What do doctors want from pharma?

Providing the target audience with relevant information is essential to building strong commercial relationships; yet it is easy to lose sight of this when caught in the midst of an exciting new brand launch.

As a result, pharma marketers can find themselves focusing too heavily on promotional messages that tick strategic marketing boxes rather than delivering the kind of information and resources that doctors really want from them.

As online doctor networks have grown and evolved over the past 10 years or so, we have gained a clear understanding of the type of information that doctors need to help them in their day to day work.

One of their key requirements is to keep abreast of the latest news and developments in disease and therapy areas. Conferences or congresses are a key part of this, but many doctors struggle to find the time to attend them all.

Since doctors frequently rely on the internet to help them catch up in real time or post-event, there is a golden opportunity for pharma to engage with doctors in a timely and relevant way by sponsoring conference highlights.

With 66 per cent of doctors using online doctor networks to conduct CME, there is also clear role for pharma to support them in this area by, for example, providing clinical paper summaries, case-studies or educational self-assessment activities.

Contrary to popular belief, doctors do want information about new products and services, and many prefer to seek this information independently online. However, all they really want is to know whether products are better, safer and/or cheaper, and they can ultimately see through marketing spin. Providing doctors with short snippets of information is therefore more effective for pharma than a promotional and lengthy e-detail.

In essence, to engage with doctors more effectively, pharma marketers need to obtain a deep understanding of the type of information that doctors need and then marry those insights with information that they can provide that also meets their commercial objectives, either directly or through relationship building activities.

For more information on M3, the global provider of technology services in healthcare, and its new European Division which includes  www.doctors.net.uk, www.mdlinx.com, and www.networksinhealth.com, please call Tim Ringrose on +44 (0)1235 828400, or email Tim.ringrose@eu.m3.com

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