Are you a pharma marketer? Most importantly, do you bump into too many closed doors these days? I can assure you that you’re not alone.
No, it’s not your imagination! Physicians are truly becoming increasingly unwilling to get in contact with sales reps. Studies have shown that the percentage of prescribers who are easily accessible to pharma sales reps has been constantly dropping every year since 2008 and has fallen to 47 percent in 2016.
Nonetheless, sales reps are still sticking to their face-to-face interaction approach. But in an increasingly digital world, that approach simply doesn’t work anymore. When it comes to digital marketing, the healthcare sector is slightly behind the times. It needs to catch up with other industries if it wants to survive.
In the past few years, it has become evident that it’s time for pharma to go digital. And most importantly, to embrace new ways of engaging with physicians. Video marketing might just be what pharma marketers need. With it, it may be possible to fill the ever-expanding gap between them and physicians.
Is video marketing effective?
There are several reasons why video marketing is so effective. First of all, videos are positioned at places that physicians visit on a daily basis. One of the biggest advantages of digital marketing is the fact that, just like everyone else, physicians are already online. By opting for a digitally-based marketing strategy, you have the advantage of reaching the physicians where they are already. And by deciding on the video marketing strategy, you’ll be focusing on their preferred method of communication.
Digital video marketing is one of the best ways of reaching and educating physicians. The increase of medical video watching, sharing, and subsequently video marketing in pharma appears to be an unstoppable trend. According to research, videos will account for 69 % of all consumer Internet traffic by the end of the year.
And video reach is already quite substantial. The biggest video-sharing platform YouTube already has over one billion users and 78 % of them watch at least one video every week. In fact, the power of videos is so great that it made YouTube the second largest search engine after Google.
Video content is quite popular with people of any profession, and physicians are not an exception. Physicians spend an average of 180 minutes a week watching various specialized medical videos related to their profession. There’s a good reason for that. Videos can quickly and easily explain the features of a new drug or a clinical trial that would take hours to read, or vividly show how a certain new treatment works and its effects on patients.
Between various consultations, appointments, surgeries, and other daily tasks physicians simply don’t have the time for phone calls and meetings with the pharma sales reps. Sometimes they don’t even have the time to read a medical journal or a report as they spend most of their day on their feet.
Reach physicians with medical publication videos
10 or 15 minutes of conversation with pharma reps is a luxury that many physicians can’t afford. But even they can take a minute or two to check out the latest short video related to their profession. It can be a short medical conference video, a summary of a medical publication, an explainer video about a medical device, or new research in a certain therapeutic area.
But time is not the only factor that marketers need to consider. There’s also the question of accessibility. Since they are always on the go, physicians often need content that’s easily accessible via mobile phones. A study conducted by the Merck survey company shows that two-thirds or 66% of surveyed physicians use mobile phones every day for work-related tasks.
And since videos are very mobile-friendly and have proven to be perfect for viewing on phones, tablets, and other types of mobile devices, they are the perfect type of content to watch on the go. Text-based content can be hard to read on small screens. But anyone with a 4 or 5-inch screen can easily access your ordinary online video.
Pharma marketing videos can be seen on the go
Physicians can watch brief medical videos on their way to work or on their lunch break. Unlike books and text reports that require a high level of attention, due to their short, visual and engaging nature, videos can be viewed anytime and anywhere.
Another great advantage of videos is that watching them doesn’t demand full concentration. Their ability to easily explain even the most complex studies’ makes them easily understandable even after a long day of prescribing medications and saving lives.
Also, you need to remember that humans are visual beings. A recent study conducted on medical students showed that almost one-half of them prefer visual learning over any other type of learning. The visual presentation of information with the skillful use of animation and key data makes your video message stick without requiring too much effort from the viewer.
Make a viral pharma marketing campaign
Videos are easily shareable. The statistics show that over 500 years of YouTube videos are watched every day on Facebook while over 700 YouTube videos are shared on Twitter each minute. Pharma medical videos can be shared with a click of a button. That makes them a powerful tool for all pharma marketers looking to deliver their message to both healthcare professionals and the general population.
You have to make sure that physicians receive your message. And the best way to do that is with a short and engaging video. No matter what message you are trying to convey, if you manage to squeeze it into a brief but informational video you are certain to reach a bigger audience than you would during a lifetime of face-to-face meetings.
But before you start reaching physicians with engaging video content, make sure to sign up here and receive new pharma marketing tips every week.
