When respondents were asked to rank sources of health information for credibility, they rated patients substantially higher than traditional spokespeople such as celebrities or CEOs 

Gaining insight into patient attitudes about health can be both interesting and beneficial for marketers and healthcare professionals. Recently, the 2011 Edelman Health Barometer report did just that by surveying 15,165 people ages 18 – 65+ in 12 different countries.

A large majority of people surveyed (80%) would define personal health as more than just the absence of disease. Their definition includes but is not limited to such factors as a balanced and nutritious diet, mental and emotional health, an active and fit lifestyle, and the absence of drugs and alcohol. Not surprisingly, it was found that factors that are most within an individual’s control (such as lifestyle and nutrition) were perceived as having the greatest impact on their health, and outside of themselves, respondents’ family and friends played the biggest role in shaping their health.

This perception that their own peers had a large influence on their health was consistent with an increasing tendency to trust health information received from fellow patients. When respondents were asked to rank sources of health information for credibility, they rated patients substantially higher than traditional spokespeople such as celebrities or CEOs. Sixty-five percent of respondents rated “someone living with a disease/condition” as a credible source for health information, behind doctors (88%), pharmacists (81%), nurses (77%), nutritionists (75%), and academics/experts (72%). This isn’t quite as dramatic as the results in Rodale’s 2011 DTC Study which found 83% of consumers who use social media for health information said they were interested in hearing from others with the same condition versus 75% who said doctors/healthcare providers.

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85% believed that corporations should create shareholder value in ways that align with society’s interests, even if that means sacrificing shareholder value 

One way to build brand loyalty in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry is by forming and maintaining relationships based on trust. The 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer, which surveyed 5,075 people ages 25-64 in 23 countries, found that the best way to earn trust today is through action, transparency and engagement.

Although the study showed an overall increase in trust worldwide, the U.S. was the only country to see a decline across all four main sectors—business, government, media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Key Findings
In 19 of the 23 countries surveyed, business was as or more trusted than the government. Trusting a business to do what is right dropped 8% in the U.S., which shifted the U.S. out of neutral and into the distruster category. For the first time, trust in NGOs was equal to business in developing countries, a rise in the last 5 years. In the U.S., trust in NGOs and the media decreased 8% and 11% respectively.

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Patients want to know about connections between doctors and pharma. 

When you have a message to deliver, trust is critical. This is especially true when you’re relying on physician KOLs, who function as trust agents for your brand. But a recent investigation by ProPublica uncovered hundreds of doctors  accused of professional misconduct or lacking board certification who have received payments from pharma.

NPR ran a story today entitled, “Drug Companies Hire Troubled Doctors As Experts,” which described how ProPublica created a database of the doctors who’ve received payments from drug companies and published it for public use. “Compiled from disclosures by seven companies, the database covers $257.8 million in payouts since 2009 for speaking, consulting and other duties. The companies include Lilly, Cephalon, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer.”
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This data reinforces the importance of having a search strategy for your web properties 

Dr. Google is still diagnosing Americans. A recent survey found 22% consider Google searches “influential” in seeking health info. While doctors came in first (44%), other healthcare professionals, such as nurses and pharmacists, trailed the search engine. Here are the details.

Percentage of respondents ranking the following sources as the most influential source the last time they sought health information

Source: Capstrat-Public Policy Poll, April 2010

The Impact for Pharma
This data reinforces the importance of having a search strategy for your web properties. Both organic and paid search strategies are essential to get your information in front of the appropriate people.

But Who Do You Trust Online?
Health advocacy groups emerged as a trusted source of online health information: 71% found web content of such groups “somewhat reliable” or “extremely reliable,” much higher than the 59% who felt that way about organic Google searches.

While the April 2010 research conducted by Capstrat and Public Policy Polling surveyed only 678 Americans, these results were consistent with recent research conducted by Epsilon.

What do you think about this survey?

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 Mark Knol via Flickr)

Having your moral compass in the right direction is always a good social media strategy 

I get inspired every Wednesday during the pharma marketing and social media tweetchat by the insightful and succinct comments. But this past Wednesday, Angela Dunn tweeted something so simple and brilliant that it inspired this blog post. (Learn how you can join the #SocPharm chat.)

We were discussing the recent Johnson & Johnson recall of Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl. Angry parents had been using social media to react  and the group was tweeting about how J&J could best respond. Unfortunately, this is the second recall over the past few months and the revered J&J brand is rapidly losing trust. The consensus was that the company needed to quickly use all the communication tactics at their disposal. It is essential to be honest and transparent about what had happened at the plant and communicate how they planned to respond to concerns.

Angela, Director of Social Media at the healthcare marketing executive search firm Odom Lewis, tweeted: “Having your moral compass in the right direction is always a good social media strategy.” And I just thought that this common sense advice pretty much sums up how organizations should handle not only social media, but communications overall. Especially in times of a crisis, it’s important to stop and ask yourself, “What is the right thing to do?” Read More

Pharma can provide support and leverage the credibility of these online leaders. 

