Getting physician access and attention in today’s reality is a difficult endeavor to start—made even more so by the fact that many brand teams typically:
- Don’t know/have contact with many decision makers.
- Don’t have the multichannel wherewithal to engage MDs appropriately.
- Have limited budgets and competing priorities.
Brand teams face obstacles in all therapeutic categories—from large brands with complex messaging to orphan drugs with small patient populations. Despite the challenges, companies strive to implement integrated communications campaigns that are targeted, educational, compelling and energizing. In this environment, multi-media publishing companies with reach, scale and marketing expertise are well equipped to produce results.
Providing news and clinical content to more than 1.2 million physicians and other HCPs with 30 print publications, digital assets and live events is something companies like ours can do. More than just content and distribution engines, these companies employ a cadre of marketing and creative experts with abundant KOL relationships to uniquely—and holistically—develop targeted multichannel programs.
Here’s what’s proven effective: Communication strategies that include a mix of strategically repurposed, approved brand content—along with the development of new assets and media placement opportunities in specially designed publications, websites, apps and digital editions. Using targeted print and digital media placement opportunities in the context of well-known, credible titles with strong readership allows for optimal HCP engagement with your brand message. But having in-house expertise in developing materials and working with medical/legal/regulatory to get the job done quickly and cost-efficiently is a “must have.”
Programs That Work—and Why
Key to success is the ability to work with market experts who understand your challenges and offer relevant solutions. Optimal strategy usually includes a series of related programs, promotions and features on multiple platforms so physicians can read, watch and interact with:
- Print and digital branded supplements and web-based programs focused on the brand indications and which provide on-label product information.
- Approved materials repurposed to fit the chosen communications channel.
- Branded interactive quizzes that provide on-label, fair-balanced HCP self-assessment questions—making for fun and informative digital interaction along with the educational offerings. Results are analyzed to determine knowledge gaps—with subsequent targeted messaging.
The end goal is to provide a vehicle or campaign that delivers both thought leadership and educational content—offering the following:
- Increased MD awareness of either the disease or the brand.
- Substantial MD participation in MD-IQ quizzes—with identification of knowledge gaps.
- Increased requests for information from the sales force.
- Self-reported Rx lift (or ROI using brand team IMS Rx data).
To sum it up, the two key elements of effective partnering that will ensure a successful multichannel program are:
- Having “trusted source” multichannel access to grab the attention of interested HCPs.
- Putting the right program together based on market knowledge, brand directives, relevancy and context, M/L/R sensibilities and flawless execution.
It’s the smart integration of all these elements that ensure true HCP multichannel success.
