From 30% growth to untapped potential: Inside the marketing strategy of a medical device company transforming wound treatment.

When a medical device company grows at 30% year-over-year yet still reaches less than 5% of its potential market, you know you're looking at either a massive problem or an incredible opportunity. For Sanuwave and its flagship product Ultramist, it's decidedly the latter.

In a recent episode of the EIC podcast, Tim Wern, Executive Vice President of Sales at Sanuwave, shared the company's journey from a well-validated medical technology to a brand-building powerhouse. What emerged was a masterclass in startup marketing strategy for B2B medical device companies—and a glimpse into how one innovative wound care solution is working to reach millions of patients who desperately need it.

The Ultramist Difference: Science-Backed Wound Healing

Before diving into Sanuwave's marketing evolution, it's crucial to understand what makes Ultramist unique in the crowded wound care market.

Ultramist is an ultrasonic wound technology specifically designed to treat chronic wounds—injuries that haven't shown progress in healing for 30 days or longer. The device uses low-frequency ultrasound to stimulate cellular repair and accelerate the healing process in wounds that traditional treatments struggle to address.

The clinical validation is impressive: 18 peer-reviewed studies, 8 randomized controlled trials, and 3 meta-analyses covering over 54,000 patients. All point to the same conclusion: Ultramist works.

"We have a patient who had a chronic wound that wouldn't heal for two years, and then in two and a half weeks, they're healed with Ultramist," Wern shared. "That's pretty remarkable."

For patients suffering from diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, pressure injuries, and even radiation oncology burns, this technology represents hope where traditional treatments have failed.

The Marketing Challenge: A Startup Mentality with Established Technology

Here's where Sanuwave's story gets interesting from a marketing perspective. While Ultramist has been available for some time, Sanuwave is actually the third company to own this technology since its founding in 2020. This creates a unique branding challenge.

"The product's been around for some time, but we're the first company to have Ultramist as the only product in our portfolio," Wern explained. "So we're doing some heavy lifting to get our brand identity and the messaging that we want to get out in the market."

This positioning—established product, emerging brand—puts Sanuwave in what Wern describes as having "a startup feel." The company began marketing efforts in earnest in mid-to-late 2024, essentially building their brand identity from the ground up despite having years of clinical data and real-world results.

The Brand Recognition Gap

One of the most fascinating challenges Sanuwave faces is a brand awareness disconnect. "Ultramist" has stronger market recognition than "Sanuwave" itself. As a result, the company leads with "Ultramist by Sanuwave" in its messaging—a pragmatic approach that prioritizes customer recognition over corporate ego.

This is a critical lesson for any company acquiring existing technology: you may need to leverage the product's brand equity before you can build recognition for the corporate brand.

The Four Pillars of Sanuwave's Target Market

Understanding Sanuwave's audience is essential to appreciating their marketing strategy. The company targets four distinct segments, each with unique needs and buying behaviors:

1. Mobile Wound Care (The Largest Segment)

Mobile wound care companies employ clinicians who travel to patients' homes or skilled nursing facilities in vehicles equipped with medical equipment. These organizations treat patients who cannot easily access traditional wound care centers—often elderly, mobility-impaired, or chronically ill individuals.

For this segment, Ultramist represents a competitive differentiator that can improve patient outcomes and potentially increase reimbursement rates.

2. Private Practice

Vascular surgeons, podiatrists, and dermatologists treating wound care patients represent another key market. These practitioners often see chronic wounds as a challenging subset of their practice and are actively seeking solutions that improve healing rates.

3. Hospital Inpatient Facilities

Hospital settings deal with complex wound cases, including pressure injuries (bed sores) that develop during extended stays. Hospitals are particularly sensitive to outcome measures and readmission rates, making proven healing technology attractive.

4. Hospital Outpatient Facilities

Outpatient wound care centers often serve as specialized treatment hubs for patients referred from other providers. These facilities typically have higher patient volumes and dedicated wound care protocols.

Lead Qualification: Not All Prospects Are Created Equal

One of Sanuwave's key marketing insights involves rigorous lead qualification. Not every wound care provider is a good fit for Ultramist, which requires capital equipment investment. The company uses three critical filters:

1. Billable MPI Number: Can the clinician actually bill for the procedure? If not, they're not a candidate.

2. Patient Volume: Does the provider treat enough patients to justify the capital equipment investment and achieve positive ROI?

