If you have ever studied Marketing 101, the concept of the four P’s is one that you will be familiar with. Before successful commercialisation, inventors need to consider how to position their medical device in the market. The 4P’s of marketing is a simple tool for determining how to put the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time.
Product
This refers to the medical device itself, which will be on sale to the target market. This includes the quality of the product, design, features, packaging, customer service, branding. Other questions to consider include how is your medical device differentiated from competitors in the market? How and where will the customer use it? Do the features of your device meet their needs?
Place
Place is in regards to distribution, location and methods of getting your medical device to the end consumer. For customers to purchase your device, you need to consider the most appropriate distribution channels. This means finding well-aligned distributors and deciding whether you want to distribute locally and/or internationally.
Price
This is concerning the appropriate price to which your target market must pay in order to purchase your medical device. There are multiple things to consider in choosing your price point. This may include price sensitivity, competitor prices, profit margin and expenses such as delivery, licensing fees, distribution fees, etc.
Promotion
The final step to successful commercialisation is communicating the benefits and value of your medical technology to the target market. Common methods include attending medical trade shows, product launches, training sale representatives to sell your product to health professionals and marketing material such as brochures and pamphlets.
At Inner Maven, we can assist throughout all stages of the marketing mix. We’ve assisted early stage medical device companies to find distributors, developed financial models to determine price points, managed the product development process and had heavy involvement in promoting medical devices, including visiting health professionals and setting up launch events.