Why content is key for marketing to doctors

The battle for doctors' attention is fierce. The American Medical Association reported that the pharmaceutical industry spends approximately $20.3 billion annually marketing to medical professionals.

To stand out in this crowded marketplace, advertisers and marketers need to think carefully about how they can garner the attention of physicians and other medical stakeholders. And, while display advertising in digital and print channels remains an extremely effective way to reach medical readers, to augment those campaigns, pharma marketers have often considered a multichannel approach – including in-person detailing.

However, today, many doctors do not allow pharma reps to visit their office. A report from SK&A found that the number of doctors with a strict no-access policy increased from 36.5% to 40.6% over a 14 month period, indicating that the trend is likely to increase.

As this in-person channel shrivels, marketers will again need to modify their multichannel mix, and utilize content marketing campaigns to regain that lost share of attention.

What content campaigns need to address

Content can help pharma brands to better attract and engage healthcare professionals (HCPs), but it requires careful strategizing. Content for its own sake isn't enough. Importantly, any articles, eBooks or case studies you produce should be highly relevant and targeted at a specific audience.

To define such reader audiences, pharma marketers can leverage advertising personas. For example, marketers can segregate their content by specialty, geography or even payment model. If their drugs aren't covered by insurance marketers may need to make separate content campaigns for both HCPs and payers.

By thinking about HCPs as both emotional humans and analytical business people, marketers can hit on multiple appeals in a single piece of content. For instance, marketers can highlight patient outcomes from a care perspective, then touch on how those outcomes impact providers who work in a value-based payment system.

Top-of-funnel content should be quick to digest and encourage readers to learn more.

What do content campaigns look like?

Content can take many forms, including company blogs, infographics, case studies and eBooks. Additional forms of content include podcasts, videos and microsites.

Because doctors are busy, pharma marketers should consider how easy their content is to consume. At the beginning of the buyer journey, physician readers may not have the time to read a long case study, so a shorter piece of content may be more engaging. Further on, assets like eBooks can be employed to educate readers who have already shown interest in the product.

To drive traffic from one piece of content to another, marketers need to employ strong CTAs. Educational CTAs that encourage readers to learn more are typically best deployed at the beginning of the buyer journey (top of the funnel) while CTAs that encourage the reader to call a sales representative are better utilized deeper into the buyer journey (further down the funnel).

Where content fits in multichannel campaigns

Content on its own isn't a complete campaign. It only reaches its full potential to engage an audience when it's supported by outreach efforts in other channels. To put it another way, if content is the steak, advertisement is the sizzle.

For example, if you have a piece of content that educates readers about a new product, you'll want to create additional assets that drive traffic to it. A social media post or print display advertisement can engage readers with an interesting data point and a CTA that encourages them to learn more. Create a reader journey that generates interest with small assets then delivers more information with longer pieces of content.

A strong multichannel approach to pharma marketing utilizes content to engage readers who learn about products from display advertisements. To learn how to reach a dedicated audience of physician readers, check out our resources tab today.