Beyond buzzwords: Making impact with omnichannel

How are medtech companies using omnichannel and digital to make an impact on their business? At the recent 2022 MedDev Marketing Summit, I joined 180 marketing leaders from across the medical device industry to hear pioneering stories focusing on omnichannel and digital customer engagement.

It was clear from the excitement and energy that digital engagement is here to stay in our industry. Omnichannel is a strategic priority for 80% of medtech executives and now, more than ever, there is forward momentum as companies are using digital capabilities to transform how they engage customers.

I gave my own perspectives on the state of the industry and the challenges we are facing, and presented case studies of medtech companies that ZS has helped to overcome those hurdles to start using omnichannel to transform their customer engagement models and create business impact.

My fellow speakers also shared some exciting examples of innovation, such as reimagining the customer engagement journey for an on-site product training and education event by combining digital and personal experiences.

Over the two days, there was much discussion of the common challenges that marketing leaders are facing in scaling up digital and omnichannel engagement models. I heard a few key themes that I think are likely to shape the next phases of digital customer engagement transformation in the medtech industry.

1. Integrate for impact. Many of the discussions focused on using digital tactics and channels in isolation, for example optimizing websites or driving engagement on social channels such as LinkedIn, with not enough consideration for the role of field sales teams in shaping customer experience. It is becoming increasingly clear that medtech will need to integrate field and digital to drive impact on the business. This also means moving away from a model that focuses digital channels on the ‘top of the funnel’ to try and drive lead generation for field sales teams. I believe we will soon see more and more companies shift to implement models that integrate digital and non-personal engagement channels to augment field sales teams. One Digital & Customer Experience leader highlighted his continued push to create “one voice” for his customers to hear holistically across all channels: sales, medical and digital. This will be a critical move to unlock the potential of omnichannel and digital in our industry.
2. Marketing needs a makeover. Some of the presentations highlighted how the push for omnichannel and digital models is creating challenges for medtech marketing teams who have followed the same product management playbooks for years. In the words of one Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer, “our marketing model was stuck fifteen years in the past, creating product brochures to give to our reps.” Early digital innovations are being championed and driven by a small minority of digitally-savvy marketers. These digital champions have been struggling to drive change within the constraints of the current marketing processes, operating models and competency levels. When it comes to scaling up digital and omnichannel innovations, they hit a stalling point because the organization is not ready for a change of this scale. Several presenters highlighted their pain point of underestimating the significant need for a program of change management and education to deliver marketing transformation at scale.
3. Collaborate, communicate, coordinate. Omnichannel transformation can only succeed with a healthy cross-functional collaboration model. This was highlighted not only by speakers sharing their success stories but also by many who described their challenges, or what they would have done differently! Collaboration across functions is a critical enabler: this includes the digital team, marketing teams, the customer-facing field teams, commercial IT and many others. One VP of Business Development described the close alignment of Sales, Marketing and Digital teams as “the superpower” enabler of his company’s growth. Only if all functions are aligned and working towards a clear roadmap and shared vision, can a transformation succeed.
4. Invest with intent. To support omnichannel transformation, the money needs to come from somewhere! Successful program leaders described how they had overcome the initial skepticism and conservative mindset of senior management, to gain enough funding to support multi-year programs. For example, one omnichannel program secured an eight-figure sum over five years, contingent on showing that it would not only make a near-term impact on the business, but also deliver a set of capabilities and a plan for scaling this transformation across the other business units of the company.

The summit confirmed that momentum continues to build and the need for digital and omnichannel customer engagement continues to grow. We know that our customers are ready for it; industry executives are pushing for it; and some companies are already seeing the results and impact potential. Now’s the time to make it a reality!