Why Some Ideas Stick (And Most Don’t)

Selling is one of the three essential skills for building a successful startup. (The others? Building and knowing what to build/sell)

But selling isn’t just about landing customers. The top founders excel at selling their mission and ideas to teammates, employees, and investors. Think of Steve Jobs or Sam Altman.

Even as an investor, consultant, or advisor, you need to sell companies on your value add.

Sales come in many forms: direct, one-on-one conversations, or broader marketing to large audiences. While the methods may differ, the principle is universal: highlight the solution’s benefits effectively.

Today, let’s focus on marketing in healthcare, and why it’s more crucial (and challenging) than ever.

The Unique Challenges of Marketing in Healthtech

For healthcare founders, marketing is rarely straightforward. Launching a new app isn’t as simple as catchy slogans and polished designs. It’s navigating a maze of medicolegal requirements with lawyers to ensure everything is above board.

Healthcare demands more than creativity. It requires accountability. Every claim must be evidence-based, compliant with regulations, and transparent to patients and providers. Privacy laws dictate not just what you can say but who you can target.

This level of scrutiny sets healthtech apart from industries like fashion or software, where marketing creativity can take center stage without the same constraints.

Doctors: Salespeople in Disguise

Although many doctors see selling as foreign, it’s actually a lot more ingrained in our profession than we think. And it’s a skill we need to work on even if we never choose to become a founder.

Every time we recommend a treatment plan, we’re selling patients on a path forward. Convincing someone to take a new medication, commit to rehab, or change a lifestyle habit is essentially a sale. Every time the healthcare community agrees on new guidelines or recommendations, we are essentially leveraging our credibility and marketing it to the masses.

Our reward system in medicine doesn’t reinforce our success in “sales” the way it does in traditional industries. If a patient doesn’t adhere to their medication, the feedback loop isn’t immediate. And make no mistake, our current sales record is far from stellar.

• In developed countries, about 50% of patients with chronic conditions don’t adhere to prescribed medications.
• In the U.S., it contributes to 33-69% of medication-related hospitalizations, costing $100-300 billion annually.

If healthcare were retail, this would be a crisis. As physicians, we need to embrace marketing both in our individual patient encounters and in broader public health efforts.

Anti-Smoking Ads

Marketing behavioral change isn’t easy, but successful public health campaigns offer valuable insights. Consider anti-smoking ads, aimed at curbing one of the most addictive habits in human history.

Credit to The Ad Professor for compiling this list of successful ads.

And finally, a concrete study showing that small improvements in messaging saves lives.

Takeaways

Here’s what made these ads so engaging:

1. Grab Attention

The best ads above (e.g., “Cancer Cures Smoking,” “Cigarettes Smoke People”) use blunt, vivid phrasing or shocking imagery that’s impossible to ignore. Attention comes from novelty and surprise.

2. Use a Strong Emotional Trigger

Whether it’s vanity (fear of looking old), parental guilt (protect your children), or disgust (burnt room = burnt lungs), successful campaigns target an emotion deep enough to provoke change.

3. Keep It Simple & Personal

“Ashes to Ashes” and “Smoker & Passive Smoker” show that a few words, or a clean, evocative visual, hit harder than a crowded ad.

4. Show the Consequences Tangibly

Metaphors like a burnt home (“Your Body Is Your Home”) help people visualize an otherwise hidden health risk. Concrete ideas and stories are much more effective than piling on stats and data.

For a deeper dive into how to craft messages that stick, I recommend Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die. It’s a great place to learn about how to create effective messaging to improve buy-in at your clinic, startup, public health initiatives, or even your home.

Marketing isn’t just for startups or public health campaigns. It’s a skill physicians already use every day.

I’d love to hear any successful sales or marketing strategies that you’ve seen or used yourself in the healthcare setting. Please reply with any examples of your own.

Best,
Mohammed