3. Right Patient Profile: Does the provider regularly treat chronic wounds that haven't progressed in 30+ days?

This qualification framework ensures sales teams spend time with prospects who can actually become customers—a crucial efficiency in a high-growth environment.

The Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy: What's Working for Sanuwave

With limited brand recognition and massive market opportunity, Sanuwave has deployed a diversified marketing approach. Here's what they're investing in and, more importantly, what's showing ROI:

Website Lead Generation: The Foundation

Sanuwave's website currently generates 4-7 qualified leads per day—a number that increased significantly in January 2025 due to favorable market conditions. The company views its website as solid but continues to invest in improvements.

For B2B medical device companies, this kind of consistent lead flow from organic and paid website traffic provides a crucial foundation for sales operations. It allows sales representatives to focus on relationship-building rather than cold prospecting.

Testimonial Videos: The Power of Patient Stories

Perhaps the most compelling content in Sanuwave's arsenal comes from testimonial videos featuring both clinicians and patients. These videos showcase real-world results—wounds that wouldn't heal for years suddenly closing in weeks.

"Clinician, patient testimonials—they're very powerful," Wern emphasized. "You can see some on LinkedIn right now."

These testimonials are still working through compliance review before being featured prominently on the website, but they're already generating engagement on social media. For medical device marketing, nothing replaces the credibility of a healthcare provider or patient sharing their authentic experience.

Clinical Conferences: Peer-to-Peer Influence

Sanuwave has significantly increased its investment in clinical conferences, combining two key elements:

1. Sponsored presentations by key opinion leaders (both paid and unpaid medical professionals) speaking peer-to-peer about ultrasonic wound technology

2. Trade booth presence where potential customers can see Ultramist demonstrated firsthand

This dual approach leverages the credibility of physician speakers while providing hands-on product exposure. In the medical device world, peer influence remains one of the most powerful drivers of adoption.

CME Webinars: Education as Marketing

Continuing Medical Education (CME) webinars sponsored by Sanuwave feature key opinion leaders discussing ultrasound technology for wound care. These webinars serve multiple purposes:

• Providing valuable education to clinicians (building goodwill)

• Showcasing Ultramist's clinical foundation

• Generating qualified leads through attendee lists

• Creating measurable ROI through closed sales

"We sponsored a CME webinar with a key opinion leader speaking about ultrasound technology," Wern explained. "You get the list of the attendees and then you can follow up and see what sales you closed."

This approach exemplifies smart B2B marketing: provide genuine value while creating clear pathways to measure success.

Subcontracted SDR Teams: Scaling Lead Generation

To supplement their sales force, Sanuwave subcontracts Sales Development Representative (SDR) teams for cold outreach. This strategy allows their direct sales team to focus on relationship-building and closing rather than time-consuming cold prospecting.

"We subcontract that and so we track that pretty carefully to see how many leads we generated, the quality of the leads, and ultimately how many do we close," Wern said.

This is particularly smart for a high-growth company where sales representatives' time is better spent on qualified opportunities than on cold calling.

Strategic Banner Advertising

While not their primary spend, Sanuwave places banner ads on key wound care websites. This helps maintain visibility within their target professional community without requiring the heavy investment of broader awareness campaigns.

Measuring ROI: A Data-Driven Approach

In an environment where marketing budgets must justify themselves, Sanuwave focuses on tactics with clear ROI measurement:

• Conference leads: Track attendees who receive presentations, scan booth visitors, measure conversion rates

• CME webinars: Monitor attendee lists, follow up systematically, measure closed sales

• SDR-generated leads: Carefully track lead quality and ultimate close rates

• Website inquiries: Monitor daily lead volume and qualification rates

This focus on measurable outcomes keeps marketing spend aligned with business results—a critical discipline for any growth-stage company.

The B2B Paid Advertising Debate: LinkedIn and Beyond

One of the more interesting discussions in the podcast centered on paid advertising for B2B companies—specifically LinkedIn ads, which generate ongoing debate in the B2B marketing world.

