Looking for a Successful HCP Marketing Strategy?
Life science marketers must face facts. The heyday of traditional marketing is nearly behind us.
Sales reps that win the business of doctors, physicians, and other healthcare providers (HCPs) solely through traditional marketing means are truly rare these days. Unfortunately (and ironically enough), most HCPs have built up an immunity to / found the cure for these tactics – ignoring them. As far as an HCP is concerned, that brochure they were just handed amounts to nothing more than the next piece of paper for their recycling. Sure, traditional strategies may get marketers extra face time with prospects – it may even get them remembered – but this recognition does not always come with the most positive associations.
Cultivating a genuine interest in your product can sometimes prove tricky, but when you understand how HCPs think, you can craft your marketing to better suit their concerns. Ask yourself these five questions:
1) Do they have time for me?
2) Who decides?
3) Who do they care about?
4) Where do they go?
5) What do they share?
There are several helpful insights one gains from asking these five questions. The answer to the first should prove obvious to any life science marketer who’s been playing the field for a while. In case you were unaware, the short answer is “No.” HCPs must see a higher number of patients these days just to maintain profitability. More work for them means less time for you. This situation has become typical for most HCPs in recent years. Therefore, if you want to convince them that your product is worth their increasingly precious time, then your effective marketing strategy will be defined by two things: its ability to grab attention and the lack of time it chips away from an HCP’s day.
The second question encourages life science marketers to know the healthcare environment as well as they would its population. Realize that every hospital, facility, and private practice carries its own unique organizational structure. Nurses, physicians, and department heads all have a role to play with each establishment when it comes to the purchasing process. Naturally, the prime decision-maker is likely to differ with each site. A consistently diverse environment means you can’t always take a cookie cutter approach to marketing with every prospective client. Tailor the message for the audience it impacts the most.
The third question takes the second one step further by going from “Who cares,” to “Who cares about what.” Take HCPs for example. An HCP’s primary concern is his or her patients. Some of the most effective marketing campaigns are those that show how a marketer understands their client’s needs and concerns. If you are trying to convince HCPs that your medical device deserves a second look, then your messaging needs to reinforce that you care about the same things they do, namely their patients. The same holds true for more specific HCP roles as well. If the product primarily affects the nursing staff, then your messaging should speak to nurses. If the final purchasing decision rests with facility’s financial department, then savings should be your premier selling point. You get the idea.
The fourth question is particularly important due to its implications in channel selection. Great marketing compels its target audience to share a message with others. With HCPs increasingly turning to social media as their venue of choice to connect, share ideas, and weigh the thoughts of Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), life science marketers already have half of their work done for them because their audience is centrally located. This professional flocking to social media reflects the HCP’s desire for engagement, not only with their peers, but also from companies with which they do business. In order to succeed, life science marketers must provide marketing materials that recreate this sense of engagement for HCPs. There are plenty of ways to accomplish this feat. As an example, you can create an interactive site where HCPs actively learn about your product rather than just read about it. Remember, where you find one prospective HCP client, you will almost certainly find a hoard of like-minded people who may be interested in what your company has to offer.
The fifth and final question is important for its implications with regard to design. As suggested by the previous question, there’s a wealth of marketing potential in knowing where HCPs interact with one another. Life science marketers should be concerning themselves with two things: what kind information HCPs share on these sites and how. Does it appear like similar products are all being marketed to a specific group of HCPs the same way? If so, then you may have just identified a potential opportunity for a point of differentiation that can be used to set your brand apart from the competition. HCPs are just like everyone else when it comes to marketing strategies. Just like you, they quickly grow bored with sameness. Sometimes the edge is all in the difference.
Now that we’ve gone full circle, our original question seems less complex. Looking back at the above five questions, the answer to “How does one market to HCPs,” is simple – the answer is the C.O.D.E.: clear content, holistic omnitude, simplistic designs, and an engaging experience. This four-point approach covers all of a life science marketer’s main bases for dynamically captivating and shifting the behavior of HCP prospects in favor of your brand.
Want more tips on how to market to healthcare providers? Look out for our upcoming Smart Talk on shifting HCP behavior.
