According to research and many digital marketing professionals, video is one of the most effective formats for marketing, which rings true in pharma as well. With an increased interest in video marketing, many pharma marketers want to engage in video, but lack the knowledge, tools, or resources, or generally don’t know where to get started.
Here are the most important guidelines for healthcare video production to help you out.
Know the target audience
Before beginning any video marketing campaign in pharma, the first thing pharma marketers need to pay attention to is who the video is intended for. The target audience will determine everything, from the length to the tone of voice and the video script.
While patients will require more superficial content that is easier to consume and understand, physicians prefer in-depth, specific video content on areas that interest them.
Choose the right format
The term video marketing is a great place to start, but it’s far too broad to be actionable. There are numerous types of videos that pharma companies can create and numerous ways to distribute them, so it is of utmost importance to hit the mark.
There are various video formats to choose from. For example, some pharma companies have found interview videos to be successful. By interviewing KOLs, they have easy access to engaging materials for their sales force.
However, for ease of use, ease of creation, and cost in time and resources, explainer videos have been found to be one of the most efficient video formats for pharma marketing. Whether marketing to KOLs, physicians, or patients, it’s easily adaptable and can be used in a variety of marketing channels.
For our clients, at BlueNovius we’ve used PubExplainer as a medical video explainer solution to market to physicians. Relevant scientific publications are turned into brief explainer videos that engage and attract videos through websites, approved email, and sales rep presentations.
Know the right video length
Much like the type of content presented in the video, its length will depend on the message and the target audience. In general, shorter videos have been found to perform better for marketing but this is not set in stone.
For example, take a look at the series called Mayo Clinic Minute, where the famous clinic presents a series of videos on common patient questions. The videos are all precisely one minute long, with topics such as the benefits of petroleum jelly, fast-track breast cancer treatment, and dangers of heat-related illnesses. One of the major reasons why these videos work well is because they’re short enough to be engaging, but contain all the necessary data that patients need to know to stay informed.
Video length is crucial for physicians, who have an increasing amount of patients over time and don’t have hours to spend watching videos – which is why we keep our medical explainer videos at 90 seconds in length.
Interestingly, marketers across industries agree that videos up to two minutes get the maximum engagement. Of course, there is a range of factors influencing the ideal video length, but it’s best to err on the shorter side when it comes to the HCP audience.
Healthcare video production should be left to professionals
The reason why pharmacies struggle with video creation is that they don’t have the staff to tackle this type of marketing. Put simply, very few of them depend so heavily on video marketing that they need a dedicated team for the purpose, which is why most pharma marketing videos are outsourced.
This brings us to an inconvenient situation – pharma marketers aren’t good at video, while video creators don’t know all that much about pharma. An engaging video with excellent production won’t mean much to a physician who’s losing time with it because it’s filled with irrelevant, outdated, and inaccurate scientific data.
Videographers are often Jacks of all trades, creating videos for a wide range of industries.
This is not something you should worry about if you’re working with BlueNovius. With our decade of experience doing video marketing, we know how to assess your target audience, determine the right video length and create an engaging video that wows physicians and KOLs.
Reach out to us today to find out how our PubExplainer video marketing solution can help your brand get in front of physicians with maximum efficiency and the best return on investment.