76% of online consumers look for others who share their medical condition 

Patients are increasingly turning to each other online for health information. Prevention magazine released their 13th annual national survey Consumer Reaction to DTC Advertising of Prescription Drugs which provides more proof that people go to social media with their health concerns.

According to the survey (phone interviews of 1,501 adults) 60% of online consumers use social media. User-generated sites such as Wikipedia and online forums such as PatientsLikeMe.com had a following of 42% (both up 6% over last year), while health-related blogs like Rateadrug.com were at 30% (up 3%).

This research echoes other recent data and demonstrates that patients are looking to hear from others like them.

According to the survey, 76% of online consumers look for others who share their medical condition for information. This was higher than even doctors (73%) and friends/family (66%). It’s important to keep in mind that the severity of the health issue can also impact this answer. The more serious the condition, the more likely that a patient will turn to a healthcare professional.
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blackhawks

Delivering relevant content in a timely manner reaps big emarketing rewards. 

Last week I wrote about the importance of paying attention to the details in your email communications and to always test. And test again. Today, I want to talk about how knowing your audience and delivering relevant and timely content to their inbox can result in big loyalty gains.

The day after my aforementioned email incident, I received an email of a different color. While it wasn’t explicitly personalized, it spoke to me so directly I couldn’t help but respond. For those of you who don’t know, our beloved Chicago Blackhawks brought home the Stanley Cup after a 49 year hiatus. As a life-long Chicagoan with many memories of going to games in Chicago Stadium and the United Center, my blood was pumping Blackhawks Red along with the rest of the city.
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62% of specialists and 55% of PCPs report having a smartphone 

More proof that doctors are just like the rest of us – they are using smartphones.

A Knowledge Networks study of nearly 11,000 healthcare professionals found 62% of specialists and 55% of PCPs report having a smartphone, and roughly 85% to 90% are using them for Internet and email. The survey showed that 17% of PCPs and 18% of specialists who have smartphones are using them for e-detailing and 29% of PCPs and 24% of specialists use them to participate in online surveys. This data is in keeping with other recent research.

Is There an App for That?
As of February 2010, there were 5,805 health, medical and fitness applications within the Apple AppStore. Of these, 27% were targeted to healthcare professionals according to the report How Smartphones are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers. For more about this topic, read the excellent report by the California Healthcare Foundation.

Why It Matters for Pharma
Be sure that your websites are optimized for mobile viewing. And consider a smartphone application and the mobile channel as another way of reaching doctors.

This post was contributed by Eileen O’Brien, Director of Search & Innovation for Siren Interactive. You can connect with her on Twitter at @eileenobrien.

(Image courtesy of slowburn on Flickr)

devil

Pay attention to how you are talking, and connecting, with your customers. 

Working on customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives has me digging into the details on our customers (patients and healthcare professionals) on a daily basis. I get to ask myself questions like: How are they grouping? What behaviors indicate future results? What do we REALLY know about them? How can we best deliver what they are looking for?

And then, I get socked with a simple reality check: don’t forget the basics.  Pay attention to how you are talking, and connecting, with your customers.

In this age of personalized, one-to-one communications, I expect that all the emails that make it through my SPAM filter will be addressed to me. If not, they at least provide content that I would like to read. Imagine my horror when I received an email last week with the following intro text.
Dear {{First Name:default=Fellow Marketer},

OUCH. My heart broke for my ‘Fellow Marketer.’ I know how easily a simple typo in setup can create these errors, but I also know that is why you really need to pay attention to the basics. Funny, I haven’t read the rest of that email. I couldn’t get past that simple error.
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swiss-flag

I'd prefer Google to be like Switzerland. 

When you search a popular drug on Google the first result is now from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Google launched this new feature on June 21, 2010.

If you aren’t familiar with search results, at the very top and side are Paid Search ads (Pay Per Click). Below and in the middle are the natural search engine results where Google has started inserting the NIH in the first slot.

Now when you search the generic or brand name of a popular prescription or over the counter medication you get a pill icon and a box that provides a brief description and links to side effects, instructions, etc. The links all take you to the NIH site where the information appears to be licensed from the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Here is what you’ll see if you search Advil.

Why It Matters
When I raised this topic the other night during the pharma social media and marketing tweetchat (#SocPharm), people generally thought it was a good idea. They liked the fact that the top result was a credible, trusted source that would steer searchers in the right direction. I disagreed because I don’t like to see Google making editorial decisions and I’d prefer Google to be like Switzerland.
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one-third to one-half of all patients do not take their medications  

The New York Times recently reported on patients receiving financial incentives to take their medications or to comply with prescribed treatments. For example, a program in Philadelphia allows people to win $10 or $100 each day they take their drug — a lottery using a computerized pillbox.

According to the article, one-third to one-half of all patients do not take their medications and one-fourth do not fill prescriptions at all, which adds up to more than $100 billion in healthcare costs each year.

I usually have very strong opinions, but with this topic I can see both sides.
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Standley Chasm, Australia

pharma’s social media adoption is growing geometrically – we’re in the Tornado 

At the end of last year, I predicted to anyone who would listen that we would cross the chasm of social media in the pharma marketing industry in 2010. Unfortunately, I didn’t make time to do a blog post about it then and now it’s come to fruition. Nonetheless, it’s important to assess where we are (and I want to get this post out of my head).

Back in the go-go days of the Internet bubble (mid to late 1990s) a must-read business book was Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey Moore. Moore’s basic premise was that high technology product companies could begin to grow rapidly by selling to a small base of visionary customers but that the market would then flounder in reaching the mainstream as those customers have vastly different reasons for buying and would therefore not be influenced by the early adopters.

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