Quality not quantity: why omnichannel matters for medical communications and how to deliver it in practice

By Katy Compton-Bishop and Gareth Morrell

Over the past few years, the way healthcare providers (HCPs) interact with patients and pharmaceutical field reps has changed dramatically. Driven initially by the pandemic, face-to-face meetings, consultations and congresses all declined sharply, with traditional channels for engagement and communication significantly impacted.

As a result, there has been a dramatic increase in digital activity and information within the healthcare space. Studies suggest physicians globally are spending more and more time online researching medical conditions and treatments – at least 1.5 hours per day – and Madano’s own analysis shows that almost 80% of traffic to web pages of scientific journals comes from queries on generic search engines.

As pharma companies ramped up their digital campaigns to compete for attention online, reach has often been prioritised over relevance, quantity over quality, triggering a flood of substandard digital content that overlooks audiences’ core needs. In fact, 65% of HCPs agree that at least one pharmaceutical company has spammed them with digital content as the COVID-19 pandemic has evolved. In this way, the very space HCPs have come to rely on has become filled with indiscriminate messaging and undifferentiated noise.

To stand out in this crowded market, pharmaceutical companies need to carefully consider their method of delivery. They need an efficient, engaging and effective way of disseminating medical and scientific information; a strategic mechanism that enables targeted and tailored content that truly meets the needs of their HCP audience. In short, omnichannel: a single strategy tailored to audience priorities, with all channels working together to focus resources and deliver relevant, integrated communications.

Rather than contributing to online saturation, by taking an omnichannel approach pharma companies can cut through the clutter and initiate targeted conversations with HCPs.  Reghu Venkatesan, Madano’s Global Head of Healthcare observes: “At Madano, we have been supporting healthcare clients in implementing an omnichannel approach to their communications strategy, and seeing increasingly positive engagement, not only from the target audiences, but the internal teams too, with this more streamlined approach.”

Based on the premise that the best communications outcomes will be achieved by responding directly to the needs of the end user, omnichannel places the audience front and centre.

In a healthcare context, omnichannel aims to take the audience from a point of low awareness or inaction to a point of positive evolution in attitude or behaviour – for example, from a limited understanding of a drug’s efficacy to full appreciation of its therapeutic value and a willingness to advocate for it. It’s acknowledged, however, that an audience will not reach this desired endpoint straightaway or at the same pace.

Most medical teams today are well versed in the benefits and theory of omnichannel; the challenge is often in the implementation. To get there, HCPs need to be taken on a journey of engagement and education. To facilitate this process, companies need to follow the five key steps of successful omnichannel deployment. As defined by Madano, these steps are:

1. Audience understanding

• Who is our audience?
• What do they want and how do they interact with content?
• What behaviour or attitude do we want to change?

• What are the stages of adoption and mindsets at each stage?
• What are the most appropriate tactics/channels to leverage to drive change?
• How can we connect tactics or channels to create a learning journey?

• Which sequence of touchpoints, channels and content shall we use?
• How do we measure success?

• What specific content will help us drive the progression of customers along the adoption ladder?
• What can we reuse, adapt, need to create?

• How can we continually monitor and analyse performance to optimise strategy design?