable then, if you ask me.

The biggest value to entrepreneurs and programs would be business development help, being able to get in front of the decision makers for the hospital goals and other health care facilities is what they all want.

Allan said, strategy and marketing (this is my interpretation) is the stuff of “when we have the product ready.”

“When we have the product ready?”

I wrote back saying I vehemently disagree. And I gave him this link.

I said, if people think the perception as soon as they heard the word ‘marketing’ is, “We don’t need that until we have a product,” that’s valuable insight to me.

It’s one with which I vehemently disagree. But that’s valuable insight in terms of how people perceive the concept of marketing.

And so maybe, as a marketer, I need to reposition the offer itself.

So I referred Allan to an article I wrote back in July of 2019 called “Need a job? Distribution? Money? Do this first.” It’s a six-minute read. I spent at least six hours on it.

“I get asked the same questions all the time.

Joe, I’m looking for a position and or I’m looking for new clients for my consultancy. Do you know of any opportunities for me?

Joe? I’m looking for sales representatives, 1090 nines or distributors to sell our products? Can you introduce me?

Joe? I’m looking for a source of financing. I’d be willing to license it. I would even consider selling the IP. Can you help?”

And I write, “From now on, I’ll be able to point my inquisitors here, it should save everyone a lot of time.

Let’s start with supply. Remember supply and demand?

Each of these involve supply.
• For a job, you can supply a human being to do a task. Namely, you.
• Distribution, you can supply a product to people who sell products.
• For money, you can supply an investment opportunity to investors.

Let’s talk about demand for your product.
You want someone to sell or distribute your product or service. It’s not going to be easy.

Years ago, I asked distributors, how I could help manufacturers seeking distribution. And back came the sobering but enlightening reply.

“We carry thousands of products for us to consider carrying a new product, it has to have three things. One, it has to be noteworthy. We don’t need more me two products to support. It needs to come with solid marketing support and training. We can’t expect our reps to know everything about every product, we carry. Three, profit, there has to be a healthy margin, and reasonable sales volumes for us to even consider it.
1. It can’t be “me-too.”
2. You need to support it.
3. And I need to make money.

I ask, “Can you deliver all these? If not, I don’t know anybody that can help you.”

And I list a whole bunch of comments that people have shared about this article. And I share a list of distributors publicly listed on the HIDA.org website.

And I say if you can’t supply the three things being noteworthy, having support, and being profitable, no one’s going to carry you. It won’t matter. Don’t bother to spend any money doing it.

Seeking investors

I’ll talk about demand to finance you demand for your investment opportunity. You want someone to invest in your company, I know you know, it’s hard.

The alternative to giving you money for your investment, is spending my money on anything – jelly beans, a stock, retirement, my son’s education, a vacation, anything I could spend money on.

I say we recently covered this topic at “Want my money? Fill this out.” which includes a download and video advice from people much smarter than I on the topic. It includes a list of top venture capital firms and you can download it.

The punchline: Marketing First!

So what do all of these have in common? Something very marketing related how you position your offer.

And this goes back to the reason why I picked up the microphone today. And responded the way that I did to Allan’s reply about with the services I provide, to be helpful to a whole class.

I do what I do all the time. And it’s usually one on one. I record a lot of it.

As time permits, I repackage it and share it with you. I mean, a bleep out the names of the relevant things. But if there’s an insight worth sharing, I can repackage it.

But one of the time is just so scalable, and there’s only one of me. So the concept was, how about “one too many?”

And, again, his reply was yet not until they have a product.

I began today with questions people ask me: They all start, “I am looking for….”

Unfortunately, no one cares what you are looking for. (I care but that’s not the point.)

They care about WIIFM, what’s in it for me? So I invite you to frame your need in the context of what’s in it for them. And here’s the formula,

To whom,
your services/products/investments
are the [what is the frame of reference]
that [what is the benefit]
because [how you support that claim].

If you’re listening in the car, I don’t expect you to write it down. And it’s deceptive, deceptively hard to fill in those five blanks. Because oftentimes, I can read those sentences with you filling in the blanks and say, “So?”

And “Is it compelling enough for me to stop what I’m doing? And listen? Is it urgent to me and my urgently looking for this solution?”

If not, I don’t have time for it.

In fact, I’m grateful you’re taking any time listening to this, you could be listening to something else.

Everything has an opportunity cost. And to have the privilege of speaking with you now is something I don’t take lightly. So again, thank you.

But that’s the case with your product or service, I don’t have to listen to what you have to say. I don’t have to pick up your messages.

I can fast forward through commercials, I can decide what I’m going to watch on Netflix without interruption.

Remember, your value proposition has to be so compelling, it forces your prospect to act…

… your distributor, or the person that they want me to introduce them to at the hospital? Or the person that they want to influence, or…, or…, or….

For me to do that would be silly. I mean, I’m not going to call up my friend and say “Hey, Bill. This guy needs money. I know you have money. So I told him call you.”

Bill would be, like, please don’t ever do that again.

If I called distributors that I know, and I say, “Hey, I got a guy who has a product, he wants to find distributors. So I told him to call you and use my name.”

The guy would be, like, please don’t do that.

Because I don’t know what he has. I don’t know if it would fit.

I, Joe Hage, don’t know what’s in it for them.

Because I haven’t spent enough time with you: The incubator, the company, the client, whatever, to understand precisely, what is your value proposition that is so compelling that the person you want me to reach agrees and is grateful that I put the two of you together?

So do I know anybody? Almost invariably, yes. Yes, I do.

But I won’t be introducing you.

Because for me to do that, and be fair to them, and to represent you well, I would have to really understand what you do. And that’s not a 10-minute phone call.

Because I’m going to ask you again and again. And I’m going to iterate and I’m going to iterate and I’m going to say,
> Can I say it like this?
> Can I say it like that?
> Why is that important?
> Why would they do that?
> Who’s the decision maker?
> How many influencers are there?
> What else is on their plate?

A score of questions that so I can tell your story in terms anyone can understand.

To emphasize my point about time

You. You listening to this podcast right now?

I’d like you to call me today. I’ll give you my number. It’s 917-405-3017. That’s my actual cell phone number.

Call from a mobile phone, because I’m going to send you a message that says, “Sorry, I don’t recognize this number. Who is this please?” At which point you can text back to me and say, “Oh, I listened to your podcast,” and that will thrill me.

