Marketing

*Ursula Sautter reports on how a multichannel marketing approach can help engage clients in ways that match their workflow*

Ursula Sautter reports on how a multichannel marketing approach can help engage clients in ways that match their workflow

According to recent studies by pharmaceutical and healthcare market research and strategic advisory firmManhattan Research, almost all doctors in Europe and the US use desktop computers as well as smartphones or other mobile devices to troll the Internet for professional purposes.

On average, American physicians spend about 8 hours online, up from a mere 2.5 hours in 2002.

They visit social networks like Facebook or DocCheck, and access rich media formats like online video, to read up on medical news and check treatment guidelines.

So which of these channels, if any, should pharma marketers employ?

The key, says Rick Keefer, president and CEO of New Jersey-based life science marketing firm Publicis Touchpoint Solutions, Inc., is to strike the right balance between old and new: We believe that the integrated, multichannel approach is the best choice.

Publicis Touchpoint Solutions therefore offers its clients both direct mail as well as e-mail, tele-sampling as well as live speaker events.

The market demands such a patchwork scheme, says PWC pharma expert Dominik Hotz: There should not be an expectation that it will ever go one channel or the other.

The reason is simple: Physicians use many of the e-tools they employ at work in their personal transactions; when their habits in the latter sphere change, they change in the former sphere, too.

Dynamic communication

Communications in pharma should be dynamic, comments Keefer of Publicis Touchpoint Solutions, and change in reaction to market conditions and customer response. What doctors respond to best cant be answered at the macro level. Every physician is different.

This means each brands message delivery mix should be highly customized, he says, as well as preference-based.

Older physicians who may be a few years short of retirement might prefer conventional channels.

Younger physicians just out of residence, however, are likely to be more open to an approach via whatever platform or application is currently hip in the digital world.

Since bespoke solutions are the way to go, its critical to identify, target, and reach the correct customer base on the individual level.

Pharma companies, Keefer argues, can easily pinpoint their key audience through the wealth of information currently available, such as prescription data, patient longitudinal data, or formulary status.

These findings should then be factored into data obtained directly from actual responses to sales effortsphysician preferences to topics and channels based on behavioral response.

On this basis, companies can address their customers how they want, when they want, and with the right message, according to Keefer.

That is what multichannel message delivery is all about.

Using social media

While the optimal message delivery blend will differ greatly according to personal preference, region, or specialty, some e-formats can be identified as current favorites among the medical community.

Marketers should consider them in their marketing solutions.

Manhattan Researchs Taking the Pulse v10.0 survey found that two-thirds of US physicians, for instance, regularly consume user-generated content for professional purposes.

Open forums such as Facebook or LinkedIn are particularly popular, outdoing even doctors-only Web communities such as Sermo.

No surprise, then, that PWCs Hotz advises pharma marketers to take their message to various social media sites where customers aggregateeven though tailoring that message to the different networks requires a high level of coordination, integration, and knowledge of just where clients are accessing trusted sources of information.

If social networks are one of the online platforms du jour, webcasts are among the most in-vogue formats.

According to Manhattan Research, increased broadband access, improved content quality, and advanced mobile technology have led to growing consumption of streaming video by physicians.

Video can be an especially effective channel when it comes to reaching busy practitioners who may want to connect with a sales representative at a time of their own convenience, Keefer argues.

Such an on-demand service fits into the health professional's workflow instead of interrupting it.

Platform flexibility counts, too.

The number of physicians who will whip out a BlackBerry, iPhone, or other handheld device when in need of clinical information at the point of care is growing steadily. (For more on physicians and mobile technology, see Will the iPad kickstart a pharma sales and marketing revolution?.)

In the US, more than two out of five doctors now do so during patient consultations.

So, providing content and formats suitable for mobile access will become increasingly important.