Last September, I participated in my second PM360 Brand Champion Circle of Excellence Roundtable. The event, a prelude to PM360’s highly anticipated annual Trailblazer Awards Gala, was hosted in midtown Manhattan and featured more than 15 distinguished pharma marketers who were honored as a “2018 Brand Champion.”
As always, the roundtable covered a multitude of topics impacting pharma marketers today—from an active debate regarding the effectiveness of content marketing to a comparison of preferred approaches for patient outreach to a philosophical discussion on content relevance in a continuously evolving marketplace. There were so many great topics that resulted in even more thought-provoking responses and spirited debate.
One constant throughout the discussion hovered around the importance of good content. Most of the marketers agreed, the quality of the content in which an advertiser’s message is delivered is equally as important as the media network or channel it’s distributed on.
In fact, a 2018 study commissioned by BBC News suggested that good content renders advertising exponentially more effective. The study, which polled over 16,000 respondents and nearly 200 campaigns worldwide, concluded that content-led marketing results in higher levels of consumer persuasion, with a 26% higher impact on consideration and 29% higher impact on recommendation than those without branded content. Furthermore, campaigns associated with higher news content have a stronger brand impact across the consumer decision-making journey than those with less news.
Connect with the Patient
In short, content that is more engaging results in advertising that is more organically consumed. My takeaway? It isn’t only important to be in front of the patient, it’s critically important to connect with that patient too.
Patients have demanded better content, so both pharma marketers and Point of Care (PoC) vendors have been challenged to “up their game.” We’ve implemented a few content QC tactics to ensure content remains true to our audience—e.g., incorporating patient input, leveraging partnerships with KOLs (who validate the content), staying current, and enhancing design, which are all key components to improving content quality.
In PoC, we must remain committed to the singular objective of improving patient outcomes through the facilitation of effective dialogue between patients and their HCPs. Premium content created with, for, and about patients will ensure the greatest effectiveness and garner the highest ROI for pharma marketers. Choose the platform that best represents the voice of the patient through the channel the patient prefers.