Anyhow, for the 99% of you who heard that and smiled?

You’re not going to call me, are you? You’re not going to call me.

What will we talk about? Or, “Yeah, I really could use your help, but I don’t think I can afford you.”

Or, “Oh, wow, look at that guy. He has such a following. He just gave me his cell phone number, I can call him. Let me put that on my list of things to do.”

If anyone has gotten to this point in the recording after they phoned me, I would be shocked.

Again, that number is 917-405-3017. I don’t expect any phone calls – but surprise and delight me.

The fact is, you have things going on today and calling Joe Hage wasn’t one of the things on your list.

What’s on your list, picking up a child taking care of an ailing parent, doing the hundred things that are on your list of things to do at work, because you’re understaffed and we do more with less these days.

In summary

I’ll wrap with saying this. Dear Allan who said, “Yeah, they don’t really want to talk about marketing and strategy until after they have a product that they can put in front of the people. They’d like you to introduce them.”

I say, they thinking about it wrong.

They need someone to challenge them to shape their value prop and how they communicate it.
> Who cares?
> Will they actually pay for it?
> What’s involved in switching?
> Is there an operational cost of training people?

If you don’t have this level of rigor in your value prop, stop developing.

Boy, do I know a lot of people who raised a lot of money, had a fantastic idea, and failed.

And as my wife can tell you, boy, did we lose a lot of money on one of them. (That’s a topic for another podcast.)

So do you need marketing strategy and communications?

Well, communications, what is that all about? It’s simply a fancy word saying ‘telling your story.’

It doesn’t mean you need a website now.

It doesn’t mean you need a brochure to get ready for a trade show.

It doesn’t mean a laundry list of things that people associate with marketing, like email blasts, that’s not what I’m talking about.

Marketing is presenting your value proposition in a compelling way. So someone cares.

That’s marketing.

So Allan, I would advise you to go back to those folks and say, “I know a guy who can help you tell your story. So you can be effective and challenge you to make sure that your value proposition is worth you working on it.”

Just as I’m saying for marketing right now, do the same thing with engineering, or the regulatory person you trust, who says, “Look, this will never get by FDA? What are you doing then?”

So do that rigorous exercise with every functional person that could possibly touch your product along value chain.

Want to be on a future podcast?

If you’d like to be a guest, and just have a conversation like this one for a future podcast, email me.

I hope you enjoyed podcast number one.

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

Did you like this? Then please  with your network.

P.S. I’m working on something BIG! It’s the subject of our next Journey.

The post I Bet You Think About Marketing All Wrong appeared first on Medical Marcom.

Tom KraMer wrote me, “This was the best webinar I have attended in a long time. The info was given over a short, 30 minute period, it was thick, relevant, actionable content, delivered clearly. The final 30 minutes for Q&A was enlightening and voluntary.”

He was talking about this webinar with WireBuzz CEO Todd Hartley. I’ve admired his work for some time and it was a treat to collaborate with him on this presentation. I’ll probably make the video ‘required viewing’ for clients who want to work with me on a new website.

In short, I encourage you to invest the time. Click here for his slides.

[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lps_2Hwhrg8[[/fve]

If we work together, here’s what I’ll probably say.

1. What video can we put on your homepage?
   To be fair, this site doesn’t have a homepage video and I know it could use a makeover. I have them on MDG and the beautifully redesigned 10x Conference sites.

   I’ll spare you figures and statistics except this one from Todd. “Viewers retain 95% of a watched message versus 10% of a read message.”

   Video’s where it’s at. You know it and I know it. Ignore it at your peril.

2. 82% of your visitors don’t want to talk with you.
   Not until they’re ready to buy something. So give them answers to all the questions they’ll likely have without making them fill out a form. More on that in an upcoming Journey.

3. Beam me up. I tell clients, “My job is to create a virtual you.”

   No one can outsell you for your product or service; for example, when you have my full attention at your trade show booth.

   You’ll never be available 24/7. My job is helping you deliver an experience as close to “You, 24/7” as possible.

4. Ready on demand.
   Todd: “Write this down. Use this for every project, every device, every campaign. Because of the content marketing revolution, today’s buyers expect every business to provide them with an on-demand experience.”

   Give them live chat. Make it easy to find the information they seek – even about your competitors, if your management is bold enough to support you.

   Look, we’re going to research your competition anyhow. I can leave your site to do it or you can do some of the comparative homework for me. Not only will I appreciate it, it conveys you’re not afraid of the comparison.

   I expect you won’t do it. Tell me if otherwise.

5. Multiple landing pages.
   If you serve multiple audiences, each deserves a dedicated page. Don’t send everyone to the homepage and make them search for relevancy.

6. Too many notes. This was Journey #8, along with this delightful scene.

   [fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_eqxh-Qok[/fve]

   The point: Don’t worry about video length or text length. Use precisely as many seconds and words as are required. No more, no less.

   Understand where your visitor is in their buying decision. I want detail to avoid buyer’s remorse. A photo and headline are enough for me when I’m just browsing.

7. Video triggers.
   Are you ready to do something exceptionally clever?

   Todd (and I) host videos on Wistia – instead of YouTube – and here’s why. He triggers a notification to a salesperson when someone watches 80 percent of a video. Todd discusses this at the 18:45 mark.

8. Other talking points. We also discussed:
   
   • Why most subscribers will ignore our advice
   • Is it creepy to call a customer after she completes an online activity
   • How webinar participants rated their own sites
   • What goes into making a “good video”
   • How to send a playable video inside a “regular email”
   • And more. Go watch the thing already! ????

When is it time to update your medical device website?

If you’re wondering, “should I update my medical device website,” the answer is probably yes.

I’ve done five or six major Medical Marcom homepage revisions. I wrote about them – including the very embarrassing one – and my lessons learned here.

Do you know how often Medtronic has updated their site?

No, neither do I, but I had some fun on the Wayback Machine and found these gems for your entertainment.

Click to enlarge the images.

And some thought starters.

My 2012 video is surprisingly still relevant for kicking off a redesign project.

[fve]https://youtu.be/9xItilA1-BY[/fve]

There’s also some good, still relevant stuff in the 2014 follow up. You know, if you have nothing to do but hang out with Joe Hage today.

