The internet has allowed business owners to escape the risk and the great costs of owning a physical shop. The customers can shop without leaving the house and the business owner doesn’t have any overhead costs, so it’s a win-win situation. It is used as an easy way to reach their target audience while showing them pictures, explaining their products, and giving their product details. Hence, the business owner is able to gain direct profit by avoiding all the costs that come along with a shop and therefore increasing their margin. Also, the internet allowed customers to figure out which product will meet their needs by having reviews from customers from around the world. Because of the internet, business owners are able to reach any customer all over the globe, increasing their market size. Moreover, business owners are able to track the customers’ activities, which allows them to identify which product is working well in the market.

@hodafattel I think you raise valid points about how the internet has changed traditional retail businesses, however, I think that there are some differences with how the internet has effected the medical device industry. To start, I think the target audience plays a huge factor. Since the target audience of medical devices are surgeons/doctors/hospitals, there is no physical storefront (companies like stryker, jnj, medtronic etc..). In this regard, things havent changed since med device companies never had storefronts to begin. 

The next thing you discuss (getting the customers information) ties into the 5th P, participation. This is something I agree overlaps with medical devices. Getting a customer to listen to your product is important but I also think its important to show, with evidence how and why your product is superior to any alternative, or why they should be using it.

I think there are also similarities between what you raised and med device industry. Mainly, that the internet has helped increase the size of the global supply chain and make things more efficient, but also that information is able to be tracked and traded more easily then ever before. In today's day and age, these two things are critical for every industry and I think is incredibly relevant for the med. device space.

Does anyone else share similar/opposing views to how the internet has changed the medical device space?

Thanks,

Matt

I believe one way the internet has changed marketing is the competitiveness of a product's launch and the benefits a product has to remain novel and interesting. Prior to a more digital age, sales would most likely need to find articles and ask other resources to look at what is in the field currently and what are the hot items that surgeons or hospitals are looking for. Now, one can look on a business' website or even the news that updates every day on what products are available and what claims marketing has taken. This has definitely surged the sales rep's knowledge of a product as well as they need to know both their internal product as well as a competitors product to best sell their product's competitive edge to their customer. Another aspect of this online presence is the ability for one to have a video call with their customers and talk through a case with a specific product in mind. It could be a sales person with a suggestion for their product or a marketing person who is trying to gauge a surgeon's interest on a new product that can be sent to them with a video conference on how they feel the instrument or implant can be effective.  

I agree with @hodafattel that the internet has allowed businesses to focus more on their product than maintaining physical spaces. That's definitely been propagated during Covid too. 

But in addition, the internet has also given rise to many new forms of marketing. Now, influencers play a similar role to celebrities in marketing different products and sharing their opinions. A new career path of market affiliates has also come to existence which didn't exist in the past similar to how "Youtubers" became a new legitimate career path in the past decade or so as well. Instagram reels are another form of new marketing that has helped many businesses gain exposure through a platform similar to TikTok leveraging short videos that are easy for viewers to digest and has allowed these businesses to expand their market beyond their immediate location. 

The internet has definitely had an impact in the way companies can advertise and sell their products. With the growth of social media and online platforms and an increasing number of people with a digital presence, it is easier for companies to engage with customers without the need for physical interaction. It is so easy for anyone to establish profiles in these social media platforms and companies have been using this to market their services and products in a way that can sometimes be more engaging than conferences or brochures. In the past year or two when physical interaction was limited, companies can use online platforms to meet with potential customers or provide virtual demos to clients as well. Furthermore, as the previous post mentioned, companies can now also use sponsorships with people who have a large social media presence to reach more potential customers.

While digital marketing has been on quite the rise, it was extremely prevalent during the pandemic where many of us were using some type of electronic device for the majority of our day. The advancements in technology have greatly improved digital marketing. Being able to participate in zoom calls or Microsoft meetings eliminates the hassle of commutes and allows many people to collaborate and meet entirely online. Having a seamless virtual meeting explaining and exhibiting your product could perhaps become the norm with today's advancements. Many medical device conferences have been successfully completed virtually, I do not see why marketing and sales cannot be done virtually either. I think digital marketing will soon become the only type of marketing in the very future. 

The internet has changed marketing by forcing companies to innovate. Think about the last time you were watching TV. What did you do immediately after your show went to commercial break? You picked up your phone and did nearly anything to pass the time until your show came back on. Access to the internet gives us an infinite amount of content to be looking at all time, meaning we never have to settle for boring content. Prior to the internet most advertising came in the form ads on TV. In this case you were forced to watch the ads so you can watch TV. However, now you're able to skip nearly every ad you come across. Subscription based media and ad blockers on web browsing have also further limited advertising. The script is now flipped, and companies are now forced to create content more entertaining than whatever app you have on your phone. Sounds difficult right? It is, which is why you say many many brands creating accounts on platforms such as TikTok to create "organic" content that fits in with what people are watching. If it more accurately fits your interest in the form of media you use, you're more likely to watch.

