Marketing a soft tissue surgical robot in 2025

Marketing a soft tissue surgical robot in 2025

I want to start 2025 on the right foot and hopefully help a little with my thoughts on what you should do and what you should not do when marketing your soft tissue surgical robot.

I’ve got a fairly good internal experience and now a very good external experience of watching what works and what literally grates on the market. ( I get a lot of feedback from a lot of customers of how your messaging comes across.)

I’m going to start by saying - for the strategics - if you are thinking your marketing is an extension of your current product lines and it should be running the same playbook… then read on.

If you’re a startup / scale up - and you think it’s about flashy headlines - promises and “we will change the world” to everyone, then read on.

It’s not 2015 anymore. We now have over 45 systems in some form of soft tissue robotics on the market - about to come on the market - or about to leave the market.

We have a legacy of casualties (Titan, Avatera and more) that have recently departed.

We have a hyper dominant market leader that is running a near perfect marketing playbook and that has re-written the rules since 2015. Talk cost at your utter peril.

Take this advice for what it is… just my advice. I know some of you will know way better and already have all this in hand because you’ve sold consumables in the OR for years. Or you’ve sold capital equipment at about the $100K mark - so you know how to do this. If you know it all - lots of other articles in my blog ;) (I'm teasing)

So let’s dive in…

Know who you are and what you are

Look across linked In. look at the congress booths. Look at the websites and you will see a jumbled mess of generic messaging.

The primary reason people are all over the place with their messaging is that they don’t seem to know who they are, and what they are (as a product, as a company and above all as a brand.)

I think too many companies are looking at Intuitive and saying “We’ll have some of that…” and then failing badly to deliver on the promises they think they can deliver.

The first thing you need to do is understand - “Who you are” as a company. And the wrong answer is “we are a competitor to Intuitive.” Be that written word for word somewhere in a deck, or implied by the fact that they are taking your market share in your endo-mechanicals. Or they have a juicy profitable growing market that you and your investors want a slice of.

You cannot be “all things to all people, all the time.” It just doesn’t work that way (although some of your cringeworthy marketing materials scream that.)

You also cannot be “The saviour” who will finally, finally make surgical robotics available for everyone and not just a few of those rich elite hospitals that have a da Vinci sitting in the corner doing one case per week.

And again - I read day in and day out shudder worthy copy text that says exactly that.

Now you as a marketing group or C-suite may believe your own hype - but I can assure you the market is reacting in a way that says “We don’t believe your hype.” For many of you... your product is not flying off the shelf.

So what can you do?

Firstly - stand back and look at your company - and understand why it even exists. Or if it is a robotics division in a larger company… why does that “push in to robotics” exist? What's the driver?

There are going to be a ton of self inflated bullshit answers that you tell each other around the meeting table - and suck down your own Koolaid. And then there will be the home truths. And unfortunately many of those home truths cannot be used as a marketing slant. So you will need to find a real purpose and convert that into marketing:

Example of what we think: We are here to democratise robotic surgery, to bring an innovative system that will finally do more types of procedures, deliver that in a robot with more features, at a cost where now anyone across the world can have a robot; and finally bring those advantages to more patients. (Feel familiar?)

What is one possible reality: We laughed at robotics for a decade and let our market get commoditised as we turned the business into a contracts based generics market… and laughed heartily as we milked the profits year on year by cost cutting and merging divisions. In the meantime robotics exploded and we got left behind so scrambled (and then took forever) to react as we haemorrhaged. So now we exist to stop the bleeding and we think bringing our robotic offering will convince our customers to stay with us “because we have a robot” and maybe get some of those customers back that were "all but forced away from us" to Intuitive.

(Not a snappy marketing line! But it may feel more real.)

For others another possible reality is: We saw the robotics land grab and thought we could innovate our way around this to bring something different that didn’t crash into the patents and would hammer the cost of robotics by 50%. Everyone hates Intuitive so they will come running with open arms to any alternative. And we will be better than da Vinci - more innovative and offer way more. It’s a gold rush and we can raise money for this. But now this fight is way way harder than we thought.

Another possible reality is: Let’s just make a clone in China and we can own the Chinese market as no one can afford a da Vinci in China and a home grown alternative will be more deisrable. We will then launch from there and bring a close copy of the Xi but make it at 40% cheaper and just go around the world to those markets that can’t afford a da Vinci and undercut them with a similar product.

(Again not the best marketing headline. But a possible reality.)

