TL;DR
Hire a PR firm if your launch needs reporters, trade editors or investors to hear about it from someone other than you. Hire a marketing agency if your launch needs buyers to find you, understand the product and ask for a demo. Most device launches need the marketing work in place first, because coverage sends readers to your website, and the site, the search results and the sales materials are what they judge you on. Buzzbox Media is a marketing agency, not a PR firm.
Who needs to hear about your launch, and what should they do next?
When a device company asks "PR firm or marketing agency?", the question underneath is usually this one. Write down every group that has to act because of the launch, and what you want each of them to do:
- Reporters and trade editors: write about the device.
- Investors and your board: see that the company is moving.
- Clinicians who would use the device: learn it exists and ask for a demo, a sample or a training slot.
- Hospital purchasing and value analysis committees: find the evidence, the cost information and a way to start an evaluation.
- Patients, if the device is sold or prescribed to them: understand what it does and ask their doctor about it.
A PR firm works on the first two groups. A marketing agency works on the last three. Trade press coverage can reach clinicians too, but a clinician who is interested after reading an article still needs somewhere to go and something to do. That is the part a marketing agency builds.
What a PR firm does for a device company
The Public Relations Society of America defines public relations as "a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics." In a device launch, that usually means:
- Media relations. Pitching reporters and trade editors, arranging interviews, and preparing your spokespeople. The result is earned coverage: articles you did not pay the outlet for. Nobody can promise what an editor writes or whether they write at all.
- Press releases. Writing the announcement and sending it out. Distribution through a paid wire service is paid distribution, not coverage. A release on a wire is not the same as a reporter choosing to write about you.
- Trade press. Bylined articles, expert comment for stories in your specialty's journals and news sites, and interviews at congresses.
- Crisis communications. Prepared statements and a plan for a recall, a safety story in the news, a warning letter or a lawsuit. This is the part of PR that is hardest to replace.
- Corporate and investor communications. Funding announcements, leadership news, and in some firms, awards and speaking slots.
Most PR firms do not build and run your website, manage your ad accounts, set up conversion tracking, or run search engine optimization. Some offer these. If a PR firm says it does, ask who on its team does that work day to day.
What a marketing agency does at a launch
A marketing agency builds and runs the things you control, so that a buyer who hears about you can find you, check you out and take a next step:
- Product pages written to your cleared indication, with a clear next step such as a demo request, a sample request or a training signup.
- Search: search engine optimization and search ads for the words clinicians and buyers type when they are looking for your kind of product.
- Paid social, usually LinkedIn for clinical and hospital buyers.
- Tracking that records the real action (a demo request, a sample request), so you know which channel produced it.
- Conference work: booth graphics, pre-show promotion and post-show follow-up.
- Sales materials: sell sheets, presentations and follow-up email sequences.
This is the work Buzzbox Media does as a medical device marketing agency. We do not pitch reporters, manage press lists or run crisis communications.
Common launch problems when PR and marketing are not coordinated
The two kinds of firm overlap in a few places: the announcement itself, the product page the announcement links to, LinkedIn posts, and the words used to describe the device. Most launch problems happen in that overlap.
- Coverage lands before the website is ready. An article links to a home page that still describes the device the way it was written before clearance, or to a page with no way to ask for a demo. The attention arrives and has nowhere to go.
- Two teams write two versions of the product story. The PR firm's release says one thing, the website says another, and only one of them went through regulatory review.
- The announcement says more than the clearance allows. Under FDA's regulation on intended use, 21 CFR 801.4, a company's intent "may, for example, be shown by labeling claims, advertising matter, or oral or written statements." A press release is a written statement. Hold it to the same standard as your website and ads. More on that in what you can claim after 510(k) clearance.
- Nobody owns the calendar. The PR firm times the release, the marketing agency times the site launch and the ads, and the conference printer has its own deadline. If no one inside your company owns all three dates, they drift apart.
What each one needs from your team
Both need time from you. They need different people and different information.
| What they need | PR firm | Marketing agency |
|---|---|---|
| People | A spokesperson who can take interviews on short notice, and clinicians willing to speak to the press | A product lead who can answer questions about how the device is used and who buys it |
| News | Something worth reporting: clearance, first cases, published data, a funding round | Not required. The work continues whether or not there is news |
| Information | Company background, leadership bios, the facts behind every claim | Your cleared indication, approved claims, product images and specifications, and how a customer buys today |
| Access | Approval of quotes and releases | Access to your website, ad accounts and analytics, and a decision on ad spend, which you pay to the platforms |
| Review | Regulatory review of every release and quote | Regulatory review of every page and ad |
| A definition | What coverage counts as success | Who counts as a qualified lead, agreed with sales before anything launches |
If you cannot staff the left column yet, a PR engagement will stall. If you cannot staff the right column, a marketing engagement will stall. Knowing which column your team can support is often the fastest way to decide.
How to choose: a PR firm, a marketing agency, or both
| Your situation | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You just received clearance and buyers cannot yet find a product page written to it | Marketing agency | Coverage would send readers to a page that is not ready |
| You have real news (published data, first cases, a funding round) and your site is ready | PR firm, with your marketing kept in step | The news is what gets an editor's attention, and the site is ready to receive it |
| A recall, safety story or lawsuit is in the news | PR firm with medical device crisis experience | This is work a marketing agency should not be doing |
| Your launch is built around one congress | Marketing agency for the booth, pre-show promotion and follow-up; add PR only if you have news to announce there | The booth and the follow-up produce the conversations; news gets you coverage |
| You can afford one firm this quarter | Usually the marketing agency | Buyers who hear about you from any source will check your website and search results first |
| You are raising money and investors are the audience | PR firm | Investor-facing announcements are PR work |
Hiring both is common for a funded launch with real news value. When you do, keep them working from the same plan.
How to run a PR firm and a marketing agency together
- Put every date on one timeline. The print deadline for conference materials, the website go-live, the regulatory review, the release date and the ad start date. Do first whatever has an outside deadline.
- Write one approved description of the device. One document, reviewed by regulatory, that both firms work from. Neither firm writes a new version.
- Draft the announcement before the decision arrives. If you are waiting on a clearance, have the release, the product page and the LinkedIn posts drafted and approved so they can go out the same day. FDA publishes cleared devices in its public 510(k) database, so competitors and reporters can find your clearance there.
- Put the product page live before the release goes out. The release links to it. The page has a clear next step and tracking that records it.
- Name one owner inside your company. One person holds the calendar and approves changes to it.
For the rest of the first months after clearance, see the post-510(k) launch playbook. For which paid and organic channels to start with once the site is ready, see which marketing channel comes first on a small medtech budget.
What to ask a PR firm before you hire one
If you decide you need PR, these questions separate a firm that knows medical devices from one that does not:
- Which trade editors in your specialty have they worked with in the past year? Ask for links to coverage they secured, not a list of outlets.
- Who will pitch your story? The senior person in the sales meeting, or someone junior?
- How do they handle regulatory review? They should expect every release and quote to go through your regulatory reviewer, and plan time for it.
- What do they count as success? Coverage in outlets your buyers read is worth more than a large total audience number.
- Do they promise a number of placements? No firm controls what an editor writes. Treat a guarantee of coverage the way you would treat a guarantee of leads: ask what it is based on.
- Have they handled a device recall or safety story? If crisis support is part of the reason you are hiring, ask for a specific example they can talk about.