[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUb8YLDLKVQ[/fve]

Slides and transcript on this MedicalDevicesGroup.net page.

Fast Round

• You can be doing a lot more with your company’s LinkedIn page. Like Drift does. Looks like a great place to work, yes?

• Is Native Advertising still a thing? What’s native advertising in the first place? Asked and answered on Brandon Anderson’s site.

• Unmitigated Joy. The Westminster Chorus placed first last week at the International Barbershop Harmony Society Competition. (My Northwest Sound chorus came in 12th with the best scores in our 30+ year history.)

  Here. Enjoy Westminster’s almost-perfect performance.

[fve]https://youtu.be/RwUkjPUqVyM[/fve]

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

Did you like this? Then please  with your network.

P.S. If you don’t subscribe to my weekly Medical Devices Group message, you might consider it. Recent pieces on getting a job, an MDR trick you need to jump on immediately, and vaccinations resonated with the Group.

The post So you want to refresh your medical device website? appeared first on Medical Marcom.

I recently did a ride-along with Michael, a medical device sales rep calling on hospitals. He works for a large medical device company and sells Class III devices in a very established category where he has nearly complete penetration. We visited his two biggest accounts.

I asked him, “If Marketing reported to you, how would you have them help you?” This is what he said.

I’ve attempted to list his requests in priority order.

1. A Better Process

Michael is a very effective medical device sales person on the hospital floor. Yet he spends half his time doing work better suited to a sales administrator. In particular he deals with backorders and customer fulfillment issues that force him to check multiple systems, call customer service (and wait on hold), and deal with shipping, etc. He hopes Marketing can streamline the process with a new system that does the job of three current systems.

This feedback will not surprise headquarters and Marketing is contributing to a solution. But I list “Process” here first because increasing his time in the field would allow Michael to listen and collaborate more with customers.

Takeaway: Do a cost-benefit of sales administrator headcount versus lost time with customers.

2. Clinical Studies

His primary call points, physicians and nurses, don’t want “marketing spin.” They need to clearly understand the benefits of his products versus competitive products. And meaty claims come from completed studies approved through Legal and Compliance.

Despite calling on them often, Michael wove his key clinical difference into each conversation he had today. In one case, he took a CDC packet out of his bag to show how CDC recommended his product (not by name but by characteristics unique to his product).

Takeaway: Reps would rather have solid clinical facts versus a trunk full of glossy literature.

3. Key Opinion Leaders

While Sales plays a role here too, Michael needs Marketing to help identify and nurture relationships with key opinion leaders. Next to claims, being able to say [this noted doctor from this famous institution] uses our product and “you don’t have to take my word for it, you can call her and she’ll tell you her experience with our products” is most valuable.

Every new product needs to be evaluated with patients at the hospital level before the hospital will consider stocking it. Knowing a trusted doctor has gone before you, gave it a try, and had positive outcomes is a powerful motivator for a product evaluation.

Takeaway: The power of social proof is alive and well in the hospital setting. Securing endorsements from key opinion leaders help get your product trialed.

4. National Trade Show Support

Michael can handle the local shows by himself with a table, samples, and collateral. He needs Marketing to keep budgeting for the big shows where decision makers are exploring new technologies and solutions. Then he needs Marketing to get the word out to ensure the right kind of foot traffic and lead capture.

Takeaway: We are four points into Michael’s wish list. We still haven’t touched the Internet or collateral, what most marketing departments think of first when they talk about sales support.

5. Publications

Objective discussions written by third parties and featured in notable publications carry a lot of weight because they seem objective. Michael spoke objectively too, but to the cynic he’s still a “sales guy trying to sell me something.”

It’s a plus when the customer discovers the article on his own and reads it out of genuine interest. Then when Michael talks about the article in JAMA he has another talking point to reinforce his message.

We also talked about “air cover” and building awareness with print ads and magazine cover wraps. He noted one of his competitors does it all the time and wished we would too.

Takeaway: Publications matter and if you can’t get some third-party coverage, think about advertising where your customers are.

6. Effective Sales Materials

Whew. We’re six requests into the burn and here we are with effective sales materials. Michael was very specific about what he (and other seasoned reps at his company) want. He wants two-sided one-page brochures with big pictures, charts, and bullet points. He does not want long brochures that “no one’s going to read.” Plus, the bigger the picture or chart, the better he can use the piece to illustrate his point.

He wants an effective product catalog and he’d rather send a PDF of a SKU (or cut and paste something into an email) versus sending a link to a website page.

He wants videos that teach clinicians how to use his products. And he wants a postcard or some leave behind that explains how to access the content.

Takeaway: Michael is an “n” of one so I wouldn’t draw global conclusions here. But definitely get Sales input before you make your next piece of collateral.

7. Clinical Education

Give Michael clinical support – on the road with him, for Lunch & Learns, for in-depth demonstrations. Complement it with online tools – webinars, online training, and videos – and make them easy to access.

Takeaway: We spend a lot of time getting sales. Let’s make sure we make it easy to learn how to use the products. That will increase usage and satisfaction and reduce user error.

8. Discoverable, Relevant Content

Michael wants customers who search for information to find something relevant from his company. So that means content and search engine optimization work, intuitive navigation and inviting web design. It means an easy-to-use web catalog.

Takeaway: Michael owns his accounts. He wants to give them everything they need. While he wants discoverable content on a good website, these items are toward the bottom of the list. He doesn’t believe his customers are accessing our site (which was corroborated in focus group work).

9. Thanks But No Thanks

I asked Michael if he wanted any outbound phone calls made from Marketing. Not necessary, he said. He already has the relationship with his customers so there’s no need to call with “news” or “offers.” He can bring newsworthy concepts to customers. It gives him a fresh talking point. And he already has penetrated his geography so it’s highly unlikely Marketing is going to create a fresh lead at a new hospital.

I also asked if he’d want us to send marketing messages to his customers over email. He said, “Sure, if they gave your their email address for it.”

Conclusion

The best support for established medical device sales teams relies on the strength of your claims. With solid claims, Marketing and Sales can deliver the message in person or by proxy (key opinion leaders, in publications, at trade shows, in collateral, etc.).

Then, let Sales sell with limited distraction. Everything else is tertiary.

Would you agree?

