A helping hand with med ed
pharmafile | October 5, 2004 | Feature | |Â Â Â
As any pharma marketer should know, the key to successful marketing is how you communicate with your audience. A large part of this is concerned with understanding the customer's unmet needs and implementing programmes that will advance understanding of your product within the clinical and general context.
In the years leading up to launch, re-launch or repositioning, a lot of investment is spent on developing products that will advance medical understanding, whether it is the potential blockbuster, a simpler 'me-too' product or innovative diagnostic tools. To recoup the investment in the clinical research programmes, the marketer must plan to disseminate the valuable key data at the right time in the right place to the right audiences.
This is where med ed plays an important role. Communicating the benefits and advantages of these products and positioning them appropriately is key to achieving your marketing forecasts. However, whether your marketing responsibilities are regional, national or international, certain guidelines should be followed to ensure a successful outcome.
Med ed is one element of the marketing communication mix, together with advertising, market research, PR, sponsorship, and more. There is some question as to whether med ed is really another form of PR, and certainly there are some similarities. However, when you take away the commercial and promotional aspects of PR, med ed in its purest, non-commercial form, stands out as a separate entity.
Med ed includes a number of elements, which when combined can successfully disseminate key data in a clear and comprehensible format. The main objectives of any med ed programme should be to raise awareness of your product through different communication vehicles. It should also create interest and desire amongst your audiences to make decisions based on the information received; this could include prescribing your product or introducing it into the clinical setting.
Strategic communications planning
The most important element, which forms the backbone of any medical education programme, is strategic communication planning. Without this planning, no activity will achieve its SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time based) objectives. Other parts of the med ed jigsaw include:
- Opinion leader development
- Publication planning and implemetation
- Training programmes that are developed for specific audiences
- Meetings from small advisory boards to major congress symposia, training and development
You need to identify your regional, national or international opinion leaders, and analyse whether their potential, is as product champions or regional influencers. Most doctors are willing to participate in educational programmes, provided they are seen as totally impartial, and have a balanced view.
In building an effective working relationship with doctors, the pharma industry will benefit from market intelligence and guidance about the unmet needs of the end-user and consumer of their products. They will also give feedback and advice on the industry's communication activities and how well they are working together.
Looking at the publications you use, you will need to synergise your communication channels to reach your audiences. Peer review publications will certainly reinforce the credibility of your product, but other publications such as monographs, training manuals and slides, formulary packs, newsletters, supplements, stand giveaways and patient information should also be included.
The training programmes that you use will need to be developed for specific audiences. Producing CME-accredited programmes aimed only at one target, such as consultants for example, may not help the clinic nurses or the local GP. Added to programmes for healthcare professionals, internal training of sales reps should also feature in any med ed communication plan to ensure you get the best from your teams.
A programme of meetings will be of vital importance to share your educational messages. Invest wisely and always question the educational value and ROI for these activities, to ensure that both your local and global messages are fully reinforced.
It is a recognised fact that word of mouth and peer endorsement will have a higher impact and influence in changing customer attitude than the more traditional promotional activities. This ability to endorse your product can be built into many elements of your med ed programme through effective communication and relationship building with opinion leaders.
Decide on your target audience early
Who to target and when to produce specific and comprehensive programmes should be addressed early on in the planning stage of your med ed programme. The classic cascade of information, usually from key opinion leaders down to the secondary and tertiary audiences, will enable unforeseen issues, such as changes in legislation or product adverse events, that arise during the programmes, to be addressed.
Med ed is a powerful tool in the marketing mix and should be used efficiently and effectively. On occasion programmes go astray and they don't achieve their SMART objectives. Lack of effective, strategic planning is often cited as the reason why programmes don't achieve their set objectives. Sometimes too much thought is given to tactics rather than the strategic objectives that lead to creating the tactical programme. This can lead to a reactive, rather than proactive programme when the results are not as predicted.
Lack of communication between medical and marketing departments can sometimes lead to miscommunication and confused planning – look at the relevant data and agree what is needed before planning the med ed programme. Different departments will have different ideas as to how data should be distributed and these should all be addressed in the planning stage. Changing objectives and messages halfway through programme's development will prove a costly exercise.
Too often the relevant data and key marketing messages are lost in the vast amount of information which, when let loose, adds to information overload and data fatigue. The successful marketer will know how to take the data and use it with clarity and consistency.
Working with different agencies
Over the years, questions have been raised about the best ways of working with med ed agencies. Companies question whether the skills that agencies have in developing successful programmes could be brought in-house and become more cost effective. So why work with an agency?
One of the key benefits is to harness the combined experience of the agency's personnel. Most will have worked with numerous large, small, national and international pharmaceutical companies. They will understand what works well in developing med ed programmes and will use this experience to benefit your programmes.
Marketers should also consider the type of agencies they will work with: large, small, independent or backed by a large global conglomerate. More often than not the decision to work with agencies is based on trust, good working relationships and relevant experience.
It is important to create a good working relationship with your agency. They are as keen as you are to succeed in achieving your objectives and will often contribute 110% effort to achieve this.
Another point to emphasise is that it is important to share as much information as possible with your agency in order to get the best, most proactive results. Indicating the ballpark budgets that you have will also allow agencies to concentrate on what is possible within your budget and not waste valuable time in trying to second guess what specifications may be included within an unknown budget. Being asked to propose a programme with only the barest details will only lead to frustration and misunderstanding on both sides.
There is no absolute answer to what makes a good med ed programme. Each plan should be considered as an individual challenge that fits in, and complements the other strategic marketing objectives, harnessing the medical, marketing and communication experiences of those involved.
Basic planning principles should however be followed: there is no point investing time and money in med ed that is not timely, relevant or aimed at the right audience. Planning programmes too late in the product lifecycle are a waste of effort.
As the time from compound identification to product launch decreases and reflects the increased speed of communication, marketers will need to run to keep up with the customer's unmet needs. This is a challenge but with the right med ed communication tools and smart planning, the future looks good for med ed.
