What markets do you want to shift?

Today, healthcare providers are facing unprecedented challenges. They need to see more patients than ever to reach profitability. This means they have less time for traditional marketing tactics. But more importantly, this means they certainly do not want their time wasted on another “dime a dozen” marketing pitch.

Overcoming these obstacles will mean putting yourself in the shoes of an HCP. They are open to your marketing efforts. They simply expect substance, practicality and engagement along with it. The key is in finding the right unique tools to best capture their attention. When your brand learns how to resonate with HCPs in areas where they care the most, then you can successfully shift their behavior.

Pharmaceutical providers are struggling to adapt to an environment where they face issues of cost containment, the premium price of R+D innovation and lengthy FDA regulatory hurdles. Penetrating their normally closed walls will take more than the standard marketing pitch. It requires ingenuity, patience and sometimes playing the game by their rules. Your brand must demonstrate value and find common ground with pharma companies if you hope to secure their business.

As research, translational, clinical and core labs gravitate toward new technologies, they expect vendors to fulfill their needs for speed, accuracy, automation, consolidation and economics. Scientists are by nature skeptical of marketing, persuaded by data and driven only by proof. The more overt the marketing ploy, the more guarded they become to your message.

Moreover, while not exactly brand loyalists, most labs are generally resistant to change. New systems can produce a frustrating learning curve for researchers already well versed with another systems protocols.

Shifting their behavior means that your brand will be held to certain standards: efficiency, persuasiveness, and practicality. If your brand cannot deliver, you may not even be considered.

Your brand’s success depends on the thoughts of key opinion leaders. The more influential they are, the more awareness (positive or negative) they generate for your brand. But today’s brands face the peril of heavy competition when seeking endorsements from highly sought after KOLs. You must seek new approaches if you want these individuals to take notice of you and your brand.

Chief among these approaches, your brand’s biggest challenges will be identifying appropriate KOLs and developing an ideal strategy to shift their behavior.

In a Health 2.0 world, patients are more informed, intelligent, and eager for direct information than ever. Because of this thirst for knowledge, they are drifting from doctors to peers as a source for medicinal guidance. Now is your opportunity to meet them where they are and fulfill their needs by delivering the information they are looking for. Become the resource in their quest for knowledge to build the foundation of trust between them and your brand.