Just like a good guest brings wine to a dinner party, pharma companies should bring value to the social media space. Companies who want to successfully engage in social media should first assess what is missing – ideally by asking those already engaged – and then contribute that to the social media party.

This is particularly important for pharmaceutical companies who generally suffer from bad reputations and are viewed as untrustworthy by many people.

The book Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julian Smith provides advice on how to build influence, improve reputation and earn trust online.  In the online health space there are already a variety of “trust agents,” so it makes sense that pharma should partner with them. Many of these trust agents are nonprofit organizations short on resources. Pharma can provide support and leverage the credibility of these online leaders. At Siren we’ve seen firsthand that this type of collaboration benefits the patients and both organizations.
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Trust is what makes relationships work in the real world, and this is also true on the web. 

Last week, the  Web 3.0 conference was held in New York City.  As we are still struggling with what to do with Web 2.0 in pharma marketing, now here comes Web 3.0 faster than we expected. Maybe this is the answer we in pharma have been looking for — the elusive payoff for social media, recognizing the value of trust online and bringing the human element into the picture along with the technology.

Web 3.0 technologies make the organization of information radically more fluid and allow for new types of analysis based on things like text semantics, machine learning, and what we call serendipity — the stumbling upon insights based on just having better organized and connected information.

Nowhere is the promise greater than for rare disorders. As we see over and over with patient stories from e-patients.net and stories in the New York Times, disparate information gathered together with motivated people can create surprising results.

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No one cares about you – they care about themselves and what you can do for them.

That is the big lesson for the shift in marketing over the past 10 years. Online marketing is not about getting attention by having the most creative concepts. It’s about having the most creative strategies. And that requires a whole new approach.

If you build a beautiful branded website all about your product, they won’t come. The whole model is not about reach and frequency – it’s all search engine optimization. You have to attract them to your site, engage them while they are there by answering their questions and get them to return by providing real value.

As Josh Klein so clearly said in his blog about television:

“The internet wasn’t built for businesses, it was built to share information, first for the military and later for academics. Business has grown out of this original purpose, but it wasn’t the intention…

The web is not a passive medium. It’s built for engagement.

Why do companies insist on putting up brochureware websites, then wonder why nobody is visiting? Who gave them the right to take up valuable cognitive space without providing anything of value? This brings us back to the line that got axed from my presentation.

‘Nobody cares about you.’”

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PhRMA, the drug-industry trade group, says it’s banning some of the freebies that sales reps dole out to doctors. This includes pens, mugs, and logo-laden prescription pads. The trade group has outlined its position in a comprehensive code of conduct that drugmakers will be encouraged to follow. This is part of a move to further limit the giveaways phama companies have traditionally used to get attention from health care providers. In a news release, PhRMA CEO Billy Tauzin said:

“Although our member companies have long been committed to responsible marketing of the life-enhancing and life-saving medicines they develop, we have heard the voices of policymakers, healthcare professionals and others telling us we can do better.”

What does this mean for Phama reps and Pharma marketing?  This will increase the speed of adoption of web tactics for reaching doctors.  It will also continue to move marketers to adopt more direct communication, transparency, and good content. How much did the logos on prescription pads really influence physician’s choices anyway? One added benefit of going digital is that more direct education based marketing can be tracked.

Susan Rubenstien of the WSJ notes the code doesn’t tackle one of the touchiest issues: it doesn’t cap how much drugmakers can spend on consulting or speaking arrangements with doctors. The New York Times reports, companies will have to set their own limits and track how much they pay doctors for speaking services. That move could pave the way for compliance with a national registry of payments to doctors by companies, an idea that’s gaining popularity in Congress.

How this will effect the ‘direct to patient advertising through the internet’ vs. the ‘direct to physician’ advertising remains to be seen, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to see budgets begin to shift, don’t you agree?

The image is from the Drug Rep Toys blog, a fun sit filled with lots of other examples of various promotions offered to doctors over the years.

Today’s healthcare organizations are marketing at the intersection of 3 powerful forces: changes in healthcare, changes in communication channels, and changes in how we construct knowledge. It’s a time of great challenge. With so many competitors for your audience, the cost of missed opportunities can run high. But it’s also a time of great opportunity that can enable you to develop relationships and move your organization to new levels.

Healthcare marketers have always understood the value of relationship. This hasn’t changed, but how you build those relationships has changed and nowhere is relationship more critical than in caring for those with chronic diseases.

If being in a relationship means “mutual engagement,” what are the basic building blocks and how do these get translated online?   Here are a few  ideas that seem obvious:

• Trust is always critical online, but it is especially important when it comes to people’s lives and health, as we’ve previously discussed.
• Listening is important if you want to be found through online search, and it’s even more important in keeping the relationship going once your audience finds you.

What are other attributes of good relationship that apply online ? (Here’s a few ideas to get you going and to expand upon … integrity, accountability, responsiveness, community, sharing…)

handshake II photo by Álvaro Canivell