MedicoMindsPro

The phrase ‘Content is King’ is now a cliche. With the digital explosion, the King has perhaps become an Emperor already. Why not have an Empress for the Emperor? The Empress for the healthcare industry could be ‘Scientific content.’

There is too much content being generated all over, every day. However, content without a deeply thought-out strategy behind it fails to build brands. No sooner does a molecule lose its patent, tens if not hundreds of generics spring up, almost overnight. The challenge is not merely for the generics; even an innovative product must be able to sell itself well to score over the existing standard of care. While earlier the healthcare industry had to focus only on creating content that resonates with HCPs, in the current era, patient focus is equally important. At the same time, the digital and media explosion has opened up new avenues for content marketing. Let us move away from the traditional LBLs and visual aids and look at some different strategies. I will categorize them into in-clinic strategies and ex-clinic strategies; we will cover the latter in part 2. Of course, everything cannot be used for all products- it depends on what are the key focus products for the organization and what is the objective.

In-clinic content marketing strategies

1. Scientific newsletter series – These can be short newsletters, not more than 2-3 pages. Ideally, they work best when planned as a series, with the objective being to deliver not more than 1 to 2 take-home messages. These are very effective when you are either trying to launch an innovative product or trying to bring about a change in the current practice through scientific evidence.
2. Clinical compendiums – These are in the form of 15-20 page journals comprising paraphrased titles and abstracts of key evidence on a therapy area or a product with links to full texts (if available). If there are several pieces of evidence, it can be created as a series of 10-15 abstracts in each issue. The frequency can be quarterly so that the clinician has time to read. I have seen a huge appreciation of these at the KOL level. In fact, when they are based on abstracts picked up from key international conferences focusing on a particular topic, they have a good readership. e.g., focusing on latest studies on new SEPSIS scores, from an international critical care conference. Some international conferences now also offer the facility of attending the conference virtually. In such cases, one can attend the sessions from home or office, and a compendium of key takeaways from specific sessions can be prepared and shared within 2-3 days. This is also something highly appreciated by HCPs.
3. Whitepapers – You could have focused group discussions with key KOLs, and insights generated from these can be converted into whitepapers and circulated to a wider base of HCPs. The same can be done following webinars with KOLs. In fact, questions asked by the attendees and the KOLs’ responses to them can be included in the whitepaper as well. Another use of whitepapers can be summarizing all scientific evidence of the benefits of a drug. This is particularly useful in chronic diseases e.g., various benefits of semaglutide. Unlike a journal publication, a white paper offers the benefit of quick dissemination and extensive use of infographics, thus gaining wider acceptability and engagement.
4. Coffee-table books – One can create coffee-table books on a particular therapy area with the latest country-level epidemiological data, current guidelines, differences between the guidelines, recent studies, recent new launches, currently ongoing research etc. These are the type of inputs not likely to be relegated to the dustbins after reading.
5. Patient profile booklets – These are very useful for both innovative products and when you are trying to position a basket of products. These typically work well when written as short case scenarios, with informative infographics. They are also useful when a drug is indicated for multiple patient profiles e.g. sacubitril-valsartan for heart failure.
6. Pre-launch scientific content – It is common and helpful to build up an excitement for an upcoming innovative product. As much as 6 months before launch, you can start sharing data of pivotal studies of product in the form of multiple, small inputs. These act not only like a teaser, but the product already starts registering in the HCP’s mind. Moreover, it is easier to digest data in small bytes rather than overwhelming full text articles to begin with. These can be shared as power point presentations through MSLs, or short video content.
7. Patient education material – Gone are the days of plain FAQs. Patients have become more demanding and want to know more about the disease, the drug, and even the associated diagnostics. These inputs allow a lot of leeway for creativity as well. One can have flash cards, patient education booklets, or even interactive videos with voiceovers. It might help to create videos that HCPs can forward to their patients after explaining it to them inside the clinic. Another option is tabletop whiteboards with multiple panels, like flipcharts. Here there is a lot of scope for visual elements over text as the HCP can do the explaining. The patient can click a picture, record the explanation or you can even provide takeaway print options. These are likely to be highly appreciated by HCPs as well, as it saves them a lot of time, especially when dealing with rare or life-threatening diseases. One can also market the brand website or the disease-specific website to patients through this channel. A client of mine asked me to create powerpoint presentations that HCPs present to groups of patients with a particular chronic disease, as a community service that they offer to their patients. The response and appreciation from the patients has been a huge booster for the HCPs. The same approach has been adopted by some HCPs to educate their nurses on how to counsel patients admitted under their care.
8. Pocket booklet: These can be small booklets of A5 size which can be used for new product launches to summarize key evidence in the form of infographics and patient profiles for which the drug can be used. These serve as a ready-reckoner for the HCPs and are particularly useful for oncotherapies.