OPENING: Online health seekers decide whether to stay on your website within the first five seconds of landing on your homepage. They decide if your site addresses their questions after looking at 1.24 pages. Here are what I found in over two years of research with online health seekers.
SUMMARY: The LinkedIn team had a unique take on measuring ROI. “77% of marketers measure ROI within the first month of their campaign, knowingly trying to “prove ROI in a shorter amount of time than their typical sales cycle., while only 4% of marketers even measure ROI over a six-month period or longer.” So how should DTC marketers really measure ROI?
SUMMARY: Among US adults who looked for health information and used the internet for their most recent search, the percentage who reported accessing health information without frustration was stable during the study period (from 37.2% in 2008 to 38.5% in 2017). The percentage of online health information seekers reporting easily accessing health information did not meet the HP2020 objective. Continued efforts are needed to enable easy access to online health information among diverse populations. (Source: Public Health Reports)
SUMMARY: Digital marketing is not a tactic. It’s a mindset. With the changes to healthcare on the horizon, the time has come to start building digital capabilities in all areas of company functions.
SUMMARY: TV doesn’t make sense for smaller and older patient populations. DTC marketers should be thinking digital and aligning execution with their needs.
SUMMARY: Both emergency room visits and doctors’ visits are down by about half because people are putting off treatment for medical emergencies due to fears of contracting COVID-19. How is pharma going to get patients back into to ask their doctor about branded medications?
SUMMARY: Social media continues to be used by online health seekers, but there is also a high level of health misinformation. Using social media for DTC can be effective if you have a story to tell in short messages. Still, DTC marketers should be aware of what’s being said around certain health conditions via social media.
HERE’S THE PITCH: Guidelines surrounding effective frequency are different by every advertised product. For pharma products, effective frequency is, for example, the frequency at which someone is going to go online to learn more about your product. TV alone is not going to sell your product. You need to invest in digital marketing too.
