In today’s competitive landscape, generative AI (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping industries, and the medtech sector is no exception. However, despite its promise, many medtech companies are still in the early stages of adopting and scaling GenAI technologies. 90% of medtech companies are still grappling with limited or no measurable impact from their GenAI initiatives.
One area where medtech companies are beginning to see tangible results is marketing. Forward-thinking companies are leveraging GenAI to streamline content creation, enhance personalization, automate repetitive tasks, and significantly improve the efficiency of their marketing efforts. By optimizing processes and reducing costs, some companies have reported savings of up to 80% in the generation of text assets and a fourfold increase in asset generation speed.
In this article, we explore how GenAI can help medtech companies revolutionize their marketing function and the steps required to fully realize its potential.
GenAI: Revolutionizing MedTech Marketing for Efficiency and Personalization
GenAI offers a range of benefits for medtech marketing teams, driving both operational efficiencies and enhanced customer engagement. For years, marketers in medtech have sought ways to increase efficiency while achieving hyper-personalization. GenAI allows companies to move beyond traditional marketing practices by enabling rapid content generation, personalized messaging, and insights-driven campaigns.
With GenAI, the timeline to launch a marketing campaign can be reduced from months to just weeks—or even days. This speed, combined with the low cost of content generation, enables medtech companies to create always-on campaigns that adapt to customer behaviors throughout their journey.
For instance, global companies like Klarna and Reckitt have already scaled GenAI applications, achieving impressive results. Klarna reduced its external marketing spend by 25%, while Reckitt slashed concept development costs by 60% and post-campaign media analysis costs by 90%.
Phases of GenAI Implementation in MedTech Marketing
Successfully integrating GenAI into the marketing function involves three key phases: Deploy, Reshape, and Invent. Each phase brings incremental improvements in the complexity and ambition of GenAI use cases.
Phase 1: Deploy – Start with Point Solutions for Quick Wins
The initial phase involves deploying off-the-shelf or existing GenAI-embedded tools to perform simple marketing tasks. These may include generating AI-powered campaign briefs, optimizing search ad copy, or crafting consumer insights-based content. Many marketing software platforms have integrated GenAI capabilities, lowering the barriers to entry for companies seeking to improve efficiency by 10% to 15%.
While deploying GenAI tools requires minimal technical expertise, companies must ensure that employees are trained and that responsible AI principles are applied. By starting with small-scale implementations, organizations can quickly gain value and build momentum.
Phase 2: Reshape – Transform End-to-End Marketing Processes
The reshape phase involves more significant changes, where companies leverage GenAI to reimagine entire marketing processes. Rather than applying point solutions to individual tasks, medtech companies can transform the marketing function to achieve efficiency improvements of 30% to 50%.
An example of this transformation is the end-to-end development of creative assets, including social media posts and personalized communications with healthcare professionals. The process begins with data insights, followed by text, image, and video asset generation. These assets then undergo compliance reviews before being deployed across digital platforms. The feedback loop informs future iterations, creating a continuous optimization cycle.
In this phase, the integration of responsible AI governance is critical to ensure that content meets legal, medical, and regulatory (MLR) requirements. By embedding these checks within the GenAI-powered marketing workflow, companies can ensure compliance while scaling their efforts.
Phase 3: Invent – Create New Revenue Streams and Customer Experiences
The final phase—Invent—involves the development of entirely new products, services, or customer experiences powered by GenAI. Although still a longer-term goal for most medtech companies due to regulatory challenges, some early examples of GenAI-driven innovations in customer experiences have been seen in other industries. For instance, L’Oréal’s “Beauty Genius Guide” allows consumers to receive personalized beauty advice.
In medtech, a promising example is the development of a GenAI-powered patient management system. By leveraging proprietary product knowledge, medtech companies can address patient inquiries and streamline communication, alleviating the burden on healthcare staff while ensuring accurate and timely responses.
Real-World Example: Reshaping MedTech Marketing for Efficiency
A leading medtech company partnered with BioBoston Consulting to transform its marketing function using GenAI. The company aimed to reduce external marketing spend while improving the relevance of its communications by adapting centrally developed assets to local needs. The initiative progressed through three phases:
Phase 1: The company developed three initial GenAI applications: text generation, image creation, and MLR review. These applications worked together to generate marketing materials and ensure compliance. This segregated approach mitigated the risk of noncompliance by involving separate models for content creation and review.
Phase 2: The GenAI tools were integrated into the company’s existing marketing tech stack. At this stage, controlling inference costs was a key priority, ensuring that the savings generated by automation were not offset by high model usage costs.
Phase 3: The company prepared to roll out the solution to local markets. This phase highlighted the importance of change management, as employees needed to embrace new ways of working and integrate GenAI into their daily tasks.
The results were impressive: gross savings of 60% to 80% on text assets and a fourfold increase in asset generation speed.
What MedTech Marketing Leaders Must Do Now
Medtech companies should not delay in adopting GenAI in their marketing functions. To start reaping the benefits of this technology, companies should take the following concrete steps:
- Identify High-Impact Use Cases: Start with a manageable number of validated GenAI applications that can drive immediate improvements in marketing performance and cost reduction.
- Build a Clear Business Case: Quantify the potential value of GenAI in marketing and establish KPIs to track performance and impact.
- Prepare for Transformation: Ensure the organization is ready for a GenAI-enabled transformation, including implementing responsible AI practices and establishing a suitable operating model.
- Integrate Marketing and Tech Functions: Foster collaboration between marketing and technology teams, with clear responsibilities and incentives for success.
- Plan for Long-Term Innovation: While focusing on short-term wins, also consider developing differentiated GenAI products and services that open up new revenue streams.
- Invest in Change Management: Focus on the people and process aspects of GenAI implementation, ensuring that employees embrace new technologies and workflows.
Seize the Opportunity with BioBoston Consulting
Medtech companies cannot afford to wait. GenAI is already proving its worth in marketing, delivering faster time-to-market, cost savings, and greater personalization. By embracing GenAI now, companies can drive meaningful improvements in efficiency, marketing performance, and customer engagement.
Contact BioBoston Consulting today to explore how we can help you implement and scale GenAI technologies in your marketing function. Our expertise in GenAI adoption will ensure your company stays ahead of the curve while navigating the complexities of regulatory compliance and responsible AI.