The problem with all of these types of “Who you are” is that it’s not always compelling for the customer, and it is absolutely not a great message to splash oina brochure. And if you do not, or cannot, deliver on your promises (thesis) - then you are dead as a company. This market is pretty cruel.

Not all companies fall into these examples - but many do. And for those companies,  I can tell you as an outside observer your marketing and actions scream (subliminally) the real facts of who you are and why you are doing this. And that crashes against the image you wish to project. It’s seems to be clear to all but you.

My advice is to step back - rethink and gain a real and clear understanding of who you really are, and what you really are. And in the great words of Simon Sinek - “WHY you are.”

It doesn’t matter what the original intent was (that’s history) - but if it is not what is going to work for you in 2025, convince the market, set you apart - you need to reinvent your why. And get that as part of the DNA of the division or the company.

You also need to look around you and see the differences between 2015 - when you set off on this adventure - and 2025; with how this world and landscape has changed. Based on this - you need to find your real space.

So if you’re a strategic - should your why be a little more upfront and honest. We missed it - we missed it and took our eye off the ball. Intuitive did an amazing job. But as one of the big companies we feel we have a duty to our customers and to the market to bring you alternatives. We know a ton of people love our energy devices and staplers - and we’d love to find a way to allow you to use them as you want - on a robot. But first we have to make a compelling robot that cannot be the same as a da Vinci - as that is not really offering a choice.

Our big difference is we can bring this and offer up choice to do the right procedure for that patient - Open - Lap - Robotic or a blended surgery. Etc etc And you can have a trusted, reliable, steady company behind it all.

And that is a good honest why. And from that you can drop into marketing copy that works and builds a brand that works to reinforce that messaging.

“Expanding our offering so you can use our trusted products in the way you see fit.”

“Realising many cases should be done robotic - so offering another choice in how you do that. Not a mee too but a genuine alternative.”

“Offering a different approach to da Vinci for those that prefer modular, bed mounted, etc etc. but from another trusted company that will still be here in 10 years. We owe the market real choice.”

You can spin this 100 ways - but it is very different than “We are here to now democratise robotic surgery” spaff.

If you’re a smaller startup: You better have an innovation such as a MINI RAS, Lap 2.0, easier set up, different site of care, work at the system sterile to blend procedures, reduce bedside assistants, make it easier… etc. A real unique proposition.

Effectively you need to be a left field underdog and then appeal to your section of the market.

You are not a fucking Intuitive and you never will be - so stop marketing like a pale imitation of them. Go with something they can;'t ever do…

“Freedom from the corporate tyranny.”

“Small family feeling business that you can feel part of and impact decisions rather than a faceless corporation”

“Bringing local choice - made in country X for country X” (well done Ssi)

All of these are very different than the false promise of “We can do everything an Xi does at half the price.”

I can’t tell you exactly who you are and why you are - all I can tell you is that you are NOT Intuitive and you are never going to “beat” Intuitive. But you can live along side them as long as you can communicate to the market why you exist, who you are and what you products are. You need to justify your existence.

Then build a brand that screams that

This is one of the biggest failing that a company can make. Their marketing message and their brand do not align - and every human being in that company (or division) is not a part of that brand.

I’m seeing a few companies that have started well in creating a brand and culture that aligns with their “Why.” But I’m also seeing those same companies (right at this time) falling into the trap of becoming mini corporations - especially as they venture into the USA and they get a USA team that is not in that original spirit of the start up team.

Beware that your brand does not get hijacked by seasoned US ex corporate folk that think the way to win the hearts and minds of the hospital C-Suites is to be a mini corporation in suits and ties. Beware - and remain true to your brand.

For the strategics there is a massive dilemma. They already have a successful corporate brand - and most of those corporate brands are to me (sorry to say) stodgy - old - tired - and do not scream innovation - but they have been successful for 75 years. Sticking this type of innovation under the red or blue banner as a “part of the product portfolio” can be a potential issue in my mind.

It’s an issue because if your messaging is “have the energy and stapler you love on a robot” - and that same field team, marketing team, comms team will be used and there is a real danger that your marketing becomes a sub page on a massive corporate site. So it can lose its own voice.

This is a tough one - because the legacy brand will always come back and can be harmful to the sub brand.

But there are ways to do this - and the automotive industry does this very well. They have a lot of sub brands where they can create their own market voice. Yet have the “sponsorship” of the parent company. Think Toyota and Lexus. Think VW and Cupra.

