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The Brochure That Killed the Excitement
I was at a medical simulation trade show a few years ago, chatting to a surgeon who’d just demonstrated a genuinely brilliant training device. His eyes were lit up. He was animated, passionate, explaining how this thing was going to change the way junior doctors learned emergency procedures. You could feel his excitement from across the room.
Then I picked up the company’s marketing brochure.
“Our innovative, state-of-the-art simulation platform leverages cutting-edge haptic feedback technology to deliver an unparalleled educational experience, facilitating enhanced procedural competency acquisition across multiple clinical disciplines.”
Same product. Same company. Completely different energy. The brochure had taken something genuinely exciting and wrapped it in so many layers of corporate padding that the spark had been smothered entirely. Like gift-wrapping a diamond in brown paper and sticky tape.
I’ve been writing healthcare copy for medical technology and healthcare companies for over thirty years now, and I see this pattern everywhere. Brilliant products. Passionate teams. Copy that reads like it was written by a committee of anxious lawyers during a particularly dreary Tuesday afternoon.
And I think it’s worth talking about why this happens. Because once you understand the why, fixing it becomes a lot less scary.
Three Forces That Make Healthcare Marketing Copy So Difficult
If you’re a marketer in medtech, healthcare, or life sciences, you’re not working in the same conditions as someone selling trainers or craft beer. You’re up against a set of pressures that make clear, engaging healthcare copywriting genuinely difficult to produce. And none of them are your fault.
The Compliance Reflex
Every piece of healthcare marketing copy you write will likely pass through regulatory review. In healthcare, including nutritional supplements, you can’t just say what you like. There are rules about health claims, advertising standards, and what constitutes medical advice. The MHRA, the ASA, the FTC if you’re selling into the US. They all have opinions about your adjectives.
The problem isn’t the regulations themselves. They exist for excellent reasons. The problem is what happens to copy when everyone in the approval chain is terrified of getting it wrong. I’ve watched perfectly clear sentences get progressively muddied through six rounds of review until they say almost nothing at all. Each reviewer adds a caveat, softens a claim, inserts a qualifier. By the end, what started as “This helps lower your cholesterol” has become “This product may contribute to the maintenance of normal cholesterol levels as part of a varied and balanced diet and healthy lifestyle.”
Technically accurate? Yes. Does anyone actually read that and feel motivated to buy? Not really.
The trick, that I’ve learned through years of practice, is writing copy that’s already compliant but still sounds like it’s been written by a real person. It’s about knowing where the lines are before you start writing, rather than writing something brilliant and watching it get dismantled in review.
The Expertise Curse
Your team is full of people who are staggeringly clever. Scientists, clinicians, engineers, product developers. People who understand the molecular mechanisms, the clinical pathways, the technical specifications. And that knowledge is genuinely valuable.
But it creates a blind spot. When you’ve spent years immersed in a subject, you forget what it’s like to not know things. Medical professionals talk about “bioavailability” and “pharmacokinetics” the way the rest of us talk about what’s on telly tonight. It’s just normal vocabulary to them.
Across several healthcare clients I’ve worked with, I see the same pattern. The internal team wants to lead with the science. Specific compounds, bioavailability data, clinical trial references. All important, all legitimate. But the person standing in a pharmacy aisle isn’t thinking about molecular structures. They’re thinking “My doctor said I should look at this” or “I just want to feel like I’m doing something positive for my health.”
Your healthcare copywriting needs to bridge that gap without dumbing anything down. It’s not about removing the science. It’s about leading with what matters to the person holding their phone, and then providing the evidence that supports it.
The Stakeholder Scramble
In most medtech and healthcare companies, marketing copy doesn’t just get written and published. It goes on a journey. A long, complicated journey involving multiple departments, each with their own priorities.
The clinical team wants accuracy. The commercial team wants persuasion. The legal team wants protection. The CEO wants it to sound “innovative”. The regulatory affairs team wants it to not get them fined. And the poor marketing manager in the middle is trying to produce something that satisfies everyone whilst still being vaguely readable.
I once had a website project where the copy was reviewed by eleven people. Eleven! The final version was so thoroughly compromised that it didn’t really say anything at all.
It was the copy equivalent of a camel. You know the old joke. A horse designed by a committee.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. And it doesn’t have to be this way.
What Actually Works: Practical Healthcare Copywriting Advice From 30 Years in the Sector
Right, enough about the problems. What can you actually do about them? I’ve spent years figuring this out, often through trial and quite a lot of error, and a few things consistently make a difference.
