Ensure your impressions leave a good impression at medical congress: a media buying perspective
Navigating the intricate world of medical congresses requires a thoughtful and targeted approach to communication. As a Growth Marketing agency, often our focus is on maximising the impact of our clients’ messages within the healthcare professional (HCP) community. Let’s explore how content, placement, audience, and destination play pivotal roles in optimising impressions across the various channels utilised in healthcare advertising.
Content: precision in healthcare messaging
Crafting content for medical congresses demands precision and relevance. Ensure your message is tailored specifically to your target audience. HCPs have unmet needs too, and marketing activity which finds resonance will address these to some extent. This could be in the form of educational, disease-awareness content that deepens their understanding of specific health issues, or through branded content, referencing your drug and its uses. By utilising both campaign arms simultaneously around congress you not only provide valuable information but also create a memorable, positive brand association.
Additionally, to maximise your investment and impression delivery around congress, consider repurposing each content piece for your chosen channel mix. If you are using commercial branding for LinkedIn, for example, consider resizing this content for a journal flipbook. By repurposing content, you not only optimise your reach but also ensure that your message is consistently delivered across diverse channels, reinforcing your brand and message in the minds of HCPs, while ensuring that all content is optimised for the channel concerned.
Placement: strategic deployment across channels
Much like the rest of us, medical professionals are active across a diverse range of channels, and a comprehensive, omnichannel approach is vital to securing strong engagement. Leverage platforms such as LinkedIn to target a professional audience actively seeking industry updates. Optimise Google Search to ensure that your content appears when HCPs are actively searching for relevant information. Utilise out-of-home advertising strategically, placing your message in key locations where HCPs frequent. Embrace programmatic hyperlocal advertising to deliver impressions in specific geographical areas, tailoring your message to the unique needs of specific healthcare communities.
Audience: targeting healthcare professionals effectively
Understanding your audience is paramount. In HCP advertising, precision is key. Leverage the advanced targeting capabilities of platforms like LinkedIn to reach specific medical specialties, ensuring your message reaches the right professionals. Utilise programmatic advertising to target healthcare conferences and events, optimising your reach during key moments when medical professionals are actively engaged. Moreover, when choosing channel mix and content messaging, consider the varied levels of expertise within your audience. Some may be seasoned veterans in their field, while others could be early-career professionals. Employ a selected omnichannel approach to target HCPs of all nationalities, ages and expertise levels.
Destination: navigating the medical congress landscape
In the realm of healthcare messaging for medical congresses, the concept of a “destination” extends beyond physical locations to the intricacies of digital landscapes, with the landing page emerging as a pivotal hub. Consider the journey, both physical and digital, that HCPs undertake. Whether they encounter your messaging in the physical realm, such as through the Congress Booth or out-of-home advertisement, or digitally, via display advertising. The use of QR codes on physical advertisements offers an innovative bridge between the physical and digital worlds. A simple scan provides instant access to your landing page, ensuring a frictionless yet fully tracked and accountable transition for HCPs eager to explore more. On the digital front, traditional hyperlinks maintain their relevance, serving as convenient pathways for those engaging with your content online.
Though it’s at the end of the journey, the landing page must provide value to the HCP who encounters it. This may be achieved through separate anchor links: considering the varying levels of knowledge and localities among HCPs. The landing page might also feature multiple fragments of different information, for example, the branded content used might take an HCP to a KOL interview on the landing page, or a highlight reel of the symposium capture. Whilst the unbranded ‘disease awareness’ content might take an HCP to an alternative landing page focused on disease education.
Conclusion
In the world of medical congresses, precise content tailored to HCPs’ needs, strategic placement across platforms, and the effective use of landing pages are key. Repurposing content enhances reach, while targeting precision ensures relevance and alignment with congress themes. This integrated approach optimises engagement and leaves a lasting ‘impression’ on the HCP community.
