As the world spins ever faster, it’s proving ever more difficult to grab the attention of those we might wish to reach. It’s tough enough to get through the protective barrier surrounding consumers – connecting with influencers is far harder.

The medical profession are amongst the most elusive. Findings presented at April’s ‘Online Marketing and eDetailing’ conference in Berlin reinforced the difficulty of getting in front of physicians. Pierre de Nayer of Citobi presented figures showing that growing numbers of US doctors are either refusing to see sales representatives, actively putting up barriers to seeing them or, when they did see them, restricting the time allowed for the rep to pitch his or her case. Sound familiar?

Possible solutions? One which is gaining currency is e-detailing. Huh?

Wikipedia to the rescue:

E-detailing is the technological equivalent of the pharmaceutical representative’s traditional sales aid, used as part of their sales visits to healthcare providers. Either internet based or loaded onto a tablet PC, an e-detail is an interactive presentation which is backed up by robust CRM systems to allow for a tailored marketing approach for every single customer.

Internet based e-detailing is seen by some as a method to overcome the challenge sales reps face to secure physician meeting, the e-detail effectively replacing the face-to-face contact.

Tablet based e-detailing will be presented in much the same way as paper detail aids and require contact time, however the electronic detail aid is capable of providing interaction, video content, sound, and animation which are believed to increase engagement and therefore the messages have higher salience and retention.

Research presented at the Berlin conference by Fonny Schenck of Janssen-Cilag showed growing acceptance by physicians for e-detailing as a method of gathering information:

• In 2001, only 25% of doctors had used e-detailing and a further 44% said they wouldn’t be interested in doing so
• By 2006, 37% said they had taken advantage of e-detailing and another 41% said they would be interested in doing so. The number who said they simply weren’t interested had dropped sharply, to 20%.

As a result of this sort of research, Janssen-Cilag has increased its e-initiatives over recent years. The company’s contact with physicians has increased by 49%; however, whereas in the past 97% of those contacts were via rep interactions, now one-third of contacts are through other channels. E-marketing has been used to reach lower-value customers, enabling the sales teams to focus on higher-value customers; and frequency of contact has been increased without a consequent increase in resources.

It’s Not Just About The Medical Profession
Although the conference was indeed focused on pharmaceutical marketing, the lessons learned also apply to any industry where trade marketing is involved. Retail chain buyers, travel agents, supermarket category managers: all time-poor individuals whose decisions impact on manufacturers and suppliers. E-detailing – though it might go by a different title when aimed at more commercial enterprises, eg Electronic Sales Aids – could well provide worthy solutions.

Listen up, then, when we share some of the advice from the conference on how to make your e-detailing (AKA ‘trade marketing presentations’) as effective as possible. Firstly, from Frank Antwerpes of DocCheck:

1. Don’t Wait
Less than 5% of pharmaceutical marketing budgets have gone towards e-marketing in its various forms. Too many marketers seem to be waiting for some ‘divine proof’ that e-detailing works. Meanwhile, many of the more established methods of GP marketing have little measurable return. At the same time, over-testing of details can lead to paralysis by analysis, pushing out development times and frustrating marketers.

2. Don’t Push
Brand Managers, Mr Antwerpes observed, assume that the internet is there as a channel solely to deliver their product message to the doctor. Au contraire. On the internet, you have to be very polite.

Recruitment of doctors to an e-detail programme, for example, is often via email, which is a very sensitive medium one that you can close down very easily if you lose the trust of the physician (and, of course, you have to have permission to email as well, not just because of anti-spam legislation but because you respect the needs and wishes of the recipient).

3. Don’t Bore
The third element vital to getting e-detailing right is the content. Attention span on the internet is short – YouTube clips are usually no more than one to three minutes long. Keep e-details similarly short, but arrange optional links to more information. When they’ve made a conscious decision to invest time looking at your product information, the message delivered can be much stronger than if the physician is somehow coerced into doing so.

Far too many e-details end up looking like PowerPoint presentations. The physician needs to be both entertained and informed, so rich media and video should be used to get the user to interact fully and become immersed.

4. Don’t Get Lost
One apparent benefit of the electronic channels – its measurability – can also be a major drawback. You can measure so many different critera, you end up suffering from information overload. The best approach is to develop a series of key indicators that show how you’re performing against KPIs. Keep track of your customer, not your e-detail.

Finally, Nic Holladay of OnMedica Group suggests that the keys to success in e-detailing are:

• Control the [recipient] experience. Ensure that systems are in place to ensure that all key parts of the presentation are viewed.
• Use audio at least, to add to the overall user experience.
• Develop the materials specifically for the internet, taking advantage of that medium’s enhanced capabilities. The worst thing you could do is to simply put the sales aid online.
• Make it interactive and try to build in feedback for [recipients] on what their colleagues are thinking.
• Don’t be blatantly promotional.
• Integrate with sales force activities.
• Finish with a clear call to action.

Our own clear call to action: take these learnings and translate them into your own industry and the influencers YOU need to reach.