HCP Connectedness

We talk about how important relationships and social connections are for our lives and how social connectedness is highly valued for many different reasons. There is a variety of research that can be easily sourced via the Internet that espouses how it improves physical health and psychological well-being. Pharma companies have leveraged this insight to improve patient outcomes, by facilitating ‘connectedness’ patient to patient and carer to carer connectedness to create shared experiences.

How can we build upon this idea of ‘connectedness’ when delivering value to our customers [HCPs] to develop deeper meaningful engagement?

Macro trends in technology and shifting customer behaviour are giving rise to the connected business — which is not defined by technology but is rather a new style of doing business… and must go beyond technology enablement and support organizational and cultural transformation [Forrester.com]

Accessible Compelling Content

HCPs want objective educational information on disease areas and treatment options in order to make better diagnoses and therapeutic decisions. If appropriate, they will also want access to information relating to various products and services offered by Pharma companies. We remain relevant as long as we have valuable information to share. The customer and other stakeholders judge our value.

No matter what the information or the delivery channel, or even the length or depth of content, offering real value to the HCP is how we ultimately help patients.

Today the environment has fundamentally changed. Now the customers are speaking, and the brand needs to listen. With the exponential growth of media channels and connectedness, the voice of the customer is now far more powerful than the voice of the brand. Brands can no longer ‘outspend’ the voice of the customer. And that’s why customer advocacy has never been more important to the survival of the brand. [CMO, 2017]

Each year MM&M recognise the best HCP websites amongst other Pharma marketing efforts. [To check out this year’s winners click here ]

Motionstrand and Avanir Pharmaceuticals received the Gold Award this year for NuedextaHCP.com. The judges liked the integration of content and technology strategy, research, creative elements, site navigation, and results. “An exhaustive study of HCP online behaviour was leveraged against existing site metrics. The research helped Motionstrand develop a streamlined experience that caters to the digital behaviours and tendencies of targeted HCPs”. The results achieved, according to the MM&M site, included increases in site traffic (25%), engagement, and prescriptions.

The way Pharma companies forge connections with HCPs has evolved. With data available to better understand our customers and their communication preferences, we can make data-driven decisions when designing our communication strategies and tactics, to deliver branded and unbranded information that supports important care decisions.

Using Technology to Create Connectedness

Digital technologies are pervasive in our everyday lives, so it’s easy to assume that digitisation in Pharma is already far advanced. This is not the case. There is still an opportunity to do digital better and in a more integrated and connected way.

Bold, tightly integrated digital strategies will be the biggest differentiator between companies that win and companies that don’t, and the biggest payouts will go to those that initiate digital disruptions. Fast-followers with operational excellence and superior organizational health won’t be far behind. [McKinsey, 2017]

Firstly, we must accept that HCPs want to interact with all the services your organization offers, in the same way. If each brand team or HCP-Patient facing initiative creates unique communication assets within the same or connected channels it can create complexity and frustration for the users across the experiences. Ensure you have an integrated organizational engagement strategy, before developing your brand/service strategy. For the HCP, interactions should be seamless and clearly integrated.

Let’s also remind ourselves that our target HCPs are people like you, and so they are used to checking Facebook, their bank accounts, and their emails on their mobile phones. Did you know that according to Aptus Health, 21% of American HCP interactions occur on a mobile phone? Is it easy for HCPs to communicate with your brand and your organization via their mobile phone? A core part of developing ‘connectedness’ with HCPs and your customer engagement strategy and tactics, is mobile enablement.

Feeling ‘connected’ means feeling in touch with someone who cares about us. For a brand or company to create ‘connectedness’ with HCPs, that brand must know its target audience extremely well, communicating with them in an agile manner, and create offerings that the HCPs actually want. Being connected via technology and a variety of channels can foster deeper engagement, if integrated and seamless, relevant, and open to a two-way dialogue with measurable engagement.

Connected marketing communications are living ecosystems.