Despite the increasing importance of audience data and analytics in marketing planning, few advertising executives trust the available data. A recent survey of advertiser and agency decision makers conducted by Advertiser Perceptions shows only 33 percent of ad execs consider their audience insights "completely trustworthy." Only 29 percent completely trust their audience analytics.
In pharma marketing, audience identity management technology presents a solution to this problem. Because audience identity technology reports the browsing behavior of individual, verified HCPs, pharma advertisers can use it to confirm that their ads are being seen not only by real people, but by the right physicians.
An Earned Reputation
The results of the Advertiser Perceptions survey aren’t surprising. Multiple high-profile ad fraud cases came to light in 2017, shaking advertiser’s faith in current media buying practices. Other research has highlighted similar concerns regarding ad fraud caused by bots, or non-human traffic. Most recently, Healthcare Analytics News highlighted an experiment in which DMD Chief Technology Officer, Wei Han Frank Lin, demonstrated just how quickly bots can undermine revenue on medical websites.
Bots are easy to build, inexpensive to operate, and hard to detect. As a result, ad fraud continues to be highly lucrative. Due to its high cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM), pharma is a particularly attractive target for cybercriminals. As long as these conditions persist, ad fraud will thrive.
Greater Clarity
A number of bot detection services are available, but in pharma marketing, it’s not enough to simply weed out the bots. Pharma marketers need to attract a very specific human audience of physicians and mid-level prescribers.
Since audience identity management technology reports the name, NPI number, and browsing behavior of opted-in, tagged HCPs who visit participating websites, publishers can verify exactly which physicians view ads on their digital properties. Pharma marketers can request this information before placing ads.
Pharma marketers can use audience identity data to confirm their ads are seen by the right physicians.
You can also learn which categories of medical websites—association, publisher, or brand—your target physicians visit most. If you discover, for example, that your target oncologists spend more time on their association website than viewing digital oncology journals, you might redirect your ad dollars accordingly.
Better Advertising ROI
When you have detailed information about the browsing habits of individual physicians, you can define your target advertising audiences more precisely and refine your creative. If you choose to buy ad space from publications that use audience identity management technology, you can confirm that your ads are seen by the right physicians. Publishers who use this technology also have the capability to serve your targeted ads in real time. Ultimately, you can cast a smaller net without losing any page views.
Pharma's digital ad spend is expected to increase in the coming years. As you expand your digital advertising campaigns, knowing the identity of the physicians who visit the websites where you run ads will let you hone your placement strategies and be certain you’re engaging your most valued targets.
