Empowering patients with comprehensive information about their health and medical conditions is a critical step towards fostering their active involvement in healthcare decisions. By equipping them with knowledge, patients can make more informed choices and collaborate effectively with healthcare providers (HCPs), ultimately enhancing the quality of care they receive. And pharma marketers can play a crucial role in helping to deliver the right education to patients.
According to a PatientPoint survey, nearly half of respondents reported they are afraid to ask their HCP about their health condition or symptoms.1 To bridge this gap, patient education materials are key—they can deliver reliable, trustworthy information to patients, be read at home, and later discussed with HCPs. While many pharma advertisers rely on driving patients to their brand websites, the experience can often present an overwhelming amount of information. But pharma can rely on more innovative ways of using digital media to bring crucial content to prospective patients.
Downloadable Documents in Ad Units
One innovative way for pharma advertisers to ease prospective patients into the content is to integrate downloadable documents such as patient discussion guides within the digital creative ad unit. This method provides patients easier access to the right information from the start and invites them to explore more info on the branded website. Digital channels can also empower patients by providing access to educational resources such as before and after galleries, clinical data, and in-depth safety information.
Family and Caregiver Resources
Another facet of innovative pharma advertising is specific messaging designed to engage families and caregivers. Families and caregivers provide a strong support system to a patient, so an understanding of the patient’s medical condition can aid in ensuring the patient has advocates along their health journey. Offering discussion guides for caregivers and reaching households that may include a patient with a condition is important for education and enabling emotional support.
Multi-Video Ad Units
Video is a powerful tool to deliver education and has remained essential to pharma marketing. Significant investment goes towards placing TV spots—according to Fierce Pharma, TV ad spend reached $5B in 2022.2 Additionally, pharma websites can house several videos, including patient stories, which build an understanding of other people’s experiences and treatment plans and are a great way to make the patient feel less alone. Using digital video advertising to extend this messaging and including multiple videos within a gallery in your ad unit is a great way to further distribute educational content for patients.
Arming patients with these valuable resources is a critical step in the patient journey and helps build confidence when communicating with medical professionals. Empowerment is a necessary part of any patient experience and digital media can play a pivotal role in expanding access to educational information.
References:
1. https://www.patientpoint.com/blog/patient-insights-survey.