Fast Round

• Will hospitals break contracts to adopt your technology? You’ll value this 10x interview with Providence Regional Chief of Medicine Mahesh Mulumudi. He influences buying decisions for Medical Center.

  Two additional video snippets and the entire transcript await you here.

• New offering – and you’re invited! Starting this Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9 a.m. Pacific, I’ll host the first weekly medical device marketing group chat on GoToMeeting.

  The June 14 meeting will be free for you to sample. Want to try it out? Click the button to get the meeting link.

  Sure! Send the free meeting link!

• For your entertainment. Facebook friends always seem to like “Real Hages of Washington” strips that feature Beth besting me in some way. grr!

  

  Click to enlarge

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

Did you like this? Then please it.

P.S. I hope you’ll stop by for Friday’s chat. If the time’s inconvenient for you, don’t worry. I’ll be recording for your later viewing.

The post What Do Device Reps Really Want? appeared first on Medical Marcom.

Why is no one taking your damn survey?

Maybe because you telegraphed it’s just a way to sell them something.

Good client. Terrible survey.

The other day I was talking with [redacted] and [redacted] from [redacted].

Nice people. Good call.

They wanted responses for their survey.

[Redacted] admitted the survey was “bloody awful” but that was partially due to software limitations. Of course, prospective survey-takers don’t care how the survey came to be or what your limitations were.

They won’t take a bad survey. And if your enticement is bad, they won’t click and even see it.

I recorded the call because, well, you know.

And here it is: Truncated to less than 15 minutes for a broad-ranging discussion on survey design and, ultimately, my recommendation for this particular client.

(It also gives you a good look at what it’s like to collaborate with me, should you be considering it.)

[fve]https://youtu.be/XDYoWMg-2gM[/fve]

A request:

If you learn a thing or two from the video, please  it on LinkedIn so your network can benefit. ????

Fast Round

• For you SEO fans. I wanted to know if tags were completely obsolete at this point.

  After reading this, I learned the depicted kind is probably worthless.

  Then learned about tags I didn’t realize were tags in the first place.

• Argh! What links?! You ever get this EXCEL message and are, like, WHAT LINKS?! I can’t find them anywhere!

  Here’s how to find them: Find external links.

  

• Three reasons for the Post Inspector. Use the LinkedIn Post Inspector to:

  1. Discover what’s needed for better-looking previews in posts;

  2. Have LinkedIn re-scrape your page (to get your updated image or content); and,
  3. Debug issues from your metadata.

  Click the image below to give it a whirl – maybe even experiment using the URL from this post (wink wink). ????

  

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

My calendar (link to book time) lightens up every summer, like clockwork.

Now’s a good time to contact me if you have a medical device marketing strategy or communication need and liked what you saw in the video.

P.S. Growing up, we had a small tan AM radio. I associate this song very strongly with sitting in my Brooklyn basement, listening to music in the late 1970s. Enjoy.

P.P.S. Love you, Mom.

[fve]https://youtu.be/boAv-Bu4MrI[/fve]

The post How to get someone to fill in your damn survey appeared first on Medical Marcom.

My client has thousands of leads from whitepapers and webinars and Sales can’t convert them.

It came up in conversation when my buddy Ted Rubin visited last month. If you don’t know Ted, you haven’t been paying attention.

Ted is an internationally renown keynote speaker and, with more than a half-million followers, the most followed CMO on Twitter.

We discussed why Sales is having trouble with marketing’s leads and, ultimately, what sales should be doing today to correct the situation.

Naturally, with my #RecordYourself initiative, I recorded our conversation, for your benefit.

Here it is, with the transcript below it.

Joe Hage: So, I had this client who came to me because they have thousands of leads that downloaded a white paper or attended a webinar, the sales guys get the leads, and nobody could be converted.

It’s just like garbage. They’re like, “These people are not good prospects. I can’t close them. They’re not ready to buy.”

And my advice to them was – There’s nothing wrong with doing a white paper, but the way you’re delivering that information is just too much to consume.

Now, I get it, if you’re far enough down the funnel, you’ll spend as much time as you need, but most of the people learning about what it is they do are not aware their need is as acute as it may be.

And I was telling them about how it’s important they record themselves and share their thoughts. And just so their customers are aware.

I said, “When I put out this or that, I don’t expect someone to call me up and say, ‘I saw your post. I need to hire you.’ But I’d be willing to bet if you ask anyone remotely in the industry – do you know anyone who does medical marketing? – I’ll be in their consideration set. They’ll be aware of me, and that’s all I need.”

What I was suggesting is,

The concept of getting a lead from marketing is going away – in that marketing does a good job when they promote awareness and keep relevant stories out for people to discover.

Ted Rubin: Right.

The Question

Joe: So, my question is, “So, what’s the role of a sales guy now?” because, I believe 10-20 years ago the head of sales said, like Alec Baldwin, “Here are the leads. Mitch and Murray gave me these leads. These are good leads. Go close the leads.”

Ted: This might sound self-serving, but I think it’s becoming more and more about that salesperson becoming a relationship builder.

Because the leads are coming from webinars someone signs up to watch. It’s not a lead. It’s just a name. It’s like going to LinkedIn and just pulling out the buyers of a certain type of product and calling it a lead.

It’s like the leads I had when I was a broker. I’d just open up the Yellow Pages. “You don’t have leads. Here. There are people. They got money. Go get it.”

Joe: Mhm.

Ted: And there were guys that could that. There are guys that could make 300 cold calls a day. And when they did that, they would get 10 real prospects.

I was not capable of making that. I would make 80 cold calls in a day, so I would fail at that method.

So, the way I overperformed those guys was I got out and got to know people. I took them out.

I spent time at seminars. I walked in and met Joe and, then, sat next to him through the whole thing. So, whenever Joe might have said, “Hmm. I wonder what this…,” I’ll be there.

And back then, my sales manager belittled my approach. He kept telling me I was going to fail because I wasn’t getting the numbers. He was a straight get-the-numbers, get-the-thing.

Joe: This is the formula. You make 1000 calls, you get —

Ted: Right. And, then, I reverse-engineered it to say, “Joe doesn’t have to be as good as I am. He might just have to work hard.”

You might not be able to… like I did, so you might have to make 3- to 400 calls a day.

So, you shouldn’t look at me and go, “I can’t do what Ted does. I’m not going to succeed here.” There are other ways.

