I can’t believe it’s officially 2019! I’ve been catching up with my colleagues after the holidays and in the process, finding out what the new year has in store for us.
As part of our spotlight series, readers of our blog will get to know members of the BulletinHealthcare team. On this occasion, I sat down with our resident medical device expert, Jeff Benson, Sales Director.
You focus on medical device. How did you get into that vertical?
Jeff: I have been in publishing since 1995. I started in the commercial printing space and in 2010, transitioned into healthcare publishing, focusing on medical device. My first 7 years were in cardiology. Now I’m lucky to cover all healthcare verticals for device with BulletinHealthcare.
Looking back on 2018, what would you say characterized last year for you and your clients?
Jeff: It has been a year of helping my clients, both old and new, understand the benefits of digital marketing and more specifically, BulletinHealthcare’s ability to hit the mark for them.
What are the key trends for medical device marketing you see shaping up for 2019?
Jeff: The FDA is trending to get devices approved and to market more quickly and efficiently. I’m also seeing an interesting trend toward AI in the device marketplace. Dr. Gottleib, the FDA Commissioner, recently said “One of the most promising digital health tools is artificial intelligence, particularly efforts that use machine learning,” explaining that the FDA is “actively developing a new regulatory framework to promote innovation in this space.”
What are some key indicators of a successful marketing campaign?
Jeff: I met with a new client last week who is about halfway through a 4-month campaign. She is running similar campaigns with six or seven other publishers, and she said her BulletinHealthcare campaign has generated the best response, by far. She is very happy with our [platform’s] performance and plans to run a full-year campaign with us in 2019.
We’ve built our platform on the ability to target ads by a variety of criteria. What do you generally advise clients do to maximize capability?
Jeff: I have been able to leverage our data in a variety of ways to help our med device clients target by specialty and procedure. And now with our unique health-system data, I have been able to layer medical specialties at specific hospitals and health systems with different types of healthcare facilities, like critical access facilities and rural hospitals.
Healthcare marketers love the many conferences that happen throughout the year. Do you have a favorite conference?
Jeff: ACC is my favorite conference to attend because cardiology is where I cut my teeth in healthcare marketing. I obviously like to hear about all the new technology, but the best part is catching up with my clients and friends in the industry that I don’t get to see very often.
You’re a big fan of lacrosse and even coached your son’s team. Have you ever played lacrosse with a client?
Jeff: Yes, I love the game, and I’m still coaching kids in my club program. As for playing with or against customers… I play with one of my colleague’s customers on the media side. And I run a pick-up league of 40+ year old guys. Some of them are in the industry: healthcare consultant, doctor, nurse anesthetist, and so on. Oh, and I am lucky enough that my son comes out to play with us somewhat regularly!
Have a question of your own for Jeff? Email advertise@bulletinhealthcare.com.
Director of Marketing
