Martab Builds Brand Identity
Consistent message is ‘Innovate Medical Technology’
Ever get tired of being known only as “the guys who sell [fill in
manufacturer’s name]?” Tony Marmo did. That’s why he’s making an all-out effort
to build a brand identity for his company, Lincoln Park, NJ-based Martab
Medical.
Founded by Marmo’s dad 38 years ago, Martab is no novice in the New York
market. (Tony and his brother bought the hospital supply business in 1995 and
converted it into a specialty supplier.) Even so, given the exclusives that the
company has with its manufacturers, and the full service it provides on their
behalf, it’s not surprising that hospital customers often identify the Martab
reps with the manufacturers whose products they carry, rather than with Martab
itself.
But Marmo wants to change that, for a couple of reasons. First,
manufacturers come and go, he says. Some drop their distributors and go direct,
others get bought up, and still others sell off key product lines. In short,
anything can happen. But because Martab intends to remain a fixture in the
New York market, the company is eager to build a lasting identity of its own.
The second problem is this: “You’re only as good as the manufacturers you
carry,” says Marmo. He wants to differentiate his company from other suppliers
on the basis of the services it provides, not just on the manufacturers
it represents.
Building the Brand
Part of building a brand is getting your name out there, day after day,
in as many ways as possible. That’s what Marmo has been working on, starting
with the company’s website (www.martab.com).
As a member of The Alternative Board TAB® (www.tabboards.com),
Marmo meets with executives of non-competing companies on a monthly basis to
share news, information and tips about running their businesses. (Like TEC – to
which several IMDA members belong -- TAB sponsors local and regional boards
throughout the country. They meet regularly under the direction of a
TAB-certified facilitator.) A member of Marmo’s TAB board makes software to help
companies build their brand identity. Marmo tapped him for help.
The software makes it easy to create a striking website, and to create
marketing materials relatively simply and inexpensively.
The revised Martab website (with updated logo, featuring two mountains,
symbolizing a prestigious and growing company) features the company’s core areas
of competency -- respiratory, pain management, blood products, cardiac and
rentals. Soon the company will feature another specialty area – neonatal.
The website and collateral materials proudly feature Martab’s tagline:
“Innovative Medical Technology.” It is the springboard upon which Martab is
building its identity.
Martab drives traffic to the website through a variety of media, says
Marmo. Working with a marketing firm, the company has designed a brochure that
emphasizes many of the same points as its website. And it is commencing an
intensive e-mail campaign, with messages tailored to a number of distinct
audiences, including members of the trade and consumer press (including media
outlets in the manufacturer’s headquarters city); hospital administrators; and
the clinicians to whom Martab sells equipment and products, such as respiratory
therapists, cardiothoracic surgeons and others.
To further reinforce Martab’s identity as the go-to company for
innovative medical technology, Marmo is developing on-hold messages for
telephone callers, which will direct them to the company’s website.
To top it off, Martab has developed its own clothing line for its
drivers, service people, reps and managers. There are Martab jackets, shirts,
scrub suits, even gym shorts. Everybody gets a $300 allowance to buy
merchandise.
More than Skin Deep
But building a brand involves a lot more than creating good-looking
logos, websites and clothing. It’s about delivering on the promise. In
Martab’s case, that means bringing to customers innovative medical technology.
A little over a year ago, the company put in the field a clinical
specialist for respiratory therapy and surgery. (In the future, Marmo hopes to
have one clinical specialist for each of his company’s major specialty areas.)
He makes presentations to cardiac surgeons and administration, talking about
cost-savings and new technology, says Marmo.
When new equipment is introduced, the clinical specialist will spend as
much as a week in an OR while the customer is evaluating it. Not only does the
customer get the benefit of his expertise, but Martab gains too. At the end of
that week, the surgeons and OR nurses no longer look at the Marmo employee as a
salesperson, but as a colleague. “By Friday, the doctors are saying, ‘Come on
into our lounge,’” says Marmo.
Building a brand identity for clinicians and administrators is worth the
effort, says Marmo. Armed with brochures, the web address and even a company
jacket, Marmo and staff can go to administration and say, “This is who we are,
this is what we do,” he says.
“Customers tell our reps that they’re shocked at the innovation they
bring to them,” he adds. “They say, ‘We like to see your reps. You’re not just
selling another band-aid.’”
Other Best of IMDA Updates