MediPurpose® Blog

Let’s be honest: Very few of us had childhood dreams of becoming part of medical product industry. If you had asked me as a kid if I thought I’d be working in this business, I’d probably roll my eyes and laugh. Medical products? Nah, I had more romantic notions of becoming a professional baseball player or writing for Rolling Stone magazine.

Before I became a medical product marketer (which I am now), I was a medical product copywriter. Before that, I was a hospital and healthcare marcom copywriter. Before that, I was a general copywriter that made the successful jump from old school “traditional”/print media to “new” media and online. And before that, I was a journalist. And even before all of that, I was an aspiring academic with fantasies of being a scholar of media and culture. Of course, all of it was prefaced with the dreams I had as a kid.

Some people never stop pursuing those childhood dreams…even if that means a nightmarish adult reality. Comedian Louis CK is a shining example. After graduating high school in the early 1980s, he went after one specific goal: to become a successful comedian. And, as a result, like so many others that share that dream, he toiled in obscurity for decades in that ironically lonely and depressing world of standup comedy.

Skip ahead to last week when he announced that his self-produced and distributed online video netted him more than $200,000 in profit in less than four days. As impressive as the profits might be, what’s perhaps more intriguing is how he made it.

By his own admission, Louis CK could have made even more money had he produced and distributed the video through the traditional path of working with a major entertainment company. But that would have resulted in even more overhead—which gets passed on to the customer—and the sticky tangle of digital rights management (DRM) and DVD region complications (which provides even more hassles for customers).

Instead, he kept it painfully simple: Go to his remarkably low-tech Website, pay $5 (through PayPal), and either stream the video or download it and do whatever you want with it (e.g., burn your own DVD, watch it on your computer). Compare that to what a commercial DVD costs and the process of having to acquire it.

But back to the headline: What can we in the medical product business learn from Louis CK?

Being Good is Not Good Enough

Louis CK is widely regarded as one of the best comedians today. However, it took him years to rise above a very crowded and competitive market.

Whether it’s comedy, baseball players or medical devices, being “good” is never enough. For every good—great, even—comedian, athlete or medical device out there, there are countless others that are just as good, if not better.

For medical products, the basic algebra of having low prices and high quality is not enough to succeed. Rather, it requires tremendous belief in your product just to get it brought to market, and then even more dedication to improve it and market it so that it even has a chance of being competitive. And then there’s the intangibles, the x factors, the je nais se quoi, luck, etc.

You’ve Got to be Innovative in Your Marketing And Distribution

Nothing stays the same. Whomever—or whatever—is “good” today is mediocre tomorrow. Best practices for marketing and distribution can quickly become obsolete.

The music industry—which, due to increasingly vertical integration in the past couple decades—controls the distribution of most other complementary entertainment products, such as DVDs. Because it failed to recognize and embrace radical shifts in how entertainment is distributed channels (e.g., peer-to-peer file sharing, Napster, torrents, the ease of duplicating DVDs), it watched its profits erode—and perhaps worse, its power. This is precisely what Louis CK exploited with his relatively marginal investment in a $34,000 Website that is the portal to his video.

Twenty years ago, MediPurpose didn’t even exist. As illustrated in its success stories, ten years ago, it was a struggling startup in Singapore that would soon find a niche in the U.S. medical product market for its new SurgiLance safety lancet (a niche opened, in part, because of the 2000 U.S. Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act). The company leveraged emerging online communications with an aggressive independent sales force and got itself on the map.

Ten years later, it’s a profitable company that has since introduced two successful product lines—babyLance infant heelsticks and MediPlus Advanced Wound Care—with zero guarantees that it will be here in 10 years unless it remains dedicated to finding innovative solutions for its manufacturing, distribution, marketing and new business development.

You’ve Got to Put the Customer First

Good economy or not, people value their money, and they don’t want to feel ripped off. They also don’t want to be inconvenienced. Louis CK’s innovative use of the Internet to deliver product drastically simplified the process of acquiring (and using) a product and significantly reduced the cost—and his customers responded in kind.

MediPurpose is constantly striving to find ways to keep the customer first—which creates unique challenges because we not only offer several distinct products and services, but also because our customers are diverse. Along with the obvious “end users” (e.g., patients, nurses, doctors), we also serve our distribution partners, inventors and innovators, manufacturers and others.

You’ve Got to Embrace Online Communications

Social media, online/inbound marketing, etc. are not trends, fads or options. On the other hand, traditional marketing techniques—print advertising and direct mail, for instance—are both expensive and very low ROI.

