It's in the way that you use it | Medical Device Marketing

4 min reading time

TL;DR. Do you know what that means? “Too long, didn’t read it.”

I’m starting today’s Journey with a TL;DR – I’m writing about the “tone” of your marketing.

And it would be unfair for me to name today’s Journey the way I did without providing a little Clapton.

“I generally don’t enjoy reading your newsletter.”

Nico said that last week, adding, “It’s not about the content. It’s the way your newsletter looks and feels.”

I pointed him to Journey #2 to explain, but he’d read it already.

Nico told me, “I spent 7-8 seconds skimming and… after the first 2-3 seconds I had no idea what was going on, so I stopped reading.”

His valuable note reminded me, no matter your style, keep it easy to scan.

Which brings me to today’s TL;DR – our A Complete Overhaul to Michelle Lott’s regulatory and quality website.

All The Things

I could easily tell you a dozen stories about this project. Instead, here are some new choices we made. You can email me back with questions.

The positioning. Built on her insight, “most companies think regulatory is a burden instead of a strategic advantage,” we open the site, Regulatory. Strategy. Put ’em together and what have you got? A competitive advantage, that’s what!

A new logo. The old one looked appropriate for dieters. That was the original concept, “Lean” like “diet,” but I don’t think it worked.
The site design. Another Bruce Colthart masterpiece. I mean versus the old site? Night and day.

Super-easy lead forms. An easy Contact Form, a valuable download, multiple ways to book time on her calendar.

A shorter name. She owns the URLs https://leanRAQA.com and https://leanRAQAsystems.com. Shorter is better. And I never really got the “systems” part. When I hear “systems,” I think information technology and hardware.

The testimonials! One for each of the five services (regulatory strategy, regulatory submissions, quality systems compliance, due diligence, and technical support), one for each of six industries (medical devices, biologics, drugs, cosmetics, food, and dietary supplements), with one on the homepage for good measure.

The FREE button. It’s the one primary navigational item in a different color. “I wonder what’s free,” will ask her site visitors as they click it. ????

And most importantly, the tone.

Starting with a clear message

A little backstory here.

I knew Michelle Lott from the Medical Devices Group where her commentaries earned her “Likes” and comments.

Michelle subscribed to Medical Marcom and received the email that began my Journey, my Midlife Marketing Crisis.

She could relate.

She told me “there’s so much content out there” (see Content Shock) and she “had nothing to say that hadn’t already been said by someone else.”

Was it possible for her regulatory and quality consultancy to stand out?

We started small. She asked if this tri-folded brochure needed updating.

Did it ever! It was all over the place and too taxing to figure out. The graphics made it worse.

You know the next part. I got Bruce on the job.

The Tone: From Common to Engaging and Memorable

Michelle sent me some copy about her services. As I read them I was (a) bored and (b) uninspired. It was the same “We provide x, y, and z services that save you time and money” pablum you find all over medical device sites.

I just couldn’t bring myself to say all those things.

With her Regulatory Strategy card complete, her Regulatory Strategy page was a natural place to start.

While I think it’s one of the weaker pages I wrote (I was just getting warmed up), Michelle liked the direction.

I pushed further. How outside-the-norm could I go?

The copy kept getting sharper. I added quips and attitude. And she was still game.

So left completely alone to be as creative as I could be with the material, we launched her site last week, full of:
• Video embeds and links (a 1980s music video, Donald Rumsfeld, and Steve Martin);
• Three Little Pigs;
• Basically belittling readers who don’t delegate their technical support needs;
• Unfortunate food puns;
• An About Page (the early favorite among reviewers) explaining why she’s “practically a grief counselor,” and introduces her dogs, “R&D” and “Quality,” in a cute meme GIF.

She is a happy customer. And I’m proud to include the site among my illustrations how to make medical devices less boring.

Now go. Get inspired. And encourage your marketing team or agency to do the same.

Fast Round

Sell. Not tell. Two articles. “7 Simple Steps to Writing Product Descriptions that Sell” starts, “How seductive are your product descriptions? Does your product copy entice readers to click buy or try? Or do you simply describe your product and tell web visitors what it does?”

And “Product Description Examples That Sell (Not Tell)” starts, “There are two types of product descriptions for eCommerce businesses. Product descriptions that tell and product descriptions that sell. Which one would you rather create? More importantly, which one would your website visitors want to see?”

Write less. Promote more. Some site-traffic generating ideas to get more mileage from the copy, images, and videos you’ve already produced.

Beth is home. And just in time. Zachary’s opening night in his high school’s performance of Les Miserables is tomorrow. In Beth’s absence, I washed a dog and made rice for the first time in my life. Order is restored.