The smart marketing teams in the strategics that have a robot will get back to that why. Then they will decide if they need to create a genuine break away sub brand. A brand that can have its own colour palette, it’s own character, it’s own culture, it’s own way of doing things…

(Don’t let your corporate comms team decide the name and brand by death by McKinsey.)

And that sub brand must match up to the market - and the segmentation of the way the market works. Having a “Robotics” division that does spine, hair, bronchoscopy, soft tissue, endolumenal etc etc and building a “Robotics and digital” brand is utterly missing the point and confused the hell out of the market.

CUSTOMERS DO NOT THINK IN PRODUCTS !!!!!! They think in procedures and ultimately patients.

I can tell you - there are several Chinese companies (corporations) that have 6 plus robots - and they all appear on the same page - HTF does a cochlea implant robot sit on the same page in the same brand as a soft tissue robot? Want to confuse your customers?

You need brands that match segments - a spine robot branding and a soft tissue lap robot branding do not speak to the same customer in the same way. Yet go to company sites and they are in the product pull down category… and then pull up the pages - look at the copy text - look at the imaging - branding - colours - etc etc. They look and feel like a single homogenous lump.

The umbrella corporate brand cannot be the “division” brand and especially not the product brand. And if it does become that - then it is just not communication… it is like a stall at a market with everything just thrown on the table for the customer to sort through and find the right product and information. For me it's lazy and confusing.

Here's two strategic examples of how (in my opinion) innovative products get lost in a coprorate branding exercise... I'm not picking on them in particular they are just two of the best examples of corporates that us the single brand look and feel across their portfolios, divisions etc.

Does innovation get lost in a corporate brand?

Does innovation get lost in a corporate brand?

In these examples you can see how the corporate brand, division brand and the product brand just gets lost. Now that may be some odd corporate decision where “we want uniformity” - because it helps the company for soem reason. But in my mind... it is not customer centric and helping the customer. And that for me has no place in communication - and communicating to the customer what your product “stands for”. I think it just screams we are just a big corporation where everything is the same when it’s under our corporate banner. Everything has the weight - everything has the same importance - it's the same.

My humble advice - is that you are competing with an Apple like company - singular focus (Intuitive) that has their brand on point. It is clear who they are, what they are and why they are. They only really have one brand - robotics - high end robotics.

Their high end product brands would never sit next to a suture just one click away. So in my mind you cannot have a high end brand that sits along side your commodity products - that looks like the commodity - has image layouts like the commodity - page loads like the commodity - corporate copy like the commodity.

Well you can… but then do not expect people to see your  product as innovation, high end or special. Expect them to see you as a legacy company with a bolt on to your commodities - all under the same “But we’ve been around for a very very long time so you can trust us.”

If you are an upstart brand in a start up - then live that brand! Make your brand scream “We offer an alternative” - make your team dress like “we are an alternative” - have them live the brand. Communicate that brand - every sentence should be in that brand voice about why you are an alternative for your tribe of followers. Every image should be on brand.

Does this paragraph below make sense?

“We are an upstart underdog company with a revolution that will make you think differently about surgery from start to finish. We have a tried and tested corporate team (Insert pictures of management in suits and ties) that have run major divisions in corporations so we are in safe hands. Our mission “To democratise surgical robotics through crashing the price.” We have a big corporate head office we just built in Nashville which we are filling with regulatory teams, HR and corporate governance officers. We innovate daily. Our board has a chairman from big company X, another from big company Y. Our brand logo is Red in Helvetic - our website navigates just like every other website on the planet… it has some great product shots that talk features not benefits... but we are rebels.”

Words matter. Images matter. Logos matter. Colours matter.

Hopefully you see it is utterly confused and runs agains the brand. I’m not saying you have to be nut cases - but you have to stand out. You have to scream something so different than anyone else and the brand needs to communicate who you are - so customers know who they are dealing with. It has to be genuine and right to the core DNA of the company.

“But Steve won’t that alienate some customers?” Yes it F’in will and good. It means your brand talks to some customers that buy into your brand (your tribe) and not to others that don’t. This generic approach of “we want to sell to anyone and everyone” will be the death of your company.

Be a standout brand.

Content matters… but

I am psychotic about details and certain things just drive me mad. BUT better 80% right and out than 100% right and stuck in copy review. ( I always have mistakes. But the message is out.)

In 2025 - this is going to be about speed - change - pivot. If you cannot get your marketing comms out in volume at pace to scream your message - you are going too be lost in a rapidly changing noisy market. 45 other companies are out there trying to communicate and find their audience. And one of them dominates the message space.