Louis CK more than demonstrated that it no longer requires cutting-edge Websites or bloated marketing campaigns to move product.

For medical product companies, the same holds true. Although the diminished importance and value of print advertising might seem the obvious example, trade shows are perhaps an even better example.

Even to just attend a show as a non-exhibitor to “walk the halls” is expensive. Factor in airfare, hotels, per diems, entry fees and the lost productivity from not being in the office, and the cost to attend can quickly becoming a pricy investment. With a tight economy and the impact of inexpensive global communications (e.g., Websites, Skype, GoToMeeting, LinkedIn), and it’s not hard to understand why trade show attendance seems lower (in general) or scaled down (by exhibitors).

There is perhaps more than can be extrapolated from Louis CK’s recent success, but the point should be clear: Being and staying competitive in business is not for the uninspired and unimaginative. The keys for success are always out there; the challenge is with finding and knowing how to use them. 

Tags: Medical Product Distribution, Medical Product Marketing & Communications, Medical Product Sales Read More

Recently, Google announced an upgrade to their free online Google Translation napplication, which is now an interactive service that allows users to improve the quality of their translation by rating the resulting translation.

MediPurpose® is an international master medical product distributor that currently offers medical products in more than 30 countries. We are always striving to improve our ability to communicate both accurately and succinctly with our partners around the world.

As I reviewed the new feature, I was not surprised by the some of the feedback offered by others regarding the service.  Some indicated it “would be helpful,” while others voiced an opinion that you can “get the gist, but not the translations.”  It was also no surprise that still others felt that a "computerized translation" will never be adequate for all purposes.

Thinking back on how MediPurpose has approached translations for our babyLance® heel incision device, it reminded me of the importance that translations have when you are a medical device manufacturer and distributor. Aside from the physical labeling of the product (e.g., brand name, package contents), writing and translating the IFU (instructions for use) is perhaps the most critical component of the labeling process, as it is often the most singular document that details the proper use of your device.

Evet…çeviri! Oui....tout est dans la traduction! Ja....es ist alles in der Übersetzung! Sí....todo está en la traducción! 是的...它是所有的翻譯！ Ya...itu semua dalam terjemahan! Yes...it is all in the translation!

Whether it’s for medical device IFUs or not, the seemingly simple task of translating any text is compounded by the notions that:

• Languages are inherently ambiguous. Medical device IFUs most certainly should not contain ambiguities, as that could result in an end-user potentially misusing the device, which might impact either their own or their patients' safety.

• There is no such thing as one proper translation—even within the same language. Our babyLance® display box is labeled with French, German and Spanish versions of the IFU. But despite our best efforts (and due to the complexities of linguistics), it was impossible to draft a multilingual IFU that would be considered a perfect translation. When drafting and translating the IFU copy, we reached out to our international partners for guidance on the respective translations. As expected, each of our three French sources provided translations that although similar, still had striking dissimilarities. The same held true for our Spanish and German translations. Because of the critical nature of getting the translations as accurate as possible, we consulted with a firm that specializes in medical translations. And as expected, after again asking for feedback from our international partners, each said that the translations conveyed the desired actions without ambiguity—due in no small part to avoiding the specific peculiarities of each partner’s preferred use of the language.

• Translations magnify the semantic differences between the literal (closely following the grammatical and lexical form of the language) and the idiomatic (communicating the meaning of the source text). This essentially illustrates the conflicts between the partners’ translations and the consultant’s. As where the former used literal phrasing, the consultant used idiomatic, which results in much less ambiguity.

• One letter can have major impact. In German, “Baby beginnt ein Gerät Ferse Einschnitt” translates to "Baby starts a device heel incision.” Although not the most elegant literal translation, it clearly and effectively conveys the idiomatic intend. However, one simple spelling error—such as omitting the "t" on the end of the "Einschnitt"—and the translation becomes "Baby starts a unit heel gashes"! In the neonatal world of heel incision devices, the difference between an "incision" and "gash" in clearly the difference between a positive and negative representation of your device! Remembering the difference in translations noted above, it is no surprise that at MediPurpose, we always make sure we "dot those i's and include those "t's."

In the coming weeks, MediPurpose will be launching an upgraded version of its Website, which will include a nifty Google Translation toolbar above every page, enabling instant translations for more than 50 languages. Although it predictably won’t deliver the most elegant or accurate translations, we are confident that it will have enough balance of the literal and the idiomatic so that we can relate the fundamental message and better serve our worldwide partners and their customers and patients.

