If your pharma brand is having a hard time reaching physicians, you’re not alone. According to the latest research, the average physician receives about 6.4 sales rep visits per month, with each visit lasting about 6 minutes. That’s a staggeringly small amount of time to present your medical publication and show off your brand’s value.
As small as 6 minutes is, it’s enough to spark interest. However, many sales reps waste that time using the same old methods trying to reach and influence HCPs. With an increasing number of physicians restricting access to reps every day, as well as a growing pile of administrative tasks they have, those 6 minutes will most likely get halved in the future.
If you’re looking for a way to better use your time in front of physicians, here are some solutions.
Prepare patient-centric content
One of the most common complaints that physicians have is that the materials from sales reps are useless for their patients. While the physicians themselves understand the key points from your medical publications, it’s not of much use to patients.
With the increasing power of voice given to patients, a patient-centric marketing model is no longer an option but a necessity.
One of the ways to achieve this is by using patient educational videos. Our MedExplainer solution helps patients understand their disease and the basic elements of how to treat it. Finally, patient adherence will increase as a result. Additional investment in time and resources to make your content patient-centric will pay off dividends in the long run.
Use digital pharma resources
There’s no excuse for using ancient technologies such as reprints in the 21st century. With a variety of digital resources available, you can show an amazing amount of information in a short time frame. Talking through a medical publication will take up the majority of the time you have with a physician. On the other hand, if you leave them a reprint of your publications, chances are high that it’s going straight to the trash bin.
Focusing on digital solutions allows you to say more about your brand in less time. Make sure your pharma brand website has the crucial information laid out clearly. If you show it to an HCP during a sales rep visit, they can easily go to your website and refer to it later on. What’s more, they can point the patient to your website as well, making it a win-win situation for everyone.
Besides your website, video is one of the most elegant ways to present a lot of information in a small time frame. One of the solutions that might fit in is PubExplainer. PubExplainer helps you lay out your key scientific data from your medical publication in just 90 seconds. The most important key scientific data is right there in the video, and you can send it HCPs later on through email or other channels.
Embrace the future
Traditional marketing channels are no longer effective in reaching HCPs. Sales reps are still an important asset for every pharma brand, but they are no longer enough. In order to increase physician touchpoints, sales reps should be combined with a multi-channel marketing model utilizing the latest digital pharma strategies. Instead of forcing HCPs to touch base with you only through sales reps, you will be providing them with alternative channels of communication.
Not only will it derive better ROI for pharma companies, but it will also open a channel for HCPs to provide feedback. Combining traditional and digital methods of communicating with healthcare professionals provides you with a comprehensive solution. This way you cover each step of the process, from the initial sales rep contact to keeping up with HCPs using digital channels and finally to the very prescription and contact with your patients.
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