Start With the Person, Not the Product
Every piece of healthcare marketing ultimately exists because someone has a problem. A patient with a condition. A clinician who needs better training. A hospital looking to improve outcomes. A person standing in a pharmacy wondering which supplement to pick up.
Start there. Start with the person and what they’re feeling, worrying about, hoping for. Then introduce your product as the answer.
I worked on a campaign for a wellness brand where we completely flipped the messaging. The product team wanted to lead with the clinical data: the specific dosage, the active ingredient, the study references. And I understood why. They were proud of the science, and rightly so. But we tried something different. Instead of opening with the formulation, we led with “One less thing to worry about at your next check-up.” The science was still there, further down the page, clearly explained, properly referenced. But the opening spoke to a feeling, not a formulation.
The results were significantly better. Not because the science didn’t matter, but because the science matters more when someone’s already emotionally engaged enough to keep reading.
Write the Compliance In, Don’t Edit the Humanity Out
This is probably the single most useful thing I’ve learned in 30 years of healthcare copywriting.
Most companies write their copy first, then send it to the regulatory team. They’re understandably cautious and strip out anything that feels like it might be a problem. What you’re left with is technically safe but emotionally dead.
The alternative? Learn the regulatory framework first. Understand exactly what you can and can’t say. Then write copy that works brilliantly within those boundaries from the start.
It’s a bit like writing a sonnet. You’ve got fourteen lines, a specific rhyme scheme, and a volta somewhere around line nine. Those constraints don’t make the poem worse. In the hands of a skilled writer, they make it better. Shakespeare managed to express the full range of human emotion within a very rigid structure. Your supplement copy can manage to be both compliant and compelling.
When I write for healthcare clients, I always ask to see the regulatory guidelines before I start writing. Not after. It saves everyone time, reduces the number of review cycles, and produces copy that’s both safe and actually worth reading.
Create a Single Source of Truth for Tone
One of the most practical things you can do that costs nothing, is to create a messaging guide that everyone in the approval chain agrees on before any copy gets written.
I’m not talking about a 40-page brand bible that nobody reads. I’m talking about a single page that answers three questions:
Who are we talking to? Be specific. Not “healthcare professionals” but “time-pressed NHS physiotherapists who are sceptical of new tech and have been burned by overpromising suppliers before.”
What do we want them to feel? Reassured? Curious? Excited? Understood?
What do we sound like? Three to five adjectives, plus a couple of “we are/we aren’t” statements. “We’re confident but not arrogant. We’re warm but not casual. We explain clearly but never patronise.”
Once everyone’s agreed on this, reviews become dramatically faster. Instead of “I don’t like this” (unhelpful) or “Can we make it more professional?” (what does that actually mean?), reviewers can assess copy against an agreed standard. It transforms subjective opinions into objective evaluation.
I helped a medtech client put this together last year and their copy approval time dropped from three weeks to five days. Three weeks to five days! That alone justified the exercise.
Stop Hiding Behind Jargon
I know, I know. Some of your audience are specialists. Some of your buyers are clinicians who expect technical language. And that’s fine. Write technically for technical audiences.
But even clinicians are real people who appreciate clarity. I’ve interviewed dozens of doctors, surgeons, and clinical educators over the years, and not one of them has ever said “I wish this brochure had more acronyms in it.” What they actually say is: “Just tell me what it does and why it’s better than what I’m using now.”
There’s a useful test I come back to again and again. I wrote about it in my eBook on writing powerful website copy. It’s the “So What?” test. For every feature or specification, ask “So what?” until you reach something that matters to a person.
“Our device has a 4K resolution display.”
“So what?*
“Clinicians can see finer anatomical detail.”
*So what?*
“They can identify subtle pathologies they might otherwise miss.”
*So what?*
“Patients get more accurate diagnoses, faster.”
That last answer? That’s your headline. Everything else is supporting evidence.
Healthcare Copywriting for the Supplements Sector
I’ve been doing more work in the nutrition and supplements space recently, and it’s a fascinating area where all three forces collide with particular intensity.
The regulatory environment is strict, and rightly so. You absolutely cannot claim that a supplement “cures” or “treats” anything. But within those boundaries, there’s an enormous amount of room for copy that genuinely connects with people.
The challenge I see most often is supplements companies defaulting to two modes: either dry, clinical language that reads like a research paper (“Contains Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) 25μg (1000 IU), contributing to 500% of the Nutrient Reference Value”), or vague, fluffy wellness-speak that sounds like it belongs on a scented candle (“Nurture your inner radiance with nature’s purest gifts”).
