A Psychological Warfare Officer Teaches Medical Device Leaders an Introduction to Marketing Psychology.

My progression from Army Medical Service Corps to Psychological Operations Officer to Healthcare Brand Agency has evolved and I've used what I learned to help medical device marketing leaders utilize marketing psychology and help companies clarify and amplify their marketing messages so more doctors will pay attention and will want to know more about their company.

From Army Psychological Operations Officer to Healthcare Brand Agency. 

OVERVIEW (GoArmy.com careers web page)

The Psychological Operations Officer has in-depth knowledge of the art and science of persuasion and influence, and an expertise in the political and cultural trends and attitudes of the people in his or her area of operation. Psychological Operations Officers utilize their understanding of social psychology, individual and group dynamics to influence individuals, groups and populations.

JOB DUTIES

• Executing advertising and marketing campaigns to create favorable results or elicit desired behaviors in support of specific objectives
• Serving as expert planners who are capable of deescalating issues facilitating transitions from tactical to professional environments

Inspired by a recent Hubspot article, I share a few behavioral psychology lessons that can help medical device marketing leaders reach their ideal healthcare clients more effectively.

Reciprocity

If you've gone to a good restaurant and you receive two mints with your bill did you know the average tip is 20%? Any of you spinal solution old-guard marketers remember the AO ASIF Course and free SWAG such as the briefcase? Of course you do, every orthopedic surgery resident in America coveted that briefcase.

Introduced in Dr. Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, the concept of “reciprocity” is simple -- if someone does something for you, you’ll naturally want to do something for them.

In your marketing, there are a lot of creative and compliant ways to take advantage of reciprocity. My favorite is your expertise on a difficult subject matter. At FEED, we've been engaged to create practice building webinars and seminars - completely free for the doctor and staff. Anything that is free, relevant, and helps your clients grow their brand and bottom line will attract more clients that will be willing to give your product and service a fair evaluation, establish brand loyalty, and build a community of brand evangelists.

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

Ever heard about a product or procedure and then start seeing it everywhere you look? Infuse, XLIF, CoolSculpting, and Tommy John surgery are examples. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon starts happening after you encounter something for the first time, and then, seemingly, you start noticing it appearing everyday and everywhere. According to Hubspot, the theory behind this mere exposure effect is that you are more likely to have good feelings toward something that you’re exposed to often.

For medical device marketers, this phenomenon demonstrates the importance of "seed marketing." The thesis is that once someone starts noticing your brand -- increased word of mouth marketing, engaging with you on LinkedIn, watching your unique brand storytelling videos -- you’ll want to help them start seeing you “everywhere.” At FEED, we're helping medical device companies develop campaigns utilizing behavioral science, increasing their brand awareness, and decreasing the time it takes to connect with surgeons online to offline. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon can help a memorable brand platform go viral, increase the ROI of lead generation, and decrease marketing budget.

Foot-in-the-door Technique

Quoting the Hubspot article - a famous 1966 experiment took place, where the investigators send someone around to ask people to place a small card in a window of their home supporting safe driving. Two weeks later, the same people were asked by a different person to put a large sign in their front yard advocating safe driving. The result: 76% of people who agreed to the first request now complied with the more intrusive request, compared to only 20% of people who were never asked to put a sign in their windows and were just asked to put up a large sign in their yards.

The lesson here is that you’re more likely to get a big “yes” from someone if you get a small “yes” from them first. A bond forms between the requester and the requestee during the small request, which makes them more likely to comply with a bigger request. Also, people tend to want to act consistently based on how they acted in response to the first request.

This means you shouldn’t ask someone to buy your product or set up an hour-long demo call when they visit your site for the first time. Make a smaller request instead. For example, ask to set up a quick 15-minute call to discuss something indirectly related to your product or service, like a consulting session. Small asks lay the groundwork for bigger asks.

Now that you understand a bit more about human behavior and motivation, let’s recap what you’ve learned and how medical device companies can use the techniques learned today in your marketing. 

1. The concept of “reciprocity” is simple -- if someone does something for you, you’ll naturally want to do something for them.
2. The Badder-Meinhof Phenomenon discovers how the exposure effect is that you are more likely to have good feelings toward something that you’re exposed to often. This phenomenon can help a medical device marketing department update their key brand messaging, develop a memorable content marketing program, and create memorable multi-media brand storytelling across multiple mediums.
3. The Foot-in-the-door technique can help sales representatives lay the groundwork for bigger asks while building an effective know, like, trust, and refer relationship with their key accounts.