Today’s Reality

I think what’s happening now is,

What used to be considered qualified leads have become the yellow pages – the webinar leads, the LinkedIn searches that come up.

I think the reason Brand Innovators has worked for people – and, believe me, this was not strategized by the owners – is because almost everything being sold is the same.

Therefore, I’m going to buy from the guy I got to know a little bit. Or even better yet, I’m going to buy from the guy who, when I was talking to Joe, he says, “We work with Ted.”

“Is he the best?”

“I don’t know if he’s the best, but he’ll get the job done. He’ll answer my calls.”

“Great. Check! I’ve got that done, now I don’t have to look anymore.”

Joe: So, at a bigger company – and you’ve certainly been there and I don’t even remember it – when did Salesforce come on the scene? Did we have it at 1-800-FLOWERS.COM?

[As an aside, Ted and I met in 1999, both working for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. I was Director of Relationship Marketing to his Director of Sales. We became fast friends.]

Ted: No, not even close.

Joe: Okay, so there’s a pipeline. And, look, I get it. I hear everything you said.

Ted: I think there’s still a pipeline, but I think It’s more of a relationship pipeline.

But what about projections?

Joe: But do I put numbers against that? Do I say this is a 5% chance of closing in Q4? Because I have to make a projection. This is a publicly traded company.

Ted: I don’t do this as a regular thing anymore so I can’t answer that question.

If I was running a sales team, I can say this is what works for me or this is what I see.

I’m not close enough to it to answer that question. And I’m very frank about this. When people call me, I go, “I don’t know. I’m not trying to prove what I’m teaching. I’m telling you what I believe. Now, you go out and execute it.”

Except certain products which still might be numbers-based, most of the better sales managers were guys that know how to do a consultative sale and work with people.

And there are a few products where that’s not the case. Media is really not that case.

Media is right-place, right-time; buy-it, I-got-it-for-you. Straight media sales: It’s why most of the platform companies won’t hire the media sales guys.

The media sales guys are out of work. They can’t get jobs because dynamics have changed. They don’t want to hire them because it’s a nine-month sale.

Their meeting-to-close can be six to nine months. That’s what it means to be the sales guy. They feel they don’t have the skills to develop relationships, to walk people through.

And part of that relationship is in listening to you, hearing what you’re not getting and, then, being able to come back with a solution for you that you can understand.

Joe: Are you saying something like I want to put $100,000 buy on a mommy blog, and that’s the media sale you’re talking about?

Ted: I’m talking about I want to buy TV time –

Joe: Traditional.

Ted: What they call programmatic buying where I want to hit this demographic this many times. That’s how many you buy.

Formulaic Media Buying, yes; Sales, no.

Many sales jobs are disappearing because it’s becoming what’s called programmatic.

Joe: It’s formulaic.

Ted: Yes. It sucks because programmatic buying is not as good as the personal buying. When I really bought, I’d sit down with you and go, “Joe, tell me about your ‘Pennsylvania Gazette.’ I want to really understand your customer and who they are and who your demographic is.”

Now, it’s a machine saying there are 10,000 people here in this category.

Joe: And they share the characteristics.

Ted: And it’s going on Breitbart. It’s going anywhere. You have very little control.

You can put blocks but, more or less, if someone calls you and goes, “Did you know you were in ‘Guns and Ammo?’”

Because ‘Guns and Ammo’ has 25s and 35s that do something else.

Joe: Like advocating gun responsibility. [inside joke]

Ted: Yeah. But you understand what I’m saying?

Joe: Yes.

Ted: It used to be you knew exactly where your media was being placed. You don’t anymore.

The sales guys are losing their jobs because people are just getting the numbers and going into a computer. It’s like anything else, it’s way less guys. So these guys who are looking for jobs, a lot of them don’t have the consultative skills.

And I think a lot of sales in general is going to the relationship side, the consultative skills.

And relationship building isn’t just about having cocktails.

It’s about giving you value, getting back to you with what you need, being able to help you understand what it is, being able to educate you to the point where you can buy my product and know it will work for you.

So, you need the sales skills and closing. A lot of these guys work on teams now. They have the person who is the educator there – the person who gets them the materials, the computer scientist that walks and knows how it works because very few sales persons can be able to do that.

You simply MUST engage!

Joe: Another thing, I just don’t see most people doing this but,

Find the dozen or so people you really want to influence and follow them on social and leave comments.

Ted Rubin: 100 percent agree.

Joe: There is this one guy. He leaves a comment every time I open my mouth. I was compelled to check out his profile, and I learned there’s no reasonable business between him and me ever. I was like, “Woah.”

Then, I had to write them. I was like, “I really appreciate your –“

And he’s like, “I just enjoy your stuff.”

“Okay.”

Ted: The other side of that is –

I tell people this all the time – if you want to do business with Joe, especially if he’s a content writer, start commenting on his stuff. If you want do business with a company, someone eventually is going to say, “Who is that guy?”

So many people don’t do it. It’s so easy to stand out.

Joe: I know. One of my first relationships – this is eight years ago out of the medical devices group – a guy named Robert Packard is one of the best regulatory and quality guys I know.

And he just was there. He just kept giving these really solid answers. And I was like, “Who is this guy?” And I reached out to him and I said, “You’ve got to run my regulatory group.” And he made a great run of it.

Ted: I had so many one liners, and I have all these shortcuts in the flow because it sounds intelligent.

Look, I’m as busy or busier than anybody. So how do I comment on so many things? Because I have things in shortcuts. And I see Joe made a thing, and I leave all those [pre-prepared one-liners in my comments] so it’s not just like, “Nice.” (I do that too, but mostly when it’s a picture of your dog.)

Joe: How many [ready-to-go comments] do you have?

Ted: Oh, I probably have 100. I put them on photos.

You know, you’ve seen my photos. [I have so many things on there… and I keep writing new ones!

On publishing – and recording!

And what you said is so funny because, to John, I say it all the time. We should record our conversations. Because when we drive, we talk.

And so often, content comes out of it!

Joe: I know.

Ted: And we’re very accustomed to it.

First of all, a lot of my stuff comes from John. He starts it, I refine it. People would, “Do you know Ted just tweeted what you said and took it as his own?”

He goes, “That’s what we do. Why would you criticize that?”

