Benefits of Pharma Webinars

The coronavirus pandemic has created a shift in the healthcare solutions industry. Pharmaceutical brands have sharply increased their digital interactions with healthcare professionals, and, as a result, webinars have become more popular.

Social distancing and a need to be more cost-conscious has led more pharma brands to embrace web-based seminars to engage and inform HCPs. And it’s a move that meets the needs for a busy, dispersed audience that, for now, cannot meet in person.

Key opinion leader (KOL) webinars, in particular, are at or near the top of HCP preferences across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. In its 2020 Digital Savvy HCP survey, healthcare solutions firm Indegene found that between 65% and 72% of healthcare professionals consider KOL webinars as a top channel to connect with pharma brands. And that number has been rising from previous surveys.

Would it make sense to host pharma webinars in a world without COVID-19? In a word: yes. The benefits that webinars provide are plentiful. Let’s examine a few key advantages.

Audience Reach

Webinars enable brands to reach a geographically broad audience, which is vital for maintaining HCP engagement during the pandemic. Brands can share expertise and build relationships with HCPs at scale.  The broader audience reach allows brands to connect more efficiently with a larger audience than traditional in-person methods such as congresses and onsite visits—providing a less costly approach.

The webinar setting offers a dual advantage in that they are a one-to-many event, but audience members have a one-to-one experience. Attending a webinar allows participants to watch, listen, and interact without the typical distractions of live, in-person events.

Marketing Activities

From a marketing perspective, webinars can provide significant engagement and measurement opportunities. Attendees can interact in real time, providing instant feedback about the topic being discussed. In addition, tools such as instant surveys allow brands to understand market demands while the webinar is being held.

Pharma marketers can also get insight from the questions asked during the webinar. From there, marketing collateral can be created to address the questions raised.

The webcast itself can act as a marketing asset as well. The event can be recorded and shared as a single asset or as multiple on-demand digital assets. This allows maximum exposure and greater impact from spend invested in presenters, webinar hosting, etc.

Finally, a well-executed webinar allows a pharma brand to leverage the positive experience into post-webinar marketing activities. Brands can extend the experience by sharing additional information and marketing collateral or responding to unanswered questions posted during the broadcast. And connections can be extended with a single physician or multiple webinar attendees at the same time.

Advantages for HCPs

There are also a few advantages webinars provide for healthcare professionals. First, busy HPCs can connect with leaders in their field more conveniently—on their own schedules and without leaving their office or home.

Clinical dilemmas can be identified and addressed by presenters or other audience members promptly through the use of a webinar. With the help of instant polls and surveys, brand hosts can respond to multiple clinical dilemmas within the event or plan future KOL webcasts to address a dilemma.

In addition, webinars can help foster increased collaboration between HCPs and pharma companies and among audience members themselves, providing a more rapid pathway to better patient outcomes.

Conclusion

According to a 2017 RNsights survey, 70% of HCPs use video as a resource to stay up to date on their industry. Webinars, particularly on-demand recordings, can act as that resource for pharma brands. Whether the decision is driven by COVID-19, event costs, or another factor, adding webinars to your marketing strategy makes sense now and in the future.

In addition to webinars, connecting with HCPs via Elsevier’s multimedia options would make a big impact for your marketing initiatives. Our publications reach a broad audience of your targeted specialties, helping to strategically position your brand alongside trusted, relevant content.

Article Written by: Alex Brown