The internet has greatly changed the world of marketing by many means. The best way it has revolutionized the field is by expanding the pool of potential clientele and long term users. It can be utilized as a tool to spread the word of the company to a broader audience of buyers and customers. It can also allow for more creativity in the advertising of the company. The internet has opened doors to having forums where people with like-minded interest can discuss their feedback for the products any company makes or endorses. Along with this, the internet can also allow companies to push promotions on users that shop online by catering to their interests based on things they search for online. 

@mmd55 I agree that the medical device industry marketing still requires that human interaction element that it always has had, and that the physical storefront is not impacted. However, I believe that the internet is definitely still a game changer in the medical device industry. Before the internet, hospitals and healthcare professionals had to request information from med device companies in order to make an analysis about which product was better or rely on a sales representative's information about competitors products. Now, the power is in the customer's hand as all information is readily available online. This is both an advantage and disadvantage when trying to sell a product since med device companies can now put all their promotional videos and marketing material online, but also the customer has access to both the company and its competitors marketing material at the same time. Their competitors also have access to all their marketing material and can target the gaps presented in that material. Additionally, with the internet came the advent of online shopping and medical device companies are able to use online ordering systems for their products, making it easier for their customers to place orders. For example, Ethicon recently began selling their products on Amazon (as long as the customer has a healthcare business account) to cater to smaller hospitals out of reach from their distribution centers. This online presence allows medical device companies to expand their businesses and reach a wider range of customers.

The internet has definitely changed how to promote products and the range of people that can see it. I think that the internet allows easier access to find more information about a product that is out on the market as well as compare it to the possible competitors. EVen though you still need to have personal interactions with potential customers to see if your product would be needed in the market, creating promotional and educational videos on your product can help with convincing the market that buying your product may be more beneficial. Also, if you are able to create an online store for your product, the amount of people that online shop also increase your coverage for the product. This online store would be in addition to having physical store if necessary depending on the product that is being sold. I definitely think that the internet has many benefits to improving upon how customers and sellers are able to access your product. Also, the online presence that is developed can help expand your business and create more potential to advance your product as well as collaborate with other individuals.  

Internet marketing is nothing like it was even 10 years ago. There are so many new developments always being created with the end user in mind to help ease certain tasks. Since the modern-day customer relies on technology much more than before, many of these internet marketing features aim to give you as much information as possible about what they did on the web. For example, certain programs can give you the number of unique clicks on a certain link, or the amount of time spent on each page, or the most visited page on a website. All of this information is valuable and it is up to the company to decide what kind of actions to take from this data. It has become as easy as ever to know what things were a success digitally and what has been a failure. Constant reviews, data pulls, and overall customer satisfaction makes the digital marketing field a very dynamic space that has endless opportunities for a corporation to take advantage of. The basic principles of marketing are still relevant to this day but the means to get the information have greatly evolved from the past. The greatest companies will be the ones who are able to adapt to these changes and truly see what their consumer is looking for. 

digital marketing is today's marketing method. The companies that produce the product or the sellers who buy the product from these companies and sell it themselves, use the internet as a store for the promotion of the product or the sale of the products. With this method, while making marketing cheap, they also get rid of this expense instead of opening a shop for sales. another advantage of this is provided to the customers who use the product. Customers can read the comments of other users who use the products on the sales web pages and act accordingly. Companies that read these comments can also benefit from these comments, develop their marketing strategies and eliminate the deficiencies of the products.

The digital era has changed how companies promote their goods. Because the playing field has been completely changed, businesses must now customize their customer-reach strategies. Although it has increased the number of new businesses, in many ways it has also made it harder to be successful. To use these marketing channels effectively, a sizable marketing budget is no longer sufficient. You will discover how the digital era has altered marketing channels in this article. Another aspect of the era of digital marketing is the way in which communication has changed. Channels for digital marketing are now more equal than ever. Reaching your target audience is now simpler than ever thanks to changes in consumer behavior. The value of a well-known brand name has essentially decreased. Due to your size, your company won't automatically experience an increase in sales. Smaller businesses have the same ability to turn themselves into success stories as you do. Smaller businesses receive the same amount of coverage from digital marketing channels as do well-known brands. All in all technology has changed the world as a whole, and will most definitely continue to change marketing as the years go on! Do you think that there are more cons than pros to the way the internet has impacted marketing?

The internet has changed marketing by allowing a person's product to be advertised on various platforms (Tiktok, FB, IG, Twitter, YouTube, etc.) and reach more demographics than traditional marketing strategies. We can now purchase something from our smartphones with the click of a button just because we saw an ad on Facebook or Instagram for an item we may or may not have been looking for. Since most social media outlets are worldwide, people can view and purchase a person's product and get it shipped to them regardless of location.