So, when someone really questions him, John would look at them and say, “I would never do that. I would not do what Ted does.”

So, when I come up with something, he takes ownership of it.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of this one – “Simplicity is the new EDLP.”

Joe: Yes, ‘Every Day Low Price.’

You know, I haven’t seen you talk about #RetailRelevancy recently.

Ted: Work on it is a little bit slow because John insists on writing it himself. He doesn’t write the way I write my books.

I give the ideas to my editor. I give her the faces and, then, she makes a chapter out of it. He wants to write – which is great. He’s good writer – but it’s just taking a ridiculous amount of time.

We’re already going back to chapter 7….

Joe: Right.

Ted: Because it’s changed so much.

Joe: So you have a writer that’s rich enough you can give her a concept and she’ll flesh it out?

Ted: I give her a concept. I give her a bunch of one liners. If she doesn’t work it out, we have a phone, she records it and, then, she actually fleshes it out, we can edit it.

Joe: How does she charge you?

Ted: Well, most of time she’s written my books, so she just charges me a flat rate for the book. So, we pay her $10,000 for “Retail Revelency,” I would say.

Joe: Regrettably, I have a 9:30. So why don’t we put off for–?

Ted: That’s okay. How long will I wait?

Joe: As much as a half hour.

Ted: Okay. I’ll still be around.

Joe: Yeah. I’ll be back.

And here’s a transcript of our entire call. This last 15 minutes. Everything we’ve just said.

Ted: Really?

And it’s still doing it.

What site is this?

Joe: Otter.ai.

Ted: Joe, I just don’t remember this.

Joe: Okay, I told you four times!!

Ted: Yes, but I’m asking you just to say it. Not talking about how many times you gave it to me. This way, I will relate it in my head to that.

Joe: It’s that thing!

Ted: Okay, and can you do that on your phone?

Joe: Yes.

Ted: John and I can use it when we drive?!

Joe: Exactly. *

Ted: Awesome!!

Now, readers, I challenge you.

Yes or No?

1. Helpful? Was this conversation helpful or illuminating?

2. Impactful? Will this perspective impact the way you conduct or work with Sales?

3. Impressive? Are you at all impressed that Ted and/or I are knowledgeable and could help build your business?

That was not rhetorical.

Please, tell me your answer. Click the nice orange button and leave me a voicemail(!) using your computer’s built-in microphone.

A nice little plugin, that SpeakPipe. ????

Main Takeaways.

If I didn’t hit the record button, you would never have heard this information.

It was easy. Lucia made you a one-minute video to show you how:

YOU can hit the recording button.

YOU can say smart things and share them with Your Prospects and Customers

YOU can be seen as a technologically-savvy thought leader.

That’s what #RecordYourself is all about.

You came to this blog for medical device marketing advice, right?

Well, there it is: My #1 piece of advice for you in 2019. Record yourself.

I’m telling all my paid clients (and now, you, for free): Record yourself while talking about your discipline. Your future customers will appreciate it.

Fast Round

• Lead generation. In Journey #66, I broke down precisely how we executed my most successful campaign, ever. Michelle’s campaign has since reached 94,000 views and 850 downloads of her Regulatory template.

• The Impact Artificial Intelligence will have on Marketing. I’m intrigued and will attend the inaugural Marketing Artificial Intelligence Conference (MAICON) Conference in in Cleveland, Ohio (July 16-18, 2019). Wanna discover it together?

• 

  Question for You. I’m considering hosting a weekly virtual group meeting about medical device marketing, say, at 10 a.m. each Friday morning (Pacific time).

  Does once-weekly marketing coaching interest you? If yes, what is a reasonable monthly investment?

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

Did you like this? Then please it.

P.S. A longshot if we’ve not discussed it already, but love to see you in person at my 10x event in two weeks. (San Diego)

The post What is the Role of Sales Now? feat. @TedRubin appeared first on Medical Marcom.

In just five day’s time, more than 500 people requested my client’s work.

350 of them even told their friends about her.

Here’s how you can do this, on your own, step by step. It’s easy.

1. Upload a PDF to LinkedIn.

This is what we uploaded.

And this was the message that accompanied it.

2. Give most of the story.

Since it’s possible to download a PDF directly from your LinkedIn timeline (few realize this), we teased regulatory prospects with just a peek to see: The template is immediately relevant to your work. If you want the whole thing, you’ll need to act.

November 2023 update: Leave it to LinkedIn to unnecessarily downgrade the platform. You can no longer download a PDF directly from your timeline. Why? Because LinkedIn.

3. Make it exceedingly easy to get.

Nirali gave the simple “Yes please” comment to get the template, but not before giving Michelle a congratulatory note.

Of course, Nirali could have visited Michelle’s site to get the template. Michelle gave the leanraqa.com/RPA link in her opening message. Which brings us to number four.

4. Give them options.

Nirali could’ve completed a traditional lead-gating form on Michelle’s website to get the template.

That’s how 200 others accessed Michelle’s work.

But “Yes please” was easier and that’s what she chose. Which bring us to number five.

5. Let it spread.

Every thumbs up “Like” and every “Yes please” amplified engagement across LinkedIn.

Can you imagine? Fifty-Three Thousand Views! It hasn’t even been a week.

123 likes. 385 comments. Let’s assume 400 different people interacted and each has a mere 500 connections. That’s a universe of 200,000 potential eyeballs.

Another phenomenon: People directly tagging their friends who should “really know about this.”

I love that. “Me too please.” It’s kind of funny when you think about it that way. Like “who likes candy?!” and everybody says, “I like candy!!” ????

Musical Interlude

Just as I wrote, “I like candy,” I arrived at this song in my incredibly long playlist. Play it while you continue reading. It fun and catchy!

[fve]https://youtu.be/O2V2jP_igcE[/fve]

Now where were we?

Oh yes. This is what we covered so far:

1. Upload a PDF to LinkedIn.

2. Give most of the story.

3. Make it exceedingly easy to get.

4. Give them options.

5. Let it spread.

Which brings us to number six.

6. Use it to build your network.

Two kinds of people requested Michelle’s work: (1) First Connections and (2) Everyone Else.

Let’s start with Everyone Else. We can’t InMail them for free because we’re not connected. So we wrote:

And you can see at the bottom, Dimitris accepted her invitation right away. Now we can InMail him a message like the one we sent Nissa, a First Connection.

