Council Post: AI Is Vital For Pharma Marketers To Raise Engagement With Physicians

Harshit Jain MD is the founder and CEO of Doceree, the first global network of physician-only platforms for programmatic marketing. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is vital for pharmaceutical brands to incorporate in marketing strategies to more effectively facilitate interactions with physicians. As pharma marketers transitioned from in-person communications to digital marketing initiatives during the Covid-19 pandemic, enormous amounts of data are being acquired during campaigns. Now, marketers have an opportunity to integrate analytics powered by AI to enhance marketing campaigns that will garner greater traction with physicians. With digital ad spending in the health care and pharma industry projected to grow to $11.25 billion in the United States this year, brands can usher in a digital era that harnesses the power of AI technologies to better understand and engage physicians.

Understand the physician’s journey.

An investment in AI solutions will garner significant returns for marketers, as a deeper comprehension of a physician’s journey can empower brands with messages, moments and platforms that raise the interaction level of each physician. Thus, while tending to patients, messages can be triggered that will resonate based on real-time communications with the patients. Whether it’s at the moment of diagnosis or payment, messages that inform physicians based on their current mindset will offer a greater opportunity to establish a meaningful connection with patients.

Collect data to hypertarget physicians across digital platforms.

AI-based learnings provide marketers with a road map of data to create a path from the brand to a physician. By building a profile on a physician, marketers can share hypertargeted messages that are personalized to the physician to reflect their treatment patterns, reflect their prescription methods and identify the digital platforms that result in higher engagement rates. Whether it’s signifying attendance at a webinar, interaction during a previous campaign, content within social media posts or data analysis in search of patterns, it is just the beginning of the various digital marketing efforts that can captivate the attention of their target audience. 

Optimize marketing messages with AI analytics.

Insights drawn from communication behaviors and preferences embolden marketers to enhance messages by delivering them at the right time. Knowing which moments are the most opportune and recognizing which digital platform raises the interaction level is crucial to the success of a campaign. A message powered by AI analytics will elevate the effectiveness of a piece of content by equipping marketers with knowledge about which message will have the most impact and best digital medium is best used. Without these insights, engagement rates can drop. You’ll deliver messages at the wrong time or on a platform where the physician isn’t in the ideal medical mindset to want to learn about an illness, treatment or prescription drug. 

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Use predictive analytics.

It is artificial intelligence for a reason — data derived from AI is superior to the intellectual standards of humans. Marketers utilizing AI technologies have an ongoing resource seeking new, relevant patterns of data that can alter the success of a campaign. With the ability to decipher data amassed, AI can cultivate and deploy tactics based on those interpretations of metrics to implement strategies. With the use of audience segmentation based on the derived analytics, personalized engagement can be measured to better dictate the approach in future campaigns that will maximize the impact of the messages. With marketers gaining those granular insights, the ROI of campaigns can be enhanced.

Unite AI analytics with human judgment.

The use of data powered by AI is a formidable resource for marketers hoping to drive brand awareness with a personalized message. However, AI should be leveraged to augment human judgments to enhance marketing operations. The real-time trend analysis and data gathering of AI provides an opportunity to marketers making data-based decisions to improve the effectiveness of a campaign.

But as beneficial as algorithms are based on the available analytics, the personalized touch of a human is necessary to make sure that the tone of any given content is positioned appropriately. Even when an informed data-based approach is taken, it can be jeopardized if the message is insensitive at the moment in which it is delivered to a physician. This oversight is needed to ensure the cadence of data-driven campaigns is effective and on the appropriate digital channels. 

To advance AI-based marketing efforts, pharmaceutical brands can partner with a data-driven company that will foster insights that educate their marketing team and guide the creation of more impactful initiatives. Further, brands should have conversations with their marketing team to determine the current data that’s being leveraged to dictate campaigns, as well as what metrics are significant in better understanding and connecting with their target audience. This will enable companies to ensure they are aligning with the ideal partner. In addition, while integrating AI-powered data, marketers must embrace their findings and employ a transitional period, in which they can utilize the newly gained data to support campaigns that will raise engagement with physicians.


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