“It’s just a balloon. A balloon is a balloon.” I HEARD THIS A LOT when I took over the percutaneous transcatheter angioplasty balloon (PTA) product franchise. For those unfamiliar, PTA is used to clear blockages in the arteries. They’ve been around for decades, making them a commodity. Therefore, it didn’t receive as much attention as the ‘sexy’ products.

As a Product Manager, I was faced with a challenge - an underachieving franchise that needed a boost. I crafted a strategy that not only helped us hit our annual operating plan (AOP) but exceeded it.

Before I spill the beans on my product management insights, let's get back to basics. When it comes to product marketing, a few fundamental principles hold true no matter what approach you take or the industry you’re in.

Product marketing is all about making your product shine like a diamond in a crowded market. You need to develop catchy messaging, create engaging content, and execute clever marketing strategies to make customers flock to your product. To do this, you need to know your audience like the back of your hand, highlight the unique value of your product, generate leads, and close sales like a boss.

In the MedTech and Life Sciences industry, the product marketer is often called the product manager. In other industries, these are two different roles. For the sake of simplicity, let's call the product manager the Product Marketer from now on. If you're in the Life Science field, this applies to you.

In the world of MedTech, Biotech, and other Life Sciences sectors, the person in charge of promoting a product is usually called the product manager because they have many different responsibilities to handle.

The downstream marketing team is responsible for getting the product out on the market, while the upstream marketing team works with R&D to develop the product. Once the product is ready to go, it's handed over to the downstream team to launch.

In other industries, the product owner (usually R&D) manages and develops the product, working with product marketers to get the word out. And that's exactly where the product marketer comes in - they play a crucial role in carrying out all sorts of strategic functions, like working with Marketing Communications (MarCom) or Marketing Operations (Marketing Ops) to ensure their marketing plan is executed perfectly.

If you are in Life Sciences, you may have these additional responsibilities:

Before developing a product marketing strategy, the Upstream team and R&D will assess your product and target customers. Research your product in detail and identify the following:

Clearly outline the problem your product solves for customers and its key differentiators. The focus should be on benefits, not features.

Next, gain deep insight into your target audience, including:

Depending on the market size, you also need to segment it. Using selling to hospitals or healthcare providers (HCP) as an example, some segments to consider are:

Many factors can influence how much they're willing to pay, so it's important to understand your audience and tailor your approach to their specific needs. This is especially true when it comes to selling to hospitals. They can be a tough nut to crack due to budget constraints, purchasing policies, and the never-ending stream of new products vying for their attention. But with the right strategy and messaging, you can still make a sale and help improve healthcare for all.

An effective positioning statement conveys what your product is, who it is for, and its unique value. It serves as the foundation for all marketing activities by summarizing your product’s identity and differentiation from competitors.

A sample positioning statement can be:

“For small business owners seeking CRM software, [Product Name] is an affordable and easy-to-use CRM platform that helps manage contacts, tasks, and sales pipelines to grow business.”

Elements of a good positioning statement are:

Tossing marketing collateral at your reps and yelling “sell it” isn't product marketing. You need a solid strategy to ensure your MarCom team stays on track, everyone is happy with the final copy and design, and reps know how to use it.

Your marketing plan should be all about moving your target audience up the value ladder or through the marketing funnel. That means creating awareness, generating interest, making sales, and building loyalty. And don't forget to include timelines, KPIs, and task owners for the next year. If you're launching a new product, ensure it's part of the overall marketing plan.

Let's get strategic!

By now, you should have identified your ideal customer and value proposition. Your marketing plan should encompass the financial aspect and be adaptable to changing dynamics. If your objective is to capture market share, specify the target competitor and outline the strategy for achieving this goal.

The key components should include the following:

Want to make friends with Finance and help your manager look good? Create a budget. As a product manager, you don't have to worry about the whole marketing budget, but you have to justify the expenses you need.

Your budget should cover everything from creating marketing materials to implementing marketing strategies, attending conferences, making field visits, and engaging with customers.

But wait, there's more! Don't just present the budget if you want to shine as a product marketer. Calculate the return on investment (ROI) for your marketing efforts. However, if you work in Life Sciences, check the industry guidelines before doing that.

To ensure the success of your business plan, it is crucial to include a sales forecast, market dynamics, and market share analysis. Quarterly forecasting is the minimum requirement, but monthly forecasting is even better, especially for product launches. Strategic foresight is crucial to anticipate long-term market changes, but do not overlook seasonality and other market disruptions.

For those managing a physical product, monitoring inventory is vital. In the Medical Device industry, the product marketer collaborates with the supply chain to manage production, which should occur monthly, quarterly, and annually.

Establishing precise indicators is vital for effectively monitoring marketing initiatives across channels and departments. Continuously assess performance and fine-tune your positioning, content mix, and channel strategy. Examples of metrics to track are:

It's important to involve sales in developing your plan instead of just handing it over to them. Take the time to ask them about their needs and challenges. When you have a new strategy or collateral, make sure to train them on it. In industries like implantable medical devices, sales reps may only have a few minutes with customers, so it's important to provide materials that are easy to digest. As new reps join the company, partner with sales training to ensure they understand how to sell your product.