7. Get closer to a sale.

Let’s review the language we used in each message. To Everyone Else we said,

I can send it to you here if we connect or email it if you provide your email address.

We gave a choice. Some may not want to connect. These would appreciate the option.

I’m estimating maybe 40 percent did both. They connected AND shared their preferred email address. Of course, as a newly minted First Connection, their contact information is available on their LinkedIn profile. If they have their email address listed there, we can find it there.

Second, we shared a live link to her website. It’s unobtrusive and gives Everyone Else a chance to learn more about Michelle.

Now let’s review the First Connection language. We said,

After review, put time on my calendar (https://letsmeet.io/michellelott/30-minute-consultation) and I’ll walk you through it.

Exceedingly few will. But those who do? Those are warm leads, wouldn’t you agree?

Note, that’s the first time I used the word “lead” in this write up. More on this in a future Journey. For now, remember the distinction between the 500 nice people interested in Michelle’s template versus the relatively few warm leads.

8. Employ a virtual assistant (like Ana or Bernie – pick one!).

They’re both excellent. My business wouldn’t be where it is without them.

They both (presently) have capacity for additional work. (If you don’t have a virtual assistant, I can’t encourage you strongly enough. Even if you have a few hiccups along the way.)

Learn more about Ana Valladares

Learn more about Bernadette Dino

Between them (and Michelle’s teammate Leslie), they fulfilled all requests and created this spreadsheet of interested parties.

• The yellows are Everyone Else (we invited to connect but can’t yet fulfill).

• The greens are First Connections and were satisfied.

This process took nearly 20 hours among them: To email First Connections, engage Everyone Else, satisfy Everyones that became Firsts, and create the spreadsheet.

9. Filter the results.

Remember the recent Journey entitled, “How to win new appointments with virtual LinkedIn strangers?“

Do that.

In this case, we asked Michelle to review the list, calling out those of special interest. (We’re strategizing on how to further engage them.)

10. Check up on them soon after.

We have two autoresponses ready for those who fill in a traditional form. We immediately send:

Three days later, we send:

At the time of this writing, we need to add a third one, because fewer than two percent make appointments.

11. Optimize your LinkedIn profile page (extra credit)

We really pimped out Michelle’s LinkedIn page. It’s better than mine now.

For now, I’ll spare you four deliberate improvements. Let’s save it for another Journey, yes?

+++

Fast Round

• Do you know this guy? Neither do I. He doesn’t exist.

  

• How fast is your site? I bet not fast enough!

• How many broken links do you have? I had hundreds among my three main sites until Ana fixed them. It’s important for users’ experience and search engine rankings. Check your site (free).

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

Did you like this? Then please it.

P.S. If you’re thinking, “we don’t have the bandwidth for a campaign like that,” ask me for help or – at a minimum – let me introduce you to Ana and Bernie.

The post Absolutely my most successful lead generation strategy ever appeared first on Medical Marcom.

I’ll get right to the point.

I wanted to save $1,500 a year by shrinking my database and removing unresponsive subscribers. But Professor Ben talked me out of it.

If you want to understand the issues I debated, read on. Then you can decide what’s best for you.

Remembering Mindaugus

I explained in Bye, Bye Mindaugus (still one of my favorites) why I deleted ‘Mindaugus from Lithuania’ last year. He hadn’t opened a single email from me in 2½ years.

By then, I’d invested a whole 32 cents(!) in our relationship, but it was unlikely Mindaugus would ever hire me, so I let him go.

Now, 16 months later, I’m confident Joseph Hage is no worse off having deleted him. I even saved 16¢.

But is Mindaugus better off? I thought so when I deleted him. Now, I’m not so sure.

Spring Cleaning 2019

According to my subscriber dashboard, 44% hadn’t open my last 12 emails. I was thinking of giving them the ol’ Mindaugus treatment.

So I sent this out:

Then Professor Ben wrote me

Ben Bentzin is tall. And very smart. (For proof, see my “CEO Interview with Ben.”)

Anyhow, Ben was on the “Mindaugus list,” but he didn’t deserve it.

Joe – Just reconfirmed my subscription. I have automatic downloading of images turned off in my email clients. As a result, your emails to me appear to be unread, when in fact they are read, I just didn’t download the images,” adding, “I don’t always click through, but I do read your messages.”

That gave me pause.

I wrote back, “I think it’s fair to unsubscribe subscribers who opened the mail and didn’t click the link to stay, right?”

Below, I have at 641 people who opened (therefore, read?) the ACTION REQUIRED and did not click on the link. Surely, these should be deleted, yes?”

He didn’t reply right away. I got antsy and deleted these 641. Now I regret it.

Seeking a second opinion

I have 15,000 subscribers who – at least – never click on my emails. At 10¢ a year each, I’m spending $1,500 a year to carry them. Back in 2001, Peppers & Rogers would have called them “Below Zeroes.”

I wrote DRIP: “I deleted subscribers I thought were unresponsive. But now I see 133 people opened the very next email. I didn’t expect that. What do you recommend?”

Gabe replied, “I would ask does someone who opens 1 of 13 messages truly bring you value?”

And I answered, “Me value? No. But am I bringing him value?”

Those 133 subscribers who opened my 13th email? That group had a meager 0.9% open rate.

And those who clicked on my 12th email so they could “stay?” They opened the very next email at an 8.4% open rate.

Lesson: You can’t trust open rates.

At this point, you may be thinking, ‘Why are open rate statistics so unreliable?’ Here’s my understanding: Only HTML emails can be tracked. To confirm an open, one of the following must happen: The recipient (a) has images enabled; (b) clicks on a link; or, (c) white-listed you as a safe sender.

All those delicious corporate customers with firewalls? If they use a preview pane (as I often do), they’ll appear as Professor Ben did to me – as an unresponsive subscriber.

In fact, an overwhelming 99 percent of unresponsive subscribers with “big medical device company” domains (such as @medtronic.com) show as not having clicked on my ACTION email. But did they really not open? Who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Which pretty much leaves me where I started: Should I delete ‘the Mindagui’ or not? They are costing me $1,500 and, at a minimum, never clicking.

I wrote Ben, “I can’t see how emailing a name in perpetuity, despite never clocking an actual open makes sense for the advertiser or the member; only the company getting paid for list storage.”

