At HealthTech Marketer, we’ll be devoting many articles to the expert creation of the medical device value proposition.

There are many reasons for this:

• Value props have become a lost art
• Without a strong value prop, you’ll never succeed
• It’s hard as hell to get them right
• A bad value prop can actually damage your brand

The North Star

Today’s HealthTech market is more complex and confusing than ever. To navigate it successfully, your medical device marketing has to have a “North Star” for guidance. That North Star is your value proposition.

I’m here to report that, unfortunately, value props are getting butchered at an alarming rate. What’s especially distressing is how damaging a misguided value prop can be.

Why have value props become such a lost art? Because those who craft them are often missing three crucial personal attributes:

1. You’ve gotta believe

I started my own HealthTech marketing agency after 12 years as a medical device rep because I believe in the transformative power of marketing, and—more specifically—value propositions.

• Do you believe in the power of consistent messaging? You’ll never have it without a single-minded value prop.
• Do you believe in the power of integrated marketing? It will never work unless it’s built on a single-minded value prop.

I was amazed that the weakest companies with the weakest products could sometimes beat superior companies and products. What did they have that I didn’t have? The answer: superior value props. To be a great HealthTech marketer, you’ve gotta believe in their difference-making power. Unfortunately, this fundamental requirement is flagging. The energy and enthusiasm required to make them just aren’t always there. The magic power of persuasion emanates from a well-built value proposition. It’s no coincidence that the best, most senior marketers have a deep understanding of this power and worship at its altar.

2. You’ve gotta have discipline

Too many value propositions are like Thanksgiving dinners: They contain a little bit of everything and leave you feeling bloated—exactly the opposite of what a high-octane value proposition should do. An effective value prop should:

• Represent the one thing your target audience absolutely, positively needs to know
• Be recitable by being four words or fewer

Getting there takes discipline. A proper value proposition process is an exercise in what NOT to say, ultimately revealing the one thing TO say.

3. You’ve gotta have passion

The best medical device agencies in this space believe in the power of value props and are very disciplined in how they go about creating them. What drives these marketers to keep going until they hit gold?

Passion.

Great marketers pursue the value proposition with dogged determination and messianic zeal. They don’t stop until they find the phrase that motivates their targets to act in their favor.