The 2000s style of comms is gone. We are in a swipe up mindset - and content rules. Slow - ponderous - heavily corporate scripts are done...

You need to push out quality (and that has many meanings by the way - great content but badly presented can be a quality piece.) We should not be aiming for perfection here. You should not be aiming for the utimate crafted corporate message. Especially the start ups.

But the meaning of what you present does count. And every piece you put out must have a very good reason to exist, and continue to build your brand and story.

I still see so many Linked In “fillers” where articles get pushed out by disconnected corporate comms teams to “just make sure we have something out there.” But it doesn’t join up. It doesn't make sense.

Comms is about a coherent story that expresses important things that your brand wants your customers to understand. Note I say understand because the amount of word salad shit that gets written as copy is just embarrassing.

“Innovation is a fundamental ground part of our integrity to democratising robotics. With just 3%*********** of procedures today done robotically we think it’s time for a change. Our mission is to broadly place broad technology that helps the broader community go broader in the most broadest sense. Do more - say more - be better.”

********* data on file from a 2012 report that just happens to support our stupid statement.

The details in what you say really do matter. Use less words in 2025 - but make the details of the words count. And make them add up to your brand story… and to the right target.

“We missed the boat. But we are about to catch up. Thanks for being a loyal customer and waiting for us. We love you.”

“Are you doing low acuity procures in an ACS? We have a robotic solution just for you.” And then explain why.

“We’ve made it easy to switch to our system - it’s super familiar to you - but now you have a choice of who you buy from. Let’s keep the markets honest.”

Be careful of this nonsense.

“We have just completed 3000 procedures - well done Hospital X! We are growing fast !!”

So what? You’ve just completed 15 million less than Intuitive - well done !

In your communication you need to explain more of “why that number is important…”

“It’s early days but we just completed procedure 3000 - safely and with great outcomes. It’s part of our controlled, slow and steady limited release as we take safety as our top priority.”

Send out content that matters to your target audience - and do make sure it is consistent, builds brand and always has a call to action… (if you don’t know what a call to action is you should not be allowed near marketing copy… if you do not know what copy is… you should not be allowed near marketing…)

Stay the F away from “price”

Old adage - you win on price - you lose on price.

Saying “we are cheaper” is not a flex in surgical robotics.

Now you can spin that as “we change the economics” which is a little different. But I still see a lot of companies with the promise that they will get the cost of robotics down.

Why?

Well you have to understand a few fundamental things. The XI,. The DV5 are brilliant and fully loaded. No surgeon or hospital in their right mind are going to say they are garbage.

They might say “it’s too big” in some places. Or “workflow is still not optimal…”

But the 90% fall back when you talk to customers is “Robotics is just too expensive.”

Now be careful - as part of that is “To buy the capital up front is crazy expensive.”

Some is “The distributors put so much on cost on it becomes too expensive.”

Some of it is “The cost per case is way more than lap so it’s not possible.”

Sometimes it’s “We don’t get a kicker of reimbursement to cover the case costs.”

Etc etc.

So if you ask a lot of hospital administrators they will say “you need to be a lot cheaper to even have a discussion.”

So that sparks a simple marketing spin of “We will be 50% cheaper than a da Vinci.” It’s a quick and easy win that gets you in the door and gets a conversation going. But it’s fatal.

Do this at your peril. And I do not care which company you are - "We will be cheaper than Intuitive" is an absolute trap. Let me explain.

When the hospital says “We want it cheaper” they are really saying “We want the same quality, features, instruments, reliability and service… but just cheaper.” And that’s the trick. Does your marketing say…

“We are identical to an Xi - with pound for pound features - reliability - quality - and range of instruments and accessories. But we are 50% cheaper.” Erm no.

Your “we are cheaper” also lands with a thud when you ask “So how much are you being asked to pay for your Xi… $1.8 Million?”

And the customer replies. “No. We get the hardware placed if we do 250 cases at $3000 per case.”

You: “So you want us to be $1500 per case and give you the robot, service it, give the instruments and support cases… and through a distributor. Is that what you’re asking?”

Customer: “You said you were 50% cheaper.”

Instead you can talk economics, throughput, time savings etc etc (all for another post) and you might be able to get an efficiency saving tied in with a lower price per case etc etc. But you will eventually run into a major cash flow issue. I promise you. I will explain that in another post.

In 2025 nearly all robots are going in capital placed as part of a structured deal. Live with it - deal with it - plan for it. Embrace it.