It led to this conversation:

If you’re not in a listening mood, Ben’s unwavering advice was don’t delete them. “You’re valuing those subscribers as zero but they are not zero. They may refer someone to you one day and isn’t that worth keeping them on?”

Mathematically, one successful referral would more than cover the annual $1,500 charge.

Another perspective is, even if they never get further than FROM: Joe Hage and SUBJECT: Whatever ¦ there’s a parallel universe happening on Google now. Hat tip to Rand Fishkin for illustrating 57 percent of Google mobile searches result in zero clicks.

Conclusion and next steps

1. Fine! I don’t like the answer, but I’ll keep non-responders, looking for reasons to delete them. Like the 20 who (a) don’t have a first name, (b) haven’t opened 20, and (c) have an archaic aol.com email address. You know, people like that.

2. Flex. I plan to offer flexible subscription plans similar to this one.

3. What time? I’ll continue testing optimal delivery times for remails (to those who don’t open the first time). So far and unscientifically, Sunday vastly outperforms Monday. (I’ve tucked this article about underperforming emails away for more study on this.)

Further reading

For more on this topic, I recommend “Your Email Open Rate Is Higher Than You Think“

I’m going to talk with Martyn about this article, “How To Track Email Opens With Google Analytics Pixel Tracking.” I’m unclear if this will buy me anything.

Also, these:

• Everything Wrong About Email Analytics;

• 19 Email Testing Tools; and,

• How Email Open Tracking Quietly Took Over the Web,” if you want a good scare.

Finally, this catch-all, “48 Reasons Why Your Emails Have Low Email Open Rate.”

+++

Just For Fun

My email problem weighed on me for three weeks. Now it’s time for a break.

This one-minute clip will give you a smile.

+++

Fast Round

• Button or link? In ACTION, I split-tested the call-to-action design: Link versus button. Link won. (I didn’t know what to expect, which is why we test.)

  

• How does Amazon stay at Day One? The article started with obvious notions and, just as I began to dismiss it, the article shared this nugget you’d might consider. Before getting too far with your innovation, first deliver: 1. A press release (one page). 2. FAQ list (six pages). 3. A portrayal of the customer experience.

  If it all ties together, only then start building.

• Share this article. Ask me how to make a  this article link. It’s definitely helped increase my readership.

Thank you for joining me on The Journey.

Was this valuable for you? Then please  this article.

P.S. Have you considered attending my three-hour live workshop, “The Essentials for Medical Device Marketing Success,” at 10x in a few weeks?

The post What should I do? Delete this guy? appeared first on Medical Marcom.

I have something profound to share with you today.

Blow off the rest of this year’s Journeys if you have to, but read this one.

It will take you all of 90 seconds.

It is the single biggest medical device marketing insight I’ve had in 14 months.

Read the update now.

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No Fast Round today.

In fact, I posted in my blog section because I didn’t want the update to get lost here.

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Thank you for joining me on The Journey!

The post My Most Important Update of the Year appeared first on Medical Marcom.

I wrote Journey #14 in December 2017. To date, it’s the most important Journey I’ve written.

I encourage you to re-read it: A content shock to the system.

If you don’t have time, watch this beautifully animated Lucia video.

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Stand Out or Shut Up

“Content shock” means there’s more published than we can possibly consume.

To get our eyeballs, you need to stand out with remarkable (at least original) content in a voice unlike anyone else’s – or don’t bother.

Why? Because your audience is armed.

	We will block you.
	We will fast-forward past you.
	We will pay to avoid you.

 

So, pretty much for the past year, I’ve been telling everyone who cares to listen: You’ve got to create and promote worthwhile content.

And, pretty much for the past year, my clients’ responses have been the same:

Anxiety, Fear, and Content

Long-time readers may recall, I slipped into depression, triggered by my content paralysis. I was convinced I had nothing to say and, with “content” the only viable marketing game in town, I was lost.

The Journey pulled me out of it.

I chronicled it in “My Marketing Mid-Life Crisis.”

So, I get it. I totally get it.

Getting my clients to produce content has been a tooth-pulling exercise because (pick one):

They don’t: (a) write. (b) write well. (c) like to write.

They would write if they: (a) had time. (b) had anything unique to say. (c) had anything at all to say.

They’d write if they thought it would: (a) get read. (b) make a difference. (c) bring in sales.

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#RecordYourself

I have found the antidote to content anxiety.

Record yourself, then give the recordings to your marketing person.

This works, and here’s why:

Almost all your business reading is dry and – consciously or no – you’re okay with that.

Why? Because you read for information. Your reading is highly utilitarian.

UTILITY is what YOUR followers want from YOU.

When do you DEMONSTRATE your utility?

When you’re in the flow. When you’re doing what you do best!

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So Let Us Follow You Around!

If your prospects really knew precisely what you do, and how you do it, would they hire you?

If the answer is no, you’ve got some soul-searching to do.

But if the answer is yes, then let them know precisely what you do and how you do it!

How? By recording yourself, of course!

I shared two recordings recently and let me tell you what happened.

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First, I demonstrated my utility with LinkedIn for lead generation.

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I demonstrated my utility on a client call. My logical questions showcased Nic Anderson’s expertise.

See how this works?

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YOU CAN DO THIS!

I’ll tell you precisely how. These are the tools you need:

	Get TapeACall (for iPhone) or find an Android-compatible equivalent. TapeACall costs $19.99/year. I recorded the call.
	Use Otter.ai. It’s free. I uploaded the audio file for a free transcript. (It required edits but it was most of the way there.)
	Use TechSmith (SnagIt or Camtasia). Edit or outsource the audio. I sent mine to Lucia .
	Use YouTube It’s free. Upload your video to share; and/or,
	Upload to Anchor.fm. It’s free. Upload your audio file.
	Then embed on your site.
	Pat yourself on the back. You produced real, share-worthy content your customers and prospects appreciate. Not fluffy, self-aggrandizing nonsense.
	Or forget the first seven steps and hire me to do it for you.

In closing,

You never know when you’re going to say something “really smart.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a client call and, after making my point, think to myself, “Dang it! That was probably the best I ever explained that. I wish I recorded it!”

Now I do.

And so can you.

Please this article if your network will benefit.

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