Neither works particularly well. The first alienates anyone who isn’t already a nutrition geek. The second feels untrustworthy, especially to the growing number of consumers who are genuinely health-literate and want substance behind the claims.
The sweet spot is what I call “informed warmth.” Copy that demonstrates real knowledge but delivers it with the tone of a knowledgeable friend. Think of your local pharmacist, the one who’s known you for years. They don’t talk to you in clinical abstracts. But they also don’t talk to you in motivational Instagram quotes. They explain things clearly, honestly, and with genuine care.
That’s the voice supplements brands should be aiming for. And when you find it, the difference in customer engagement is remarkable.
Five Things You Can Do This Week
If you’ve read this far and you’re thinking “right, but where do I actually start?” then fair enough. Here are five things you can do immediately, without needing a budget or a sign-off from anyone.
- Pick one page of your website and read it aloud. Does it sound like a regular person talking? Or does it sound like it was generated by a machine that’s been fed too many annual reports? If it’s the latter, rewrite it as if you were explaining the same thing to a smart friend over coffee.
- Find your most jargon-heavy piece of content and count the acronyms. If there are more than three unexplained acronyms in the first paragraph, you’ve lost most of your readers. Define them, or better yet, replace them with plain language.
- Check your homepage for the word “solutions.” I know. Everyone uses it. But “solutions” is one of those words that says nothing whilst sounding like it says something. Replace it with what you actually do. “Software that tracks patient outcomes in real time” is infinitely better than “innovative healthcare solutions.”
- Ask a non-expert to read your latest case study. Not a colleague. Someone outside your industry entirely. If they can explain back to you what the product does and why it matters, your copy works. If they look confused, it doesn’t.
- Review your last five LinkedIn posts. Are they about your audience’s problems, or about your company’s achievements? If it’s mostly the latter, flip the ratio. Nobody follows a company page to read press releases. They follow because you’re helping them with something they care about.
Why Healthcare Copywriting Matters More Than Ever
Healthcare, medtech, and supplements companies have a genuine disadvantage when it comes to marketing: the combination of regulatory caution, technical complexity, and multi-stakeholder approval processes can make it structurally difficult to produce copy that actually connects with customers.
But that’s also an enormous opportunity. Because most of your competitors are struggling with exactly the same thing. The company that figures out how to be both compliant and compelling, both scientifically credible and emotionally engaging, has a massive advantage.
It doesn’t require a complete rebrand or a six-figure agency retainer. It requires someone who understands both the science and the storytelling. Someone who can sit in a room with your clinical team and your commercial team and find the language that satisfies both.
And honestly? That’s one of my favourite things to do.
Joanna
Frequently Asked Questions About Healthcare Copywriting
What makes healthcare copywriting different from other types of copywriting?
Healthcare copywriting operates within strict regulatory frameworks set by bodies like the MHRA, ASA, and FTC. Every claim must be substantiated, health benefits must be expressed within approved language, and the copy often needs to pass through clinical, legal, and regulatory review before publication. The skill lies in being both compliant and compelling at the same time.
Can healthcare marketing copy be both compliant and engaging?
Absolutely. Compliance and clarity aren’t opposites. The most effective healthcare copy learns the regulatory boundaries first, then writes creatively within them. I’ve found that clear, plain-language copy is actually easier to get through regulatory review than jargon-heavy technical writing, because it’s harder to misinterpret.
How do you write copy for supplements without making health claims?
You can’t claim that a supplement cures or treats a condition, but you can speak to the emotional reality of the person buying it. Leading with empathy (“Worried about your next blood test?”) is perfectly acceptable. The regulations are concerned with what you promise, not how you make someone feel. The skill is weaving approved language into copy that reads naturally.
Why does healthcare marketing copy often sound so robotic?
Usually it’s the result of well-meaning review processes. Copy starts out as engaging, then gets softened through multiple rounds of regulatory and stakeholder review until the personality has been stripped away. The fix is to get alignment on tone and messaging before writing begins, so reviewers are assessing against an agreed standard rather than their personal preferences.
Should medtech companies use a specialist healthcare copywriter?
A specialist healthcare copywriter already understands the regulatory landscape, the clinical terminology, and the approval processes. That means less time educating the writer, fewer rounds of revisions, and copy that passes review faster. In my experience, the time and cost savings of using a specialist more than offset the investment.
Joanna Aitkens is a senior marketing strategist and healthcare copywriter who’s spent 30 years helping medical technology, healthcare, and science companies communicate clearly. She works with clients across the UK, US, and Europe. Get in touch at hello@aitkensmedia.com or book a discovery call to talk through your project.
