Products such as compression stockings, braces and insoles require professional measuring, fitting and consultation. That makes online marketing a secondary priority for many businesses in the medical specialized trade. Time is limited, and becoming more active digitally often requires the right support and the right incentives. A pilot project with Bauerfeind Sports showed how socialPALS could help brick-and-mortar specialized trade in exactly this area — and ultimately led to the solution being integrated into the manufacturer’s partner program for medical products.
Nadine Kröber, Head of the Bauerfeind Quality Partner Program, explains how specialized traders can be meaningfully supported in online marketing so they can raise awareness of healthcare services related to joint pain, back pain and venous conditions.
This interview makes one thing clear: if you understand the needs of specialized trade, you can create campaigns together that work in practice — and make online marketing a welcome part of a partner’s public presence.
Nadine Kröber
Head of the Bauerfeind Quality Partner Program | Bauerfeind AG
Nadine, you lead the Bauerfeind Quality Partner Program. Could you briefly tell us about your role and what your day-to-day work looks like?
I am responsible for the strategic planning and operational execution of our marketing campaigns with partners in the German medical specialized trade. My team is focused very clearly on supporting our partners’ interests while also working closely with our sales organisation, which plays a central role in shaping these partnerships.
Bauerfeind first started working with socialPALS through Bauerfeind Sports. What led you to expand the first projects into the medical segment as well?
The first results were very encouraging. We saw strong activation rates among specialized traders, and the overall feedback was very positive. That gave us confidence that the platform worked in practice. From there, the next logical step was to explore whether the concept could also be applied to our core medical range — in other words, to products and services connected to specific health conditions.
What did you take away from the early digital campaigns in sports, for example around running and skiing, that helped you in the medical segment?
Above all, we learned how important it is to make digital communication as easy as possible for partners. Many medical supply stores simply do not have much spare marketing capacity, because their top priority is caring for patients. The relief provided by automated advertising materials and ready-made professional content was obvious from the start — and it still is today.
The decision to activate medical specialized trade through socialPALS was a strategic one. What were the main reasons behind it?
We want to offer more than high-quality products for patient care. We also want to support specialized trade partners in their day-to-day business. Through the Bauerfeind Quality Partner Program, we already provide a wide range of marketing support — from targeted training and POS materials to individualised advertising materials and campaign packages. socialPALS helps us extend that support into digital marketing as well, while keeping everything aligned with our brand presence.
What makes medical specialized trade such a distinctive target group?
Our partners help patients with very personal health issues, so they are not only physically close to the people they serve — they also enjoy a high level of trust. They take that responsibility seriously. Their care mandate always comes first, which means digital support has to feel like a genuine opportunity, not an extra burden.
Voices from the trade:
“What I particularly liked about the ‘Bauerfeind gets you moving with knee pain’ campaign was that, once it was up and running, I had virtually no extra work at all. Everything ran smoothly in the background.
At the same time, our brand visibility increased noticeably during the campaign period. The content provided was high-quality and professionally prepared, which helped raise awareness of Nestler Orthopädie. We could clearly see that reflected in direct customer feedback as well.
The personal support was also consistently excellent: friendly, knowledgeable and always solution-oriented.”
Nestler Orthopädie
Limburg
Stefan Nestler
Managing Director
Your goal is to make specialized trade more visible online while also reducing the marketing workload for partners. How does that work in practice with socialPALS, and how do partners respond to it?
Together with socialPALS, we create professional content and an editorial plan that specialized traders can publish on their own channels in just a few clicks — without having to invest a lot of time or build up specialist know-how beforehand.
That has been received very positively. The campaigns regularly achieve high activation rates. What makes the model work is the combination of simple execution and relevant topics, such as osteoarthritis and mobility, lymphatic therapy or venous health. Another key factor is our field sales team, which actively promotes the offering and helps partners get started with it.
Technology is one part of it, but personal support matters too. How do you experience the collaboration with the socialPALS team in day-to-day work, especially during campaign delivery?
The collaboration is very solution-oriented, flexible and grounded in a real understanding of our partners’ needs. You can see that clearly in the feedback we receive. Many partners are surprised by how easy and efficient the whole process is. They value the fact that they gain more digital visibility without having to commit extra resources.
At the same time, many of our partners are already dealing with significant challenges: staff shortages, increasing bureaucracy and more complex patient needs. We want to help them adapt to that reality. New digital advertising formats can give them excellent reach even with a relatively small budget.
What’s next for Bauerfeind and socialPALS?
This year, we are offering several socialPALS campaigns to our Quality Partners. We are starting with knee therapy and our overarching brand campaign, “Move with Bauerfeind.” In summer, the focus shifts to osteoarthritis and support products during pregnancy. In autumn, the key topics will be back pain and compression therapy for lymphoedema and lipoedema.
Partners can choose the campaigns that best match their own care focus and use the content across Facebook, Instagram and Google.
If you had to describe your collaboration with socialPALS in one sentence, what would it be?
Simple, valuable and built on trust.
Voices from the trade:
“What we value most about Bauerfeind campaigns via socialPALS is their curated, targeted approach. We are invited specifically to campaigns that match our service offering, and we can decide flexibly whether to take part. That saves time and ensures that the content is genuinely relevant to our target audience.
The platform itself is also very intuitive. Once we confirm participation, most of the work is already done, because content creation, ad placement and publishing all run professionally and automatically in the background. That allows us to maintain a continuous, high-quality social media presence without tying up additional resources in our day-to-day business.
The impact on our visibility is especially valuable. Customers actively mention posts and ads they have seen, which strengthens our local presence and reinforces how we are perceived as a modern, active medical supply and healthcare store.
Whenever questions come up, the socialPALS team is quick to respond, solution-oriented and pragmatic in execution. Overall, the collaboration is efficient, professional and very convenient for us, with clear added value for both our external presence and our digital visibility.”
Sanitäts- und Gesundheitshaus Carqueville
Kraftsdorf
Stefanie Biedermann
Marketing & Events
Act now and use MDF more effectively!
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