Physician Engagement

As we look towards the second half of 2019 and beyond, it’s important to look back at some of the changes—both positive and negative—that have already been made in email marketing just this year. Even if you’ve been adhering to traditional “best practices,” this new information requires a thorough review of your digital marketing tactics.

Capturing the attention of your physician audience is no easy feat, especially with digital communication increasing every day. It’s difficult to cut through this noise to deliver your message. The best way to reach your audience is to understand their needs – and tailor your outreach to those needs. Today, more than ever, physician-level data is critical to effectively reach and engage your targets.

In our next webinar on May 22, Edith Hodkinson, Chief of Digital Strategy, will unravel some notions about the “digital physician” to demonstrate why it’s so important for marketers to separate fact from fiction when strategizing ways to communicate with and engage healthcare professionals. In preparation for the webinar, I sat down with Edith to explore some of the topics she’ll be discussing.

In healthcare marketing, you’re always looking ahead. Learning from past strategies, whether successful or not, is crucial for ensuring the effectiveness of future programs. This is exactly what a panel of 19 marketing experts had in mind when they contributed to an infographic predicting what they believe to be the top concerns for brands in 2019.

Not surprisingly, the concept of customer experience (CX) rose to the top. Healthcare marketers are increasingly tuned in to the fact that the “end user,” be that a physician within your health system or a potential patient in your community, wants to be treated like a human—not an inbox. To up the ante, your target audience members also don’t want to be seen as a stranger; they need to believe you value their time and interests and will provide personalized content that fulfills that desire.

The key in achieving this level of human-to-human personalization—and resulting trust—lies in the quality and depth of your data.

What can you accomplish in just six seconds or less? Thanks to a few popular internet videos, you can apparently learn how to tie a Windsor knot, rearrange your roommate’s den, and strip a screw in this very brief timeframe.

As savvy healthcare marketers know firsthand, six seconds is also the length of time you have to engage healthcare professionals. You need to make every second count in order to be fully effective in your efforts.

In the marketing world, a “hand-raiser” can be summed up in a simple sentence: A person who identifies himself as a prospective customer, to a company, by volunteering contact information. For the marketer, receiving that interest is a choice position to be in.

Physicians who are viewing online job posts are, in a way, raising their hands. But, until recently, unless they took the extra step to hand over their personal information, you couldn’t know for sure which physicians were in the crowd. Rather, it was just a sea of hands—undeterminable through a foggy landscape of aggregate data.

In part 2 of our 4 part series, Leveraging the Email Channel Throughout the Pharma Brand Life Cycle, we consider how email marketing can be used to optimize the product launch and introduce a new indication.

The email channel plays a pivotal role throughout a pharma brand’s growth and maturation. This is never more critical than at launch, when the long-term success of the brand is at stake.

Think about the last time you purchased something new. Regardless of the price tag, new typically equates to “better” (and something worth celebrating!). If your previous car got good gas mileage, the replacement is likely even more economical. Your old pair of running shoes are worn down—causing some undesirable knee or shin pain—but this new pair will get you back to your nine-minute mile.

When facing any predicament, it often helps to dig deeper into the core issues at hand. In regards to waning physician retention, getting to the root of the matter involves identifying the underlying reasons physicians leave. Acknowledging the various needs of providers is of utmost importance, so you’re well-informed on how to enhance job satisfaction and thus reduce the costs involved in hiring and training new staff.

That last point cannot be ignored. How much of a financial burden is on the table?

One of the insights that arose from the 2018 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference was “You must operate as a health system, not just call yourself one.” That’s a difficult task, especially for large systems that are geographically dispersed across a state—even more so across the nation. It can be equally challenging for small- or mid-tier systems if their current communication strategy lacks key components.

What drives loyalty? If you Google that exact statement, results number over a million. From brand superiority to emotional investment, every “expert” on the topic will give you plenty of advice. While some believe brand devotion ultimately lies with the consumer, Forbes.com contributor Micah Solmon explains in this recent article that loyalty must be two-sided. When companies fail to recognize and embrace the “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” mentality, allegiance falters.