Wern brought experience from a previous startup where LinkedIn ads showed "traction" (though not a "grand slam"). His perspective: "I'm generally a believer in it for the right audience and the right messaging."

The podcast hosts also introduced Wern to Say Primer, a tool that offers similar targeting capabilities to LinkedIn but extends reach to social media, Google, and YouTube at lower costs.

For medical device companies considering paid ads, the key seems to be precise audience targeting—reaching specific professional titles within defined industries. LinkedIn's strength lies in this professional targeting capability, even if cost-per-lead can be higher than other channels.

The Epidemic Driving Demand: Diabetes and Chronic Wounds

Understanding Sanuwave's market opportunity requires grasping the scope of the chronic wound problem in healthcare. As Wern noted, diabetes serves as a "main driver" of the wound care epidemic, generating numerous diabetic foot ulcers that resist healing.

Beyond diabetes, an aging population experiencing more venous leg ulcers, pressure injuries in hospitals, and various other chronic wounds creates a massive patient population. The fact that Sanuwave estimates they're reaching less than 5% of potential patients despite 30% growth illustrates just how underserved this market remains.

Key Takeaways for Medical Device Marketers

Sanuwave's journey offers several valuable lessons for B2B medical device companies, particularly those in startup or scale-up phases:

1. Brand recognition takes time—leverage what already works. Don't force corporate brand awareness if product brand recognition is stronger. Lead with what resonates with your market.

2. Qualify ruthlessly. Not every prospect is worth pursuing. Develop clear qualification criteria that predict successful customer relationships and ROI.

3. Diversify lead sources but focus on measurable ROI. Cast a wide net with multiple marketing tactics, but prioritize those where you can clearly track results.

4. Let patients and clinicians tell your story. In healthcare, testimonials from real users carry more weight than any corporate messaging. Invest in capturing and sharing these stories.

5. Peer influence matters in medical markets. Healthcare providers trust other healthcare providers. Use conferences, CME education, and key opinion leaders to leverage peer-to-peer credibility.

6. Smart companies buy time for their sales teams. Subcontracting cold outreach lets high-value sales professionals focus on relationship-building and closing.

7. The website is your 24/7 salesperson. When a website generates multiple qualified leads daily, it becomes one of your most valuable marketing assets. Keep improving it.

8. B2B paid advertising works—with the right targeting. LinkedIn and similar platforms can generate results for B2B medical device companies, especially when targeting specific professional titles and industries.

The Road Ahead: Massive Opportunity Meets Strategic Execution

As Sanuwave continues building its brand and scaling its marketing operations, the company sits at a fascinating intersection: proven clinical technology, strong growth trajectory, and a massive untapped market.

The 30% year-over-year growth is impressive—but it's the 95% of potential patients not yet reached that represents the real opportunity. By taking a disciplined, multi-channel approach to marketing while maintaining focus on ROI and lead quality, Sanuwave is positioning itself to capture more of this underserved market.

For chronic wound patients who've struggled with injuries that won't heal, solutions like Ultramist represent more than just medical technology—they represent hope, improved quality of life, and freedom from debilitating wounds.

And for marketing professionals watching Sanuwave's journey, the company offers a blueprint for how to build brand awareness and drive growth in the complex, regulated world of B2B medical devices.

Want to hear the complete conversation with Tim Wern?

Watch to the full EIC podcast episode to dive deeper into Sanuwave's marketing strategy, sales operations, and the future of chronic wound care technology.

Key topics covered in the full episode:

• Detailed discussion of Sanuwave's clinical data and research

• In-depth look at lead qualification processes

• Tim's experience with marketing at previous medical device startups

• Specific tactics for measuring marketing ROI in healthcare

• The role of mobile wound care in expanding patient access

Learn more about Ultramist and Sanuwave:

• Visit the official Sanuwave website to explore clinical data and treatment information

• Follow Sanuwave on LinkedIn for patient testimonials and company updates

• Connect with Tim Wern on LinkedIn for insights on medical device sales and marketing

Watch the FULL EPISODE on YouTube

Listen to the Full Episode on Spotify

This article is based on insights from the EIC podcast hosted by Mike Patterson and Dustin Trout, digital marketing experts focused on helping businesses maximize their advertising ROI.