You should not be talking price in any of your marketing in 2025. The world has changed and the war chest of Intuitive has changed that game. The soon to be flood of DV5s that upgrade Xis and have them available for the secondary market will destroy any hopes of a capital equipment market. They are no longer a capital company - they are a consumables and services company (more surgery as a service.) Any company will be foolish to think that “price” will be the winning factor in any deal.

Get back to Who you are, Why you exist, What your product is, Why it’s different. Use that as the foundation of your messaging and avoid price at all costs (see what I did there.) You need to build a desire for your differences and then create an economic value story that makes your solution worth paying for. And make an economic argument that the hospital is willing to, and can pay for.

Then make sure your messaging and marketing are the foundations of that story - and get that story to the right target customers that will be receptive to that story.

Note: Blanket marketing messages out to anyone and everyone is a bit pathetic. If you are being asked to do this by your management team - please resist. Please push back. It looks bad and just won’t have the desired impact you need.

6 Marketing Themes for 2025

I do talk a lot about what not to do and what to avoid. But let me give some of my thoughts on what I think will resonate in 2025 as the market starts to segment:

Why those procedures: You need to be getting into procedure and specialty specific messaging and explaining why your system is ideal for that procedure. This is essential if you have a very limited procedure clearance in EU or USA. You need to be able to articulate why there is still value in your system being used in just that procedure. Get specific.

Why that site of care: You need to be marketing why your system is good in each site of care. But start where it shines. Of course a small system can be used in a big OR (Duhhh) - but is that where it has an advantage. Or does it win in a small cramped OR where a DV won’t fit. Is that your literal and figurative niche. If so then market to those people the “why.”

Appeal to your user base: You should understand who your ideal hospital type or surgeon user type is. If not you have homework to do. Get messaging aimed specifically at them.

“You a lap surgeon that doesn’t get on with robotics? We have this solution…”

“You just want to just do robotic suturing and need a lighter version of a robot…. Well hello.”

“You hate that periscope… well guess what…”

“Your hospital needs a very mobile solution that can move from OR to OR… hold my beer.”

Clearances and commercialisation: If you are just talking to investors - by all means gloat you got an FDA clearance in generic terms. But beyond that… appeal to who that matters to and why it should mater to them. A generic “we got cleared so crack open the Champagne” is worthless. It needs to be a fact that motivates an action. “We have been cleared for our first indication XXX (more coming) but for now we are looking for pioneer surgeons / hospitals with a focus on XXX - reach out to us and be one of the very very first - that allows publications, press, your name in history, becoming proctors yada yada.”

Choice is important: The Intuitive machine is in full steamroll mode. And no administrator is going to have sleepless nights or lose their job because they invested millions of $ in an Intuitive (no not capital but a 7 year sign up). You as a company  F up and they get fired. Your company goes under and they are left explaining to their board why they have pretty coat hangers. So you need to be able to articulate to your customers why them having choice and supporting that choice is super important for them and the wider world. Communicate why that risk is worth it.

We are not one of the failures:  Intuitive will be here at the end of 2025, Medtronic’s HUGO will probably be here at the end of the year, and most likely JNJ will still be doing their IDE in December. But between now and then there will be another couple of failed companies. Maybe it is a bad product with no right to survive, maybe it is their corporate company that says - it’s bailout time from this money pit. Maybe it’s investment dries up and despite a great product, great company - you just can’t get funded. But I assure you that bad news will be travelling across our industry. We will have a couple of outright casualties and a few companies dying a slow withering death. That’s life in the startup world and from 45 we will slowly get to a handful. So it is critical to the market, the surgeons, the purchasers, and the investors - you message that you are still here, why you are healthy, why you will still be here in the future, why people should trust you. You need to message that you are not a risky purchasing decision and have a future. Explain why.

NOTE TO INVESTORS: Don’t bail now. If you have a company with a proven product that has done the lifting past clearances. Support them. Fuel them. Don’t give up now. (Whole post coming on this) - you need to make sure they are run as a lean viable company - and have an end game in sight. But stick with them. Those that have clearances, differentiation, traction will survive.

Summary

Stop the hype marketing - you are not here to democratise robotic surgery.

Appeal to the target not the mass.

Let them know who you are, what you have, why you exists and why that matters to them.

Target the messaging and don’t be scared to turn sections of the market off “you are not for everyone.”

Kill the messaging on pricing - it’s stupid.

Be a brand that stands out - and live the brand.

Create meaniful content - not word salad.

These are just opinions of the author for education purposes only. All images and trademaks belong to their repsective companies and are used just for illustartive purposes.