A cohesive marketing strategy they can easily navigate will make their job easier, from awareness to loyalty. It's also beneficial to spend time with your reps, observe their conversations and tactics, and create materials to assist them in their work.

It's important to be aware of your competitors, but don't let them dictate your actions. Don't get too caught up in watching what they're doing, or you'll lose sight of your own goals. Instead, focus on strategic foresight and consider what's coming down the road for your industry. Keep an eye out for disruptive technologies or services that could impact your business. Remember that the current solution is also competition.

Competition can take many forms, including the standard of care in your industry and people's opinions about new technology. To gather competitive information, think outside the box and consider unconventional methods like social listening, reading the fine print in public financial documents, and attending major conferences. Be sure to keep your ears open at the airport 😉.

Let me tell you about my PTA product portfolio. It was like a turtle stuck in the mud, moving at a snail’s pace and missing the annual operating plan by 15%. There wasn’t even a product catalog 😳.

But I am not one to shy away from a challenge. I launched two products, retired one, had a product recall, and an FDA warning letter (not a product issue). And guess what? I managed to hit and exceed AOP! Want to know my secrets? I can’t give them all away, but I’ll give you the snack-sized version.

The customer base was pretty well-defined and segmented. But, there was a lot of overlap between my products and other lines, which made things a bit tricky. To determine how to stand out, I teamed up with my upstream counterpart to do market research. We wanted to understand the surgeons' challenges and what they wanted in terms of product features. And, most importantly, we wanted to know why.

After getting a handle on their pain points, we matched our product features to benefits to show our customers how our products could help solve their problems and improve outcomes.

Here's the crazy part: we found that our customers had no idea we even sold these products! The product line was part of an acquisition, and the boxes' branding still belonged to the company. The FDA only required updating the label where we were listed in small print and had no logo.

No wonder people didn't know we were selling these things!

So, we did our market research and developed a global messaging strategy. But, turns out, the US physicians (my peeps) had a different perspective on one of the products. I had to tweak the messaging a bit to cater to their needs.

The Objectives

The Strategy

Though feelings were mixed, new products were packaged in brand-standard cartons using updated labels with the logo and barcode prominently displayed on the spine for easy identification and inventory scanning.

Budget

So, I've got the three main marketing channels and what we need to make them happen. Then, I worked with the other product managers to get the budget in order. There were intersections where we could share expenses. After that, I teamed up with MarCom to get estimates for design, development, printing, shipping, and all that jazz.

Forecast and Inventory Management

I must admit, there were a couple of times when my supply chain partner had to track me down. But hey, nobody's perfect! With a finance background, I could nail the analytical part of being a product manager. My monthly forecasts were almost always on point, with a 98% accuracy rate for the whole portfolio. I even considered things like seasonal changes and product recalls, which helped Supply Chain figure out how much product to manufacture. This was a big deal, especially when it came to launching new products.

Every day, we got a report on product backorders, which I closely monitored to ensure everything was running smoothly. And eventually, we started getting a report on how much product was on hospital shelves. This was super helpful because it gave us a better idea of how much new product we needed to make. All in all, while it’s a team effort, the Product Marketer is the quarterback.

Competitive Intelligence and Surveillance

It was time to scope out the competition and steal some of their thunder. Here are a few of my go-to methods and sources for studying the landscape:

Basically, I Sherlock Holmes-ed my way through the company's product information. By keeping a close eye on everything, I noticed some patterns. I'd check with the reps to see what they heard when there was an uptick in product complaints. It turns out a competitor was struggling to keep up with demand. I gave my supply chain partner a heads up and we were ready to pounce on that opportunity. And boy, did we! When the product was recalled, we were all over it like a seagull on a French fry.

Sales and Supply Chain didn’t have to get ready. They were ready. Additional product was immediately released to the Distribution Center and volume restrictions for trunk stock were temporarily lifted so reps could walk the product into the procedure.

But just because a product is approved or cleared doesn't mean it will hit the market immediately. I had to keep tabs on the approval database to see if any new devices had been cleared. And if they had, I'd alert the reps to stock up on our product and lock out the competition. It was like a game of chess but way more fun.

To keep track of all this info, I created a massive Excel workbook. It had everything in there, from product features to benefits comparisons. And I made it easily accessible on my iPad app and landing page in Marketo.

Measure and Refine

What gets measured gets done. My dashboard included the following KPIs:

Picture this: I was the master of spotting anything that was off-kilter, and I would immediately take care of it. Whether it was a minor hiccup or a major loss of a rep or customer, I was on it. I knew how to compensate or adjust my tactics to get the job done.

By consistently pulling all the right levers, our PTA revenue began to climb higher and higher. Our sales reps were pumped to sell our super cool product. I launched the longest catheter length on the market, which opened up new conversations and opportunities for our team.

The Cool Kids Club 😎

This part of the plan needs its own section. The truth is PTA was a commoditized product. A rep has to sell dozen of them to equal one stent. My idea was to make it cool and fun to sell PTA.

One of our sales reps called me the ultimate cheerleader for their product line. The key to surpassing our goals was having a clear strategy, a set of supporting tactics, consistency, and always keeping an eye on our metrics to stay ahead of the game.

And yes. I took share from the #3 player in the market and kept it!