The Key to HCP Marketing During COVID-19

Biotech, pharma, and medical device brand marketers have definitively felt the impact of COVID-19 on their 2020 marketing strategies. Whether this is due to conference marketing activities being cancelled or modified into online-only events, or increased HCP-access challenges, brand managers now find themselves having to adapt to these changing times.

In this “new normal,” gaining attention and remaining relevant with healthcare professionals is more difficult than ever, yet the need to educate healthcare professionals (HCPs) about new and existing products remains imperative for brand marketers.

How healthcare marketers are adapting to COVID-19

A survey from reputation management platform Binary Fountain captured the current sentiment among healthcare practice marketing leaders. This segment of the healthcare industry is shifting priorities to accommodate more crisis communications, underpinning the penultimate objective of establishing their organization or brand as a credible partner to their audience of healthcare professionals.

The key to winning in the “new normal”

There is little doubt that healthcare marketers in general are poised to shift priorities in the “new normal” aftermath of COVID-19. But no matter what the impact the coronavirus has had on healthcare marketing strategies, brand managers shouldn’t take their focus off of the key driver for brand success among HCPs: building credibility.

According to an Elsevier study conducted late last year, most physicians around the world use online medical journals as a primary source of information on research, drugs, medical devices, and more.

Elsevier also found that doctors preferred to seek peer-reviewed information from a trusted source” - suggesting that credible, verified resources remain a top destination for HCP research.

Earlier Elsevier surveys reflect this sentiment as well. For example, the European Urology Readership Study showed that 98% of users agreed journals are a critical source of useful information, with 96% saying respected journals have an effect on their practice and prescribing habits.

With such a clear indication of physician preference for journals, it would seem that no matter what the pandemic impact has been and will continue to be, aligning your brand with credible, trusted resources, and reaching HCPs where they are remains an effective way to market your healthcare solutions.

The message for HCP marketers? Continue to push forward with strategies that align your products with credible resources that physicians and other HCPs rely on for information.

It is just as important to avoid the temptation to advertise with “predatory publishers” who appear to be open-access publishers but actually have no peer review system in place, no quality control, and no established presence as a journal (such as through indexing or bibliometrics).

You can find numerous opportunities to align your brand with credible research through Elsevier’s library of respected journals. Explore your options today!

Article Written by: Alex Brown