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Randy Prather | President and COO | MediPurpose®

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Pretty arrogant headline, huh? Actually, it's not meant to be. Although I take pride in my writing style and the ideas that I share, one of primary reasons to read this blog is because of the immediate access it provides to Patrick Yi and Randy Prather.

As part of social media, blogs are distinctive because they are living documents. Perhaps because they are often seem off-site from a company's Website, there's a more casual, open and personal nature to blog content.

Furthermore, since most blog sites (including this one) allow and encourage comments from the readers, there's a unique opportunity to interact with the authors. Think about your favorite informational resources-newspapers, books, magazines, etc.—and then think about how little contact you have with the author. Now think about a blog...such as this one.

For medical device inventors and medical product innovators, you have a very special opportunity to engage with two people that truly know what they are talking about, want to share it with you, and perhaps just as importantly, want you to share your ideas, thoughts and experiences with them.

Again, that might some a bit arrogant, and perhaps it is. Then again, there's something to be said about interacting with people that have proven success in something, especially when it's accomplished without somebody else's game plan or blueprint—which is very much the MediPurpose story.

Whether it was 10 years ago when Patrick Yi was launching the company (despite not having any experience in medical device development or distribution) or today as he attempts to leverage MediPurpose's experience to help new medical device inventors and existing medical product companies enter medical product markets, there's a fierce entrepreneurial and experimental spirit in everything he does.

The Geoffrey Canada Analogy

Last weekend, I watched a 60 Minutes segment on Geoffrey Canada. Ever heard of him? Interesting guy.

Four years ago, 60 Minutes visited this remarkably innovative educator at his charter school in the economically challenged section of New York City, Harlem. The story's angle was about how Canada opened his school with a promise to the community: Give him your kids, let him call the shots, and he'll make sure they get into college.

Naturally, there were plenty of skeptics. But four years later, not only has Canada's educational system and style proven to be highly effective, but now the government is trying to determine if it can be duplicated and done elsewhere.

The looming question is if the same exact educational model would work in other similar urban areas—or if perhaps there's an "x factor" that is special to Canada?

Time will tell. I wouldn't want to discourage anybody from attempting to duplicate the model, but my hunch is that there's something special about what Canada brings to the table. The "model" for his school isn't a model as much as it's the guy's vision and passion. It's also his leadership style. As he expressed in the interview, he expects everybody in his school-students, teachers, administrators, parents-to be "all hands on deck." There is zero tolerance for those that aren't.

Relating Canada to Patrick and Randy

Having spent many hours working with Patrick Yi—or people that he has carefully selected for his team, such as Randy Prather or Mark Stoppenbach—I can relate to what it must be like to collaborate with Geoffrey Canada.

Although Patrick is the undisputed leader, he also encourages (if not expects) the same commitment and innovative solutions that he gives to MediPurpose and its tradition of success. That's the "x factor" of which I speak.

It's also the value of reading and engaging with this blog. Although it's not quite the same as sitting at a desk with a Patrick or a Randy, it's as good as it gets, especially if you are an ambitious medical device innovator or company that is seeking guidance, wisdom and community.

Tags: Medical Product Marketing & Communications Read More

Before I became a professional in marketing and communications, I had the raw childhood dream of becoming a writer.

I didn't know what kind of writer—my fantasies flickered between wanting to write horror novels and being a music critic or a sports journalist. Nonetheless, I knew that I had a passion for writing.

As I got older, I realized that my passion was less for writing—after all, there's nothing particularly rewarding about the act of scrawling letters on a piece of paper or typing keys on a keyboard—and more for exploring, testing and perfecting the creation and delivery of descriptive and informative ideas—better known as communications.

You don't need to be a professional communicator to appreciate where I am going with this point: You (as a medical product innovator) and I (as a marketing and communications specialist) share quite a bit in common. We both:

• Have a profound need to use our minds to solve problems.

• Are constantly experimenting with the applications of technology to satisfy those problems.

• Want to get our unique ideas distributed and embraced on a mass scale, often by a targeted audience.

This blog will hopefully prove to be an intersection for our paths.

Along with exploring medical device innovation and medical product development and distribution, it will also explore tangential but related topics about medical product marketing and communications.

Ultimately, we want this blog to be a forum for medical device innovators to find information, ask and answer questions, and access and provide support. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed so you can stay up to date!

Tags: Medical Product Marketing & Communications Read More