How promoting your educational product collateral could boost ad engagement

Your product may be innovative - it may save time and money - but if you cannot convince your audience of the product's usefulness, its value amounts to nothing. In the medical field, this is true for new pharmaceutical and medical device offerings.

Imagine giving a patient an insulin pump without explaining how to use it. Eventually, he or she might understand its function, but the time it takes them to become self-taught may be more time than the patient has available. Now imagine giving the same patient an insulin pump along with detailed written instructions on how to use the device - the result comes much quicker. A video tutorial may make the adoption process even easier, especially for non-English speakers.Next, think of these scenarios from a sales perspective. Selling an insulin pump with no product collateral is a hard pitch; doctors would have to develop their own written materials to pass along to diabetic patients. Most decision makers would likely opt for the device with written or video collateral.

This notion is especially important for advertisers who market directly to physicians. Unlike a traditional B2C strategy, which appeals to consumer needs and desires, the physician marketing funnel branches out. One cannot think of doctors as the end-user, since they are a middle agent between manufacturers and patients. However, one cannot think of doctors solely as middle agent either, because they often make the actual purchasing decision.

Therefore, advertisers need to address end-user needs through the lens of a qualified middle agent to succeed in the marketplace. 

Analyzing end-user needs

The majority of American patients do not have proficient health literacy levels. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only 12 percent of U.S. adults have proficient health literacy, and the numbers are even lower for ethnic minorities.

"12 percent of U.S. adults have proficient health literacy."

HHS reported, "Over a third of U.S. adults—77 million people—would have difficulty with common health tasks, such as following directions on a prescription drug label or adhering to a childhood immunization schedule using a standard chart."

One might assume doctors fill in the knowledge gap by explaining medications to their patients, but this doesn't appear to be the case. Researchers Suzanne Graham and John Brookey found many patients are too embarrassed to ask for clarification, and doctors may assume high literacy levels where none exist. This leads to a massive burden on the healthcare industry - to the tune of $73 billion, annually, according to Graham and Brookey. When patients don't completely understand their treatment plans, they end up back in the hospital - and due to the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), those instances of readmittance are going to cost organizations more than ever before. Under MACRA, hospital readmissions are penalized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).

This situation means that increasing patient literacy levels would subsequently protect provider's reimbursements from penalties as well as improve patient outcomes.

If an advertiser could convince his or her target audience of physicians that the product - and its accompanying educational collateral - can control costs and improve patient health, they would be in a position to leverage the U.S.'s subpar health literacy levels into better product sales.

Patients may be too embarrassed to say they don't understand medication instructions.

Appealing to physicians

Although the product - whether it be pharmaceutical or otherwise -  may be used by patients, advertisers must sell to physicians. Of course, a physician's first priority is the patient - but on a personal level they are likely looking for time-saving products. The American Medical Association reported the majority of physicians spend between 40 and 60 hours working each week, with a quarter of all doctors devoting as much as 80 hours per week to work.

"A quarter of all doctors work as much as 80 hours per week."

If product collateral - such as instructions, booklets, pamphlets and videos - can do a better job at explaining to patients, of any health literacy level, how to properly use the product, doctors may see that as an intrinsic value.

After all, if a doctor spends several minutes explaining how to use a prescription drug only for the patient to still not understand, as Graham and Brookey explained happens frequently, then doctors may indeed prefer the help of in-depth, educational product collateral.

Developing educational collateral and then promoting it via display advertisements in peer-reviewed or expert-curated arenas could, therefore, entice physicians to learn more, increasing engagement with the ads. In the end, doctors would save time, patients would be more informed about their personal healthcare and advertisers would be able to differentiate themselves within the marketplace.

To learn how a multi-channel advertising strategy can help you engage physicians in a meaningful conversation, visit ELSMediaKits.com.