DMD Intelligence

The challenges facing pharma marketers in 2018 are daunting, but the digital marketing tools we have to meet them are more sophisticated than ever. 

Plan to implement some of these ideas in your 2018 budget.

Digital audience identity technology enables pharma marketers access to comprehensive data about individual online browsing behavior. At the same time, authenticated databases make it easier to engage HCPs with relevant, timely content.

When developing marketing plans for 2018, data technology offers innovative ways to handle these familiar pharma industry challenges.

Brand loyalty is tough to break. If you’ve been buying Brand A for years, it’s hard to reach for Brand B instead.

It’s the same for doctors. A general practitioner who has referred to a particular specialist or lab hundreds of times will find it difficult to change that habit.

But as trusted advisors, doctors are the best brand ambassadors for your health systems. You need them to refer patients to your key service lines and affiliated labs and clinics.

That’s why it’s essential for health systems to communicate directly with doctors. Frequent, open communication lets you understand the reasons doctors refer out and provide the information they need to refer in-network instead.

The ability to identify individual visitors to your website is one of the most innovative advances in healthcare marketing in decades. In a recent report, Forrester Research examined the strategic value of this type of technology, which they refer to as “identity resolution”:

The ability to accurately identify customers is the most basic prerequisite for marketing analytics, orchestration, and execution. And it’s becoming more critical than ever for firms planning to link systems of insight and engagement to foster seamless and relevant cross-channel customer experiences.

A well-designed website is an essential tool for healthcare recruiting. As the digital face of your health system, it allows you to convey a consistent message about your brand and value. It’s also the best place for doctors to read detailed information about open medical positions, and hopefully, apply for a job.

Yet a recruitment website is also a significant investment of time and money. Maximizing your return is essential. Until recently, though, it’s been hard for recruiters to determine if this expensive channel is really paying off.

Graduating from medical school in 2013, Paul Kudlow faced two frustrating challenges that he realized cause many doctors to feel immense pressure: (1) keeping up with the over 8,000 new articles published every 24 hours, and (2) ensuring that your published research gets read by your target audience. Aiming to help rectify this problem, Paul co-founded TrendMD with Alan Rutledge and Dr. Gunther Eysenbach. In addition to his work at TrendMD, Paul is completing a PhD in the area of bibliometrics and content discovery from the Institute of Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto, and is currently on leave of absence from his medical residency. 

As part of DMD's Pharma Innovators Series, David Reim sat down with Paul Kudlow, MD, CEO and co-founder of TrendMD, to discuss how scholarly publishers are using data from digital channels to help physicians discover new and relevant research. Read more about how content companies are using technology to reshape business as usual.

As we begin planning for 2018, many of us are focused on growth goals and the programs designed to achieve them. We’re all troubleshooting around out-migration, referral channels, and increased local competition in order to serve our local populations with the best care possible.

Our health system clients tell us they’re focused on strengthening their brands and publicizing their most valuable service lines by communicating more directly with physicians.

When we first began analyzing pharma website data a year ago, no one knew exactly what to expect.

• Who are pharma’s most loyal HCP website visitors?
• What types of content are most successful with specific audiences?
• How can pharma marketers put this information to best use?

Digital marketers had relied on aggregated website data for so long, that it was hard to anticipate the full potential of digital audience identity technology.

As it turns out, knowing the identity of the HCPs who visit your websites presents tremendous opportunities relative to some of today’s biggest marketing trends.

Shortage: it’s a word that can cultivate fear and uncertainty in varying degrees.

A shortage of avocados is something most people can handle relatively well. A shortage of physicians? Not as easily worked around.

But that’s what the United States is facing and will continue to grapple with over the next few years. Members of the Baby Boomer generation are living longer. An increasing number of individuals have insurance and are able to seek out healthcare. Yet, the number of physicians is dwindling.

It’s marketing planning season, and for most of us, that means it’s time to take a close look at how we can get more value from our pharma marketing investments.  

Whether your 2018 plan includes a product launch, a product coming off patent, a new focus on secondary targets, or any number of other marketing opportunities, it’s important to run efficient campaigns that make the most of your budget.

Technology is advancing at lightning speed. The evolution of Virtual Reality (VR) will soon allow us to mirror the movie theater experience while sitting in the comfort of our own homes, pajamas and all.

It’s an exciting era to be a part of, and hospital marketers are leaping at the opportunity to include these advancements in their physician email campaigns.

That excitement, while contagious, is accompanied by certain constraints. When it comes to supporting video and other multimedia elements, email platforms – especially in the mobile world – still have a ways to go.

For years, vaccines were a neglected section of the pharma industry. Some firms even dumped their vaccine divisions in order to focus on more profitable products, particularly in the wake of the well publicized vaccine debate. But today’s landscape is very different.

For most health systems, alumni relations are a key component of physician outreach.  Maintaining strong relationships with former residents and fellows pays off in countless ways. For example, building a strong alumni community benefits hospitals indirectly by generating goodwill. At the same time, keeping alumni up-to-date on your medical strengths translates into increased referrals, both locally and from across the nation.

“If you build it, he will come.”

This iconic quote from the movie Field of Dreams can be interpreted in many ways, which is likely why it’s so memorable.

The premise is simple: provide a desirable opportunity, and you’ll be rewarded. In terms of email marketing, studies prove this depiction: “If they read it, they will click.”

Healthcare recruiters are driven by a few basic imperatives: find the best candidates for the job, engage those doctors’ interest, and fill every open position as soon as possible. These days, if you don’t close the deal with a qualified candidate fast, someone else will.

To turn the competition for top talent in your favor, a multichannel marketing strategy is often your best bet.

When it comes to quality vs. quantity, quality wins out in almost every instance.

Which would you prefer:

• A gourmet slice of cake or 10 Twinkies®?
• A roll of plush toilet paper or 10 rolls akin to sandpaper?
• A luxury car or a fleet of potential lemons?

Deploying an email to thousands of HCPs has no merit if the message is irrelevant to half (or more) of the group.

Email has been a staple of the marketing arsenal for long enough that it has become routine to many healthcare marketers. The problem is that experience doesn't necessarily translate to efficacy. Perhaps you regard your email marketing practices as tried and true, but alternative approaches may make your message more impactful.

Revamping the creative execution, approval process, and technical aspects of your email communications with physicians can radically improve your ROI. Changing the way you craft and present your emails changes the way that physicians receive and respond to them, and that means more opens, more click-throughs, and a more robust bottom line. The following seven tips suggest simple changes that you can implement and test against your current emails. Your ROI will never be the same once you do.