“I am more than my medicine.”
“I want my voice to be heard.”
These are the words of your customers.
For a long time, we’ve seen doctors as a homogenous group. They’re doctors.
They care about medicine. Tell them about medicine. Put your ads near the medicine you tell them about.
Your playbook is getting more personal. You have CRMs and tableaus and everything. Content diversity is the next big thing. Your content needs to be as diverse as your customers. That’s what makes marketing really personal.
Wait – Endemic is Our “Big Tent”?!?!
In political terms, our endemic is a big tent. Ideas here come in many styles. Peer-reviewers: NEJM, Lancet, and JACC always lived here. Then, there’s the practical bunch. The Medscapes, Healios, and Advisors. And, those from different backgrounds bring color and fresh voices.
There’s a YouTube video on how to write a peer-reviewed paper. Boston University offers ways to get on a journal editorial board. Forbes tells you to lead your association.
eHealthcare Solutions (EHS) knows that our endemic is <–this–> big. Yes, I asked R.J. Lewis, Founder, President, & CEO of EHS. So, when they say doctors spend 709% more time on non-endemic sites, it’s a big number.
You get the point. Doctors do a lot of stuff that isn’t just science. Yes, most of the time, doctors act an awful lot like people. MedData Group says 84% of doctors spend time on news and lifestyle sites when they’re not working. And, that more than half use social media daily.
Like the doctors you want to reach, Amy Turnquist wears two professional hats.
She is the EVP of Sales at EHS. She’s also the President of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.
Amy told us, “Success in healthcare stems from more than just clinical knowledge or subject matter expertise. We need mentors, an unbiased workplace, and a seat at the table. Women seek content that informs them, empowers them, and helps them advance their careers.”
Let’s think. What informs, empowers, and help us advance our careers? Stories. More correctly, diverse stories.
Wow – Did the Lancet Just Do a Whole Issue on Women?
Yes. The February 26, Special Issue. In it, the Lancet dealt with the gender gap in science, medicine, and global health.
And it’s not just the Lancet. Frontiers in Cancer Research did away with “manels.”
That’s the name for all male panels at meetings. In 2018, 82% of the speakers at their big event were women.
Here in the United States, the lung association, CHEST, had a session about the lack of female mentors. One poster delved into women-led research. Chris Carroll, MD, gave it a shout out on Twitter. He’s CHEST’s Deputy Web and Multimedia Editor.
In eye care, ophthalmology’s big meeting hosted a dinner for women in leadership. My colleague, Ainsley Cochrane, called the gala, “Empowering.”
There’s that word again.
Okay – But, What Can I Actually Do?
Empowering women is a trending story. It’s part of a bigger trend: Passions and subsets. To market better, get passionate about the things that matter to your subset.
Audrey Sudran did. She’s a Director, Media for Underscore Marketing.
Audrey said, “We showed our client that women eye care professionals (ECPs) want leadership roles in eye care. Then, we created a program with diverse content that would bring value to our client’s ECP customers.”
She didn’t market with eye care content to every eye care specialist. Nope. She used eye care content and content about women in leadership roles to market to 4,000 women ECPs.
See, women. In fact, that’s what she called her program: “#SeeWomen.” SeeWomen worked.
Audrey told us, “We engaged twice the number of ECPs compared to programs that focus solely on science. The 4,000 women we reached tuned in for trusted science. And, they tuned in for stories about empowerment.”
And, there’s a bigger win here for Audrey and her client.
Audrey explained, “Today, our client showed a key audience that we see them, we care, we innovate, and we lead. Tomorrow, more women will lead associations like the AAO (American Academy of Ophthalmology). When they do, the brands that reached them first will grow in importance.”
Really – It’s Like Football, Steak, and a Side of Creamed Spinach
Most of us like steak. You like yours with a twice-baked potato. I like mine with creamed spinach.
To doctors, medical content is steak. Some like it with a side of women’s empowerment stories. Others like it with Harvard alum update stories.
Those sides matter. They make a meal personal. Advertising your product on a national feed is good. Putting ads around content that feeds the passions of your subset is way better. That’s why you need that local (side) content.
The NFL figured this out in the ’60s. A Packers game drew more viewers in Green Bay than a national game. Now, Sundays are all about local games. In 2016, Nielsen Media measured the impact of local content. They called it the Passion Index. Sub-markets always win. A group of sub-markets beats a national audience. That’s why the Fox Regional Sports Networks beat ESPN.
This story started with women. Really, it’s about all of us. It’s my job as the CEO of a content curation company to find stories that ignite people’s passions. Those stories are more than medicine.
