Reaching healthcare professionals can certainly be challenging…especially with the disruption in the pharma marketing ecosystem caused by COVID-19. This disruption has accelerated the digital transformation in pharma. Pharma-marketers are embracing this digital transformation and are trying to understand the different dynamics of single, omni, and multi-channel approaches.

During the Pharma Customer Engagement Europe 2021 virtual event, COO of TrendMD, Tash Brown presented on how to maximize HCP reach through purposeful omnichannel or multi-channel digital marketing.

With medical knowledge doubling every few months and practitioners feeling burnt out, the question is…how do you get your message to reach healthcare practitioners?

Marketers typically focus on the channel being used to push content to HCPs instead of using a pull strategy to focus on the message using native advertising. This pull strategy is more likely to engage the HCP because it is related to the content they are already reading.

Tash states that instead of focusing on the right channel to share your message, it is just as important to focus on the actual message to create meaningful engagement.

“It is so easy to get worked up on “where” and “how”, that we forget what we want to tell our customers.” – Tash Brown

What is Native Advertising?
Native advertising matches the form and function of the platform in which it appears; it can be text-based as well as display advertising. 

Why Use Native Advertising …
A report from Ad Weekly daily showed that viewers are 67% more likely to click on a native ad versus a display ad. According to Verizon Media, their data showed that native experiences drive a 64% lift in interactions across media streams. This tells us that native advertising increases engagement. Native time-on-site also consistently outperforms the industry benchmark by 74% on average.

Native ads allow healthcare practitioners to click and learn about what they are already interested in and what they are already reading about.

Use TrendMD and other tools to super-extend the reach of your marketing message
TrendMD is a native channel content recommendation tool that suggests relevant, updated content to HCPs through a worldwide network of publishers. Pharma companies use TrendMD to increase scientific exchange, brand awareness, drive conversions and generate new HCP leads.

TrendMD provides article recommendations within journals so that readers don’t waste their time on irrelevant articles. Their recommendation tool is used on over 5,000 online medical and scientific journals, including JAMA, BMJ, CMAJ, and all society publications from ASCO, ASH, ACS, ASN, APA, AAP, ADA, AAI, ATS, ESC, ERS, and ESE.

With cutting-edge technology, TrendMD can also offer specific targeting to their partners to ensure that they are able to maximize their reach. This targeting includes geo-targeting, HCP targeting, and specialty targeting where their partners can target HCPs by their specialties.

Where are HCPs on the web?
An average HCP visits over 15 medical, scientific, and research sites each week. 67% of these sites are not peer-reviewed. This shows that HCPs are everywhere…they are people just like us.

Bounce rates on peer-reviewed content are 40% higher than medical news sites. While physicians spend 3x more time on peer-reviewed content, they also are less likely to read beyond that article. 

We are 8x more likely to find HCPs on non-medical content. 

“We need to understand that physicians and healthcare practitioners are people first.” – Tash Brown